Alun Owen

A charming if unspectacular novelisation of the Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night. Alun Owen's adapted screenplay has some spice, and John Burke seems to be a talented writer who produces one or two flourishes of his own. As a bonus, it re-introduces Paul McCartney's solo scene, which was removed from the final cut of the film. Moving the perspective more towards the point-of-view of Grandfather McCartney (and occasionally Norm the road manager) also gives this short novel enough of a character to stand somewhat apart from its source material. That said, absent the music and the on-screen charisma of the Beatles themselves, this novelisation is only of limited merit, remaining only a pleasant curiosity for fans.… (more)

A day in the life of the Beatles.

A Marx Brothers movie, minus the wit (not that there's no wit - just relative to a Marx Brothers movie), crossed with a concert film, shot like an art film. I was only vaguely entertained while watching it, but after some reflection, there really is a lot to appreciate about it. There's a remarkable amount of texture in the photography. Thanks to that and the faux-documentary style, no matter how dumb the movie gets, there's always something interesting to look at. It's very easy to overlook the design work, having grown up long after this movie's time. Everything is so damn iconic that I couldn't help taking it all for granted while I was watching it.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: C
Music: A

Enjoyment: C plus

GPA: 2.7/4… (more)