Metallica: A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica
Metallica: A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica
| 12 August 1992 (USA)
Metallica: A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica Trailers

A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica is a two-part documentary about the process of making the Metallica album (or "The Black Album"), and the following tour. It was produced by Juliana Roberts and directed by Adam Dubin. The second part runs approximately two-and-a-half hours and follows Metallica at the start of their Wherever We May Roam Tour in Europe through to the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour of 1992.

Reviews
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
peterpants66 This film is a double sided roller coaster of rock and roll jumbles in jumbo jets, hail, enter Metallica. When this came out in 92 i was still in middle school and owning a VHS tape at that time was the equivalent of owning a Blue Ray disc now, it was not a healthy prospect. I ended up seeing the movie a year or two later at a friends house where we marveled at the guitar wizardry, the bombastic drumming, the lamenting vocals, the non-existent bass lines, that was metal for ya in the 90's, no bass. Now back then i actually took these idiots seriously, but after re-watching this movie last night, the tour tape vol.2, i feel like i have rediscovered four of the funniest dudes! Everything Lars Ulrich says in this movie is stupid. Throughout the film the various band mates are put into a "real world" style cubicle and probed by a huge microphone to talk about their lives and touring, blah, blah. So these interviews are funny, Lars contemplates turning "arena rock" touring on its head with various ideas meant to stimulate the audience. One is the addition of a "snake pit" the other is having like ten drum-sets on stage so he can run around the place causing havoc. For a tour video its not bad, its actually pretty damn good. You see the bowels of the huge stage where groupies and their moms get rocked, guitar purchases, hotel conversations, partying, fans, and plenty of performances and music video's. I don't think any other metal band has come close to what they did in the early 90's, relating to product sales. This double VHS paved the way for the Binge and Purge box set which was great and many more packages to follow. Yeah they went commercial they took the paycheck, but they did give fans a lot to look at and listen to for a while. And counting. Great band, greater comedians, RIP CB, eight stars.
Jonas_D I got this for my 11th birthday on VHS and i was so excited. I wasnt really happy with the black album but like i didnt care i was excited to have it. I watched that movie 14 times in 3 days and i was in total awe.........unfortunatly my VCR ate and destroyed the first tape. Then last summer i bought the DVD and i was so happy again......it was like i was a kid again. this movie is for all and i mean all metallica fans.....from new ones that will be created when the new album comes out next summer to the oldest fansfrom the kill em all/ride the lightning days. this movie is worth a 10.....but if i had my way it would be worth a 100000000000000 payce
Pelagia The two segments involved in the documentary feature Metallica, both the black-clad public leaders of metal madness and the laid-back, long hair goofballs from down the hall playing electric guitar at 3 in the morning.The direction was awful shaky. In terms of a documentary, director Adam Dubin chose to involve the presence of the film crew as much as possible in the privacy and business of the bandmembers to the point of where much of the material is essentially them playing to the camera. This is an effect that can alter the realism of the documentary and put the subjects into a position to where they feel compelled to "act" for the camera instead of being their true selves. There were also many baffling cuts into the middle of a joke or editing techniques that involved blending and blurring of conversations that at times some of the meaning and humor is lost. The effect is similar to walking abruptly into a roomful of laughing people, and not getting the joke.The documentary does work best as an insight into the workings of major studio album. For example, in the first half, we get to witness the real brains behind the band in action as drummer Lars Ulrich and lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield butt heads and raise all hell and putting their ambitious new project titled "The Black Album" into tape. The album displayed a new mainstream style with emphasis on shorter, slicker songs. Metallica, a band that has *forever* been called "sellouts", seem to know what they were getting themselves into, and the hard work and determination evident in the documentary dispels any doubts of their merit.Interesting to note is the minimal input lead guitarist Kirk Hammet and bassist Jason Newstead (this being only his second album with the band) contribute to the production process. They more or less are nowhere to be seen for most of the first half of the documentary. Also, note the lack of reference (reasons unknown) to Michael Kamen, the composer of the string section on the track "Nothing Else Matters", who Metallica later worked with on the "S&M" project.Metallica nonetheless has a very drawing power, and the documentary, peppered with some awesome filming of the band doing what they do best in concert and the well-done music videos, is a must have for anyone.
BobaMetallica See my nickname? That will probably let you know how my review is going to go. The video store I rented this from only had part two available, but I am damn sure gonna see part one sometime in the future. Great behind-the-scenes look at one of the last bastions of hard-rock/heavy metal. Metallica's longevity is due to the fact that their music actually creates pictures in your mind other than homies popping each other with their nines and beach bums stealing each other's sunshine. Long may they roam...