The Beatles: Sam Mendes Making Four Films For Sony Pictures

Filmmaker Sam Mendes and Neal Street Productions will be making four separate films about The Beatles for Sony Pictures. I’ll expand on this a bit later but this news is huge. It’s funny though–I was just talking to a colleague last week about how documentaries like The Beatles Anthology and The Beatles: Get Back make such narrative films impossible. A film can be good in the right hands if it has the right care and…

"The Beatles: Sam Mendes Making Four Films For Sony Pictures"

Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song – Short Film Streaming On Disney+

A 12-minute short film, Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song, is now currently available to stream on both Disney+ and YouTube. There have been remasters and new mixes through the years. Until recently, it was thought that “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” were the last songs to be recorded and released by The Beatles. It turns out that thanks to modern state-of-the-art technology and The Beatles: Get Back, we’re getting one last…

"Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song – Short Film Streaming On Disney+"

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years focuses on the years spent touring on the road during the height of Beatlemania. I’ve been in something of a Beatles kick of late–my flight to LA saw me listening to Pure McCartney while my return trip covered Please Please Me through Rubber Soul or Revolver. I’ll get through the rest of the albums when I fly to NY in December. My review of the…

"The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years"

Magical Mystery Tour: The Beatles Do It Themselves

The Beatles do it themselves in their 1967 made-for-TV film, Magical Mystery Tour, which celebrates its 55th anniversary later this year. The BBC committed the terrible sin of first airing this film in black-and-white in December 1967. They would rectify this by airing a color version shortly thereafter. But by then, it was too late because they damage had been done. Here’s the thing about Magical Mystery Tour: it isn’t a film in the same…

"Magical Mystery Tour: The Beatles Do It Themselves"

A Hard Day’s Night: Criterion Releases 4K UHD

Starring The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night is the latest classic title to get a 4K Ultra HD upgrade from The Criterion Collection. Richard Lester, who also plays piano and turns 90 years old on January 19, approved the new 4K digital restoration. Fans have three different audio options to choose from: a monaural soundtrack, stereo, and 5.1 surround mixes supervised by sound producer Giles Martin at Abbey Road Studios. The sound mix is presented…

"A Hard Day’s Night: Criterion Releases 4K UHD"

The Beatles: Get Back To Where You Once Belonged

The Beatles: Get Back features the greatest band in music history making magic in the final moments even as we know what’s happening. The Get Back Sessions resulted one of the final albums from the greatest band of all time, Let It Be. Let It Be might have been the final album released but Abbey Road was the final one recorded. For what it’s worth, some songs did follow from the Get Back sessions into…

"The Beatles: Get Back To Where You Once Belonged"

Help! The Beatles Movie Remains Influential

Help! remains one of the most influential movies to this day thanks to catchy tunes from The Beatles and Richard Lester’s direction. When it came to the direction that this film would go in, it was clear that they couldn’t replicate A Hard Day’s Night. Their private lives were off limits and so they end up doing a Pop Art fantasy. At the time, there was so much room to play with as things didn’t…

"Help! The Beatles Movie Remains Influential"

The Beatles: Get Back – Trailer, Artwork Released

Ahead of November’s documentary series event of the year, Disney released the trailer and artwork for The Beatles: Get Back. The Disney+ original docuseries, directed by Peter Jackson, will be arriving on Disney+ just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Made entirely from never-before-seen, restored footage, it provides the most intimate and honest glimpse into the creative process and relationship between John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr ever filmed. Be sure to…

"The Beatles: Get Back – Trailer, Artwork Released"

The Beatles: Get Back To Launch On Disney+

Disney announced that the highly anticipated Peter Jackson film, The Beatles: Get Back, will instead launch on Disney+ as a doc series. The Walt Disney Studios, Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films Productions Ltd. will bring The Beatles: Get Back, a Disney+ Original documentary series directed by Peter Jackson, to fans and music lovers worldwide over the Thanksgiving holidays. Because of the wealth of tremendous footage Peter Jackson has reviewed, which he has spent the past…

"The Beatles: Get Back To Launch On Disney+"

Yesterday: You Can’t Just Plop The Beatles’ Music Into 2019

The premise behind Yesterday is so preposterous because one cannot simply erase The Beatles from existence and expect those same songs to become hits in 2019. I’ve touched on the film in my review published last month during the 2019 Chicago Critics Film Festival.  However, there are things that I didn’t say last month.  I’m going to dive into some of this right now.  The cultural context of these songs are a factor in why…

"Yesterday: You Can’t Just Plop The Beatles’ Music Into 2019"