Shows
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Anthology (2025 remaster): episodes 1 to 8They couldn't let it lie, could they? Well, fair enough: The Beatles Anthology felt like a sleeping giant for Apple: gathering dust on a lot of fortysomethings' DVD shelves when it could be out there, brand spanking new and showing a whole new generation how great these guys were.And of course these episodes have been altered: we talk about what's new, and what's been removed and why. Plus there's the subject of the AI upscaling of some of the early performance footage: what effect does it have and what are the implications?
2025-12-011h 05
The Beatles Films PodcastConcert for George (with Nothing Is Real's Steven Cockcroft): part 2It's part 2 and we're getting into it: what were the standout performances? There's a lot to choose from: Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney all had a go, but what motivated their song choices? We also discuss Paul in particular: less secure than Ringo in his relationship with George Harrison, it's fascinating to watch Paul tread carefully through his contributions. What would a Paul McCartney tribute concert look like and who would appear at it?You can find ways to watch and listen to the Concert for George at https://concertforgeorge.comWe...
2025-11-2453 min
The Beatles Films PodcastConcert for George (with Nothing Is Real's Steven Cockcroft): part 1As reluctant as he famously is to talk about it, Steven Cockcroft, one half of the Nothing Is Real podcast, attended the George Harrison tribute concert on 29 November 2002. So when it came to discussing the 2003 concert film we thought, Who better to invite on as a guest? Part 1 of our conversation touches on our memories of George's death in 2001, how Steven got a ticket, which artists were confirmed when, and which were rumoured, and the differences between the DVD's two versions: the full concert and the edited theatrical release.You can find ways to watch...
2025-11-171h 06
The Beatles Films PodcastSon of Dracula (1974)Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson playing Merlin (yes, the wizard) and the son of Dracula: what could possibly go wrong? Well, a fair bit as it turns out: some baffling choices are made and it can't quite make up its mind what it is, but at least Ringo enjoyed being a producer, didn't he? No, not really. Still, he had a bar in his Apple Films office, at least.Watch the film in this fairly ropy VHS transfer: https://youtu.be/cfkHN_QxNcwOr in this weird but fascinating HD upscale made using AI: https://youtu...
2025-11-1052 min
The Beatles Films PodcastPaul is Dead (2018 British short film)It would've been remiss, having just covered the German Paul is Dead, not to do a quick bonus episode on this lovely little short from British writer-director George Moore. He imagines a Lake District writing retreat in which the Beatles wake up after a drug-fuelled night to discover Paul McCartney is dead, and go about trying to recruit local shepherd Billy Shears as a replacement. We talk about the characterisations used for the group and how much that allows a comprehensive story to be told in just 12 minutes, the references to the Strawberry Fields Forever video and A Hard...
2025-11-0739 min
The Beatles Films PodcastPaul is Dead (2000 German film)We really enjoyed Hendrik Handloegten's 2000 film, which uses fandom and the old Paul is Dead mystery trope to great effect in a coming-of-age story. Tobias maybe has some stuff going on at home, and at 13 is on the cusp of noticing girls, and the film perfectly shows how kids get obsessed and wilfully believe outlandish things because the fantasy is more appealing than reality.We go down the rabbit hole of the Paul is Dead theory ourselves, and ask: is there anything in it? (No, no, there isn't.)There are other versions...
2025-11-0358 min
The Beatles Films PodcastGood Ol' FredaWe look at Ryan White's 2013 documentary about Freda Kelly, employed by Brian Epstein and The Beatles from 1962 to 1972, and president of their fan club. How influential was she in what became Beatlemania? We discuss her obvious empathy with and yet professional distance from the Beatles' female fans, and her instinctive understanding that a personal connection with fans strengthens the relationship. Also, this small film made with Kickstarter funding secured the rights to use four Beatles songs: how?Watch the film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucoGodRvzX8The interview with Freda and Ryan...
