Alan G Parker's latest Beatles-related documentary is about John Lennon's last ten years - or maybe the last 15 or so? We look at the film's unfocused approach, its long, seemingly unedited anecdotes, and the perspective lent it by its choice of talking head contributors. We also discuss its use of AI animation, from both a creative and ethical perspective.You can currently watch Borrowed Time on Prime Video. If not it's widely available digitally, and as we mention, it had a Blu-ray and DVD release too.Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQpCDjvjLSIEd mistitles Kenneth Womack's excellent book, John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life, but he's read it, we promise: https://kennethwomack.com/books/beatlesbooks/john-lennon-1980-the-last-days-in-the-life/Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1:16:28
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
A film that contains one of the most famous cinematic depictions of the Beatles: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman's brief cameo as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in Rishikesh, India is widely quoted and memed. We ask what assumptions it makes about the Beatles' personalities. How responsible was the Yellow Submarine film for how a generation, particularly in America, thinks of the Beatles' individual characters and does that play a role here?The film itself parodies music biopics so of course there's a lot else to talk about. We discuss the tropes of the music biopic. How many of them will there be in the Sam Mendes Beatles films?The theatrical version of the film: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/walk-hard-the-dewey-cox-story"American Cox: The Unbearably Long Self-Indulging Director's Cut" is on YouTube for free: https://youtu.be/8UdDZ9xmcfkBeatles scene, with the deleted bits: https://youtu.be/6frgnqTo1eMRay https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/ray-2004 and Walk The Line https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/walk-the-lineAn "artist hits on the famous riff" scene from Straight Outta Compton: https://youtu.be/XC61gApOFacDavid Krumholtz, who plays a manager in Ray, and in Walk Hard: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0472710The Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere trailer: https://youtu.be/oQXdM3J33No (Krumholtz is a record exec in this too)The Tim Robinson sketch: https://youtu.be/6v1qNVZmofILimmy's Wrong Way Down a One Way Street: https://youtu.be/LW7Iv-V1-JoMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1:28:30
John Lennon and George Harrison on The Frost Programme 1967: transcendental meditation debate
On Friday 29 September 1967, John Lennon and George Harrison appeared as guests on The Frost Programme, whose host David Frost had just interviewed Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with whom the Beatles were then prominently associated in the press. They discussed their newfound practice of transcendental meditation and the public were interested enough that the two appeared again, five days later, on Wednesday 4 October to continue the discussion, this time in front of a questioning audience of academics and doctors.We discuss first how remarkable it is that pop stars were given a platform like this to debate theology, and how different the environment was compared to today's discussion programmes, in that everyone was given time to make their points without interruption, and the two Beatles weren't condescended to or shouted down. It's interesting too to note the group dynamic: George is the much-more serious leader here and John takes a back seat, adding humour but not undermining their points.Watch the Friday 29 September 1967 broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpYg2H34piwThe Wednesday 4 October 1967 broadcast (note the YouTube video is mislabelled as 29 September): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUGkbNu06-kDr John Allison's paper, Respiratory Changes During Transcendental Meditation, published in The Lancet on 18 April 1970: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014067367092427XDetails of the BBC Third Programme broadcast of King Lear from 29 September, which the Beatles mixed live into I Am The Walrus: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av68007Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1:12:08
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1:12:08
One to One: John & Yoko
First question about this new documentary from Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards: is there anything new in it? It's a resounding yes: we discuss the framing device the film uses to evoke the chaos and political turmoil of Nixon-era early 1970s America. One big selling point for the film is also the archive of recorded phone calls between John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Allen Klein, May Pang, and other assistants, and we look at what this reveals about them. And it's interesting to note that this seems remarkably free of airbrushing: there are editorial decisions made here that don't flatter John or Yoko, and we talk about what this means for the creative direction of the Lennon estate.As of mid-April 2025, the film is out in UK cinemas. See where it's showing near you: https://shorturl.at/eFZyDWatch the trailer: https://youtu.be/oxagfYjeMV4Details of the live box set to be released in 2025: https://www.noise11.com/news/john-lennon-reissue-for-2025-will-be-9-disc-live-box-set-20250407Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sam Mendes' four-film Beatles cinematic event: cast announcement
Sam Mendes has his cast, then: Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. What do we think of the official cast announcement? Can fans get past the idea that not every actor looks exactly like the Beatle he's playing? What do these actors' other performances suggest they could do with the Beatles story? Plus we discuss the release strategy, now it's seemingly confirmed that all four films will be released in the same month. How will this work?Some of the other films we mention here if you want to check out the actors include Dickinson in Triangle of Sadness, currently on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002645p/triangle-of-sadnessThe Banshees of Inisherin, with Barry Keoghan, on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-nz/movies/the-banshees-of-inisherin/7Cj38ALjonSCThe wonderful All Of Us Strangers, with the double McCartney impact of Paul Mescal and Lennon Naked's Andrew Scott, on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/movies/all-of-us-strangers/3J3PiHRIdy65Mescal's Oscar-nominated turn in Aftersun, on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001w9pm/aftersunMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Two film writers and Fab Four fans discuss movies and TV about, starring, and inspired by The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Portugal