Ramblings on Cinematic Matters
Next in my Beatles retrospective, I look at two documentaries that get back to when the Fab Four first hit it big. Following the release of Yellow Submarine, the Beatles went on to participate in a documentary that ultimately became the film Let It Be. This would be the final film they participated in while …
Continue reading “Snapshots from the Eye of the Storm: Eight Days a Week and Beatles ’64 Review”
Next in my Beatles retrospective, I turn to the dazzling Yellow Submarine. When I was a kid, my introduction to the Beatles came from two sources. The first was my older sister, who was a massive Beatles fan in her teenage years. Beyond owning many of the albums, she plastered her room in our house …
Continue reading “Living Beneath the Waves: Yellow Submarine Review”
Next in my Beatles retrospective comes Magical Mystery Tour, a less-than-successful episode in the band’s career. Sooner or later, like nemesis accomplishing her fateful designs, comes the moment that has been the downfall of many a pop culture titan: the TV holiday special. For the Beatles, the special in question was the Magical Mystery Tour, …
Continue reading “Please Don’t Be Long, or I May Be Asleep: Magical Mystery Tour Review”
My Beatles retrospective continues with my review of their second cinematic outing, which marks a bit of a sophomore slump. Help! (1965), directed by Richard Lester and written by Marc Behm and Charles Wood, was the second movie made as part of the Beatles three-picture deal with United Artists. Released one year after A Hard …
I kick off my Beatles retrospective by looking at the movie that started it all, A Hard’s Day Night. Expressions such as “one of a kind,” “sui generis,” and “lightning in a bottle” exist to describe A Hard Day’s Night (1964). Directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen, the movie is pure, concentrated …
Continue reading “Making Us Feel All Right: A Hard Day’s Night Review”
Along with my love for movies, my enthusiasms include a no-less-intense love for the greatest rock band of all time, the one and only Fab Four, the Beatles. For Beatles fans, the past few years have been something of a new golden age. In 2021, Peter Jackson’s epic Get Back documentary gave us a fascinating, …
Continue reading “Announcing a New (Gear! Fab!) Cameraman Retrospective”
The Cameraman