The new Beastie Boys clip: boss.streamos.com

         

Awful time splice. Very sloppy. And to headline slop style as the content of the video makes the piece fail completely.

And what's with the beasties? I expect so much more from them musically. This track sounds like it was made for a PSA or something - "we gotta work together it's been too long!" .......WTF...

         

for a concept-free video, this is pretty awesome - I like it better than their last 2 - kind of like "shake your rump 2004"

         

The video is allllmost awesome. I like the song, I think the effect is kinda neat, but what's with the outfits? Terrible.

         

The effect's been done...a lot. You ever seen the matrix? I agree that it was pretty sloppily done here. Though this video was a lot better than their last too, I don't think it compares that well with their earlier stuff.

         

i hadn't read lusk81's post before watching it, and I also thought it seemed like a public service video you might see on AETN during the kids shows. sending a positive message is cool, but i think they should have worked on more creative lyrics. a combination of the gay outfits and lyrics made me keep feeling sorry for them. i didn't like that. i did however like the rough feel of the video and the time square setting.

         

I feel that choregraphy is kind poor and not well prepared. Their moves are too lazy. there was something better to do with this set and the 3 boys. Low tech effects are ok. who cares about matrix? you got a nice vibrant cinetic effect here. Somebody knows who did the video?

         

This is the best video off their current album. I like it a lot. Sure, the effect has been done a lot - but it doesn't look like it's a 'copy' of anything. The effect works very well in this clip and it works well with the song. And their outfits are cool. Especially the glasses.

         

The genius of the likes of Spike Jonze is that he knew he could put the beasties anywhere and in anything and they'd be cool as shit i.e. Golfcourse, supermarket, mock up 70's tv show. If we were to use Jonze as a template, this vid fails terribly so.

AI: I agree with your low tech comment, but this is anything but vibrant or kinetic. A "Vibrant" video would be something like: Busta Rhymes "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" (Hype Williams). Where the whole piece is driven by exotic visuals and non sequitor like cicumstances. A "Kinetic" video is something like: Squarepusher "Come on My Selector" (Chris Cunningham) where the entire piece feels like it may burst out of the screen because of it's uber control of rhythm. pace, energy. This video is nothing close to either one.

ADAMR: This is an absolute copy of early Paul Anderson videos (he's the guy who has made a string of failures in the feature film category: Resident Evil, Alien vs. Predator, etc). For some reason the rock group alludes me, but he did an award winning 'time splice' video where people jump in the air, break ice, play guitar and the camera clunkily 'spins' them, giving us that frozen in time effect. Moreover, this technique is now owned by the Matrix.

"The effect works very well in this clip and it works well with the song" - NO.

The effect fails because it becomes completely apart from the material as opposed to working coterminously with it. What does it mean to freeze the beasties and continuously spin around them around in mid air? Are we trying to shake something out of them? Are we attempting to seperate their elements in the same way a centrifuge would DNA? No sir.

The song is a rather weak yet positive call to arms against hypocracy. Now if they really wanted to do this vid in NYC, and they wanted it to mean something, imagine if the same piece was done in the middle of the World Trade Center remains. Now all of a sudden, the beasties floating in air and spitting old school lyrics about hypocracy takes on a completely new life. We give the style a context to live in and hope to help fill the piece with content and meaning.

But here, they look like dopey guys in DOPEY ATTIRE shooting a meaningless and clunky video in the middle of time square - a locale that is as cliche as it gets for music videos. Anyone who has been to/lives in NYC knows that times square more adeptly represents Las Vegas than it does Ny.

Again, poor all around.

         

i didn't say it was great, but it's not that bad. About times square i had the same thought though.

         

I appreciate you supporting your argument, lusk, with examples and things but to be fair, Spike Jonze never put the beastie boys in a golfcourse or supermarket setting. I like Spike Jonze as much as the next guy, but I mean the only collaborative effort that he had with the beasties that I liked was "sabotage". The footage he shot for "ricky's theme" (which I wouldn't really call a video) and his "sure shot" aren't exactly great. They're not bad, just not that good, in my opinion anyways. I think it would be more logical to compare this video with the beasties' pre-to the 5 boroughs videos which, for the most part, were directed by the same person who I assume directed this video: nathanial hornblower a. k. a. the beastie boys themselves, or one of them, it doesn't really matter I think. Now they weren't all extremely innovative or anything, but they were at least very entertaining to say the least. Remember "intergalactic" or "body movin" or "shake your rump" or even the strangly message-filled "something got to give"? All very different videos, but all work in their own way. Now compare those with the unimaginative/boring/unfunny "chcheck it out", "triple trouble" and this video. What the hell happened?

         

just an opinion lusk. no need for an argument. your opinion is as good as my own. Actually I like the video even more now. sure as hell wipes it's arse over the likes of eminem and such.

         

LANGDONALLGER: You're right, my apologies. I'm thinking of Spike's Dinosaur Jr. vid and for some reason thought Beasties Sure Shot included a supermarket scene of some kind.

ADAMR: We all have opinions. But because this board tends to represent those of us who are obsessed with the medium, I'd like to believe we can and should defend/challenge each and every opinion posted. Think Pauline Kael. She's not going to make broad comments and run. Neither should we. If I post something you disagree with - please, by all means, throw fire. Your justifiable comments will give me a better sense of your taste(s) and should help to build a strong rapport and base to understand you by.

And look, it may be better than eminem, but since when did that guy ever produce a worthwhile video? I'm sorry, but because there are directors like Cunningham, Jonze, Gondry, Glazer, etc -- the stakes are now raised, and I have to judge them accordinly. Any director that approaches a project and finds satisfaction with the idea, "Well it'll be better than Eminem's last" - has already made a failure of a promo.

Promos may have become a dead medium, but that doesn't mean I can't/won't hold them up to the candle.

         

the promo and the recent-beasties taste like watered down Kool-Aid.

         

First time I saw that time-freeze effect was on smoke city's "underwater love". And I think it's been put to fun use here, scartching the beastie boys.

         

is that the track gondry used for his levis ad? did he made that video too?

         

since the beastie boys object to their songs in ANY commercials, I doubt it ai..

it's no 'intergalactic' or 'sabotage' at all. but I think it's the best off their current album. On a side note, and it may sound cliche, but I think their current album needs a few listens to 'get'.

         

I was talking about underwater love its the levi's ad with the mermaids

         

It's the same song used for the ad. Director is Tim Macmillan though.