The Beatles: Get Back - Peter Jackson Beatles documentary

[Nick R]

In true Peter Jackson tradition, this has been expanded to a trilogy of two-hour documentaries:

 

https://www.thebeatles.com/news/“-beatles-get-back”-disney-original-documentary-series-directed-peter-jackson-debut-exclusively

 

Quote

Because of the wealth of tremendous footage Peter Jackson has reviewed, which he has spent the past three years restoring and editing, “The Beatles: Get Back” will be presented as three separate episodes. Each episode is approximately two hours in length, rolling out over three days, November 25, 26 and 27, 2021, exclusively on Disney+.

 

Bit disappointed that this extension and the Disney+ exclusivity means I won't be able to see it at the cinema.

[SeanR]

They probably looked at renewals and thought “this’ll get them back in on the run up to xmas!”

[grounded_dreams]

Really interesting and in-depth article in Vanity Fair  about the new documentary, they have seen some of it.

[Hanzo the Razor]

22 hours ago, grounded_dreams said:

Really interesting and in-depth article in Vanity Fair  about the new documentary, they have seen some of it.

 

Good article. Thanks. I can't wait to see this. It takes me back to the anticipation of watching The Beatles Anthology series at the tail end of 1995.

 

I like that Jackson has veered into making these documentary type films. I think making The Hobbit films has sickened him off of blockbuster film making. There are bits in The Hobbit Appendices where he looks utterly miserable.

[p1nseeker]

On 17/06/2021 at 15:07, Nick R said:

In true Peter Jackson tradition, this has been expanded to a trilogy of two-hour documentaries:

 

https://www.thebeatles.com/news/“-beatles-get-back”-disney-original-documentary-series-directed-peter-jackson-debut-exclusively

 

 

Bit disappointed that this extension and the Disney+ exclusivity means I won't be able to see it at the cinema.

 

 

Although cos they are so condensed it'll only cost you a month's worth of a Disney plus sub to watch em all

[RFT]

Something in the Vanity Fair article confuses me:

Quote

All this footage was originally shot for Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s vérité film Let It Be, which included a roughly 22-minute version of the rooftop concert but became known, by the few who saw it, for very different reasons. The movie premiered in May 1970, a month after the Beatles broke up, and was largely regarded as depressing evidence of the band’s dissolution—before promptly going out of circulation.

 

I'm sure I saw Let it Be on regular TV some time in the 90's - like as part of the xmas-new year schedule (or maybe a beatles theme night) on BBC2. 

[gone fishin]

7 minutes ago, RFT said:

Something in the Vanity Fair article confuses me:

 

I'm sure I saw Let it Be on regular TV some time in the 90's - like as part of the xmas-new year schedule (or maybe a beatles theme night) on BBC2. 

You could only get Let it Be via bootleg VHS (which I had). Despite McCartney attending the 1971 Oscars to collect the Oscar it won, he’s since been really against it. I don’t think it helps that it doesn’t show him in a great light by bickering with Harrison, but he was at least a driving force in them getting something done.

 

Ive got a load of bootleg albums of unreleased recordings and to be honest, they’re really rough. Most of them are really just jam sessions. I honestly don’t know how they’re going to expand this out to 6 hours. The original anthology was under 8 hours when shown on TV, covering 14 or so years, this is 6 hours dedicated to less than one month of The Beatles. It does smack a bit of Peter Jackson being unable to edit. 

[Grobbelboy]

I could easily watch them just fooling around in the studio a bit for 6 hours straight. I love watching geniuses at work. It’s like the sparsely available footage of Kubrick directing, just endlessly fascinating stuff to me. 

[Hanzo the Razor]

8 hours ago, RFT said:

Something in the Vanity Fair article confuses me:

 

I'm sure I saw Let it Be on regular TV some time in the 90's - like as part of the xmas-new year schedule (or maybe a beatles theme night) on BBC2. 

 

I also seem to remember seeing it on BBC2 at some point in the 90s. I have a DVD rip now but I have yet to watch it.

[GwiDan]

They’ve announced the anniversary rerelease of Let it Be, and the deluxe edition is going to include the original unreleased Get Back LP. 

