No Leaf Clover is one of two original compositions to appear on Metallica’s 1999 live album, S&M. S&M stood for Symphony and Metallica and any other possible interpretation was just a coincidence. (Sure!)
Directed by Wayne Isham, this video features both Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony bringing the song to life. This was also the second to last Metallica video to feature bassist Jason Newsted.
Enjoy!
It doesn’t get much more British than Genesis trying to rehearse while Benny Hill tries to keep groupies (some of whom are Page 3 girls) from sneaking backstage!
This video was never officially released. As far as I know, it never aired on MTV. Instead, the video was used to introduce the band during their Invisible Touch tour. Anything She Does was the one Invisible Touch song that was not performed live by the band during that tour. Keyboardist Tony Banks, who wrote the song, said it was difficult to play.
The song itself is about a man who is in love with a model that he’s never met.
Enjoy!
Do you want to watch one of the most expensive music videos ever made?
Even more importantly, do you have 15 minutes to watch MC Hammer?
The idea behind this video is that MC Hammer is thinking about quitting the business but James Brown wants him to steal Michael Jackson’s glove. Before we even get to Hammer, we sit through James Belushi as a newscaster and cameos from several 1991 celebrities. Danny Glover, Henry Winkler, Freedom Williams, David Faustino, Barry Sobel, Ralph Tresvant, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, Eazy-E, DJ Quik, 2nd II None, Tony Danza, Queen Latifah and Milli Vanilli all appear in this video, as do several athletes: José Canseco, Isiah Thomas, Kirby Puckett, Jerry Rice, Rickey Henderson, Deion Sanders, Andre Rison, Wayne Gretzky, Chris Mullin, Roger Clemens, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Lynette Woodard, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, David Robinson, and former Atlanta Falcons coach Jerry Glanville. Obviously, with David Faustino and Tony Danza standing behind him, there was no way MC Hammer could quit.
This video was named the fifth worst music video of all time by MAX Music. That was only with hindsight, though. A shortened version was a hit on MTV and, in 1991, the Atlanta Falcons dubbed themselves the 2 Legit 2 Quite Falcons. (They went 10-6 that season.)
Director Rupert Wainwright also did the video for U Can’t Touch This.
Enjoy!
Robin Prince (Mark Harmon) is a laid-back former volleyball player who, at the age of 32, makes his living as a pool guy. It’s an easy life and he enjoys it. He sleeps with the wife (Deborah Harmon) of one of his clients and he hangs out with his richer friends. Robin enjoys being a bachelor but that all changes when he agrees to give a job to Justin (Patrick Labyorteaux), the son of Stanley Auerbach (Robert Vaughn) and meets Justin’s cousin, an artist named Jamie Harrison (Kirstie Alley). Justin goes from being bitter about having to work to idolizing Robin and his lifestyle. Robin, meanwhile, falls for Jamie.
This film came out before Summer School, another movie that featured Mark Harmon as a laid-back guy who falls for Kirstie Alley, but it has a similar vibe. Again, Mark Harmon is playing a likable guy who has never grown up and again, Kirstie Alley is playing a sophisticated woman who, at first, seems like she’s too serious for Harmon’s character. Robin’s mentorship of Justin feels a lot like Hamon’s mentorship of his Summer School students. (Dean Cameron even plays a supporting role in both Prince of Bel-Air and Summer School, though he’s far more memorable in Summer School.) Prince of Bel-Air is more dramatic than Summer School. In Prince of Bel-Air, Mark Harmon plays a character who secretly understands that there’s not much of a future in his lifestyle, even if he’s not initially willing to admit it.
Prince of Bel-Air is a likable movie. Mark Harmon gives an amiable and relatable performance as someone who is finally trying to grow up and, as always, Robert Vaughn is a perfectly smug villain. Kirstie Alley’s sultry performance is the highlight of the film. In the 1980s, Alley has a smoky-eyed beauty that, when combined with her ribald sense of humor, made her irresistible. It only takes a few minutes to understand why Robin would be willing to give up his previous life to be with her. There’s nothing particularly deep about Prince of Bel-Air but it’s still an entertaining 100 minutes.
Vanilla Ice was very popular in 1990.
By 1991, everyone was sick of him. How unpopular was Vanilla Ice? He was so unpopular that 3rd Bass scored a moderate with Pop Goes The Weasel, a song attacking him for cultural appropriation. Like Vanilla Ice, two of the rappers in 3rd Bass were Caucasian but they presented themselves as respecting rap’s traditions and history. Vanilla Ice, on the other hand, couldn’t even be bothered to give credit to Queen for stealing their bass line.
This video found a lot of popularity on MTV. Ironically, it was MTV that made Vanilla Ice a star to begin with by repeatedly playing the video for Ice Ice Baby. In this video, Vanilla Ice was played by Henry Rollins.
Director Jesse Dylan has also done videos for Tom Waits, The Black Keyes, Eels, Skid Row, Lenny Kravitz and Lita Ford. He also directed the Will Ferrell soccer epic, Kicking and Screaming.
Enjoy!
I don’t think anyone was ever expecting to see a Kelly Reichardt heist film but I guess we should never say never. In The Mastermind, Josh O’Connor stars as a suburban family man who leads a double life as an art thief. As you can see in the trailer below, The Mastermind may be a crime film but it still features Reichardt’s signature minimalist style.
The Mastermind is scheduled to be released on October 17th.
by John Romita
In 1983, Spider-Man and the Cowboys teamed up to defeat the Circus of Crime. This was a 60 cent value that sells for $18.00 today!
One it comes to one-hit wonders, there really aren’t many that hold up as well as Come On Eileen. In a year dominated by Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Come On Eileen managed to take first place on the Billboard 100, displacing Billie Jean before then being displaced itself by Beat It.
The music video of Come On Eileen was filmed in the inner south London district of Elephant and Castle in the vicinity of the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then known as Austral Street and Holyoak Road. Playing the role of Eileen was Máire Fahey, the sister of Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey. “Poor old Johnnie Ray” appears as himself, via footage of him arriving at Heathrow Airport in 1954.
Director Julien Temple is perhaps best known for his association with the Sex Pistols, having directed both The Great Rock and Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury.
Enjoy!
Daniel Day-Lewis “retired’ from acting in 2017, following his acclaimed performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. However, later this year, he will be returning to the big screen in Anemone. Anemone was directed by Ronan Day-Lewis, Daniel’s son. Ronan and Daniel collaborated on the script. Perhaps not coincidentally, Anemone features Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, playing father-and-son.
Anemone will premiere at the New York Film Festival in September before then moving onto a theatrical release in October.
Somehow, I missed that a film version of The Long Walk is on the verge of being released.
The Long Walk is one of Stephen King’s best novels, even if it is one that he wrote under the name of Richard Bachman. In a dystopian future, a group of young men enter an annual walking contest. They have to walk a certain number of miles an hour (four in the book but apparently three in the film) and, if they fall behind or stop, they are executed by the soldiers following them. The Walk continues until there is only one survivor. The Long Walk feels like a distant cousin to The Running Man (the book, not necessarily the film adaptation).
The film version of The Long Walk was directed by Francis Lawrence, who previous directed The Hunger Games sequels, and has a cast that includes Cooper Hoffman, Charlie Plummer, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill as the main bad guy. Who knows if the film will do justice to the book’s bleak tone. The trailer offers some hints. The film will be released on September 12th.
Through the Shattered Lens 