Little left undone on ‘Video Capture Device’

Weezer fans are often known as a rather fanatical and highly-devoted lot, and “Video Capture Device” does a relatively thorough and entertaining job of sating even the most rabid fan of Rivers Cuomo and company.

Wrapped in a single disk, three-hour package is an elaborate set of music videos, live performances, “making of” album features, “B-roll” footage and “Nuggets” of self-produced material video footage. And while the disk was more than two years in the making and chronicles the band from 1991-2002, fans may come for the videos, but they’ll surely stay for the rare live and “making of” minutia.

The DVD package is rightfully centered around the group’s videos, and this feature spans not only the group’s career, but the majority of the DVD. Containing all of the group’s innovative and often hilarious videos – most of which were directed by Spike Jonze or Marcos Siega – it’s interesting to see the band grow from a “Happy Days” homage in “Buddy Holly” and the sumo-filled “Hash Pipe” to the musical Muppet moments in “Keep Fishin’.”

Also featured in the music videos section is the director’s cut of the “Pinkerton” classic “El Scorcho,” the rarely seen “The Good Life” and the no budget video adaptations of lesbian ode “Pink Triangle” and “Maladroit’s Slob.”

The live material on “Capture Device” also shines, as tunes like “Jamie,” “My Brain” and “In the Garage” are given their respective due on stage. Possibly the best of the concert footage, however, is Cuomo’s rendition of “Mykel and Carli,” an ode to two of Weezer’s most beloved fans who died tragically in an accident on the way to a Weezer show.

The group also goes a long way to toss in oddities, such as the album documentaries “Weezer Goes to NY” for the Blue Album, “Weezer Goes to Van Nuys” for “Pinkerton” and “Stoopid Fresh” for the Green Album. The montages, along with band-filmed “nuggets” of random pre- and post-show events help demystify a group often known for its iconic frontman’s quirky personality and Harvard-educated humor.

Although “Video Capture Device” is expansive and entertaining, a few of the band’s television appearances and video cuts were strangely missing from the footage. While the disk shows the band’s performance of “Say It Ain’t So” on “Late Night with David Letterman,” the group’s performance of “Undone” from MTV’s “120 Minutes” and on “The Jon Stewart Show” were strangely missing.

These minor gripes pale in light of what the DVD does offer fans and the immense work that went into digging into any vault Weezer mine. “Video Capture Device” may only be suitable for Weezer’s most diehard fans, but I’m sure that was the point.