Movie Review: Beatles: Eight Days A Week

I might come off as a big nerd when I say that I love documentaries - but I do! And I am a nerd!

Do you know what's better than watching a good documentary? When its made so well that it doesn't feel like one. Forget the videos your science teacher made you watch when you were in grade school, this one is nothing like that.

It was like all the check boxes were ticked off when it came to "The Beatles: Eight Days A Week- The Touring Years" documentary, which featured the early touring years of "the fab four"from 1962 to 1966. The documentary was so well done it would feel as though you are in the 1960's yourself!

(Going back to those check boxes) I love music, history (and as I mentioned earlier, documentaries) I may not be a big Beatles fan but I grew up listening to their songs. It's a bonus that Ron Howard, whose work we admire directed the film. 

I love how given the photos, video clips and audio clips available, Ron Howard and his team were able to seamlessly re-create "Beatle Mania" and it wasn't in a trying hard way but something that felt really natural and like I said, its like you are in the 1960's yourself.

There are a couple of interesting facts about The Beatles which I found to be a gold mine of information, you know the kind of thing you tell friends and loved ones, I can't share it here though as I want you to experience it yourself. :P

Plus, it was fun to watch some celebrity fangirls share their most memorable "Beatles Memories". 

While the whole documentary in itself was an experience, an added special treat was the 30 minute film footage shot from the band's 1965 concert at the Shea Stadium. This was digitally remastered for the ultimate Beatles experience. You can actually see Paul McCartney's sweat on his face! And to see this all in the big screen is an experience you should not miss!

9 out of 10. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week is a documentary that I would watch again and again. 

When we have children in the future, I will make sure that they know "The Beatles" their father was named after one, so whenever The Beatles: Eight Days A Week is released on DVD, I'll be sure to get a copy of that too. 

Movies: It's Beatles Fever All Over Again-With Beatles: Eight Days A Week

You must be living under a rock if you have not heard of THE BEATLES. At one point or another, their songs would have been a part of your life (or will be for the younger ones) as generations upon generations would pass on their knowledge, experiences, and music of this legendary band. You may even have been conceived with their music---go ahead ask your parents.

If it’s one thing that Filipinos are known for, it’s their musicality. And whether you’re a fan or not, musically inclined or musically-challenged, here are eight things to look forward to for the theatrical release of THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK

Bonus Feature: The Shea Stadium concert

People would often stay until the credits end for a “secret scene” or some snippet of either a part two or the outtakes. We’re telling you know: Stay until the credits end.  Witness the restored, remastered Shea Stadium performance, the first rock concert ever staged in a stadium in front of more than 55,000 people. This bonus feature will only be available in cinemas. 

The Philippines was a hard day’s fright? 

Yes, the infamous trip to Philippines back in July 1966 will be in this film. Will it be a revelation? Is all forgiven and forgotten? We don’t know. You’ll have to watch the movie to find out. One thing’s for sure: you’ll find out more about our country when you google “Beatles Manila”. Sikat na naman ang Pilipinas.

A band of brothers

Director Ron Howard captures the emotional moment when the usually reserved Paul McCartney gets misty discussing the first time Starr played with the Beatles. Ringo Starr, an only child, was quoted as saying “I felt like I suddenly had three brothers." This was one of the biggest revelations according to Howard. “The kind of brotherhood that Ringo talks about. And Paul talks about the connection that he and John had creatively and as friends and how important that was, how they all worked together.”

Howard brings you back to the Happy Days  (without the The Fonz)

Get ready to time-travel as the story unfolds right at the brink of their epic yet humble beginnings. Key historic moments were shaping up the world during the rise of The Beatles, and Howard’s fresh parallel approach gives you a better understanding of what it was like from the perspectives of the band, its world, the fans, and their world.  A common response to those who have seen the film was “it was like almost being there”.  Must have been some time machine Ron Howard made.

The music is still AWESOME!

In reality, back then, the audio was really, really bad. This must have been a monumental challenge for the folks back at Apple Corps and White Horse Pictures. But Howard’s team was able to find material that captured the music that screaming fans mostly couldn’t hear. These were then digitized and restored for more detail. The movie captures the sound as it should be. Classic.

Fighting for what’s right  

Back in 1964, The Beatles took a stand that they would not appear unless black fans were allowed to sit where they liked at their concert at the Gator Bowl stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. At a time of racial segregation in America, what The Beatles did was courageous and truly inspiring, much like People Power but the other way around. Little did they know that this “small” act played a key role in helping to stamp out racial segregation in the U.S. This struggle later inspired Paul McCartney to write Blackbird. He added: “We had loads of black friends and many of our musical heroes were black. “To see in the film that we’d actually put it in our contracts to ‘not be required to perform in front of a segregated audience’ – we didn’t remember that. I was very impressed with that. It was very cool.”