[JohnC]

Trailer

 

 

[Steve McQueef]

More fuckin Peter Jackson approved Smear-o-Vision.

[Ivanho]

Looked fine to me.  This is going to be fascinating.

[Sarlaccfood]

1 hour ago, Steve McQueef said:

More fuckin Peter Jackson approved Smear-o-Vision.

More fuckin rllmuk approved moan-o-posting.

 

 

Trailer looks great. Really looking forward to this. 

[Festoon]

That looks fucking smashing.

[jonamok]

Dear God, that is going to be fucking stupendous. Makes me massively emotional just watching the bloody trailer. Can. Not. Wait.

[Ste Pickford]

Trailers looks great. Really looking forward to not being able to watch it because it's on Disney.

[grounded_dreams]

Just a reminder the first episode comes out today.

 

[Hanzo the Razor]

Canny wait!

[Festoon]

I just hope that, as Jackson is such a huge fan, that he hasn't rendered it too dull and long-winded.

 

Real life is boring, and the ratio of final length to available footage is pretty high.

 

Hopefully...

[GwiDan]

2 minutes ago, Festoon said:

I just hope that, as Jackson is such a huge fan, that he hasn't rendered it too dull and long-winded.

 

Real life is boring, and the ratio of final length to available footage is pretty high.

 

Hopefully...

 

Nothing about The Beatles is real life, so hopefully that shouldn't be a problem. The Guardian have given it a 3/5; that's basically an Edge 10 right?

[BitterToad]

Everywhere I've read says it's pretty great but far far far too long. Which for me as a massive Beatles nut is kind of fine. I've watched the first half an hour and was completely blown away just by watching those 4 lads at that stage of their life exist, but if you're not an obsessive it's just four people sitting around chatting and occasionally playing songs. 

 

Basically I understand the 3/5 but it's a 10/5 for me. 

[Grobbelboy]

Oof, expected a bit more of this. Although they did put some kind of disclaimer up front about the audio-only stuff being overlayed with the most appropriate video footage, more than half the time the talking or playing of instruments is obviously not matching with the moving of the mouths and other happenings in the used video. Feels a bit too fabricated and like the editing is doing a bit too much heavy lifting. I would loved for it to have a bit more of a factual fly-on-the-wall approach. Still, it’s fascinating enough and I’ll definitely watch the other parts. 

[Graham S]

1 hour ago, Grobbelboy said:

Oof, expected a bit more of this. Although they did put some kind of disclaimer up front about the audio-only stuff being overlayed with the most appropriate video footage, more than half the time the talking or playing of instruments is obviously not matching with the moving of the mouths and other happenings in the used video. Feels a bit too fabricated. I would loved for it to have a bit more of a factual fly-on-the-wall approach. Still, it’s fascinating enough and I’ll definitely watch the other parts. 

I haven't seen it yet but I assume it's because film and audio was recorded separately, and the audio recording basically ran constantly but the film did not.

[Anne Summers]

I keep forgetting it's actually them I'm watching, and having thoughts like "wow the guy playing John really looks like him", for some reason. 

[SeanR]

is there any way to turn off the film grain filter?

 

[scottcr]

If you’re a Beatles fan, which I am… this is basically porn. 

[scottcr]

And if you’ve ever been in a band writing songs in a studio AND a Beatles fan…like me….. ooooft

[Festoon]

 

[Sabreman]

This is a pretty great wallow so far. Even a casual Beatles fan will at least get a kick out of the hanging out vibe, but it's a fascinating peek into their process of songwriting (there's a particularly great bit around 1hr 3mins where Get Back starts to form out of an improvised rhythm and some vowel sounds). There's a fair bit of editorialising going on, as with most docs, but I got a chuckle out of the guy that turns up to talk about the song catalogue they've bought. It's presented as if nobody wants to talk to him, then he kind of hangs about a bit and leaves unceremoniously.

 

On the other hand it's a little weird where they've tried to match footage with audio that's clearly happened at a different time, as it obviously manipulates the narrative.