Awesome: FRESH rottentomatoes.com rating

[2sweet2Bsour]

I love rottentomatoes.com, so I was very happy to see "Awesome! . . . " on there holding its own with a very solid "fresh" rating. 81% currently - and with 17 reviews, that's not bad. Better than Basic Instinct 2, with its deplorable 10% rotten rating! True BI2 has more reviews (51) but only 5 of those are "fresh." So there. :)

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/awesome_i_fuckin_shot_that/

[gaselite]

yup, I've been keeping up with the tomatometre since Sundance, great way to keep up with all the reviews. Some of the reviews are really positive. A couple are really negative but oh well, that's just how things are. I just saw this review via RT:

http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=141742&buy=open&Tab=reviews&CID=13#tabs

Sergei Eisenstein, a key figure in the development of montage editing, quoted Goethe when he wrote, "In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it." Only a collision of independent shots captures the spirit of cinema, and a dialectic approach to film can make it a unique art form. But even as a pioneer, surely Eisenstein never envisioned the possibilities of the digital age and what the Beastie Boys accomplished with Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!, a concert movie undertaken with a very novel approach to filmmaking.
On October 9th, 2004, the Beastie Boys handed out 50 Hi-8 digital cameras to audience members at their concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. Prior to the concert, the band solicited applications from their website to film the concert, and people were selected based on seat location, personality, and ownership of a major credit card and a driver's license. Those accepted were given a few basic instructions on operation, handed the cameras before the show, and told to "Turn the camera on when the lights turn off." Following the two-hour concert, the cameras were collected and synced together, and, with some professional footage shot by the band's own people, the film was edited together by Nathaniel Hörnblower (a.k.a. MCA, a.k.a. Adam Yauch) to create the best concert movie ever made.

There's an infectious energy that's created at a live concert, and even the most individualistic of us find it easy to merge into that massive group feeling that, both physically and emotionally, bonds audience members together. Some regard concerts the way the religious regard church, even following their favorite bands around the world. There has never been a concert film that has carried that feeling over into film like this one. We've seen lots that have been shot from the audience's perspective, but never before have audience members been the ones with the direct relationship to the viewer. Another benefit is that the audience captures details that would be lost by professionals: an intense bass that shakes the camera, servers waiting on the concourse level with champagne, joint smoking, bathroom breaks, and bonding between people who share the same enthusiasm for the event. And there's a level of honesty to the photography that intensifies the experience. The film reaches a climax at the right time—when the band emerges for their encore right smack in the middle of the audience.

In terms of cinematic conventions and editing , Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That! is a tremendous accomplishment, and one that seems natural for the Beastie Boys. In music, they've been at the forefront of creating new mixes of their songs, and their Criterion DVD has features, like being able to select different cuts of the songs with different edits of their videos, that aren't utilized outside the milieu of pornography.

With Awesome, it's not surprising that they came up with such an inventive idea, but it is surprising that the actual execution is flawless. Think about it. They had to seamlessly sync together and edit more than 50 different shots for a 90-minute film, match the edits with movements in the songs, find the best shot for each second, and keep it fresh for the entire concert. Actually, the most engaging visuals are when they display all 50 shots at once. The sheer effort it took to edit the film is enough to make it a must-see for even non-Beastie Boys fans. It's not the type of film to get nominated for Oscars, but, trust me, there won't be a superior technical achievement in film all year. The editing concepts will be parroted forever. "Awesome" isn't a big enough word for how great this movie is.


good stuff :)

[2sweet2Bsour]

good stuff :)

Word! I love the reviewers that "get" it. One thing that a lot of them have said that rings so true to me is how this movie so perfectly captures the concert-going experience. After watching it I felt like I had been there. So you know who I love, here's who I hate: the reviewers that say the movie feels as though you had been there, on acid . . . and say that as though that were a bad thing. ;)

p.s. fresh rating down to 79% - but now counting 34 reviews, out of which 27 are fresh. Looking good!

[gaselite]

yeah I think the film will stay fresh. Those reviews that say you have to be high or on acid to enjoy it blah blah blah are so crap, it just sounds as though they're trying to be funny for the hell of it by paying out the movie. Ah well, I really want to see this movie, stupid Australia not getting all these movie releases :(

[laurie_hammy]

yeah I think the film will stay fresh. Those reviews that say you have to be high or on acid to enjoy it blah blah blah are so crap, it just sounds as though they're trying to be funny for the hell of it by paying out the movie. Ah well, I really want to see this movie, stupid Australia not getting all these movie releases :(

Yeah, stupid Australia :mad:

[Justin]

Yeah, stupid Australia :mad:

damn laurie! Gettin funky with the posts this morning!

by the way, good morning to you sir


ps..mondays sucks

[2sweet2Bsour]

yeah I think the film will stay fresh.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! The final stats:

Reviews counted: 34
Fresh: 27
Rotten: 7
Average Rating: 6.8/10

The critics are always wrong. Except when they agree with me. :D Well, that's it folks, nothing else to see here, move along.

[Jmoney77]

Sweet!

[jackrock]

"Really makes you feel as if you had been there ... on acid."
haha!

[Kid Presentable]

yeah I think the film will stay fresh. Those reviews that say you have to be high or on acid to enjoy it blah blah blah are so crap, it just sounds as though they're trying to be funny for the hell of it by paying out the movie. Ah well, I really want to see this movie, stupid Australia not getting all these movie releases :(

I enquired locally, and the timetable for the festival most likely to show it comes out in June, so I'll get back to you then.:)

[gaselite]

dude, I think I love you :p

Fingers crossed. If it's a fair way off I think I might just order the DVD (y)