THRILLER review

As a tribute to the late Michael Jackson, who is known as the so-called King of Pop, I am going to review his most, or probably THE most famous music video of all-time, Thriller.

Back in ‘83, the year this music video was made, no one saw anything like it. It was more like a short film rather than a conventional music video because it had a narrative, rather than just having the singer or band performing their hit in front of cameras.

Here’s it’s narrative, even though it isn’t much of one: Michael (Michael Jackson) and his girlfriend (Ola Ray) walk out of a horror movie and decide to take a walk down a foggy street in the nighttime, where Michael sings and dances to the verses of his Thriller song. As they pass a cemetery, corpses start rising out of their graves to Vincent Price’s rap (yes, THAT Vincent Price doing a rap, he even says ‘y’all’ to prove it) and then surround Michael and his girl. They are then terrorised by the zombies, or at least his girlfriend is, through the art of performing the famous Thriller dance.

To this day, this music video would still be considered unconventional because music videos these days are rarely made as short films. But what do I think of Thriller on a personal level? I think it is quite an entertaining, funny (intentionally and maybe slightly unintentionally) and creative because it just takes one unexpected step after the other with its several twists and turns. By the way, if you’re wondering why I said this video is funny, it’s because it doesn’t seem to take itself very seriously. After all, it is a spoof of horror movies. Also, a good example of its humour is in its disclaimer after the end credits about the film’s characters and events.

I also forgot to mention that this video still has the power to scare, no matter how cheesy it is. It has quite an atmosphere that can still unnerve anyone (the fact that its dated also helps a lot). I recommend you watch it with the lights off to fully understand what I mean.

However, what this video will mostly be known for is its choreography. It never gets old and it really does show how much of a mover Michael Jackson was.

Thriller is  a music video that will go down in music history’s page as it made the music video a form of storytelling. Thriller will always be known as a classic and just proves how ahead of his time Michael Jackson was.

4.5 yellow eyes out of 5

Click here to watch it.

VHS collectors and cinephiles, take note

Remember how I did a post a while ago that just contained clips from old VHS tapes? If not, then don’t worry because they were just clips taken from a YouTube channel (pardon my laziness but I ran out of ideas for posts that day) that I strongly recommed you check out. It is called AussieRoadshow, created by a VHS collector from Australia, who goes by the name of Darron. This channel mostly contains videos of bumpers and trailers extracted from old Australian (maybe American and UK) VHS tapes. There are also some informative and iteresting videos of him showing off his VHS (and sometimes his DVD) collection (he even has the very rare X-rated Australian VHS edition of ‘Pink Flamingos’). Interested? If so, click here.

So in conclusion, I would like to leave you with one of my favourite VHS bumpers. Anyone remember this (it’s starts at the 0:26 mark)?:

TERMINATOR SALVATION review

(in memory of David Carradine and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, it was great to meet you)

I guess a lot of people hated Terminator 3 because it was unnecessary and ruined the second movie’s ending, which was supposed to be left to open-interpretation. Its ending was a powerful emphasis to its message of how we do not know what will happen to us in the future. But other than that, I will admit that it was a fun and entertaining film and it ended making me wonder what the next film will be like as it will have a very different storyline. It won’t be set in the present where robots from the future will come back to kill John Connor, instead it will be set in judgement day in the war against the machines. So I was waiting for this movie with much anticipation and whilst I was not expecting it to be as good as the first two Terminator films, I was expecting it to be at least better than the third film (even though I did not have too many problems with it). Surprisingly it isn’t. Unlike the first three movies, there is not a lot to remember about this one but I will admit, it was quite entertaining when it wanted to be.

Set in 2018 in the post-apocalypse, years after judgement day, the resistance, lead by our hero, John Connor (Christian Bale) is at war with Skynet and its army of Terminators. Connor then encounters Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man who was experimented on after his death by Dr. Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) and 15 years later, Wright wakes up as half-man half-machine, who believes he is still human. Both Connor and Marcus then go on a journey back in time to rescue the young teenage Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) from Skynet because Kyle Reese is of course, John Connor’s future father.

I always expect a movie to stick to its storyline throughout and this one does not. Unlike the previous three movies, this movie’s narrative is a mess. Sometimes the viewer gets to know what is going on; sometimes it just jumps randomly from one plot point to another rather than just letting itself flow. And this movie also makes me wonder, what happened to the T-1000s and the T-Xs that we saw in the previous two movies? How come we see no more of them? This all contributes to making this movie rather forgettable, as it just confuses us with its unanswered questions and getting lost in it own world rather than sticking to its storyline.

But as I have said before, Terminator Salvation isn’t entirely bad. It has a rather clever use of referencing the first two Terminator films (sometimes these references are quite subtle) and has several scenes that are technically well crafted. Key examples include the action sequences, which use a series of one-take shots using handheld camerawork. And speaking of action, this movie has something that we don’t get a lot in cinema these days, and that is a decent chase scene.

But overall, Terminator Salvation is a bit of a disappointment but thankfully the series has not ended on a disappointing note (or at least not yet) as this movie promises a sequel in its cliffhanger ending. I wonder what that one will be like.

3 convincing Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alikes out of 5

Next post next week – 14/6/09

Urgh! When will Year 12 end?