Rating: Summary: Comic Genuis Review: Weird Al is hillarious. Any entertainer who can make fun of the latest hit song the last 23+ years and act goofy deserves 5 stars. I waited for years for this DVD to come out(the previous editon was impossible to find)...I'm glad I waited for this one. I grew up watching Al's videos on MTV since "Ricky" in the early 80's and he always comes up with something interesting and humorous. I hope he is around for another 20 years. You will laugh till you cry(except for the "Bob" video, which I do not understand whatsoever even though I know Bob Dylan is an old hippie with weird lyrics. ha)
Rating: Summary: Great Fun Review: Weird Al Wankovic's "The Ultimate Video Collection" is great fun. Yankovic has had a sucessful career at parodies, and to this day, while Yankovic is still popular, it is great to see that Yankovic has released a DVD with twenty-four music videos, all of which are all the videos Yankovic has ever done. The videos for the parodies on this DVD are parodies of songs, movies, and television shows. I can think of nothing better than to have a DVD that contains over an hour of every Weird Al video on one DVD. Here we have videos of Yankovic's parodies of movies such as "All About The Benjamins" (which, on this DVD, is "All About The Pentiums"), and a few other famous movies, while songs by artists such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, among others, are being parodied also. One video on here, "Bedrock Anthem" is not only a parody of "The Flintstones", but of two songs by The Red Hot Chili Peppers also("Under The Bridge" and "Give It Away"). There are also extras on this DVD, which include clips from "The Weird Al Show", a rare 1981 performance clip from NBC's "The Tommorow Show", a photo gallery, and an on-screen lyrics option. Weird Al Yankovic is a master of parodies, and if you are a Weird Al fan, you should check out this DVD.
Rating: Summary: THE BEST OF WEIRD AL!! Review: What's funnier than listening to a Weird Al CD? How about watching the videos to his hits? Yankovic really knew how to convey the absurdity of his songs in image, even though most of them were of his parody songs. For me, the 1980's was my introduction to him, and looking back, most of his videos parodied the original videos themselves via sight gags. Sure, some of the material may be non-PC today, but that's what made the fun of it.
They range from his Madonna-like rolling on the floor in the medically-oriented "Like A Surgeon," with even a lion making a cameo appearance, Al in Michael Jackson's leather black studded outfit in "Fat," fat suit added, of course, red leather jacket in "Eat It," and James' Brown's fancy stage dancing in "Living With A Hernia." But the duplication of the computerized animation of Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" in "Beverly Hillbillies" taken from UHF, as well as Mark Knopfler's dayglo bandannas, is simply remarkable. And for sheer silliness, check out the Devo-inspired "Dare To Be Stupid."
Al's status as pop culture collector and wizard at turning it into his art can be demonstrated in "Ricky," a B&W replication of "I Love Lucy." It briefly turns into colour at the end, where a cheerleader makes a cameo appearance, in reference to the fact that the song was based on Toni Basil's "Mickey." Using the 1950's B&W clips of "Duck and Cover," scenes of mushroom clouds, and various crude animation for "Christmas At Ground Zero" put a silly if not twisted spin on what the US still ridiculously feared as late as the 80's.
The claymation of "Jurassic Park," based on Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park," can't be all that bad for having Barney being decapitated by T-Rex, and the dinosaurs and Al are all pretty funnily realized. And "Bedrock Anthem" -remember "yabba dabba yabba dabba dabba doo now" has got to be the most surreal, although the shot of the Bee Girl from the Blind Melon video getting pushed offstage is funny in itself.
Of his newer oeuvre, "Amish Paradise" has got to be the funniest, with Al decked out in the height of Amish fashion, black hat, beard and all. Best gags include the phone that hasn't been used and the implied innuendo of Al churning butter when an Amish female walks by. Noted for a nonspoken appearance by Florence Henderson. "It's All About The Pentiums" infuses Al's goofiness with the flashy high energy concert and a series of Dilbert-type office cubicles, where the fans are all yuppy-type executives. And there are enough sight gags to make "Smells Like Nirvana" a newer classic, set in the same school as "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Wanna see Al bald? Then check out "Gump" where a guy with a haircut eerily like Forrest has all sorts of misadventures with his box of chocolates intercut with scenes of Al and his band.
The lightweight ones, performance clips involving a few laughs are the ballads "You Don't Love Me Anymore" and the Elvis-like "One More Minute." Al could've done more with "The Saga Begins" as that too is a performance clip with Al in a Jedi robe.
Of note are a few videos for songs that aren't on any Weird Al studio album. Foremost is "Headline News," set to the Crash Test Dummies' "Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm," and tells of the then-topical events of Michael Fay being caned in Singapore, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. And when you have comedian Judy Tenuta as Loreena Bobbitt-watch out! "Bob," set to a Dylanesque number complete with harmonica, is modeled after the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" segment of Dylan's Don't Look Back, and has the ingenious method of singing in palindromes(!!!!!) "Spy Hard" is merely the opening titles of the movie, with most of the credits removed.
The bonus features include Al's first TV appearance, on The Tomorrow Show, where he performs "Another One Rides The Bus" with his partner John Schwartz, who has a suitcase for a rhythm instrument and silly noisemakers around his neck for him to blow.
Rating: Summary: WOW Review: WONDERFUL! FANTASTIC! Ok, i know all of these videos were released already but STILL! WEIRD AL! Also an awesome photo gallery.. Only bad thing is they need more special features.... BUT IF YOU'RE AN AL FAN, GET ONE NOW!
Rating: Summary: Hey Bryan, you don't get BOB??? Review: You're right, Al is a genious and this time the genious went right over your head. While Bob Dylan is a master poet, Al is a pantamimist (?). Watch the video again. All the lyrics read the same forwards as they do backwards. Cool huh?Anyway, yes this is the best of Al. I finally got a chance to watch "Living with a Hernia" over and over again. The classic "Eat It" and "Fat" are all here along with the almost forgotten "I love Rocky Road". Hey this was the first time I ever even heard of the video for "Christmas at Ground Zero". The "Another one rides the Bus" live performance is classic as Al still looks like a starving college student who could be playing on the sidewalk. Rock on Al. You've come a long way baby, just like a Virginia Slim.
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