AAAHHH QUICKTIME!!! DIRECTED BY SAM BAYER STARRING BILLY ELLIOTT AND THAT GIRL FROM "THIRTEEN"
         

what a humonguous waste of money.

         

yeah, this vid must have cost an assload of cash. Its kinda nice cause they dont really make videos lke this anymore. Totally feels like a throwback. Looks beautiful. who directed this??

         

i really thought that opening scene was setting us up for some kind of satire. wow was i mistaken.

this is so cynical, pulling these heartstrings to sell records. or if they actually think they're making some kind of statement then they're retarded. the values informing this video are so middlebrow it's sort of shocking. even for green day.

         

i guess middlebrow is how you get aired on MTV. i've never been into green day but it seems like they had some sort of street cred before. with this video, their fanbase is likely to become girls ages 11-16.

         

why is it middlebrow?

         

i got suckered into going to their $40 show last week. the only thing worse than their video is their live performance (an ever bigger waste of $)

and thingybob is right on with the whole fanbase comment

         

Wheew, what a steaming pile of horse shit; if only they had axed the drama club intro and segway, it would have been brought up a couple of notches to say, Aerosmith's video for Armagedan. "I don't wanna close my eyes," 'Cause I'd miss you babe, And I don't wanna miss a thannnng!" Boohooo hoo; cry not lass, your boyfriend was a dick for joining the Nazi SS in the first place.

         

I don't think this is going to lose any fans. (Might even gain some dim military types). Remember the post-dookie backlash when they were the uncoolest band around? It's amazing they have been able to stick through it and come to what is probably their career high album - which is to say, these guys are pretty resilient.

Re: video - The storyline is way too straightforward - not saying it needed an ironic twist but there's nothing really to it.

The war footage is impressive. The acting decent.

I think the weakest point was that the performance footage had no relation to the narrative, and it played much like (as jesse said) those bloated Aerosmith Alicia Silverstone videos.

         

it is pretty asstastic in every other way but it is incredibly well shot. Anybody know who the DP is?

         

this video has something like an old WW II movie mentality. like trying to connect a politically motivated war to this sappy, overwrought, cloying love story. that the war footage is so impressive makes it that much more insulting. all of this money being spent to recreate a war that is currently in progress for a music promo? hubris, my friends.

         

are you kidding? the reason we HAVE wars is to put them in videos.

         

That opening was truly atrocious. Couldn't they have taken out all the dialogue and had them act out all the scenes silently?
I don't know what they're trying to say with this video. I know the guys in Green Day are against the Iraq War, but this video doesn't really do much to push that viewpoint. In that respect, it has to be considered a failure.

         

This video looks amazing, but the story is so insipid and obvious, my question is: What happened to Sam Bayer? In the early to mid 90's he did interesting edgy videos and commercials, then disappeared only to return with some of Green Day's worst videos, although they are hit songs. I guess he is looking to sell out and cash in. Its funny how Green Day has this punk facade, when really their new music and videos are nothing more than Aerosmith videos. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I'm sure if they heard it compared to that, the "artists" would have a freak attack.

         

V O M I T

V O M I T

Green Day & this video are more schlock as any mainstream country & western

         

Sam Bayer shoots all his own videos & Commercials, and sometimes even other peoples (Like the Rilo Kiley "Portions for Foxes" video earlier this year). He wrote the dialougue himself, and believes firmly that this is his best video, ever, period. So while overly simplistic, I definetly don't think the aim was as cynical as is being inferred.

Also, to be honest, I don't think that the "acty" bits are either as bad as some posters think or as good as Bayer probably does, but the details are certainly better observed than most videos, and I'm sure this will finally mark a neat transition to features.

This video does take tons and tons of care not to pick sides, to the point of it, indeed, being somewhat pussified. However, I think putting a youth-friendly face on the ongoing catastrophe that is Iraq and having that tragedy, even in soap opera form, shown to MTV viewers every six seconds is far from the worst crime being committed in the music video world at the moment. Performance really could be better tied in though.

         

"all of this money being spent to recreate a war that is currently in progress"

Well think u might be hard pressed to find any real footage of action emanating from the 'inbeds' as they hole up in the Green Zone, and I guess any 'indie' that ain't kidnapped and accused as a spy by the resistance will get shot by the Yankee occupiers So why not recreate it in u'r own yard Safer all roun' if u ask me!

         

"hiconcept" is like the best antville name ever.

Plus, I mostly agree with your opinion re: getting war-related footage onto MTV. But I do have to say that the juxtaposition between a firefight and the sparklers on Green Day's bizarre-white-pylon-stage was pretty nauseating.

         

what is the deal with greenday? they just sound shit to me and sam bayer is just another talentless US no mark who tries to palm off MTV generica as something important. Its not mate - its just rubbish.

I LOVED the aerosmith vids with Alicia Silverstone - she was nice before she got fat - and they kind of reminded me of eliminator era zz top when branding in the vids really pushed the record.

Plus who wants to look at old people in a music video?

Yuk!

         

1. This video is about how it affects families and loved ones. That is what it is about. It accurately portrays that in two ways: a) Ms. Wood's reaction to the news. b) And there is no ending. Just wondering about what happens next. That is what it is like when a loved one is over there. You never know what's happening to them: you are just in a limbo state of worry. This war has not ended. Neither should this story. Granted the opening scene is not the most artistic depiction of those kind of moments ever, but come on, its a setup for a music video, people.
2. As far as it and its images getting to the MTV audience, good. Maybe it will stop some kids from doing something extremely stupid, or get their loved ones intervening before it's too late.
3. The Aerosmith comparison is unintelligent and shallow. You are seeing a video that has a current young female star in it, and a story intercut with the band performing. The two videos are in no way similar in theme and to compare them is to miss the point entirely.

Thank you for your time. This posting has been a madmanatlarge production.

         

why are you defending a bad video? i think you're trying to read into a piece of shit a little too hard.

         

the scene with her asking him why is amazingly powerful. the vid & the song are both regarding the end of innocence, depicted by the end of carefree days and the tranformations one makes by growing up (marriage/joining the army as a way to take care of ones family). (and the song specifically is about BJA fathers death/ not reflected in the video.)

         

has anyone seen lisa 89

         

i love this video sooo much. it's so sad and it brings tears to my eyes:(! one thing i want to kno is if the guy dies in the end. does anyone know?

         

anyone else notice in a lot of green days songs they're like just repeating the same thing over and over?in this one its like that and in some of the old ones..its kind of annoying..

         

before anyhting else.. i wanna great my husband, freddy holzmann for having me as her ever super natural wife.. GREEN DAY's song is the best.. its like i am stooned up whenever i heard their music coming from radio or tee-vee.. they're so cool.. one great maybe and i hope someday m ganna seem 'em real soon..

and whoever gonna follow's green day's versions and songs, is like they were a vacuous person.. don't ever do it or else you might loose grains.. hekhek..

see yah all...

         

Hey ya'll I love that video... oh! and it's not billy elliot and the girl from thirteen... its billy elliot and Evan Rachel Wood haha :)

         

Sorry you thirteen-year-olds, but this video is like an Aerosmith video ten years ago, except with a "punk" band and it's seven minutes instead of three.