Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

drmidi I must say that this documentary is a rather poor tribute both to Robert Moog and the Moog synthesizer for a myriad of reasons. Perhaps you might watch this (as it is being aired this month, December, 2007 on The Movie Channel (HD) for the same reason that I did (and that is to see what this documentary had to say about the man and his instrument, philosophy and some of the history behind the Moog synthesizer's and company's development), however the total impact of this piece greatly suffers both from what was included in the film and what was left out.Granted, it is obvious that this film was not intended to be a complete historical review of the Moog's development. The same applies to the music, musicians, interviews and other footage including Robert Moog's own comments about himself, his instrument, and those who used the instrument commercially or in performance. The soundtrack is also quite disappointing, especially in terms of what was chosen as representative examples of Moog performances over the years. I suppose you would have to be well-versed in the history of the synthesizer (as I am) to fully understand this.I agree with other reviewers in that Walter/Wendy Carlos was only briefly mentioned during this documentary, especially when it applies to the Moog modular system (as recorded on Switched-On Bach, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, Switched-On Brandenburgs, Tron and others) which were perhaps the first and most influential recordings of the Moog synthesizer of all time. Also missing were such artists as: Isao Tomita, Dick Hyman, Herbie Hancock, Tony Banks (Genesis), and many more who recorded and performed with the Moog synthesizer during its early years. Instead, the focus of the piece centered around Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Bernie Worrell and some of the early partners and friends who worked with Moog towards its development (Herbert Deutsch and other contemporaries and personal friends of the late Dr. Moog). The interview with Wakeman and Worrell was taped in a noisy hallway and could have been more effective (at the very least) by being taped in a quieter setting.The commercial use of the Moog synthesizer centered around a rather dated beer commercial. I was expecting perhaps an interview with Suzanne A. Ciani who was infinitely more prominent in this area. In other cases, the interview location (city) was titled, but not the name of the person speaking with Bob Moog and that was also disappointing.I also agree that certain comments were repeated, especially Bob's comment on having a feel of what was going on within the Moog's circuitry when he played it. Since he also discussed the Theremin (which seemed to be a major portion of this documentary) it would have nice to included some commentary about Miklos Rozsa and the role the Theremin played as the only recognized synthesizer as an "orchestral instrument." I am referring to many film score recordings which featured the Theremin, such as Hitchcock's Spellbound and many others in the suspense and Sci-Fi genres. There was little discussion about the other Moog synthesizer models outside of the modular system and the MiniMoog (such as the PolyMoog, MemoryMoog, and others).The in-between footage, music and performances were rather disappointing and disjointed. I think the director could have planned a better tribute to a wonderful person, inventor, instrument, social and historically-significant musical technology. I think to really do justice to both the man and his machine, you would have to present, at the very least, about a 2 to 3-hour-long documentary.On the plus side, it was interesting to see the Moog in production and some of the performance and interview footage, but not all. Actually, much of the footage is somewhat comical in nature when you look back at how it was presented, back in the early days of synthesis.

dentext The film is very true to the nature of Moog. If you were the kind of person to be tweaking analog synth, the part of you the draws connections between objects is usually more than a little different. My old music school kept the 2nd synth he ever made. I'd heard a dozen 3rd hand stories from the keyboard and composition faculty. The Moog in this film fits perfectly with those stories, like a Shaker box. One jazz master and the chef composer would tell about him as a way to bring certain kinds of students 'in'. Seemingly disconnected or random is part of the deal, the other reviewers see it as a flaw, but it's a central theme.This is not a documentary about the history of the Moog synth. It's a song about Moog. An excellent song.

Mike White A documentary about Robert Moog, one of the most important figures in electronic music? Yes, please, sign me up. Alas, this premise goes awry from the outset. This mishmash of a documentary feels like a collection of outtakes from a better work. I don't need to see Robert Moog talking about pepper plants and Money Mark diddling around on a synthesizer. MOOG demonstrates that sometimes it's best to not rely on the subject of the documentary as the subject matter expert of the film. Robert Moog is not the most well-spoken advocate and historian of his life's work. Likewise, showing the electronic guts of his machines doesn't do much to explain how they work or why Moog's work is important to the music world. When utilizing archive footage, MOOG works. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between leaving MOOG a mumbling, muttering mess for its interminable seventy-two minutes. Moog and electronica deserve better.

piechart2000 I enjoyed watching this homage to the synthesizer inventor and all round nice guy Bob Moog but spent hours afterward discussing ways this documentary could have been better. That's not to say there's all that much wrong with it except that it suffers from a genuine lack of archive footage. Bob was building his Synths from the early 60s, before that he was making Theremins. There's no footage of any of this. 'Why not use stills and rostrum?' was my immediate thought.It was great to hear Moog Synths being played well. Rick Wakemen (who provides the film's one big laugh) made them sound good. In fact, just to hear people messing about on them was interesting. I wanted more of this and perhaps some insights into how they were used in the studio (the film concentrates mainly on live performance).Perhaps just a bit too much time was spent allowing Bob to share his rather vague (and, sorry to say this, slightly boring) view of the universe. Not that the Doc as a whole is boring, it is not. It is very watchable and only 70 minutes long. Though I wanted something more from it, it did do what it set out to do without sagging.