2025-10-271h 07
The Beatles Films PodcastEbony and IvoryStrap in for Jim Hosking's deliberately provocative and frustrating take on the "genesis of a song" story. In fictionalising a meeting between Paul McCartney (Sky Elobar) and Stevie Wonder (Gil Gex) at Paul's Scottish cottage, and throwing narrative structure and logic out the window, is he poking fun at how seriously classic rock fans take these stories? We discuss the comedy of repetition, how it can force you to reinterpret simple statements by overexposure to them, and, briefly because it can't be avoided, prosthetic penises.In the UK you can watch the film on Kanopy...
2025-10-2047 min
The Beatles Films PodcastBorrowed Time: Lennon's Last DecadeAlan 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...
2025-10-131h 16
The Beatles Films PodcastWalk Hard: The Dewey Cox StoryA 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...
2025-10-061h 28
The Beatles Films PodcastJohn Lennon and George Harrison on The Frost Programme 1967: transcendental meditation debateOn 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...
2025-09-291h 12
The Failure GapA Conversation With Matt Leta, Future Works CEO, FounderAt Karrikins Group, we work alongside leaders to close the gap between great ideas and real results by combining business expertise with social science to help teams align on how to deliver together - driving better outcomes and stronger connections.In this episode of the Failure Gap, Julie Williamson, Ph.D. speaks with Matt Leta, CEO of Future Works, about the intersection of AI and innovation in business. They discuss Matt's journey as a serial entrepreneur, the concept of vibe coding, and the importance of aligning organizational culture with technological advancements. Matt emphasizes the need for leaders...
2025-08-1243 min
The Beatles Films PodcastOne to One: John & YokoFirst 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...
2025-04-1759 min
The Beatles Films PodcastSam Mendes' four-film Beatles cinematic event: cast announcementSam 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...
2025-04-0438 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (part 2)We finish off this season with a look at the film's use of footage that's been colourised from black and white. Was this done, as Iain Lee suggested to Ed on his Talk Radio show in 2016, because American audiences don't like black and white? We think there's a bit of mileage in that: more specifically that the brief here was to present this footage to a new audience with a bit of sheen. We also discuss talking heads in the film like Eddie Izzard, and look at what they contributed, as well as some who appear only in the...
2025-03-1751 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (part 1)Has Ron Howard's 2016 documentary effectively been superseded by other films since? Probably the first official Apple film to be released as part of the Beatles legacy project, it's very polished and pays a lot of respect to fan culture, in particular teenage girls. But nine years on, does it cover too much of the same ground as other films, like Beatles '64, to be significant?You can rent the film online in a few places: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/the-beatles-eight-days-a-week-the-touring-years or pick up the two-disc Blu-ray for the special features, which really complement...
2025-03-1050 min
The Beatles Films PodcastDoctor Who: The Devil's ChordThe coming together of two great British cultural institutions feels fated, but how well did Russell T. Davies pull it off? We look, of course, at how accurate they've been when it comes to Beatle detail, and in particular at the characterisations of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Matt, a Whovian, explains how this episode fits into the canon and how this season of Doctor Who compared tonally to others, while Ed, who thinks he might have seen a couple of the Christopher Eccleston ones 20 years ago, mainly just listens.Watch the episode on BBC...
2025-03-031h 05
The Beatles Films PodcastYesterday (1985 Polish film)We look at Radoslaw Piwowarski's Beatles-themed film, which won the Golden Shell at the 1985 San Sebastián International Film Festival. It's the story of teenagers in 1964 communist Poland trying to forge an identity through their love of the Beatles. We talk about cinema behind the Iron Curtain (the Polish People's Republic was under communist rule both in the story and when the film was released) and what that means for freedom of expression, both for the filmmakers and the characters. Is the Beatles' music, which we hear in the film, treated with a special reverence given how it was c...
