SigmaEcho

A very beautiful film - a true triumph of mid-budget, on-location filming and practical effects, with an adroit use of CGI added in later, to create totally realistic and convincing digital effects that don't pull you out of the world of the film. Not shot on blue-screens or in front of a wall of LED panels, but actually shot in exotic locations around the globe. But here's the thing, Hollywood used to put out movies that look this good every single week back in the 20th century.

That said, the script is a banal basket of mindless sci-fi tropes. The studio and filmmakers should be embarrassed to finance and release such an un-original, brain-dead screenplay. The ultimate weapon of mass destruction must be benign because it's cute, right? The robots are portrayed as just another oppressed minority group, with absolutely no nuance or intelligence put into the story. They are good and innocent because the movie tells us so. The threat of AI is just hand-waived away without any thought. I was insulted by how dumb this movie is. This material is beneath Gareth Edward's talents, and especially beneath all the work he spent creating all these incredible visuals and convincing future world. This movie could have been salvaged if they had the guts to reveal that the AI used a cute child to manipulate mankind's mental biases and easily swayed weakness for anything cute. That's exactly what a super intelligence would do. But no, this movie is WAY too dumb for anything even remotely clever.

That said, I enjoyed every frame of the film, as Hollywood doesn't make movies that look like this anymore and there's a very real possibility that movies this good looking will never be the norm ever again.

I feel compelled to review this, as the IMDB score for this series is utterly insane and totally removed from reality. This long, boring, nearly 8-hour slog is one of the worst-edited things I've ever seen. I consider myself a Beatles fan, but the quality presentation was nowhere to be found here, and I can't find any source of enjoyment in the way this was put together. All the effort seems to have been put into restoring the old footage and none into telling an insightful, meaningful or well-edited documentary.

What was the goal of this project? Is it for the music? Then why is the music constantly chopped up and no songs are played completely uninterrupted? Is it to lift the curtain on the creative process? Then why are there no interviews or follow-ups? We are only given snippets of unfinished material, and never given any insight into how it was ushered to completion. Was this for an accurate historical record? Then why are we given no actual context, like the fact that the Beatles were contractually obligated to finish this album and film, and that's why the atmosphere was so dreary, and why the concert was so forced and ill-planned, or that all of the Beatles were scheduled to work on other projects like movies, that required them to leave at a certain date? Nearly all the negative aspects of what was happening are simply ignored or de-emphasized in favor of showcasing the more casual and lighter moments of the band and crew hanging out - and the end result is like watching paint dry. I can't even recommend just watching the final concert, as the music is constantly being interrupted.

I would say this is for absolute die-hard Beatlmaniacs only. I highly recommend watching "Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road" instead, which is superior in every way.

If you've ever thought to yourself "Star Wars is okay but the characters are too interesting, the plot is too exciting, and what it really needs is tax disputes, trade negotiations, senate hearings and irritating, plastic-looking CGI characters. The Force is cool, but it should really be de-mystified into a scientific concept, like bugs in your blood. We wouldn't want people to think that anyone could be Jedi through hard work and integrity. Nope, your ability level is measurable and determined at birth. Rather than tell an interesting and compelling story, how about we give the most screen-time to a CGI side-character that doesn't matter at all to the larger story!"

If so, then The Phantom Menace is just the movie for you!