Rockin’ it old style: before social media

What would today’s artists do without social media? We can all learn a thing or two from The Beatles. Back then when talent, personality, and showmanship was everything, it took more effort for artists to reach out to their fans, and for fans to keep in touch with their idols. And then there’s the ever present press. In front of the media, they were terrific together in every way: sharp, clever, funny and quick. If John was the wittiest and had edge, Paul was twinkly and charming and George and Ringo often had a good line. Also, Manager Brian Epstein encouraged them to smarten up their image, wear suits and stop swearing and smoking in public, in order to broaden their appeal. Know of anyone who needs the same advice?

Personal connection

Do you believe in Yesterday? When all you troubles seemed so far away? Have you travelled that long and winding road? Yes Pinoys love The Beatles in spite of what happened back in 1966. In a time of turmoil, war, LP’s, and when Pepsi and Mirinda ruled. Their music was embedded in our lives. The legacy was passed on and so were the LP’s, vinyl albums, the Songhits with chords and Jingle magazine, cassette tapes, and so on. There will always be that Beatles song that stirs you, moves you or calms you, and makes you emotional for a few minutes. 

The Beatles are back. Prepare to discover them again in The Beatles: Eight Days A Week in cinemas beginning September 21. But come to think of it, they never did leave.

Distributed in the Philippines by Solar Pictures. Solar Pictures is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @solarpicturesPH

Movies + Music : “The Beatles Eight Days a Week” explores the Fab Four's early touring years

Great news for my sister and father-in-law who are big "Beatles" fans! Funny story last Christmas, we actually got them the same gift, a "Beatles" art-deco inspired pillow. 

It was 50 years ago that the Beatles performed in their last ever public concert and now, a new film looks back at the early touring years.

The Beatles final live concert at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, Aug, 29, 1966. They ripped through Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, as they had a thousand times before, then they were off.For the last time. The Beatles, the first band to make sports stadiums their stage were turning their backs on stadiums, stages and live audiences---forever. The crowd wasn’t told, nobody knew, maybe they didn’t quite know themselves but one thing they did know: they’d had enough of it.

 

Back then, ‘audience’ is not really the word to describe the spectators. They, mostly girls, didn’t go to Beatles concerts to listen, they went there to scream. Nobody took in the music and that included the Beatles. They couldn’t hear themselves play. It was, said Ringo, it was turning them into bad musicians. 

In 1963 a British journalist, writing about the Moptops and their fans came up with the termBeatlemania. It was no more than the truth. It really was a mania. Rudolph Valentino had crowds of idolatrous women, Frank Sinatra had his bobbysoxers, today’s celebrities court and complain about media harassment, but none have ever experienced anything like this. 

 

They were terrific together in every way: sharp, clever, funny and quick. If John was the wittiest and had edge, Paul was twinkly and charming and George and Ringo often had a good line. Liverpudlians have a way with words and from the start their playing, their singing, their harmonies, and their confidence were utterly captivating. Whether you were a music fan or not, a teenager or not, a girl or not, From Me To You struck a chord of recognition – this was something wonderful, something special that we were going to love.

The moptop haircuts and Beatle suits (forced on them by their manager Brian Epstein) helped too. We knew we loved them, we didn’t yet know they were geniuses (or, as the late Ian MacDonald, author of a great book on the Beatles says, Lennon and McCartney together were “a genius”).

What we see in the Eight Days A Week film is not so much their genius as songwriters, it’s the magic of their presence and their brilliance as performers, their personality and the evidence that they had something about them that nobody else has ever matched. You don’t need to be looking through rose-tinted bifocals to see how magical they were. 

 

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years, an enjoyable feature-length film for release in cinemas September 21, captures the glorious madness of it all. Whether were around at the time or not, it comes as a shock to see how crazy it was. And even if you do remember, it’s a joy to be reminded how utterly wonderful the Beatles were. They were a brilliant band, forged by Liverpool’s Cavern, numberless hours playing in Hamburg and on the road. Through all the madness, the pressure, the travel, the work, the interviews, the hysterical fans, the crazed love, the threats, what kept them sane and sustained them was their four-in-oneness. And their influence continues to this day.

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week-The Touring Years will be released in the Philippines on September 21, 2016 through Solar Pictures.

 

Official Hashtags: #TheBeatlesEightDaysAWeek, #TheBeatles

Official Website http://thebeatleseightdaysaweek.com/

Official Beatles website:  www.thebeatles.com

 

Solar Pictures is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @solarpicturesPH