Search - Gorillaz :: Phase One: Celebrity Take Down

Great Companion Piece

drqshadow | Bradenton, FL USA | 05/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Celebrity Take Down is, at heart, a companion piece to the debut Gorillaz album, offering closure to the first chapter in the band's existence as well as teasers of what's to come and hints of what might have been. Each of the faux-group's first four videos are featured in their entirety, from the still-life anti drama of "Tomorrow Comes Today" to the goofy, horror satire of "Clint Eastwood," and the audio is mixed brilliantly in Dolby 5.1 surround. It really is a whole new experience, taking these videos in with a crisp voice shouting from the front of the room, while the drums hit you from behind and the guitars ring on both sides.



Each video is accompanied by a variety of extras, including early-production versions of the computer graphics used in "19/2000," as well as storyboards and developmental sketches composed for "Rock the House." There's even a full storyboard for an unfinished video, "5/4," that's set to music and fits right in alongside its peers with an offbeat sense of humor and a great, imaginative premise. Rounding out the disc is a vast collection of promotional slicks and sketches of the characters "behind the scenes" at the various music video shoots, interviews with the fictional members of the band, five bizarre short films starring said band members and a lengthy mock-u-mentary about creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. The short films are fun to watch, if just to see more of the characters and Hewlett's visual flair, but lack the substance and dark, self-deprecating humor of the videos, and the documentary is more of the same. The extras are filled to the brim with slapstick comedy and silliness for the sake of being silly, while the videos never seem to force a joke and come off as much more refined and intelligent.



The interface is a little goofy, breaking from the traditional "Play All, Hands Off" nature that dominates today's DVD market. If you ever visited the Gorillaz web site when the band was first starting to take off, this will look very familiar. There's no quick and dirty way to navigate the disc's contents, instead you must navigate between the various rooms of the band members, look for a television screen, open magazine or personal computer, and click on it. You won't know which video you're about to watch or what bonus material you're about to discover until you're already knee-deep in it. It's a clever idea, but I don't know that it works as well on the TV, where people are conditioned to sit and stare, as it did on the monitor, where you're much more familiar with forced interactivity. Some of the allure of the site is missing from this DVD interface, as the developers had to make it obvious which areas were interactive and which weren't, and overall the experience is somewhat disorienting.



Easily enough, this disc is a Gorillaz fan's dream come true. The audio mix and video quality alone are worth a look if you enjoy the band's gimmick in the slightest, which I do, and the attention to every detail of the videos' production is really nice to see. I can live with an underdeveloped interface design and a few out-of-place featurettes."

A Must-Have for a True Gorillaz Fan!!!

GorillazGirlie | Reno, NV USA | 11/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gorillaz have created an oddly bizarre, but really, really funny DVD! This DVD is titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down- for some unknown reason, Damon and Jamie can come up with quite a bit of a few really wierd stuff, and that's one reason why this DVD's so great!

This DVD is only a few minutes shy of three whole hours of running content, and comes with a CD Rom for your computer, which includes a "Geep" ride game, about 10 cool wallpapers for your computer, and 8 great and wonderful screensavers, even one with Murdoc in the "Rock the House" video, you yourself might know how hillarious that video is! If you do not, just purchase the DVD, it includes several videos, such as, Rock the House (really funny), Clint Eastwood (great animation, award winner EMAs 2002), Tomorrow Comes Today (Gorillaz first "big hit") 19/2000 (very catchy tune, even better video!), and some clips of many videos before they got finished! If you have seen the 19/200 video, you have probably never seen it before it was really finished, it was really funny, and Murdoc pretty much creamed 2D at the end blaming him for the "Geep" wreck, but I guess they decided not to use that version- even though it's laugh out loud hillarious, and that's another reason you should buy this if you are a fan, you get to see some things that you never get to see anywhere else- not the Internet, not Gorillaz.com, and no, not Rayley's, so come on, what are you waiting for?

THIS DVD INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:

1. PROMO VIDEOS, STORY BOARDS AND ANIMATICS FOR TOMORROW COMES TODAY, CLINT EASTWOOD, 19/200 AND 5/4 (a video must see, not on Gorillaz.com)!

2. MULTI ANGLE LIVE AT THE BRITS PERFORMANCE INCLUDING MANDARIN VERSION (Clint Eastwood)

3. 5 GORILLA BITES (Hey, Our Toys Have Arrived, Jump The Gut, The Eel, Game Of Death, and Free Tibit Campaign) ALL VERY FUNNY!

4. GORILLAZ GALLERY

5. WEBSITE TOUR

6. LIVE SHOW VISUALS

7. INTERVIEW WITH 2D

8. DR WURZELS WINNEBEGO

9. THE CHARTS OF DARKNESS DOCUMENTARY

and hidden extras!!!!! I hope I have written a good review, I think it would certainly tell you enough about this DVD, and I really hope that if you read my review as one of them to affect your purchasing desision, I hope that you bought this, and go to their website, it's really as fun as this DVD. PURCHASING FOR A KID UNDER 13? I hope you bought this video, although, if you are searching for a child under 13, I advise against it strongly, it is kind of mellow and has no content that has to do with- well, you know, but it has some profanity, and Clint Eastwood has to do with weed, and there is some unpleasant animated content, but that's why it has a PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT label on the lower right hand corner, so keep that in mind and enjoy!"

Unseen Stuff

S. V. Lee | England | 11/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At last a Gorillaz DVD.
On this disc you get 5 Music videos; Clint Eastwood, 19/2000, Tomorrow Comes Today, Rock Da House and the previously unreleased video - 5/4.
The disc also has little animation clips and storyboards as well as other cool features. You get a cd full of stuff for your PC and in the limited edition Set you get a 52 page Gorillaz Illustration History and a sheet of stickers.
This is definately worth buying and is a must for all Gorillaz Fans."