Source (purchsed/given/borrowed/the wife's): purchased
Date Acquired: 2007
Original Review: n/a
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: I bought this primarily because I enjoyed the Beastie Boys' Criterion Collection Video Anthology so much. I also bought it because it was fairly cheap in the used bin, as well I had been hearing much about it in Toronto's weekly freebies and it sounded interesting. I didn't get around to actually watching it until now.
Review: Gotta hand it to the Beastie Boys, they like to do things differently. They're constantly reinventing themselves sonicly, wavering between rap, punk, and funk-instrumental. As far as I know they're the only musicians to get the Criterion treatment for their music videos, and this film is a first for concert videos, almost entirely shot by fans. At the close of their 2004 "Challah At Your Boy" tour, MCA (Adam Yauch) conceived the idea to give almost 50 hi-8 hand camcorders to select attendees at the concert to get a completely different perspective of their live performance.
Date Acquired: 2007
Original Review: n/a
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: I bought this primarily because I enjoyed the Beastie Boys' Criterion Collection Video Anthology so much. I also bought it because it was fairly cheap in the used bin, as well I had been hearing much about it in Toronto's weekly freebies and it sounded interesting. I didn't get around to actually watching it until now.Review: Gotta hand it to the Beastie Boys, they like to do things differently. They're constantly reinventing themselves sonicly, wavering between rap, punk, and funk-instrumental. As far as I know they're the only musicians to get the Criterion treatment for their music videos, and this film is a first for concert videos, almost entirely shot by fans. At the close of their 2004 "Challah At Your Boy" tour, MCA (Adam Yauch) conceived the idea to give almost 50 hi-8 hand camcorders to select attendees at the concert to get a completely different perspective of their live performance.
Taking the footage from these cameras, plus various security cameras and a few higher-resolution cameras given to tour crew, Yauch (under his Swiss directorial pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower) assembled the footage into one of the most unique looks at a stage show put to film, called, officially "Awesome, I Fucking Shot That". The camera people were given instructions to "just keep shooting", which leads to bathroom breaks and stargazing in the audience (the Ben Stiller-cam). One cameraman took it upon himself to be the upper balcony booster shouting at disinterested (in him) fans to "get excited, this for the DVD" repeatedly. Another fan and his buddies used their camera to sneak into the backstage area.
The audio on the film isn't great (it's dubbed an "official bootleg"), but it's somewhat true to the live experience where the sound quality, especially in a place like Madison Square Garden, isn't going to be fantastic. Part of it is the mix is the audio recordings of the vocal performances (available on a separate track alone, if you want to mix your own beats to the DVD), instruments and Mix Master Mike's turntables as well as the blend of audio recordings from the various cameras. Visually the film is "shaky cam" all the way, fine for home viewing, not something I'd want to see on the big screen. The film juggles its dozens of cameras quite nicely, panning in and out of and across the grid, sometimes showing four cameras at once, sometimes focussing on just one, sometimes showing the entire grid. Photoshop effects are imported sometimes with interesting results, and it's obviously Yauch was having fun with the process creating some bizarre 80's-style effects.
While the film itself is a unique experience, the special features only enhance it so. The alternate angle of the film runs the entire length of the movie in grid-mode, occasionally focussing in on fewer, but mostly showing them all. There's something incredibly voyeuristic about watching grid mode, and invariably more intriguing. I would recommend watching the movie on grid mode first and then watching it in normal play with the audio commentary. The Boys get silly on the commentary, but for the most part it's a laid back affair. Non-essential listening, but a few glints of what it actually took to pull this off and some of the fun they have on stage and with each other.
A half-hour day-in-the-life "documentary" features David Cross in the role of Nathaniel Hornblower, as he traipses around a summery Brooklyn in his cross-country skis, plays chess with a dog and has an encounter with AdRock and MCA. It's all improvised and typically bizarre, a little long but differently entertaining. Some other special features include some behind the scenes with the Boys' tour manager, Mix Master Mike's amusing show intros (usually involving gunplay), and the "Hidden Detours" feature which spotlight some of the more interesting diversions the fan-cameras took.
A decidedly unique viewing experience, if perhaps a little tedious. I'm not sure I need to watch it again, but I'm glad I did.
Rating (keep/sell/undecided): "sell" (donating to GAK)
The audio on the film isn't great (it's dubbed an "official bootleg"), but it's somewhat true to the live experience where the sound quality, especially in a place like Madison Square Garden, isn't going to be fantastic. Part of it is the mix is the audio recordings of the vocal performances (available on a separate track alone, if you want to mix your own beats to the DVD), instruments and Mix Master Mike's turntables as well as the blend of audio recordings from the various cameras. Visually the film is "shaky cam" all the way, fine for home viewing, not something I'd want to see on the big screen. The film juggles its dozens of cameras quite nicely, panning in and out of and across the grid, sometimes showing four cameras at once, sometimes focussing on just one, sometimes showing the entire grid. Photoshop effects are imported sometimes with interesting results, and it's obviously Yauch was having fun with the process creating some bizarre 80's-style effects.
While the film itself is a unique experience, the special features only enhance it so. The alternate angle of the film runs the entire length of the movie in grid-mode, occasionally focussing in on fewer, but mostly showing them all. There's something incredibly voyeuristic about watching grid mode, and invariably more intriguing. I would recommend watching the movie on grid mode first and then watching it in normal play with the audio commentary. The Boys get silly on the commentary, but for the most part it's a laid back affair. Non-essential listening, but a few glints of what it actually took to pull this off and some of the fun they have on stage and with each other.
A half-hour day-in-the-life "documentary" features David Cross in the role of Nathaniel Hornblower, as he traipses around a summery Brooklyn in his cross-country skis, plays chess with a dog and has an encounter with AdRock and MCA. It's all improvised and typically bizarre, a little long but differently entertaining. Some other special features include some behind the scenes with the Boys' tour manager, Mix Master Mike's amusing show intros (usually involving gunplay), and the "Hidden Detours" feature which spotlight some of the more interesting diversions the fan-cameras took.
A decidedly unique viewing experience, if perhaps a little tedious. I'm not sure I need to watch it again, but I'm glad I did.
Rating (keep/sell/undecided): "sell" (donating to GAK)