2025-02-2449 min
The Beatles Films PodcastJohn Lennon: Murder Without a TrialWe weren't big fans of this 2023 Apple TV+ documentary series: it's prurient and invasive, and in the parts where it suggests conspiracy theories but then does nothing to back them up, it's pretty irresponsible. We discuss the techniques it uses in the context of the contemporary true crime boom, and ask whether we'd have liked it more if we had no personal investment in John Lennon's murder. Could it have achieved more by doing what it briefly threatens to, and framed itself around how thinking around criminality and mental illness, and gun control in the United States, has moved...
2025-02-171h 03
The Beatles Films PodcastSextetteRingo Starr's film career includes the odd misstep, of course, but this 1978 vehicle for Mae West is often cited among the worst films ever made. And fair enough, it's not great. But Ringo is the best thing in it: we talk about how he brings his whole self to the role, further evidence of how committed he was to making acting his primary career at this point in his life. And there are other Beatles connections: Dom DeLuise sings the Lennon/McCartney song Honey Pie in the film, and of course there's the small matter of the cover of...
2025-02-101h 07
The Beatles Films PodcastRupert and the Frog SongPaul McCartney's 1984 short animated film was a project he'd been planning for years: buying the film rights to the Rupert the Bear character was the first thing he did after leaving The Beatles. The more you get into it, the more you realise the extent of his passion for it. Released alongside Give My Regards to Broad Street in cinemas, the film also serves as a music video for We All Stand Together, also known as The Frog Song. We start by discussing the song: why was it for so long the watchword for "embarrassing Uncle Paul", and how...
2025-02-0358 min
The Beatles Films PodcastAn Accidental StudioAn Accidental Studio is the story of HandMade Films, the production company set up by Beatle George Harrison and his business partner Denis O'Brien, which produced or distributed Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time Bandits, The Long Good Friday, Withnail and I, and Mona Lisa. We discuss George's contribution and what it says about his creative instincts. He seems to have been very happy to trust creative people with more film expertise than he to make the films. Was this good creative sense or commercial naivety? What does the film tell us about Denis O'Brien, whom George later sued...
2025-01-271h 02
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Rolling Stones Rock and Roll CircusIn December 1968 Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who next month filmed The Beatles for the Let It Be/Get Back sessions, shot this circus-themed showcase for the post-psychedelic rock movement, starring John Lennon and Yoko Ono fronting supergroup The Dirty Mac, which also featured Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell. Between performances the Rolling Stones introduced acts like The Who and Taj Mahal, and there were pieces to camera from John and Yoko with Mick Jagger.We ask: Beatles or Stones: is it a stupid question? Why was the film, like so much of the Get Back footage...
2025-01-201h 09
The Beatles Films PodcastLennon NakedNext up: it's the 2010 BBC TV movie starring Christopher Eccleston as John Lennon, and Andrew Scott as Paul McCartney. We get into the film's approach, in which it frames the story around John's meetings with his father, and ask how successfully it makes the point it's trying to: that Freddie Lennon's abandoning him was the main catalyst for John's emotional turmoil, and that primal scream therapy allowed him to overcome it.We look too at Eccleston's performance, and ask how he stacks up against the other Lennon big hitters like Ian Hart and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. And...
2025-01-131h 10
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles: The First US VisitMany viewers of last year's Beatles '64 seemed to ask the question: "Why does this exist when we already have The First US Visit?" So we thought we'd have a go at an answer. This is a 1991 re-edit of the Maysles brothers' original 1964 Granada TV film What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA, and a much straighter, more chronological telling of the short tour's story using much of the same footage. We ask how this compares to Beatles '64, and in particular we discuss the effect of having no narration or talking heads, and whether this creates a void...
2025-01-061h 07
The Beatles Films PodcastPaul McCartney making mashed potatoes (Christmas special)Welcome to this year's Christmas special in which we, the fearless investigative journalists that we are, refuse to be silenced and meet head-on the issue the mainstream media doesn't want us to: can Paul McCartney make mashed potatoes?On 17 December 1998 Paul took part in a live webcast to promote Wide Prairie, a compilation album of Linda's songs, released six months after her death in April 1998. In it he fronted a cookery segment in which he made mashed potatoes as part of a promotion for her book: Linda McCartney on Tour: Over 200 Meat-free Dishes from Around the...
