Sgt. Pepper Review up at The Digital Review (1 Viewer)

[James_Garner]

For anyone who's curious, My review of Universal's "Sgt. Pepper" DVD can be found at http://www.thedigitalreview.com/foru...=&threadid=213.
One friendly warning: it is a positive review of both the film & the DVD. Abandon hope all ye who hateth the film

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Awful film! But... I must congratulate Universal on what appears to be a stunning transfer and superb DD5.1 and DTS 5.1! DTS?! I didn't know this was gonna have DTS! That was a curve-ball!

Well, if they treated this as well as they have, then my hopes are high for Scarface '83.


Gordy

 

[TheLongshot]

One friendly warning: it is a positive review of both the film & the DVD. Abandon hope all ye who hateth the film

Hey, there is at least one person who liked this film on this board. I'm glad the sound is great, and rather impressed that there is a DTS track. Can't wait to hear it!


Jason

 

[TonyD]

i liked it when i saw it. at the movies many times

i cant wait to see it again.

i love steve martin in this.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

I will be first in line to buy this DVD the Tuesday it arrives.

It's the absolute worst film I totally love. :b

Great review!! I can't wait!!

 

[Derek Miner]

There have been much worse films than this. I thoroughly enjoy it as a ridiculous 70's artifact, and I can't wait to see it in the proper aspect ratio!

I'm predicting this is going to be one of those odd titles that the stores bring in one copy and then marvel why more people come asking for it when it's gone.

 

[Gary->dee]

I thought I would skip this title but thanks to James' wonderful review I'll most likely get it, if anything just to add to my 70's collection.

 

[Grady Reid]

Now that its out, any more reviews out there. I went to SEVEN different places today looking for it. No luck!

 

[Joe_Pinney]

I saw this film so many times in the theater (opening weekend in July 1978 - Yegods!) and later on local TV (KTLA Channel 5 in L.A.!) that I'd be a fool not to pick this up! The screenshots on that review site look a little odd, though. The guy obviously needs some help with doing that.

This movie is definitely cheesy, but it's a fun sort of cheese. Plus, hey, it's got drug-era Aerosmith doing their better-than-the-Beatles version of "Come Together" (I think it's better, anyway).

An excellent film to smoke a doobie or munch on some 'shrooms to (not that I know what that's like, but if you're into that, this'd be the movie to do it to).

 

[Gary->dee]

I can't stand the Aerosmith version. As soon as I hear it on the radio and I can tell that subtle difference between it and the Beatles version I quickly change the channel. However, I did like the use of it in Armageddon. It seemed to fit nicely in that movie.

 

[James_Garner]

The screenshots on that review site look a little odd, though. The guy obviously needs some help with doing that.

When I took those screenshots, I did not realize at the time that my DVD-Rom drive was dying on me. I just bought a new DVD-Rom drive that works much better (Sony instead of "Delta DVD-Rom") & all future screenshots will not have the same problem, I assure you.

 

[rich_d]

This is an all-time bottom 100 film on IMDB for a reason.

Of all the thousands of films rated ... you can't just waltz into it and say I'm going to make a truly tragic movie ... it requires a sincere effort gone tragically awry.

For the DVD reviewer to give the film an A- speaks volumes.

Excellent DVD of a tragic film ... top grade whipped cream on vile coffee

 

[James_Garner]

For the DVD reviewer to give the film an A- speaks volumes

To each his own. That's why I said "One friendly warning: it is a positive review of both the film & the DVD. Abandon hope all ye who hateth the film. (big wink)"
I didn't aim the review for the 599 of the imdb voters who hated the movie, but for the 318 voters that enjoyed the film.
BTW, I like my coffee extra-vile, with a shot of mocha. Hold the whipped cream ;-)

 

[Ric Bagoly]

Hey! Sgt. Pepper's ain't THAT bad! The cast alone (Frampton, Bee Gees, Pleasence, Cooper, Martin, Burns, Aerosmith, Earth Wind and Fire, etc.) makes it a must-see!


BTW, I went to get it at Best Buy and they didn't even know what I was talking about. :frowning:

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I need to see it again to see if it is as bad as I remember.

So, I put it in my Greencine rental queue. Not buying this one!

 

[rich_d]

I didn't aim the review for the 599 of the imdb voters who hated the movie, but for the 318 voters that enjoyed the film.

