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Green Day: Basket Case (1994)
Classic 90's Rock Video
Basket Case is the third single from Green Day's iconic album Dookie. It is perhaps the most well known song from the album and is one of the group's most famous songs overall. Like many Green Day songs, its lyrics are about Billie Joe Armstrong's personal experiences, in this case his struggles with anxiety.
The video is a perfect match for the song's manic energy and paranoid lyrics. Directed by Mark Kohr it was filmed at an actual abandoned mental institution and makes numerous references to the classic book and film "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". The band members are depicted as patients, and the video opens up with the them being "assisted" by the institution's personnel in preparing for their performance. Most notable is drummer Tre Cool being wheeled out on a gurney. Armstrong of course in front and center with his eyes bugged out of his head and face twitching throughout the song. His convulsions couldn't be more appropriate for the song's theme.
Adding to the surreal atmosphere are the stark colors that were achieved by filming the video in black and white and colorizing it later in post production. The hospital patients, with the exceptions of the band members, all remain in black white. That, coupled with the creepy distorted "Brazil " masks they all wear, make them blend in with the background while the band members stand out. While the video's imagery makes for an uneasy feel, the it definitely has a humorous side to it as well. One thing Green Day is known for is being tongue in cheek even when the subject matter is serious or bleak.
Overall a nice gem from the 90's punk pop scene and a classic video back from when MTV was actually worth watching.
Madonna: Justify My Love (1990)
Definitely one of the most iconic videos of all time.
"Justify My Love" is a 1990 song written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez and recorded by Madonna (Kravitz performs the wordless backing vocals). Now the song itself is unlike anything Madonna had done up to that time; a trance like ballad where the pop star mostly speaks the words in a seductive whisper rather than sings them. The lyrics themselves are as sultry as the instrumentation and atmosphere. Madonna would go on to employ this trip-hop like style in future songs, most notably the title track off her 1992 album "Erotica".
The video, however, is where the queen of pop really puts her endeavors into overdrive. Without a doubt one of the most infamous videos of all time, it was banned from MTV and other TV networks and considered an abomination of obscenity. Many felt the video's liberal use of sexual imagery which showcase a multitude of erotic fantasies and deviations were beyond what should be acceptable for television. As a result, the video was released as a VHS single and became a best seller. Madonna has gone on record criticizing the ban, mentioning the absurdity of allowing videos with violence and misogyny to air while shying away from "two girls kissing and two men snuggling".
Quite often music videos suffer from having visuals that don't match the music in terms of atmosphere and mood. This is absolutely NOT the case here. First of all the video is in black and white which fits perfectly with the song's flat dry tone. Stripped of color, sentimentality is gone entirely having been replaced with pure seduction and lust; two things that perfectly describe the song as well. The video is set in a French hotel where Madonna, a weary traveler, is settling down (whether it's overnight is never made clear). She appears tired, but in a contrived way that's likely intentional on part of the film makers, as no sooner does she collapse to the floor than a mysterious male stranger (played by actor Tony Ward) appears, seemingly attracted to here exaggerated strained movements. What follows is a five minutes dream sequence of sorts where people perform promiscuous act in their rooms with the doors to the corridor wide open, cross dressing is so prevalent that it's not always easy to distinguish one gender from another, and a petite man slow dances clearly not afraid to show off his "silhouette". One particularly controversial scene shows a dominatrix woman donned in suspenders (the only things beside her hat that she's wearing above the waist) aggressively kiss a man (the one played by Ward) held in bondage. It's really just one big slow moving orgy of almost every facet of eroticism in the book. It's clear Madonna just wanted to go all out exploring every sexual fantasy she (probably often) has. Employing no restraints whatsoever, she let's it all flow out.
This video is often cited as one of the greatest of all time. Now keep in mind that the authors who usually come up with such lists tend to be very liberal and strongly value rebellion. It's not hard to assume some of this video's notoriety comes from the controversy it generated (and its subsequent banishment) rather than the video itself. Separating the video itself from its reputation, I would have to say that the video is still among one of the greatest in the medium if for nothing more than how seamlessly the music matches with the visuals. Unlike most other pop songs (including many of Madonna's) this song completely lacks a catchy hook and instead lies purely on mood to carry itself through. And that's exactly what the visuals do as well. Here, music and video meld together into one continuous trance.
