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Post by OldFred on Oct 12, 2012 8:26:48 GMT -5
A little side note - Peter Tork visited George Harrison and played banjo on the Wonderwall sessions and George showed him MMT and Peter was enthralled by it. There's speculation that MMT might have had an influence on the Monkees movie 'Head', especially with the surrealistic approach in both films.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Oct 13, 2012 7:09:14 GMT -5
When I got the new Blu-ray disc home I noticed that, even with the colors enhanced, some of the details which I had seen present on the old 16mm sources were actually sort of "scrubbed out". I mention this as being important for me because some movie fans at my 'movie boards' have always told me how sometimes too much DNR (if that's what we're talking about here) actually washes OUT some details. Now, this may be very anal, but I noticed it on some of the characters' faces - there is a shot of McCartney nodding his head up and down right at the start of FOOL ON THE HILL, and I was always used to seeing that you could spot razor burn on his neck and the dark shadow of his beard on his face; but that was on the original 16mm -- now on the Blu-ray, it appears to have been smoothed out to the point where these details just were not as pronounced. (This may be the first time I have noticed LESS facial detail on a blu-ray than on a 16mm film!).
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Oct 13, 2012 7:10:46 GMT -5
There is still a complete lack of story to the film Doesn't matter, as it's not a traditional "story film" in that sense.
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Post by Sir Frankie Crisp on Oct 20, 2012 11:38:19 GMT -5
Magical Mystery Tour is a mess. The Beatles obviously should have hired some professionals to assist them because they were clearly out of their depth. The premise of the movie is rich with potential but they couldn't quite pull it off. By the look of it they randomly stitched together unconnected scenes hoping they could piece together a movie. And to think they presented this at Christmas time on tv is the ultimate cheek. The Queen's speech must have been captivating by comparison. And yet in spite of the amateur quality of the film and the half-assed attempt at cinema, I still think it's worthy of our attention. It's great to see our boys looking and sounding eminently cool in their love beads and psychedelic gear.
It's worth it just to see “I Am the Walrus”, “Fool on the Hill” and “Your Mother Should Know” complete with the cornball Busby Berkley finale. My personal highlight is when the fabulous Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band performed “Death Cab for Cutie.” It's one of the rare times when lead singer Vivian Stanshall wasn't picking his nose while singing. Any film of the Bonzo's is hard to come by so it's a special treat to see them again.
The deluxe box set is nicely packaged with all of the songs on 2 vinyl e.p's along with the blue ray/standard dvd; a hard cover book and your personal ticket for the Magical Mystery Tour. I noticed the prices for the box set have sky rocketed and are ridiculously over-priced. I pre-ordered mine on Amazon Canada and only paid $47 which was well worth it. It’s now approaching $100 – I don’t think so.
If you haven't noticed the dvd contains 4 'Easter eggs.' They are as follows:
"Fish and Chips Shop" - 4:44 "Missing Dining Room Scene" - 4:10 "Magic Alex Sings Walls of Jericho" - 1:31 "Jessie's Blues" - 2:17
To access "Fish and Chips Shop" - go to the main menu and place the cursor on "Play Film" and hit the 'up' button on your remote.
To access "Missing Dining Room Scene" hit 'left' button when the cursor is on "Play Film."
For "Magic Alex Sings Walls of Jericho," place the cursor on "Audio Options" and hit the 'up' button.
For "Jessie's Blues," hit 'right' button while on “Audio Options.”
There's nothing earth-shattering here...just a few little odds and ends from the movie.
A splendid time for all isn't necessarily guaranteed this time around but it's still moderately fab.
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Post by winstonoboogie on Oct 20, 2012 11:59:58 GMT -5
Thanks for the review, Sir Frankie!
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Post by debjorgo on Oct 20, 2012 12:49:09 GMT -5
The premise of the movie is rich with potential but they couldn't quite pull it off. By the look of it they randomly stitched together unconnected scenes hoping they could piece together a movie. I'm confused with your comment. "...randomly stitched together unconnected scenes" was the premise.
