yeah just saw it at my local IMAX theater and this Bowie fan found it to be a major disappointment and a waste of time. Hate movies that suffer from ADHD and can’t focus for even a second. Thought the sound and music was alright but I would only recommend this to a fanatical Bowie fan (and even then they might make a face). In the movie we see how popular he was at one time with a lot of screaming girls saying they are big Bowie fans and stadiums full of people but only 5 people showed up at tonight’s showing.
not sure where to post this as this seems to be the de facto bowie thread but apparently tony visconti has just mixed ‘heroes’ in sony 360. for whatever that’s worth.
Just got back from my local IMAX. After reading some of the comments in this thread, I was worried that it might suck, but I loved it! I can see how a lot of people may not like it, but some of criticisms I've read here seem ridiculous after seeing it. My guess is that people found it difficult to let go of the kind of movie they had in their heads, no matter how much evidence to the contrary we had in the run-up to the release that it was actually an art film, not a documentary. I thought it was the perfect antidote to everything I've come to hate about rock docs (even though I also love 'em). It was a noisy, chaotic, impressionistic, trippy, Bowie-collage and I thought it was great!! Will probably see one more time while it's in theaters. On a side note, I was prepared for it to be too loud, but it was not crazy loud at my theater. Loud enough to rock when needed, but never painful. I know that some people have mentioned that they are going to wait for the Blu Ray release, but I'd recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to see it on the big screen. I loved the feeling of being overwhelmed by it at times, and I don't think that would happen in the same way at home, even on a very large tv.
I knew exactly what I was getting into, having really enjoyed Crossfire Hurricane and Montage of Heck. Brett Morgen's style is clearly not for everyone, but I love the visceral power of his approach. Rocdocs, (which this is NOT) are too often trite, telegraphed for the masses, simple arcs that don't trust their audiences. The passion behind this, sitting in the sweet spot of the local IMAX having Cracked Actor at FULL volume watching Bowie in the moment drives home the emotional power of exactly who he was at this point of his life emotionally and artistically , his struggles and and above all his absolute brilliance. The humanity, passion and genius of the moment says it 1000x better than cutting to some jagoff telling me "David was on drugs." If you have have eyes and ears you don't need to be pandered to. If you're on the fence go tomorrow and see the IMAX, watching at home on HBO won't have a patch on that experience.
I thought the old Yentob docu "Cracked Actor" was a much better piece of art tbh. One thing I would give to this movie is that if any current inflated-ego rock/pop star thinks they are any good it must be quite humbling to witness the intensity and breadth of scale of Bowie's art/career/lifestyle on show here. He truly was the yardstick against which all others should be measured.
The same one repeated? I’ve seen the film several times and didn’t see repeated shots of the escalator scenes.
So drop it on teh Tubes, already. Missing footage? Do a photo montage over existing audio like everyone else does in these situations. It's coming up on 50 years. All us old-timers are biting it daily. Just DO IT.
"But now he's on the Eastern escalator!" "Ooh! Now he's on the Southern!" "OMG!! He's n the food court!" I'd have dealt with a lot more of deep, introspective "Ricochet" content, in exchange for one expertly restored performance from that wonderfully filmed concert.. And watch the first ten minutes of "Ricochet" on YT, when he's in the back of his limo Commiserating with Coco, then asking everyone with slanted eyes if they were familiar with some Chinese pop song from the 50s. Bring it the f*** on, already! We're not getting any younger.
You'd think the 1983 crew would be all "Just one more, David. Then we're done. Promise" But he was all "AGAIN! AGAIN!"
So far this is my understanding regarding iconic footage restored for this film (haven't seen it yet) 1. Hammersmith 73 2. Cracked Actor bbc doc 3. Earls Court 78 Could all these 3 end up on a stand alone release ? Alan Yentob is still with us and it would be great if he could be in charge of putting together a more complete Cracked Actor with additional pro footage
Brett Morgen did say that they might be planning to release some unseen footage for free, so this could be possible. After all, if you don't think you can sell it, you had might as well try and earn something from it. I'd still take a physical release though. The issue for a physical release is that they have so much footage they could release that it will take a while for them to get around to anything. I'm still waiting for a BBC Radio Theatre release, as well as the Paris 1999 show.
As mentioned in my long-winded review, I almost walked out after half an hour or so because I found the relentless "1990s Alternative Rock Band Music Video" style grating. I literally never walk out on movies, and I didn't here, but I was tempted. The IMAX presentation was louder than expected, but I keep my concert earplugs on my key chain and was able to use those to make the screening's volume tolerable. Though I did need to pop 'em in/out the whole movie because the plugs made it tough to hear dialogue! Seems like the volume decreased as the movie went, too - music in the 2nd half didn't seem as loud to me. Perhaps intentional, since the post-Berlin stuff if so IN YER FACE! Might've made those parts louder for that emphasis and then dialed back along the way.
Exactly. There seems to be this derogatory/condescending view that those of us who disliked "MD" are simpletons with such limited brainpower that we couldn't grasp the brilliance of what the director wanted to do. No. We get it. It's actually a simplistic take on Bowie when you strip away all the showy visuals and frenetic tone. It's just a disjointed and lousy depiction of Bowie as a man, an artist, whatever. And don't tell us that we would only accept a standard "this happened then that happened" documentary with the usual talking heads. I'm all for something that uses the format in a different way - if it makes sense and engages me. This just became a pretentious mess.
To be fair, all the shots of orgasmic fans came from 1972-73 or 1983. And I think documentaries are tough sells on the big screen. "MD" is actually doing quite well on a per-screen basis.
The movie goes back to Bowie on the Escalator at least 3 times, IIRC. We certainly see that shot more than once.
Yeah, when the film opened with "Hallo Spaceboy," I thought, "Oh, the filmmaker is just recreating that video with the Pet Shop Boys." Which is fine for a few minutes... but then I soon realized that's the style of the entire movie! Over two hours of this madness!
Everybody here should know that Bowie nailed everything on the first take. Really, with all he ever did.
I liked it, it was a bit long. The Spiders from Mars material sounded great in a very loud cinema. I liked that the film was really led by his own voice. No masterpiece though.
Someone on Letterboxd said the movie made him sound more like David Brent than David Bowie. I was like 'damn'.
