henryonhillside

This film is an effort to make Yoko more prominent in the story than she deserves to be.

The tip-off comes late in the film when one of the talking heads basically says that all the lyrics to "Imagine" are Yoko's and that she was the sole, exclusive guiding light for John all during the solo years. Maybe, but I'd like to see evidence beyond the remarks of somebody who is bought and paid for.

The film was financed by Yoko (and Sean) with money made by John Lennon. The film is watchable, with interesting behind-the-scenes footage, thus deserving of a few stars. However, fundamentally it's a con job. The film is used by PBS stations to raise money; the endorsement of public TV gives the film undeserved credibility. This is very smart on the part of Yoko and Sean and their battalion of media advisers. These people don't miss a trick.

I would add this. The guy who gained the most insight into John in the solo years was the therapist Arthur Janov. He was pretty firm about how John could expand his life - by leaving Yoko.

A good biography of the most interesting American writer of the 20th century. His thoughts on how to come alive are bracing and powerful and we get a full dose of them. What the film lacks is an adequate complement of readings from his work. This is a large gap, a poor decision by the filmmakers. We get some sense of his writing style but not nearly enough. Granted, prose readings can be problematic in terms of filmmaking. So the thing to do is hire a good actor to sit on a bare stage with decent lighting and have him read short excerpts--three or four sentences from at least half the author's works, to give the rich flavor of the prose, which is as sustaining as perfect chowder served in Provincetown. As the actor reads, the sentences can be projected on a screen that's also on the stage. Highly visual. Mailer's words are worth the effort.

If you're new to Mailer (does anyone under 30 have any familiarity with him?) you might want to start your education by watching the film "When We Were Kings" about the Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman fight in 1974 (Mailer is a talking head in the film, very effective) and then reading Mailer's short book about the encounter, "The Fight" (1975), one of his best works.

Two hours of the music of Foghat, Black Sabbath, Black Oak Arkansas, Seals & Croft, and KISS -- this is heaven for some people -- it's my idea of hell.

There's some good stuff in the soundtrack, there's a tiny bit of Bob Dylan, some ZZ Top and Dr. John, but most of it is crap. And the soundtrack is the foundation of the film. So where are Led Zeppelin, Queen, the Rolling Stones, the solo Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Gordon Lightfoot, Pink Floyd? Not present. Not affordable. If you're making a movie about high school kids in 1976 and you're not including Led Zep and Queen, you're going to look like a low budget operation. Some audience members will think you are clueless.

There's plenty more here that doesn't click. I am baffled by the vast amount of film time given to the efforts of 17-year-old boys to inflict pain on the bottoms of 14-year-old boys with wooden paddles. This subplot goes on, and on, and on. This is when you first start thinking, "Why am I watching this?" There's probably a subtext in those paddles, but if so, it's not very interesting.

The idea that a 14-year-old who's a great baseball pitcher would be the object of derision and hostility from his elders at they watch the game is dubious. They are watching their neighborhood team play some other neighborhood. Why would they try to shake up the local star? Memo to the director: neighborhood loyalty trumps age differences every time. Furthermore, great athletes have smooth sailing so long as they're great, this is basic to how America works, with special reference to Texas. I will add, the notion that Wiley Wiggins could be a great baseball pitcher is odd.

The Matthew McConaughey character would have some resonance if we could see, let's say, his father, who we learn went down a similar path, and gosh, look at him now, attached to his BarcaLounger with a six-pack handy and the Longhorns on TV.

Every female character is a cardboard stereotype, save one, a 14-year-old we get to know and like a little bit.

The best I can figure is, the reason the film is so revered is that Black Sabbath has lots of fans.