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Post by Sir Frankie Crisp on Oct 21, 2012 5:50:57 GMT -5
The premise of the movie is rich with potential but they couldn't quite pull it off. By the look of it they randomly stitched together unconnected scenes hoping they could piece together a movie. I'm confused with your comment. "...randomly stitched together unconnected scenes" was the premise. If that was the premise then the movie is a raging success. It’s been decades since I have seen MMT and it’s still a mess regardless of any historical revision. I like the idea behind the movie but I fail to see the point of slapping disconnected scenes together without any thought for continuity. It’s fine to say “Let’s get on a bus and see what happens.” The problem is, nothing happens. A screenwriter in the calibre of Alun Owen could have made a huge difference. In the Special Features section of the dvd there is film of Ringo’s Aunt Jessie playing the drums surprisingly well with the hotel band. They should have worked that into the film. George, John and Paul could have been jamming with Aunt Jessie as Ringo walks into the hotel for dinner. This could have reignited Ringo’s insecurities which was used to great effect in A Hard Day’s Night & Help. At the same time it would have further developed the push and pull of Ringo’s relationship with his aunt. The point is, if nothing is happening, make it happen. Some sort of Ken Kesey / Merry Prankster romp may have been interesting too but whatever the concept, The Beatles should have hired some professionals to assist them. The editing process is a prime example of how far off the mark they were. They expected to finish the editing in 2 weeks but it took them 11. In many cases the audio and visuals weren’t even synchronized so they ended up with miles of footage that must have been a nightmare to plow through. Some things could have been delegated to experienced people and maybe we could have had a more enjoyable product. Oddly enough McCartney fell into the same trap again many years later when he tried to be a jack-of-all-trades for “Give My Regards to Broadstreet.” Being a control freak can be quite rewarding when things work out but it can often spell disaster when ambition or ego blinds you to the obvious. At the end of the day I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to any Beatles fan but I wouldn’t expect a casual observer to enjoy the experience.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Oct 21, 2012 6:59:45 GMT -5
It’s been decades since I have seen MMT and it’s still a mess regardless of any historical revision. I like the idea behind the movie but I fail to see the point of slapping disconnected scenes together without any thought for continuity. It’s fine to say “Let’s get on a bus and see what happens.” The problem is, nothing happens. A screenwriter in the calibre of Alun Owen could have made a huge difference. But that's the whole point -- it's a wild, zany, crazy, trippy, psychedelic sixties, MAGICAL MYSTERY experience! It's not supposed to make all that much sense. You don't sit down with some award-winning screenwriter and write the next Oscar Contender. I used to be very hard on this film myself, but now - especially after the remastering - I am a fan of it. Stop expecting a more traditional cinematic experience; that's like expecting I AM THE WALRUS to sound as coherent as Nat King Cole's UNFORGETTABLE. Why? Ringo's insecurities were already tried out in AHDN and HELP. As I said, MMT was not that type of plot-driven movie. I would have agreed with you in 1967, or maybe even in 1997. But in 2012 I appreciate it. As a matter of fact, I thought the editing and effects and things were not as incompetent with this new theatrical screening as I'd always thought they were. Well, who cares what the casual observer thinks? Some casual viewers cannot even appreciate HELP! or AHDN (my mom was one of them!) . But all the same, I'm not sure you're 100% right here. These days there are younger people who might get a kick out of such zaniness and trippy '60s insanity. Oh, I would still say you're right in that this movie is far less sustainable to a "non-Beatles fan", but you never know.
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Post by debjorgo on Oct 21, 2012 7:49:17 GMT -5
Yeah, they could have hired a professional song writer to come in and work on I Am the Walrus and get it to make a sense.
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Post by John S. Damm on Oct 21, 2012 12:00:04 GMT -5
Why? Ringo's insecurities were already tried out in AHDN and HELP. As I said, MMT was not that type of plot-driven movie. Actually they do that again in MMT by pairing Ringo in the storyline(what little there is) to Aunt Jessie. There was no way in hell John, Paul or George were going to be paired with that lady. Ringo is love-able and vulnerable so he was paired with her. A clean sweep in those three Beatles movies of Ringo as the softie, vulnerable one.