I'm rarely into erotic films of any type, but I can't help but admire this video from a film making perspective with its unique cinematography, lighting, editing, movement of the actors and numerous other attributes. Clearly Madonna pushed the boundaries off a cliff not just in terms of the message(s) she was trying to convey here (not to mention her goal to enrage certain people with it/them), but in the very video itself, though one can probably attribute that to the film makers (particularly director Jean-Baptiste Mondino).
Inception (2010)
Proof That Classics Are Still Being Made Today.
Once in a while, a film comes along that not only takes the cinematic world by storm, but also rewrites the rules of movie making altogether. Christopher Nolan's latest project, Inception, is one such achievement. Nolan had previously directed the masterpiece, The Dark Knight. That film gave us a whole new look into what a Batman film could be like. But with Inception, he creates something so new; so fresh and original that you wonder if even he fully understood it.
Inception is a film about dreams. Dreams are complex, surreal, and full of mystery; all traits that this film also exhibits. In Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio plays an agent who penetrates people's dreams. He is after their secrets, and the dream state is when people have their mental guard down the most. The problem is that anything can happen in a dream. We've all had dreams so we know this. This movie introduces the notion of what it would be like if other people were actually allowed in our dreams. Using the best special effects available, the production team has done their absolute best to portray dreams in a way that makes sense to the viewer, but still comes off as fantastic and incredible.
I should warn you: the plot is not easy to follow. One critic who reviewed the movie wondered if it was too smart for general audiences to grasp. Personally, I found that regardless of how complex the storyline got, it pulled off the miracle of not seeming overwrought or unmanageable. This is clearly the trait of a director who has mastered his craft. However, a captain is only as good as his crew. The cast of this film seemed quite committed to the job at hand, and much of the supporting cast (which includes such talented actors and actresses as Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, and Marion Cotillard) did just as great a job as DiCaprio. All this just goes to show how every little detail was treated with equal care and how flawless the whole production is.
Some film buffs will argue that classics ceased to to be made years ago. I certainly don't agree with them, and this film is my proof. It also proves that even the biggest summer blockbusters can be intelligent and artistic. If The Dark Knight was the revolution, than Inception is the reign established afterward.
Le voyage dans la lune (1902)
Essential Viewing For Film Novices And Experts Alike
Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon) is an early experimental film produced in 1902 by film pioneer Georges Melies. It is based on two books by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells; each involving human travel to the moon. This is of course many decades before the Apollo missions actually made this fiction a reality. But coming at the end of the Victorian era, well before your grandparents were likely born, this film must have been a spectacle of creativity and imagination unlike anything the world had seen up to that time. Though the lunar world depicted in the film is, of course, vastly different than from what Neil and Buzz experienced, for the first time, people could actually see what a mission to the moon might be like.
Prior to the advent of cinema, people would read books if they wanted to take a trip to the realm of fantasy. That realm would only be seen through their imaginations, and it was an image unique to the reader: No two people experienced the same images while reading the same book. Film, however, was something entirely different. The appearance and overall aesthetics of a film are decided by only one person or group of people, and what you see is the vision of those film's makers. While it certainly may be imaginative, it is a product of the director's imagination and not your own. It is for this reason that film and TV have endured much criticism from both traditionalists and contemporaries. I'm sure "A Trip To The Moon" received a lot of such criticism when it was first introduced to audiences at the turn of the century. I'm sure art critics were not happy with the way Melies more or less forced his vision of what the moon was like on people.
But that just goes to show you that if a new art form sends audiences and critics into a frenzy, it must have some importance to it. Let's leave it at this: "A Trip To The Moon" changed the world forever. It was arguably the first film to actually tell a story. Experimental films prior to this just showed such everyday events as a train pulling into a station or a woman standing in a Victorian garden. The cinematography was quite revolutionary for the time though it would seem very dated by the time more sophisticated films such as "Birth Of A Nation" and "The Great Train Robbery" were made. It was pretty much the first film to make use of special effects such as the landing on the moon or the exploding moon men. Again, this was all quite dated even by the 1920s, but still, for its time this film was a milestone in experimental art. Nothing would ever be quite the same afterward, and for the first time, film was a true art-form.
