Parkour in Tokyo + Madonna

MOV - MOV2 - WVX - TÜB

         

Yawn, I dunno when dis vid was made but dis free style jumping shiz or wat ever its called. Been over done i tink! Used evrywhere in commercials, music vids, movies...

         

Something about this just doesn't seem right. It looks like two seperate ideas merged as the result of Plan A not working.

         

This looks like one of those videos that in 10 years people will look back on and laugh at saying "I cant believe that was cool" and then we'll feel embarrassed about it...actually, I already do.

         

I think it's a pretty good video. A little clunky between the performance and the jumping. If that were overcome this could be a great video.

         

This is one of the biggest piles of shite I've seen for a good long while. I caught the video premiere last week and have been bitching about it since!

Parkour/free jumping/whatever is indeed over. It's presumably been attached to this track to give it some anti-establishment extreme-ness that madonna has ceased to follow whilst tucked away in her cuntry mansion. It doesn't have to be the height of cool, but I'd rather see a knitting circle hard at work, than see people jumping off buildings again. Since Tom Carty's BBC ad a while back, no-one seems to have really captured the action as well- not even Traktor. So stop already.

All the outfits look like they've been stolen off some '95 sheffield clubbers. Some of us have the sense not to look like tossers, even back in '95.

The madonna performance is weak. I think the stage set is truly uninspired and doesn't look like any thought has been put into it at all. Take some of world's most inspiring and colourful graphic signage and make it look like a room full of light fittings.

I can only hope for Jonas' sake that this was all one of madge's masterstrokes and not something he dreamed up under the influence.

knit one, pearl one.

DK

         

Aren't you nitpicking? This is still quite a bit more accomplished than most videos. The concept, photography + edit are certainly pro.

Perhaps antville really does need to get this 'rip-off' idea out of its system. The bottom line is, does it go well with the song, and overall it does a pretty good job, besides its clunky nature..

         

I'm not bitching about 'rip-off' stuff at all. I'm bitching about the fact that someone like Jonas Akerlund is given the chance to work with one of the worlds most popular and successful female stars (again), and he makes something which looks like it could have been done years ago.

Yeah, the lighting, camera moves, edit are all pro. Of course they are, this is jonas akerlund... he doesn't work with jimmy from blunder editworks, he works with the best.

However, the concept is dull as ditch-water.

Who is this marketed to anyhow? Clubbers? Kids? Girls? Gay guys? Everyone? I'm not sure the label/madge/Jonas knows. I certainly don't.

And lets not forget he must have spent a pretty penny making this. Lets face it the budget would have been substantial and you would hope that the combination of Akerlund and cashola= Something different/ Something beautiful/ something... good.

I don't think this'll be on Jonas' reel in the future.

         

Her costuming is good but the studio footage designed to tie in with the free running is not. It reminds me of the 'check me out, I'm doing YOGA!' moment in the Sorry video.

I'd add that the choppy editing mandatory to a video such as this doesn't lend itself to free running, a 'discipline' in which the spectacle is best captured in longer takes of moves linked together (long takes also help show context).

         

Jonas does have a really amazing destinctive vibe to his spots and videos. The whole building climber people thing is no exception however, I definitely feels like a theme thats been a bit used but truth be told I think it works here very nicely. For a super duper bubblegum track its nice. This is actually first time in a while Ive seen Madonna do her look at me Im 50 and dancing moves not completely feel embarassed for her. Its good to see her hot in a unitard again w/ legwarmers. All that praise said I definitely like it most in the Traktor Nike spot. Its simple and to the point as a commercial. And as for Tom Carty... his BBC is absolutely totally brilliant and I agree more amazing than of these but I think that spot conceptually is a bit different,

         

How about the fact that the track is called 'Jump' and it features people jumping.

         

dear kevathens, are you crack? what is there to like about this vid? there is nothing to hold on to. i've just wated 4 mins of my life waithing it and can't take it back now. damn!

         

Kev...are you indeed crack? I've wondered this for some time...it would explain many things.

Ackerlund is always good to watch, even if this is obviously not his masterwork. I would rather watch this than that Logan thing at least.

This is a bit boring, but anything that's not that rickety performance set-up with her getting her elderly eagle on is good with me. Parkour is old? Right, so is Madonna.

         

remember when traktor did this for those Nike commercials? that was cool.

         

I can't stick the way that Madonna can snap her fingers and make anyone in the world have a talent wank all over her to try and make the old crone seem half-way relevant. Jonas Akerlund, Chris Cunningham, Stuart Price, Mirwais, Nellee Hooper, David Fincher, William Orbit, Luc Besson, Bjork...

I mean, I could go on!

GAH!

         

Well, this is my favorite song on a surprisingly good album, and I have nothing against Madonna (or any pop star, really). But I don't work in the industry, so I really can't bitch at her. And I'm not sure what's wrong with being old and dancing like a young person?

It's an interesting question, how do work ethics play into the evaluation of a music video?

If anybody has links to the ads mentioned, I'd love to see them.

spit: I think the editor played around that issue pretty well. Van Halen's "Jump" might be a better video, though. (Sorry, Pointer Sisters)

         

I think Madonna's dancing on Hung Up is really very good. As for the Nike Free Running ads The Angry Chicken is the best of them.

But hang on there! Back up a second! Check out the guy free running at the beginning of Hung Up... it's the same guy in the Nike commercial! He's even wearing the same T-shirt!

         

think i'm with framesco on this - though i find her costume ridiculous (while the glam squad did good face). the song sounds lamely rehashed, the cinematography's completely antithetical to any interest that might have been left to squeeze out of parcours - and i won't even comment on the cheap tv set & tubes she's shimmying in. i actually have a good amount of intrinsic respect for madonna, i just don't really get the guises she's trying out anymore.

oh, and: having rewatched hung up - that was absolutley awesome, compared to this.

         

I guess that's my problem. I've completely stopped paying attention to her 'look' as if it means something. It's all drag to me, I guess. Now that you mention it, I don't like her outfit at all. Makeup, yes, is lovely.

I disagree with your evaluation of the song, but I'm not surprised you don't like it, and that any straight man doesn't 'get' Madonna. Alas, psychology!

         

Ur kiddin' me dis is a new Madonna vid?

Its jus' like one ov those eurodance vids from a few years ago wen u had the urban clothed hero runnin' round the shop, like headless chicken for three n half minutes, to deliver a tape ov their mix or summit, whilst apparently escaping the pursuing clutches ov the evil Mr Suit

She wen all the way to Japan to produce dis? Its utter bunk with its cheap Tokyo back drop Chuh! The Japanese themselves are producing far more exotic dope with their own new wave ov artists Mind u, stands to reason, since Japan is now the second biggest market for music after the US

         

WOW.........that was amazinig, fantastic costumes........her wig juxtoposed with the neon set completes a beautifully edited promotional piece for an artist of stratospheric proportion........now let me eat my bile whilst performing an probe to my jap-side

         

onesmallkreeger has this one nailed. Everything about this video screams of desperation. The Tokyo footage looks amateurish (I've seen more innovative cinematography in skate videos / episodes of Jackass) and the studio performance is simply embarrassing in it's lazy execution and lacklustre set. I can think of no greater illustration of Madonna's moribund status as a musical artist and Ackerlund's overrated reputation as a music video director.