If there was a normal distribution curve on votes at imdb.com that might be true but it's not. Average votes for movies do not score as many "4" votes as "6" votes so the scoring is biased high. The fact is that people that like movies tend to take the time to vote for them.

That people took the time to even consider rating this film down is why it is in the bottom one percent of all films. Fans warning other fans to avoid like the plague.

If you're writing this review for the 128 voters that loved this film - good luck finding them here.

The only reason I'm taking the time to write this is to warn off some unsuspecting person that might waste money on this DVD.

James, if you give this film an A- ... could you tell me some films that you thought rated a F?

 

[Gary->dee]

I went to get it at Best Buy and they didn't even know what I was talking about.

That's typical. I think for some of the older titles or at least less successful movies they take their sweet time in stocking them as opposed to say Daredevil or LOTR. I went there looking for Jerry Lewis' Don't Raise The Bridge... and they pretty much reacted the same to me as they did to you. Although their site has Sgt. Pepper's listed for $14.99 I wouldn't expect to see it on their shelves until the end of August or maybe even September.

 

[Jeff Krispow]

James,

I just wanted to offer my congratulations on your review — I don't usually pipe in on such matters, but this time I thought it was definitely warranted, and you should be commended for your effort.

It's not often that I read a review of this caliber. In addition to offering up your thoughts on the film itself, you also covered the video, audio, extras and packaging aspects in full detail. Not to mention including the example screenshots… Your review was thoroughly researched, thought out, and well written. Any potential question someone might have about the DVD has been answered!

All other reviewers should strive to follow your excellent example. I sincerely hope that you will consider writing more reviews in the future… I look forward to reading them.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[TonyD]

wow, this movie is as surreal as i remember it to be.
i first saw it at the movies when i was 14.

making it even more bizarre to me was seeing all those 70's icons at the end.

including dame edna.
i never new he/she was around back then.

 

[rich_d]

Another positive posted DVD review that might interest some of you.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=7471

Here is a portion of the review ...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a cinematic abortion, the type of which that simply has to be seen to be believed. It's a bauble of badness, a mercilessly cheesy, completely overwrought and thoroughly misguided attempt to create the ultimate rock musical adventure, but instead ending up as perhaps the most singularly awful embarrassment to be ever associated with the Beatles, and I'm including the Magical Mystery Tour movie in that assessment. This is the type of horrific monstrosity that could only have emerged from the Seventies, a decade which propagated the supremacy of embarrassingly awful and insipidly cheesy Network Variety Hours; in fact, if you could possibly imagine of a two-hour episode of Pink Lady and Jeff, you can perfectly encapsulate Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

So what's so abominable about the film? Well, let's start with our principals. Frampton and the Brothers Gibb are certainly respectable singers/musicians, but as actors... well, there's more shameless mugging going on here than after an Oakland Raiders loss. The musical adaptations are extremely spotty: Earth Wind & Fire bring the house down with their fantastic cover of Got To Get You Into My Life, and the members of Aerosmith acquit themselves nicely with Come Together. But just when things seem interesting, they hand George Burns a guitar and have him sing Fixing a Hole, grab two drag-queen robots and make them perform an embarrassingly rancid rendition of She's Leaving Home, and, during a segment which seems to go on for roughly six hours, appallingly misinterpret the classic I Want You (She's So Heavy) in such a vile montage that it made one yearn for the nuanced subtleties of William Shatner's timeless cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

The film is so bad, so embarrassing, so shocking, so cringe-worthy, so unbelievably.... unbelievable... that it tops my personal list of must-see misfires. This is the type of bad movie that is so abysmal that it's completely enjoyable. That's right folks: I love this movie! I partake of its bright color gruesomeness like a shaman at a peyote ritual. It exists as some kind of permanently sealed relic of the late 1970s, a prism of sound and color that grew out of disco, roller-skating rinks, high school band rooms decorated with various rock album covers (mostly Boston and Pink Floyd), Battlestar Galactica in its first-run broadcast on ABC, an endearing innocence in the face of popular malaise, an attitude of embarrassingly cheesy goodness that simply doesn't exist anymore. Maybe you just had to be there: I was seven in 1978 and this entire film just reeks with my memories of the era.

In any case, it's as I mentioned before: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is without a doubt the most awful film I totally adore.

No screenshots though ....