Movies Archives - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

First Thoughts on “The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event”

By Michael Gerber|2026-08-18T10:12:41-07:00August 17, 2026|Film, Movies, Uncategorized|

Let's begin here: Movie making is so collaborative, so expensive, and so many things can go wrong, that it’s a miracle any of them are any damn good. And I so want these to be good. I've never seen a movie up close, but my wife worked on several high-profile prestige TV shows in the 2010s -- "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad." I saw how the sausage was made on both projects, and the drama was as intense behind the cameras as in front of them. A big Hollywood production would be 10x more collaborative than that, with 10x more financial pressure [...]

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The Beatles, “Let It Be,” and “Get Back”: “Trying to Deceive”?

By Nancy Carr|2025-12-08T12:24:17-08:00October 22, 2021|1970s, Abbey Road, Beatles Criticism, Breakup, Let It Be, Movies|

Michael G's post "Let It Be, Get Back, and History as Art" and the comments on the site have raised so many interesting points about Lindsay-Hogg's 1969 film and Peter Jackson's forthcoming one that I wanted to say a bit more about why I'm looking forward to Jackson's film, but also not expecting it to be the whole truth. A lot of that expectation derives from considering historical context, so let's get into the wayback machine for a minute. In 1975, Barclay James Harvest released the song "Titles," taken from their album "Time Honoured Ghosts." The vast majority of the song does consist [...]

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Peter Jackson’s “Get Back”: Now Thanksgiving on Disney Plus

By Nancy Carr|2025-12-08T12:24:34-08:00June 21, 2021|1968, 1969, Breakup, Documentaries, Get Back, Let It Be, Movies, Uncategorized|

Peter Jackson's "Get Back," which was expected to be released in theaters this September, is now going to be a six-hour documentary on Disney Plus, premiering during Thanksgiving weekend. Variety reports that "each episode is approximately two hours in length, rolling out over three days, November 25, 26 and 27, 2021, exclusively on Disney Plus." So, more footage, but to watch it you'll need a Disney Plus subscription. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

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Go Fug Yourself: John and Yoko at Cannes with matching couple shirts

By Nancy Carr|2023-04-22T20:00:37-07:00May 13, 2020|Fashion, Film, john and yoko, John Lennon, Movies, Yoko Ono|

The consistently illuminating and funny duo who run the comedy fashion site gofugyourself.com, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, just posted a photo of John and Yoko at Cannes in 1971 to promote their film Apotheosis. I highly recommend checking out Heather's comment on the photo, and the site as a whole. I'd never heard of this film. Wikipedia summaries it thus: "The film depicts a 17-minute-long journey on a balloon as it ascends and finally rises into the clouds. Lennon and Ono appear at the start of the film dressed in dark cloaks and hoods." I dunno about the cloaks and hoods, but taking [...]

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All Our Troubles Seemed So Far Away…

By Michael Gerber|2019-08-07T00:52:36-07:00July 24, 2019|Movies|

I saw Yesterday a month ago, one day after it premiered, and liked it. But since I haven’t commented on it until Nancy’s post, clearly the movie didn't spark much of a reaction in me. I think that's because Boyle et al. made the simplest version they could possibly make…which, to me at least, deftly avoided all the most interesting parts of the premise. Because of the people they were, when they happened, and what they accomplished in such a short time, a Beatles-less world would be orders of magnitude different from our own. Something on the order of a world without [...]

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“Yesterday,” the film: slight but fun

By Nancy Carr|2019-08-07T00:51:32-07:00July 24, 2019|alternate history, Beatle-inspired, Film, Movies, Uncategorized|

"Yesterday" is wildly implausible, to a degree that makes "Back To The Future" look like a serious exploration of the theory of relativity. It's a sheer waste of time to ask yourself any of the innumerable questions raised by the macguffin that is the film's premise. But if you're willing to suspend your disbelief, it's a pretty fun romp. That's my take, anyway: opinions are certainly divided. Great credit must be given to the cast. Himish Patel's intense likability makes scenes work that really shouldn't. Kate McKinnon steals every frame she's in, as an evil music executive. And Ed Sheeran is believably [...]

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Above Us Only Sky: New “Imagine” Documentary

By Nancy Carr|2020-09-10T11:20:33-07:00May 13, 2019|john and yoko, John Lennon, Julian Lennon, Movies, solo, Yoko Ono|

"Imagine" is already the most well-examined John Lennon album, but the new A&E documentary Above Us Only Sky is well worth watching. Here's the network's description: "This special traces the untold story of the making of John Lennon's 1971 album "Imagine." Utilizing never-before-seen footage of Lennon and Ono from their private archive, the special delves into the depth of the creative collaboration between the couple and explores how the art, politics and music of the pair are intrinsically entwined. Features interviews with the people who witnessed the period first hand including Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon, David Bailey (photographer), John Dunbar (Gallerist who [...]

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Eight Days A Week: 5 Great Things About Ron Howard’s Documentary

By Nancy Carr|2022-08-25T17:28:11-07:00September 26, 2016|1963, 1964, 1965, Beatle History, Beatlemania, concert, Live, Movies, Uncategorized|

Getting ready to perform, during the suit-and-tie era. Ron Howard's Eight Days A Week documentary of the Beatles' touring years is excellent. Not perfect, not a definitive look at the totality of the Beatles' career, but very good at doing what it sets out to do. Howard does shy away from the unseemly elements of the Beatles' life on the road, most obviously the rampant sex. And he doesn't delve into the disenchantment that Lennon and Harrison later expressed about the experience of being Beatles. But Howard is aiming to show us what being on public display felt like for [...]

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Mick Jagger as Alex? The Beatles said yes

By Michael Gerber|2015-10-22T09:57:35-07:00October 21, 2015|1968, Movies, Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stones|

"Go for it, Mick" Mere days after revealing that John Lennon was (theoretically) into dudes, Auntie NME has revealed that all four Beatles signed a petition trying to get Mick Jagger the lead in "A Clockwork Orange." Picture this: it's February 1968. You're probably high. Mick as Alex; The Stones as his droogs; music by The Beatles; screenplay by Terry Southern... this movie would've been either the greatest thing ever, or totally unwatchable. Without a firm hand to guide him (Stanley Kubrick) Terry Southern tended to write stuff like The Magic Christian, films much less fun than the parties surrounding [...]

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Los Angeles Beatles fans: Wanna go see a movie?

By Michael Gerber|2015-07-25T17:21:48-07:00July 20, 2015|Beatles in LA, Movies|

There's something a little anime about this poster. The Beatles flying towards you, presumably screaming One of the more dubious pleasures of our current age is the ability to meet the people who create the things you like. This streamlines the disillusionment process in ways our ancestors considered unimaginable. Imagine if John, Paul, George and Ringo could've met Elvis as impressionable teenagers in 1957, instead of getting famously underwhelmed that night in 1965. Why, there might have never been a Beatles... "Mum, did you know my English teacher Skyped with Elvis?" "I don't know if you should believe everything Mr. [...]

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