Those of you out there that are regular readers of this page may be confused by this DVD entry. Why would you be confused? Well, if I didn't know any better, and usually I don't, I would wonder how in the hell a DVD that celebrates the work of one of the most imaginitive directors in recent times could possibly be related and/or linked to an old black and white movie about loggers in Wisconsin. The simple answer is...IT DOESN'T!!! Well...actually...the grammatically correct answer would be...IT ISN'T!!! You see, in the last few weeks to months, the ability of blockbuster.com to send the DVD's in my queue in the order that they were placed into said queue has been quite lacking. It's common for them to send the #2 movie before the #1 movie. Sometimes it just happens. But when the movie is listed as available, I pretty much expect it to be...well...available. I have been sent the #5 DVD, even though there were four DVD's on the list in front of it, all listed as available. I have had the #3 DVD sent, that according to blockbuster.com needed a short wait before the inventory was restored enough to be able to send me a copy. Problem is, there were TWO movies in front of it that were listed as available. That's right!! They sent the unavailable one before the available ones. In a way, I'm all for it. You all know I am going for a random thing here, this just makes it a little bit more schizophrenic. I just wish they would get their damn availablity straight. I don't want the top of my queue list to get clogged up with unavailable movies, but I also have no faith in the fact that they are actually unavailable. I also don't want to delete the unavailable ones from my queue because I do know that in time they can become available. Oh well, I'll just keep on rolling with what they send me, but don't be to suprised by the order of DVD's because sometimes it's just not gonna make any damn sense.And now for the DVD at hand. I love this guy. You know I love this guy, especially if you read my review of Adaptation. His imagination, his conceptualization, his ability to make the abstract normal, and his commitment to his vision are all top notch qualities. TOP NOTCH. But this DVD is all about his music videos. This means I get to see a couple of Beastie Boys videos again, and a couple of Weezer videos that I already have on DVD. But there are a bunch more from the like of Dinosaur Jr., The Breeders, The Pharcyde, Fatboy Slim, Bjork, and more. It's kind of a greatest hits of his videos, cause he made a lot of them and theres only about twenty of them here. There's a ton of stuff on this DVD also. Tons of commentaries as well as some short documentaries. I had to split it up into three viewings. The videos, the videos with commentary, and the documentaries. I'm not gonna comment on everything, but I will comment on what stood out to me.
The flaming guy on the cover is from a Wax video. As good as the video is, I probably couldn't recognize the song if you played it for me right now. Maybe I could, but the point is that I get so absorbed in the video that I don't really pay attention to the song. The Pharcyde video is phenomenal. Again, I don't remember the song, but the video is tremendous. They filmed it with everybody walking backwards and then played it in reverse, which has them moving forward, but in an odd way. The best part about it is that the members of Pharcyde memorized the song in reverse. This means that even though they are walking forwards/backwards their mouths match the lyrics of the song. There is a special feature with a behind the scenes look at that video which is quite good. Making a video for a Notorious B.I.G. song where everybody is played by kids is not only imaginitive, but the attention to detail Spike used to replicate the style rap videos had in the 90's is so good, I had moments where I thought it was a replication of an existing video. I wised up after listening to the commentary by P. Puffy Daddy Combs, which brings me to the commentaries. The commentaries were done by the artists who Spike made the videos for, which I find to be quite interesting. Some of the videos have commentaries from performersin the videos. This is highlighted by Christopher Walken commenting on his Fatboy Slim video...which is one of the best ones on the disc. Also, there is an extended commentary segment where the Beastie Boys do commentary on some of Spike's other videos. Very entertaining, especially when they joke about how Spike still owes them money. Finally, and I am cutting myself off here because there is a ton of stuff to talk about but I don't want to blab on forever, the Bjork video is tremendous. I'm not a big fan of Bjork. Just not my thing. But this song is actually quite good, and the video does a bang up job of highlighting the music and its charm. And you can't go wrong with a dancing mailbox. The Fatboy Slim video for Praise You is probably his most famous and widely praised video, but I mention it for another reason. The fictional dance troupe that Spike created for the video took on a life of its own when it went to perform at MTV's Video Music Awards. There is a documentary on the disc about their preparation for that performance. It might be the most entertaining part of the video, mainly because of Spike commitment to the character throughout the whole thing, including the awards ceremony. Finally, and believe me I am cutting this short because I don't want to babble on more than I already have, but I certainly could, the Bjork video is tremendous. I'm not a big fan Bjork's. Just not my thing. But this song is actually quite good, and the video supports and emphasizes the music about as well as any video I have ever seen. Wildy fun and inventive. I mean, you can't go wrong with a dancing mailbox.
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