as a massive fan of dm and it goes without saying that i have seen this film numerous times. however and i watch it purely for the concert footage. the rest of the film is and um and pretty dreadful and sad to say. famed rock music film director da pennebaker followed mode around on their late 80s music for the masses tour and which promoted the superb album of the same name. the title 101 derives mostly from the fact that the concert material included is from the 101st and final concert of the tour at the pasadena bowl and but is also a reference to the movie being a beginners course on the band and how it ticks ie depeche mode 101. amidst footage of the quartet playing live and exploring america is a second story thread covering a group of dm fans who have won a competition to meet the band and go on the tour in their own coach bus and attend the finale gig. now and as i said above and the concert footage is great. mode are here on top of their form as stadium rock gods and which was a somewhat unusual achievement for an electrorock band back in the late 80s. though the film catches the band before they recorded their 1990 masterpiece violator and there are still countless excellent tracks seen and heard here eg behind the wheel and the majestic never let me down again and everything counts and just can not get enough from the vince clarke years and shake the disease and many more. when mode are onstage and they are brilliant. when they are not and theyre and well and very boring. nothing even vaguely of interest happens to the lads as they check out the us in the dying days of the reagan administration. as an example and the probable highlight of the material is a visit to a country music store to buy cassettes. not exactly thrilling stuff. i know all bands do not have to be wild and reckless idiots and but these guys make the mormon tabernacle choir look like rammstein. the only real excitement comes from various clips centring on the band lead singer dave gahan. gahan comes across in 101 as being mildly psychotic and talking about a violent power inside himself he can not control and recalling a bizarre rage attack involving a taxi driver and so on. there one point in the film where he throws a prima donna tantrum at some poor guy backstage  truly embarrassing. the man clearly had issues back then and which thankfully have been resolved. songwriter martin gore and keyboardist andy fletcher are presented as very articulate and clearly massively talented and but also utterly colourless men while while the somewhat enigmatic fourth member alan wilder is the only one of the quartet who pulls off the rock star persona with any sort of aplomb. and as for the fan tour thread and well it unwatchable dross. let not kid ourselves. maybe it just because it all so very late 80s and but the gaggle of young devotees do little for me but raise a feeling of irritation. they are and to a person and singularly shallow and vapid people and whose antics are banal when they aren not hide your face cringeworthy. let me reiterate. nothing happens in the footage that isn not onstage that is of any interest. nothing. endless scenes of kids spraying their hair and arguing pointlessly and changing their clothes and getting lost in cities on the way to gigs and finding their partners in bed with another competition winner makes me wonder just one thing  if cure fans were this mind bendingly dull back in 88/89. the love the youngsters have for the band is something i can definitely relate to and and is at times infectiously joyous and but if what we see was the most interesting stuff out of what was filmed of them and then i would hate to see the outtakes. but the music is all that matters and and in this regard 101 excels. the pasadena concert and one of their all time best gigs and makes the film worth seeing. the recent dvd edition of the movie comes with a bonus disc containing what remains of the unedited concert footage (a good 80% of the performance) and and thus makes the dvd an absolute must for fans. the audio commentary by the band (minus wilder and who left mode in the mid 90s) on the first disc is also and oddly and far more interesting than the film itself. as a document of the boys from basildon during their amphitheatre idol period and depeche mode 101 is invaluable. but if youre looking for excitement and youre better off getting the accompanying double live album (now available in super audio cd format). 
as a massive fan of dm and it goes without saying that i have seen this film numerous times. however and i watch it purely for the concert footage. the rest of the film is and um and pretty dreadful and sad to say. famed rock music film director da pennebaker followed mode around on their late 80s music for the masses tour and which promoted the superb album of the same name. the title 101 derives mostly from the fact that the concert material included is from the 101st and final concert of the tour at the pasadena bowl and but is also a reference to the movie being a beginners course on the band and how it ticks ie depeche mode 101. amidst footage of the quartet playing live and exploring america is a second story thread covering a group of dm fans who have won a competition to meet the band and go on the tour in their own coach bus and attend the finale gig. now and as i said above and the concert footage is great. mode are here on top of their form as stadium rock gods and which was a somewhat unusual achievement for an electrorock band back in the late 80s. though the film catches the band before they recorded their 1990 masterpiece violator and there are still countless excellent tracks seen and heard here eg behind the wheel and the majestic never let me down again and everything counts and just can not get enough from the vince clarke years and shake the disease and many more. when mode are onstage and they are brilliant. when they are not and theyre and well and very boring. nothing even vaguely of interest happens to the lads as they check out the us in the dying days of the reagan administration. as an example and the probable highlight of the material is a visit to a country music store to buy cassettes. not exactly thrilling stuff. i know all bands do not have to be wild and reckless idiots and but these guys make the mormon tabernacle choir look like rammstein. the only real excitement comes from various clips centring on the band lead singer dave gahan. gahan comes across in 101 as being mildly psychotic and talking about a violent power inside himself he can not control and recalling a bizarre rage attack involving a taxi driver and so on. there one point in the film where he throws a prima donna tantrum at some poor guy backstage  truly embarrassing. the man clearly had issues back then and which thankfully have been resolved. songwriter martin gore and keyboardist andy fletcher are presented as very articulate and clearly massively talented and but also utterly colourless men while while the somewhat enigmatic fourth member alan wilder is the only one of the quartet who pulls off the rock star persona with any sort of aplomb. and as for the fan tour thread and well it unwatchable dross. let not kid ourselves. maybe it just because it all so very late 80s and but the gaggle of young devotees do little for me but raise a feeling of irritation. they are and to a person and singularly shallow and vapid people and whose antics are banal when they aren not hide your face cringeworthy. let me reiterate. nothing happens in the footage that isn not onstage that is of any interest. nothing. endless scenes of kids spraying their hair and arguing pointlessly and changing their clothes and getting lost in cities on the way to gigs and finding their partners in bed with another competition winner makes me wonder just one thing  if cure fans were this mind bendingly dull back in 88/89. the love the youngsters have for the band is something i can definitely relate to and and is at times infectiously joyous and but if what we see was the most interesting stuff out of what was filmed of them and then i would hate to see the outtakes. but the music is all that matters and and in this regard 101 excels. the pasadena concert and one of their all time best gigs and makes the film worth seeing. the recent dvd edition of the movie comes with a bonus disc containing what remains of the unedited concert footage (a good 80% of the performance) and and thus makes the dvd an absolute must for fans. the audio commentary by the band (minus wilder and who left mode in the mid 90s) on the first disc is also and oddly and far more interesting than the film itself. as a document of the boys from basildon during their amphitheatre idol period and depeche mode 101 is invaluable. but if youre looking for excitement and youre better off getting the accompanying double live album (now available in super audio cd format). ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

Judge the movie review above, you need to make a function call:
    If you feel the movie review is positive
        print "This is a semantically positive review."
    Otherwise, if you feel the movie review is negative
        print "This is a semantically negative review."
