Rating: 
Summary: The Work of Director Spike Jonze
Review: As good as it is, I think this compilation could have been much better. Since the Director's Series kind of wraps up the pre-feature film work of 3 directors, it heralds the end of their music video days. And really, the only great thing on this DVD is the music videos. It includes several of Spike's videos, including his begininngs, to his later ones. Of course his most famous ones, like Buddy Holly, Sabotage, and Weapon of Choice, end up being the best ones. Then there's some that are equally good, and very well done in the technical sense, such as Drop, Elektrobank, and California. I think after watching each one a couple times, they will grow on you.However, I think this is the weakest set out of the Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, and Spike Jones 3-pack. It really has some great ones, but is missing some great ones, as well. That, and it's another A-side, B-side disc, however, it has a very nice thick booklet accompanying the DVD with rare Spize Jonze interviews. The B-Side has some documentaries and other stuff, but nothing nearly as interesting as the music videos. A highlight of this set would be the commentaries by the bands, which is on nearly every music video. So, if you like music videos, and especially Spike Jonze's, then this is a definite buy for you. However, if you already have the key ones, or don't like Jonzey-boy very much, this set won't introduce much great material to win you over.
Rating:
Summary: fantastic, but leaves you wanting for (so much) more
Review: It's strange because this compilation is simultaneously my dream dvd and a disappointment. spike jonze is my music video hero, and for years i've been dreaming of getting the chance to watch and re-watch all of his work on dvd especially since the music video channels in my part of the world are pretty lame. i bought the disc the day it came out, and was saddened to find out that not even half of the videos spike made are in the dvd. which would be ok if it were someone like francis lawrence who makes only the occassional video worth watching, but we're talking spike jonze here! all of his videos are masterpieces! brilliant works like elastica's car song, sean lennon's home, pavement's shady lane, rem's crush with eyeliner and tenacious d's wonderboy (!) are missing, as are spike's earlier works with sonic youth and mike watt. aside from that, videos like the beastie boys' sure shot and the mc 900ft jesus track are just ok and could have easily been replaced by the better works previously mentioned. alas, this is still spike jonze, and he's still made a lot more music video masterworks compared to most directors, so this dvd is more than worth it to 90's alternative music and music video fans. most of the classics are there, especially bjork's it's oh so quiet, beastie boys' sabotage, wax's california and the two award-winning fatboy slim videos. the extras are just great, and the 52 page booklet is lovely in the sense that it allows you to see what went on in the mind of contemporary cinema's most reclusive genius.
Rating: 
Summary: A question for anyone with the 3-pack......Need help........
Review: Okay, I have a question concerning a song that may or may not be on Spike's dvd. I only have the Michel Gondry dvd, and on the "Stories and things" menu they have an option where you can see trailers for the Spike Jonze Director's Label dvd, as well as the Chris Cunningham one. Anyways, I watched the Spike trailer first, and the song they play during the trailer is absolutely incredible!! I NEED to know what it is!! There's no singing, and there are violins playing over this trance-y sorta' music. It's got a girl sort of humming in the background, and there's an occasional ticking sound. It sounds like something that Fatboy Slim could have done, but I have no clue who's song it is. If anybody knows the song can they PLEASE help me out?? I'd seriously appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Rating:
Summary: A question for anyone with the 3-pack......Need help........
Review: Okay, I have a question concerning a song that may or may not be on Spike's dvd. I only have the Michel Gondry dvd, and on the "Stories and things" menu they have an option where you can see trailers for the Spike Jonze Director's Label dvd, as well as the Chris Cunningham one. Anyways, I watched the Spike trailer first, and the song they play during the trailer is absolutely incredible!! I NEED to know what it is!! There's no singing, and there are violins playing over this trance-y sorta' music. It's got a girl sort of humming in the background, and there's an occasional ticking sound. It sounds like something that Fatboy Slim could have done, but I have no clue who's song it is. If anybody knows the song can they PLEASE help me out?? I'd seriously appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Rating:
Summary: A question for anyone with the 3-pack......Need help........