Some people may dismiss "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" as a mere novelty that turn-of-the-century spectators were interested in only because there was nothing like it before. But such a dismissal is really a missed opportunity to see what film was like when it was in its infancy, and to view it in a different way that only the Victorian era people could have seen. It doesn't matter whether your a casual film buff or a film scholar. This is a film you must see in order to truly understand the art-form.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
BeatlesFan3287 Reviews "The Wizard Of Oz"
As incredible as it might seem, phrases like, "Where not in Kansas anymore", and "I'll get you my pretty...and your little dog too!" were completely unknown 70 years ago. "The Wizard Of Oz" set more standards in the industry than just about any other film. If not for this film, "Dorothy", "Toto", and "The Cowardly Lion" would not be house-hold names. If it had never been released, the song, "Over The Rainbow" would never had been heard and it certainly wouldn't be one of the most celebrated songs of all time. Had this film not been released, fantasy as a film genre and even film in general would have turned out very different.
Judy Garland, in her trademark role, plays Dorothy Gale: a young girl who longs to leave her bleak country life in Kansas for a place that lies "over the rainbow". As we all know, Kansas was filmed in sepia tone where as Oz was in Technicolor. This was very experimental at the time and set a stark contrast between the two settings. To this day, film has seen nothing else quite like Oz. An amazing land of colorful flowers and plants, lofty mountains, and cities of emerald. Even more incredible than the land is the people who inhabit it. The diminutive munchkins, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and the wizard himself are just some of the many characters who the public has come to know and love. But even as Dorothy befriends most of them, she comes to realize, is the land of Oz really a substitute for her family back in Kansas? The acting is superb as each actor completely embodies the character he or she plays. Even more so than the acting, the visuals are what has made this film a classic. Every so often you get beautiful shots of Oz and its terrain, which is amazing considering the movie takes place entirely on an indoor set. The CGI of today rarely catches the magnificence of what was done by the set-designers of this production. All of this gives the film a much more organic feel than the often artificial films of today.
Many people will point to this film, rather than Gone With The Wind or Citizen Kane, as the defining movie of the Golden Age of Hollywood. And indeed, this film is just as golden as the yellow brick road Dorothy follows to reach her goals. This is a flawless piece of cinema that has set the standard for all fantasy films that have come after it.
The Godfather (1972)
BeatlesFan3287 Reviews "The Godfather"
When the Godfather was released in 1972, the golden age of Hollywood was long over. Regardless, this film managed to recall that era while at the same time taking advantage of the ever changing times. This film is darker and more grittier than the films of the thirties and forties as such melancholy was starting to become more common in movies. It definitely didn't forget its roots however. The popular film noir style is very evident in this film: not just in the lighting but in the dark subject matter and often bleak themes. And the themes of the movie are indeed bleak. In fact, as people are shot, blown up, and have revenge acted upon them, an inexperienced movie viewer might wonder what the point is. The point is, under the violence and hate, there is a wealth of good: total justification for the mayhem. The Mafia may be murderous and revengeful, but they have values, possibly even more values than normal, law biding citizens.
Marlon Brando gives a breathtaking performance as Don Vito Corleone, a man who is vicious and harden, yet you learn to care for the guy and his family enough so that you eventually root for them every time they get their own way. Al Pacino also gives a great performance as Vito's son Michael, who is different from Vito in many ways. As we learn early on, he could care less about his family's business yet we know he will most likely be shoved into it eventually. We will then learn if he is able to control his family or if he will develop a lust for power and revenge that will cause him to fail altogether. Questions like this are what keep the film interesting and moving forward.
The well orchestrated characters also help the plot along and at no point do they seem unrealistic: even when they make drastic choices. And this is important since this is a very character driven film. And that's just one of the many strengths seen here. All great films have multiple strengths and this movie is no exception. Many crime films were made before this film as well as after it. The ones that came before were sometimes weighed down with Hollywood glamor while the ones that came after it were often all flash with no substance: relentlessly violent with no reward in the end for the viewer. The Godfather dodges those weaknesses and it also avoids being pretentious and overblown. Just one of the many things that make The Godfather the best movie of the seventies and possibly the best of all time.