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Post by debjorgo on Oct 21, 2012 12:11:17 GMT -5
I love the lines:
Ringo: You should take up knitting. Aunt Jessie: And who should I knit for? Should I knit for you? Should I knit for you? Ringo: No. Don't knit for me.
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Post by vectisfabber on Oct 21, 2012 15:49:36 GMT -5
Why? Ringo's insecurities were already tried out in AHDN and HELP. As I said, MMT was not that type of plot-driven movie. Actually they do that again in MMT by pairing Ringo in the storyline(what little there is) to Aunt Jessie. This is one of my big problems with it. I'm quite happy for something to be a zany, non-narrative free-for all, and I'm quite happy for something to have a plot. MMT tries to have a plot when it wants to and not have a plot when it wants to, and by trying to embrace both of two mutually exclusive concepts, it ultimately fails at both.
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Post by debjorgo on Oct 21, 2012 16:28:45 GMT -5
But if you look out the right window ....
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Post by acebackwords on Oct 22, 2012 14:56:26 GMT -5
I'm confused with your comment. "...randomly stitched together unconnected scenes" was the premise. If that was the premise then the movie is a raging success. It’s been decades since I have seen MMT and it’s still a mess regardless of any historical revision. I like the idea behind the movie but I fail to see the point of slapping disconnected scenes together without any thought for continuity. I always thought the Beatles concept for MMT was: "Okay, you liked Sg Pepper? Well here's Sgt Pepper II with a movie to go along with the music." A fine concept in my book. Its like an illustrated album. And how many albums -- even concept albums -- have a lot of continuity to them, or even tell a coherent story. I always liked Lennon's comment: "They said MMT didn't work. Work as what?"
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andyb
Very Clean
Posts: 878
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Post by andyb on Oct 22, 2012 15:24:13 GMT -5
There's too many boring bits that go on for far too long for my liking and some of the good bits go on for far too long for my liking as well.
It's not that it didn't work but more that it's not very good at what it doesn't set out to achieve.
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Post by Joe Karlosi on Oct 22, 2012 15:29:44 GMT -5
I always liked Lennon's comment: "They said MMT didn't work. Work as what?" A man after my own thinking. No wonder John was my favorite.
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Post by acebackwords on Oct 22, 2012 16:31:07 GMT -5
Course Paul has said the concept of MMT was "to simulate a drug trip." So I guess I'm not surprised it makes more nonsense than sense.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 6:52:51 GMT -5
I'm watching Magical Mystery Tour Revisited as i type.....
Very interesting doco talking to some of the people that were on the bus, as well as some that weren't on it, the doco also includes scenes that either didn't make the movie, or that i don't remember seeing in the movie....
George said he loves the Spaghetti scene most from the movie.....
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 5, 2013 12:43:39 GMT -5
Ok, so who has hosted a MMT official dvd party, inviting particularly non-fans who have never seen the film before?
I haven't yet but I will when I get my new television and Blu-Ray player. I want to see and hear the reactions of my non-fan buddies.
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Post by Steve Marinucci on Mar 5, 2013 20:28:59 GMT -5
Ok, so who has hosted a MMT official dvd party, inviting particularly non-fans who have never seen the film before? I haven't yet but I will when I get my new television and Blu-Ray player. I want to see and hear the reactions of my non-fan buddies. Will that be sometime this century? And how good are these friends of yours? Do you want to keep them?
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Post by John S. Damm on Mar 6, 2013 0:02:57 GMT -5
A little side note - Peter Tork visited George Harrison and played banjo on the Wonderwall sessions and George showed him MMT and Peter was enthralled by it. There's speculation that MMT might have had an influence on the Monkees movie 'Head', especially with the surrealistic approach in both films. LOL I just saw this. Is that why Head sucks and appeals to only diehard Monkees fans just as MMT only appeals to diehard Fab fans?!
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