Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!

I went into this movie expecting something totally different. But what I got was pretty awesome. The shakiness of the amateur videography sometimes caused a kind of "Blair Witch" effect on me, but the professional camera shots that were worked into it balanced the effect. The audio is booming & is much like being at a concert. The style of the movie changes gradually throughout the show, which kept me focused on the screen when I was tempted to just rock out in my seat. The Beastie Boys have been on the scene for a long time. This movie shows not only their ability to rock a sold out show at Madison Square Garden, but it also conveys the amazing connection they have with each and every fan in that audience. If you're a fan, you must see it. Even if you're not a rabid follower of the Boys, you'll still enjoy the show. I left the theater feeling as if I had been at The Garden that night.

What a brilliant idea. The film captures the concert experience so well, from the obvious stage shots, but also buying beer & concessions, restroom breaks, backstage, green room, security (although a surprisingly a bit lacking). It truly gives you the experience of "being there". As for the other reviewers who rate this low and/or say, it's only good if you are a Beastie Boys fan, my question to them would be: If you are not a Beastie Boys fan, why would you watch it in the first place??? Why would anyone watch some band's DVD if you don't like the band?

One of the other cool effects are the DVD extras. Periodically throughout the DVD, an icon appears that you can click on... it takes you to an isolated camera view shot by a fan, labels "Camera (x)" (whatever number that may be). Also, a grid view of all 50 cameras at once is an option but while I found this another great idea in imagination, it isn't the best way to view the DVD, In sum, a truly original concert DVD. We lost a talent in MCA.

The concept for this concert film is brilliant and unconventional. It was a fabulous idea to provide the cameras when cameras are normally prohibited at concerts. However, unless you're a huge Beastie Boys fan, chances are you will not enjoy the film as much as their rabid fans do. The clever 50 camera perspective got old for me after about 15 minutes. There were not enough unique shots for me considering they employed 50 different angles and 50 different techniques. The sound quality was average, but improved as the film progressed. If you love the Boys, you'll love 'Awesome'. If you don't know them well or don't enjoy this music, I doubt you like the film.

The Beastie Boys are hard to classify. You could call them white Jewish rappers out of NYC (one from Brooklyn, Adam aka Nathanial Hornblower, also the director of the movie). But they also were punk rockers, and this never really left them completely. They just love a good beat, and they'll do whatever to get it. Of course they have their Mix Master Mike at the turntable (probably some of the best turntable stylizations I've ever heard), but there's a moment during the concert when I knew more than ever that the Beasties are a unique lot. They go back behind the stage after a number and come back out on some contraption that wheels them and a couple other back up band members, all donned in clothes from a 2nd rate mariachi group, and proceed to play music- without really rapping through both songs- like a cross between Phish and Peter Frampton! It's a very weird moment, but it's still groovy to see and experience. Just like the movie itself.

Done in a completely freewheeling style, Yauch decided to let a whole s***load of fans bring in cameras, contrary to the usual tact of not allowing any cameras (albeit cell phones are now the name of the game for that), and let fifty amateurs film at will during the concert. What ends up being the concert has more edits than Requiem for a Dream squared. It truly goes get crazy, over and over again, as the Beastie Boys go through a terrific show at Madison Square Garden. And it's presented like some crazy art movie from the 60s, without any regard for any of the conventions (well, maybe one or two, but I'll digress). There's rotoscoping, there's disjointed close-ups, there's free-framing during songs, there's real rhythm put in to have the viewer get into the editing along with the songs. Now, to be sure, sometimes this does get tiresome, especially during a song or two (I forget the names) that aren't that good anyway.

But for the most part the Beasties deliver, and the style goes hyper-kinetic to make a point in visual terms that follows along from a tradition started in the movie Woodstock: it's about the audience just as much as the group on stage, so it becomes totally communal. The audience knows all the words to Paul Revere's Horse, and there's even a juxtaposition of a girl dancing and one of the Beasties busting a move on stage. And in terms of a concert movie the group delivers their best work: Body Movin, Brass Monkey, Mic Check, and two of my favorites (in encore, naturally) with Intergalactic and Sabotage (the latter with moshpit in tow, a surprise as the finishing number). The energy is high, the technique is bravely 'anything goes', and as should be with the Beastie Boys it's a lot of fun.

In 2004 NYC, the Beastie Boys are performing at Madison Square Garden. They hand out 50 hand-held digital cameras to selected audience members. They use the footage gathered by these fans and put together a concert movie unlike any other before it.

The idea of amateur video is better than the actual execution. The good is to see what is not normally shown. Somebody took their camera into the bathroom. The bad is everything about amateur cameramen. The video looks grainy. It's either shaky or jarringly shaky. It's unfocused. At the core of it all, there is the music. That is good for the fans but not a successful cinematic effort for everybody else.