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Review : Director's Series, Vol. 1 - The Work of Director Spike Jonze on DVD
On Saturday Kymberly and I were stuck in a rain storm without an umbrella so we headed into a music store for some shelter and warmth. I saw that they had a DVD of the video work of Spike Jonze on sale so I got it to sort of thank the store for the temporary shelter and to restore some Karma.
I remember when music videos put MTV on the map before Viacom started to shun the art form with youth orientated programming. Of all the videos in the past decade or so that I really like Spike Jonze is responsible for at least half of them. You know that video of Christopher Walken dancing in a hotel lobby? That is Spike Jonze. You know the Beastie Boy video for Sabotage where they are playing bad 70s cops? That is Spike too. And did you ever see that Daft Punk video of the 20 something with the giant dog head who moved to New York but no one really cared that he was a dog? Spike. He also put together that Weezer video where they were inter cut with old footage of Happy Days.
Spike Jonze is one of the weirder and truly creative film makers out there today. His first start and love was really kinetic, creative, light hearted and entertaining music videos that have a storyline even if it is surreal and disjointed. Spike Jonze has gone on to make the movies Being John Malkovitch and Adaptation but his videos are where it is at. Some of the budgets on these are super cheap but he makes use of the money they make to create these little musical numbers.
This dual sided DVD is full of interviews, commentary and weird short films and assorted goodness. The DVD does not have actual interviews and commentary with Spike himself but it has commentary and interviews from the stars and actors.
Spike Jonze makes music videos look good in a way that they have lacked since the 80s. I wish him well in his feature film career but part of me wishes that he would get back to making such killer music videos. A DVD collection of his video work is brilliant and fun.
Jake at February 3, 2004 
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Comments
My personal favorite Spike Jonze video is still the one he did for "Praise You" by Fat Boy Slim. Spike set up with a few extras and just "danced" to the song outside a movie theater. Absolutely great stuff.
Posted by: Bob at February 3, 2004 4:45 AM
Not only are those dancers trained by Spike but he is the lead dancer. There is also a video treatment he did for Funk Soul Brother in the same style.
Posted by: Jake at February 3, 2004 9:52 AM
I love this DVD collection. Which leads me to presenting a blatant plug for the Res:
The entire directors Series put out by Rez Magazine ( http://www.res.com/ ) is a great series. Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham do some amazing work with music videos as well as Spike Jones. It reminds you how a music video can be an art form itself. If you subscribe to res magazine you get a DVD every other month that's full of videos. None of this JLo, New Kids, fad band video crap, real videos that are more about playing with images on the screen. Some months have better videos then other but they're all worth checking out.
Last but not least Res started off as a film festival. Every year they travel the world showing short films and music videos from all over the world. Look for "The Electronic Theater" and "Videos That Rock" you get to see the videos on the big screen, it's a whole new experience.
The more I learn about Viacom the more I learn to hate them. I think their goal is to kill anything that's good and right with music and television.
Posted by: ethan at February 3, 2004 10:43 AM
Spike Jonze is quite amazing. Though he started his love of filming by filming skateboarding and BMX videos. One of his most acclaimed videos is Video Days for the "Blind" skateboarding company (which features now actor Jason Lee, who was then a professional skateboarder). Spike has also had his hand in making the video "Yeah Right!" which is a stupendous video on its own. Just thought I'd add my two cents.
my personal fav Spike video is the video for Wax's "Southern California" slow motion of a guy running up in flames, genius
Posted by: Kramer at February 3, 2004 2:40 PM
