Just Done Well

[acroyear]

Every so often, just flippin' channels or in random mp3 selection, I come across something that just floors me at just how well done it was, in creation and execution and, well, everything. Sometimes its a specific TV show, sometimes its a movie, usually its something i've not seen part of for weeks or months, or even years, but the sheer rightness of it just makes me stop and delve into it again, even for just a little bit. And its often not something that our society itself has declared "masterpiece" in any way. Its just really good and that's that.

Today's case in point: the movie Better Off Dead. There simply is not a single 1-minute long section of that movie I would suggest taking out. It is funny and entertaining from the first to the last.

I followed that up with the unbelievably well done record, Steve Hackett's Voyage of the Acolyte, considered by some Genesis fans to be the best album Genesis never made. In it, there's a motif that simply couldn't be adapted into a song by itself, and instead of being discarded, finds itself in several pieces as a running thread linking the entire album together into a whole, rather than a collection of songs.

There are others. The movies Real Genius and The Fisher King. The TV shows Walking with [Prehistoric] Beasts and Jim Henson's Storyteller series. Certain albums like Marillion's Brave, Roine Stolt's The Flower King, and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. Sometimes just a specific song like Al Stewart's Roads to Moscow, Genesis's Driving the Last Spike, or Crosby & Nash's Wind on the Water.

None are "works of genius", none ever made "#1" on any popularity list that our society recognizes for importance, few ever won any awards that anybody would remember. Yet all are fine examples of what can be done simply by people who care enough to do the best work they can do, without compromise. All they wanted to do was to make something good. And in that they succeeded.

So what are your "works just done well"? what are the art forms that went largely ignored, and are today certainly forgotten by most, yet are fine examples of craftsmanship and care in a world driven solely by commercial sales and popularity ratings?

Comments

[dawntreader]

princess bride.

it's perfect. even the interruption parts with the kid were perfectly exectuted :)

[omarius.livejournal.com]

Yeah, PB is probably one of the most perfect movies of all time.

That's not what I thought of when I read the post. I thought of the song "Better Off Dead" by Bad Religion.

I'm sorry
about the world
how could I know
that you'd disapprove

And I'll never make
the same mistake
the next time I create the Universe
I'll make sure we communicate at length
Oh, yeah
But until then
You're better off dead
A smile on the lips and a hole in the head ...

[dacuteturtle.livejournal.com]

Yes. "Better Off Death" is among the most perfect yet under-rated films of the 80's. One friend showed that film for her 30th birthday.

I would add "Big Trouble in Little China". Just plain fun. Also, "Shaolin Soccer". It hasn't been released in the US, but wow, what a cooker! It's the most increadibly stupid idea for a film that just works.

Heather Nova's album, "Oyster." Too moody for the suits. And she really hits all of those notes.

The entire pop-underground, making bad records on awful recording equipment, singing crappy lyrics, with more spirit and energy than anything produced by the so-called professionals.

"Transformers: Beastwars." This is the only animated series that I know of where the WRITERS built up a fan following. The first season kinda sucks but pulls up towards the end, the second season really sings, and the third merely fairly good. A worthy watch for those who like a good story arc.

Wallace and Grommit. Nuff said. (Aww heck, EVERYTHING that guy does.)

Mainframe

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

From Mainframe, I think I still prefer Reboot over Beastwars, particularly because the 3rd season was made without any interference from "American" TV Execs who think kids are stupid. First and second seasons were made for ABC, which didn't purchase the third season due to having been bought out by Disney with an eye towards using saturday mornings for their own toons (the type they now show on Toon Disney instead). My only trouble with season 4: Cartoon Network only showed it once, and when my cable company crapped out (which they did twice), it meant that i could never see 4 of the episodes, half the season...*really* pisses me off.

[bronxelf-ag001.livejournal.com]

A Hard Day's Night.
The Producers.

"Swing, Swing, Swing" -Benny Goodman and his Orchestra.
All of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

A *lot* of the mosaic and art glass work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Falling Water-- Frank Lloyd Wright.

Oh! Most of the work of Charles and Ray Eames, but really, The Coconut Chair-- George Nelson.

The metalwork of Marianne Brandt.

The interior of Radio City Music Hall-- Donald Deskey.
Coffee Table- Isamu Noguchi, 1941.
(I could do this all day, you know...)

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Well, Hard Days Night and Wish You Were Here were both BIG #1s in their time, as is the Producers on Broadway (though the movie got little respect outside of Brooks's Oscar, but I suppose in the late 60s there were still too many people uptight about it all), so they would belong in the second category I was planning on posting next week: Which objects of art that were at their time of release incredibly successful have turned out to still be fantastic today, and weren't just a fad/fashion of the time?

Certainly just about every Beatles album counts, but I'll save my list for when I post it...

[bronxelf-ag001.livejournal.com]

Re: The Producers-- I was speaking of the movie. Not the Broadway show.

However...Bedazzled- the original, with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.