Review: Okay, I have a question concerning a song that may or may not be on Spike's dvd. I only have the Michel Gondry dvd, and on the "Stories and things" menu they have an option where you can see trailers for the Spike Jonze Director's Label dvd, as well as the Chris Cunningham one. Anyways, I watched the Spike trailer first, and the song they play during the trailer is absolutely incredible!! I NEED to know what it is!! There's no singing, and there are violins playing over this trance-y sorta' music. It's got a girl sort of humming in the background, and there's an occasional ticking sound. It sounds like something that Fatboy Slim could have done, but I have no clue who's song it is. If anybody knows the song can they PLEASE help me out?? I'd seriously appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Rating:
Summary: Spike Jonze + Pharcyde = Masterpiece
Review: Pharcyde's drop video is a masterpiece. I was remember seeing a documentary on the making of it around 10 years ago, and I was amazed. The video was filmed backwards, and played in reverse so they were going forwards. Spike brought in a LINGUIST and made Fat Lip, Slim Kid, Bootie Brown, and Imani learn the lyrics to DROP phonetically backwards, so it would look normal forwards! I had a chance to talk to Spike in SF during a premiere of Adaptation, and he was so incredibly nice. The Pharcyde is my favorite band of all time, and although (sadly) they've fallen apart, this dvd will let them live on. If you like the fat lip interview and drop video, i recommend buying the Pharcyde dvd (called Cydeways). Spike really loves the Pharcyde, and I'm glad an academy award nominated director such as Spike was able to make videos for the Pharcyde.
Rating:
Summary: Side A = Awesome. Side B = Mediocre
Review: Side A: A nice collection of music videos that made Spike Jonze a household name well before Being John Malkovich. Such "hits" as Praise You, Sabotage and Buddy Holly are all there, but it's his lesser known work that really makes this DVD worthwhile. Did you know that Notorious B.I.G.'s Sky's the Limit was directed by him? Did you know that the guy in that Wax video was really on fire? And look! It's Sofia Coppola in the Chemical Brothers' Elektrobank! The commentaries were pretty weak though. There is nothing by Jonze himself, and the band members and actors don't offer much insight (other than that Rivers Cuomo is a pretentious poser, but we already knew that). Side B: A bunch of shorts and documentaries (including a mockumentary about the Torrance Community Dance Group of the Praise You fame, starring Jonze as "Richard Koufey"), but nothing remarkable, really. The most amusing offering here was his "audition tape" for Rockafella Skank, which was a precursor to Praise You.
Rating:
Summary: Side A = Awesome. Side B = Mediocre
Review: Side A: A nice collection of music videos that made Spike Jonze a household name well before Being John Malkovich. Such "hits" as Praise You, Sabotage and Buddy Holly are all there, but it's his lesser known work that really makes this DVD worthwhile. Did you know that Notorious B.I.G.'s Sky's the Limit was directed by him? Did you know that the guy in that Wax video was really on fire? And look! It's Sofia Coppola in the Chemical Brothers' Elektrobank! The commentaries were pretty weak though. There is nothing by Jonze himself, and the band members and actors don't offer much insight (other than that Rivers Cuomo is a pretentious poser, but we already knew that). Side B: A bunch of shorts and documentaries (including a mockumentary about the Torrance Community Dance Group of the Praise You fame, starring Jonze as "Richard Koufey"), but nothing remarkable, really. The most amusing offering here was his "audition tape" for Rockafella Skank, which was a precursor to Praise You.
Rating:
Summary: Jonze shines in this stunning collection!
Review: Spike Jonze has always been the class clown of music video directors, churning out some of the silliest videos ever made. "The Work of Director Spike Jonze" is an excellent "greatest hits" collection of his work, which includes groundbreaking videos for Weezer, Fatboy Slim, The Beastie Boys, and Björk (she's the only artist who makes an appearance on all three DVDs...she knows how to pick the right directors!)
Anyway, I found the commentary very interesting, except for the two Beastie Boys videos. There was a great deal of dead air and lack of interest in their commentaries. Most interesting, however, is the commentary from Tony Maxwell, the guy in the dog costume in Daft Punk's "Da Funk" video. He discusses his first encounter with claustrophobia while wearing the costume and how they had to destroy the costume to get him out of it. Fatboy Slim gives pretty good commentary tracks, plus he's sitting in a bathtub when he gives it, which is pretty funny. And finally, Christopher Walken himself is on hand to talk about working on the "Weapon of Choice" video...and it's f***ing hilarious.
The documentaries on the flipside are very good as well, especially the Torrance Community Dance Group preparing for their appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards (which I had the good fortune to watch live). In the documentary, Spike Jonze invokes the work of Christopher Guest as he seamlessly creates an excellent mockumentary that keeps the laughs coming.
While this collection may not be as thorough as the Michel Gondry DVD, it's still essential for any Jonze fan...or for any music video fan in general.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't have ALL the videos
Review: Spike Jonze has directed about 40 videos - only 16 appear on this DVD. His Sonic Youth, R.E.M., and Mike Watt videos are notably absent, not to mention Ween and Pavement...
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