You can’t just put any band on a film and expect laughs. And chemistry and appeal. That’s what happened to “Spice World.”
The directors and creators behind it seemed to basically assume, “Hell, this band is popular, they’re a pop band, they have massive appeal with the male audience, they make catchy music, and they’re British, so they’ll be perfect equivalents to The Beatles.”
And… well… if you saw the movie, you’ll know that the logic behind that theory was slightly eschew.
It’s been almost thirty five years since John Lennon was murdered outside his home, and though his death was tragic and inhuman, Lennon’s spirit and artistic influence has lived on for decades. Lennon was a voice for peace and rallying people to think outside the box and question the status quo, and his influence began with his work in the Beatles as one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic rock band in music history. In celebration of Lennon’s memory, here are twenty five of the best The Beatles songs we’ve ever heard. I’d like to thank you on behalf of Cinema Crazed, and I hope I passed the audition.
It’s strange. Even with the involvement of the ever charming Tom Hanks as the director and writer, and a film that features him as a prominent supporting character amidst a slew of up and coming young stars (including Charlize Theron), “That Thing You Do!” is still just an average movie. It’s simply nineties mediocrity. It’s never a remarkable musical comedy, nor is it abysmal. It’s merely a movie you watch and never plan to re-visit again unless you’re absolutely bored.
I hate country music, I really do. But the only band I can hold any sort of tolerance for is The Dixie Chicks. Am I a fan? No. Am I fan of their views? God yes. Particularly Natalie Maines that little hot firecracker. Outspoken, charismatic, and intelligent, you just have to love her. Hats off to you, babe. In 2006, no two documentaries were more inadvertently paralleled than “Shut up & Sing,” and “The US vs. John Lennon.”
A long time ago, John Lennon, sitting with the Beatles, explained to a reporter, in sheer shock, that he couldn’t believe the way fans were gushing. It was almost as if they were more popular than Jesus.
Fans, thanks to the media, took it out of proportion, and wholly out of context.
“A Hard Day’s Night” is essentially the film debut of the Beatles and celebrates everything fun and creative about them. The film is meant to be an entertaining and care free romp through the lives of history’s most popular music group and the earthquake they caused when they stormed the music world. For fans of the Beatles who stuck it out with them through the period of re-invention and discovery of their musical and creative limits, “Yellow Submarine” is a film worth watching.
John Lennon was calling for something big, he wanted something revolutionary to happen, something that would shake up the world and let the government realize that the people would not and could not be bullied in to war. He wanted peace, and as wholly naive as it may have seemed on the outside, it was a goal that was possible if we’d just try it out. It hurts to think that his words were in vain and that everything this man believed and taught went away in a hail of apathy, comfort, and luxury with technology and the man meant every single word.
One of the benefits of being a hardcore Beatles fan is that I don’t really need to buy the covers of the best Beatles songs of all time presented in “Across the Universe.” Instead I have the entire soundtrack and much more in my grasp. Ain’t it sweet? “Across the Universe” gets a lot of guff for being that representation of the Beatles that wasn’t mean to be. It’s a movie, a mainstream movie, with a rather cliché story, but you know what? Fuck it. “Across the Universe” is an absolute masterpiece, a thrilling, chilling, and incredible musical experience that takes the best of the Beatles and transfers it into an awfully excellent romance and war time story under the direction of Julie Taymor who takes a movie and makes it into a cathartic experience for the fans.