Sabotage, Praise You, and now Drunk Girls. It’s not even fair.

And the list goes on. Cannonball. If I Only Had a Brain. Buddy Holly. California. Da Funk. Sky’s The Limit. Weapon of Choice. It’s ridiculous, really. And on top of that, one of his very first music videos was for Norman’s own Chainsaw Kittens for their High in High School video.

Jonze’s music videos demonstrate a visual wizardry that’s unparalleled and often copied.  These wonderful visuals that show up in his videos also manage to maintain a rough sheen to them. They’re just like big skateboarding videos. You sit there in awe of the amazing tricks being laid down and it doesn’t matter that they’re being captured with a lowly video camera. You are seeing magic. And someone has captured it for you. That is Spike Jonze. It’s what he does with music videos and what he has brought to his feature films. 

Oh, and it just so happens that Spike Jonze is going to be in Oklahoma City. TONIGHT. At the deadCENTER Kick-Off. He’ll be here with the documentary he co-produced about Mat Hoffman, who will also be in attendance. The Birth of Big Air is an outdoor, free-for-everyone public screening on Broadway between 4th & 5th at around 9:30 p.m.  Where else would you want to be?

Jack says in the film that his favorite thing anyone has written about The White Stripes is that they are “simultaneously the most fake band…and the most real band in the world.” To me, that very Dylan-esque dichotomy really does sum up what the band is all about. They are the rawest, bluesiest form of cabaret. They are ultimate intensity in red, white, and black.

Thankfully, director Emmett Malloy crafts his tour documentary of the band with that aesthetic in mind. It is no Behind the Music attempt at biography or explanation. Jack and Meg White aren’t concerned with rehashing the past. It doesn’t matter whether or not they are brother and sister, or husband and wife. What matters is putting on a great show.

The film, shot mostly in black and white (and red) on 16mm, follows the band as they undertake their first Canadian tour. As they traverse all the provinces of Canada putting on shows, Jack & Meg surprise the locals with unique daytime shows. There’s a One Note Show. There’s a sing-a-long on a city bus. There’s a show in a bowling alley. There are short shows in town squares and in community centers. The quirky daytime locations provide the film and the tour with a bit of levity, while the footage from the regular shows leave this White Stripes fan wanting even more. Malloy captures the performances nicely–the grainy 16mm fitting perfectly with the band’s aesthetic–even if the sound in the theatre wasn’t perfectly balanced.

Meg & Jack -- http://whitestripes.bside.com/press-materials/

Amidst the levity of the daytime shows and the intensity of the nighttime performances, the documentary also presents an emotional side. Meg, who is the quieter and shyer of the duo (and given subtitles in the documentary), is seated on a piano bench as Jack plays and sings “White Moon.” As tears begin to slide down her cheeks, it is evident that the pressures of touring and fame may finally be too much to bear. A couple of months later, the band would cancel the remainder of the tour citing Meg’s acute anxiety. Whether or not The White Stripes tour again remains a mystery.

Dwight’s Top 10 Movies of 2008
1. A Christmas Tale
2. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
3. Wall-E
4. Man on Wire
5. Paranoid Park
6. The Dark Knight
7. Son of Rambow
8. Chop Shop
9. Milk
10. Trouble the Water

Still haven’t seen: Wendy and Lucy, Ballast, Happy Go-Lucky, Let the Right One In, Synechdoche, NY, My Winnipeg, Waltz With Bashir, Flight of the Red Balloon, Doubt, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire.

Even though this blog is primarily focused on movies, I can’t resist including my music lists. While I did a piss-poor job at listening to music in ’08 (and came to it late at that), I did manage to come up with lists for my best albums and songs of the year.

Dwight’s Top 10 Albums of 2008
1. She & Him – Volume One
2. Fleet Foxes – s/t
3. Frightened Rabbit — The Midnight Organ Fight
4. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Jolie Holland – The Living and the Dead
6. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
7. Conor Oberst — s/t
8. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
9. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
10. (3-way tie) Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers — The Confiscation EP, The Decemberists — Always the Bridesmaid Singles, The Mountain Goats — Satanic Messiah EP

Dwight’s Top 10 Songs of 2008
1. “Mexico City/Corrido Por Buddy/Palmyra” – Jolie Holland (OK, it’s 3 songs. But it’s what I consider to be the best 13 minutes of music in ’08.)
2. “Valerie Plame” — The Decemberists
3. “Sentimental Heart” – She & Him
4. “I Will Possess Your Heart” – Death Cab for Cutie
5. “Skinny Love” — Bon Iver
6. “See Fernando” — Jenny Lewis
7. “We Call Upon The Author” — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
8. “White Winter Hymnal” – Fleet Foxes
9. “Dancing Choose” – TV on the Radio
10. “Head Rolls Off” — Frightened Rabbit