Quite fantastic.
To see the machinations of how these things came together was a real privilege. Especially after 50 years in the can.
It's a largely riveting 7+ hours of watching despite having large sections of time where you'd love to crack a few skulls.... But that's exactly why we're watching isn't it?
You see a fractured band arrive. Upset with each other, out of sync, in various states of hangover - and after a few weeks, they're back to being the boys in Hamburg or The Cavern. Able to read each other's musical minds and play instinctively as a group.
My big takeaways were plentiful...
Paul McCartney is a genius and the backbone of the band. He should be more lauded than he already is for what he brought to the group. Let's face it, pretty much every song here came from him. With a bass or at the piano, he was a creative genius. And he was the driving force to get them to actually do something!
George Harrison was a surly little shit here and he seemed a nightmare to have to put up with. His own worst enemy.
Ringo looked like he had checked out at first but at the end you realise he was just happiest playing for a crowd. He's probably seen the rest of the histrionics non-stop for a decade or so.
The folks around them were a right mixed bag. Patience of saints though. And that young guy smoking big cigars talking about Libya needed a slap! :)
Billy Preston. RIP to you sir. What a cool dude and a master of the keys. His arrival turned a squabbling herd of cats into a professional unit. Without him, this wouldn't have happened. I think they'd have aborted it all amidst an argument.
What a tremendous job in restoring the video and audio. I can't wait for the technology used here to trickle down to the layperson. It was a quite astonishing upgrade and was wholly worth the effort as it really put us in the room with them.
To see the rooftop concert footage and the brilliant multi-camera of the (mostly) appreciative crowd below being interviewed - as well as the knobheads and misery-guts who have to piss on any joy - was a real view of miserable Britain in that period. And I'm British! (I'd hope that 5 years ago, people would've embraced it for as a break from the norm. In 2021 though, I fear now they wouldn't...)
Fabulous. A must watch.
Why not a 10/10?
I feel the song titles and the significance of each peformance was missing some vital info. "Was it the first time that song was played? Was it them noodling? Did that song appear on the album or was it used later as a solo effort?" Just a little more info would have added some much needed colour or even gravity to them.
The moment Paul conjures up Get Back from the ether was magical. His playing Golden Slumbers to Ringo another. And to see how fluid these classic songs were right up until the take we know as the final recording was staggering.
Bravo to all involved! And thanks for the music, lads.
9.5/10
I rarely give anything a 10/10, but how can I not when it comes to Peter Jackson’s «Get Back»?
Casual viewers are not the target audience here. This is, however, absolutely perfect for anyone who wants to be a fly on the wall while The Beatles are writing songs, rehearsing, discussing, kidding around, rewriting songs, smoking, arranging songs, reading newspapers, tuning instruments, looking back and planning ahead. Oh yeah, and they also perform a spectacular 42-minute gig on a London rooftop at the end.
I’ve been waiting for something like this since 1993 (when the first rumours about a remastered «Let It Be» movie surfaced) and I went in watching «Get Back» with sky-high – really absurd – expectations. «Get Back» not only fulfilled my expectations, but surpassed them. Jackson and his team have done a spectacular job! The series even has a happy ending!
Any bad parts, you ask? Well, the intro in the first episode has a few factual errors, f.ex. that John and Paul first met in 1956 (it was 1957) and that Ringo joined The Beatles before Brian Epstein became their manager (he didn't). It doesn't affect my 10/10, though, because... well, because the rest was so fantastic.
This is The Beatles as we have never seen them before. A splendid time is guaranteed for… some.
Review by SchmoogieVIP 5BlockedParent2022-01-15T21:59:30Z
:heart:x10
This is an absolutely amazing documentary!
I feel that this is a must-watch series for music lovers of any generation.
It gives us a fantastic, amazing, unique insight into one of the most prolific, biggest selling, most #1 hits band of all time.
We are essentially a fly on the wall over a month's time, as we watch and listen to the group as they work towards making their next album, a planned live TV show, and this very documentary. But things changed. And changed again.
Plans - what plans? the whole thing is pretty much seat-of-your-pants planning. It appears that going into this project on day one no one really had a firm understanding of what anyone really wanted. Especially when it came to the live performance part. The fact that they even thought they could pull any of this off (originally) in under a month's time seemed fantastical. That they completed their task, was a miracle.
We get to see the interactions between each member of the Beatles, good and bad.
We get to witness their creative process in creating new songs. I was amazed to see how so many non-Beatles contributions to the songs were actually used. Both, lyrics as well as musical input came from the crew and even execs.
We watch a lot of goofiness, melodrama, genius, creativity, feelings, tea and toast, so much tea..... and a (short) breakup and reconciliation of the Beatles.
Some personal observations (I know some will disagree with me):
- McCartney is the driving force behind the music and the group and is the one with the most talent.
- The Genius behind the group is the collaboration between Paul and John. Together they were a force to be reconned with.
- Lennon seemed to only be partially engaged in this project.
- Ringo just looked like he was happy to be there, to be included.
- Harrison's disappointment and discouragement, with the band, and friends, was quite palpable. Most of the time he looked like he was the last kid picked for .
- Yoko - ugh. If she wasn't sitting in John's lap or laying/leaning against him she was never more than 12inches away from him.
It was quite amazing to see Paul's face light up when the potential rooftop concert was brought up as an alternative to the live shows that had been discussed so far. You could literally see all his frustrations, with everything up until that point, be replaced by a child-like wonder on Christmas morning of this new option.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!