2024-12-2538 min
The Beatles Films PodcastBeatles '64ANOTHER new Beatles film. It's almost as if the runaway (for which read: very underwhelming) success of a podcast on the subject has led to a surfeit of new releases.And underwhelming is the key word here: yes, Peter Bradshaw can somehow write a five-star review in the Guardian without once mentioning whether the actual film is good or bad, but for those of us at the coalface of Beatles films appraisal it's a bit more nuanced. What is the film actually trying to say? How much work have Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr put into...
2024-11-291h 12
The Beatles Films PodcastMidas ManIt's taken a while to get here, but Brian Epstein biopic Midas Man, starring Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, is released on Prime Video today, 30 October 2024. We got a chance to see it at an advance screening and we think there's lots in there for Beatles fans to enjoy. Among the items up for discussion here: the performances as the Beatles by Jonah Lees, Blake Richardson, Leo Harvey-Elledge, Campbell Wallace and Adam Lawrence are all excellent. Did being less central characters free the actors up to focus more on mannerisms and delivery? Could you transplant them straight into the Sam Mendes biopics...
2024-10-301h 14
The Beatles Films PodcastOne Hand Clapping: Paul McCartney and WingsFilmed in 1974 and now remastered (not that you'd notice) for a cinema release, One Hand Clapping is the latest thing to come out of Paul McCartney's ongoing project to clear out his shed. It's good though! In this bonus episode we talk about how the idea behind its release might be as a sort of Get Back-lite, and whether that stands up, about the dynamic between Paul and the rest of the band, and about the "very special" bit at the end, which you won't see on the YouTube version, where Paul plays some acoustic songs in the Abbey...
2024-10-011h 11
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Anthology: DVD special features (original version)One more, then: here's a bonus episode covering the Beatles Anthology DVD extras. We note just how much this disc complements the Anthology series, to the extent that watching it without watching this feels incomplete. It made us rethink some of the assumptions we'd made about the Beatles' interpersonal relationships in the 1990s, in fact. We see in longer form the footage from the Threetles' day at George Harrison's Friar Park home on 23 June 1994, and observe the differences between their behaviour when being interviewed together versus apart. We talk about the making of the Free As a Bird video...
2024-06-171h 19
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Anthology: episodes 7 and 8 (original version)Beatles: Endgame. We discuss how the documentary gives George Harrison and Ringo Starr the space to craft their own narratives around how they left and then returned to the band, and we go over how it treats the Beatles' breakup, to the extent that it does at all. We talk about All You Need is Love in the context of the Beatles as rabble-rousing religious icons, and about how Yoko Ono is shown mainly in the context of her being a disruptive force. Plus: how the Anthology fails to tell a coherent story around the White Album. Was it...
2024-06-101h 38
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Anthology: episodes 5 and 6 (original version)On we go from Shea Stadium to Sgt Pepper. We see how George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Neil Aspinall remember the incident in Manila differently to Paul McCartney, and we put forward the idea that these episodes contain the Beatles' two imperial phases. We ask why George in the 1990s is still annoyed with Paul for making himself LSD spokesman in 1967, and we look in detail at Paul's chipped tooth: did it change everything?The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.Maybe this is Meryl Streep at Shea Stadium, maybe it isn't. Why...
2024-06-031h 37
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Anthology: episodes 3 and 4 (original version)Into episodes 3 and 4, the bulk of the Beatlemania and touring years, and we get straight to the key issue: why has Paul McCartney suggested he be interviewed while steering a tugboat? We also get into how the Anthology handles John's habit of making fun of disability: why is it addressed, given there was probably no real pressure on them to do so in the nineties, and how would it be received if included in a rereleased Anthology today?Plus: Jimmie Nicol and another example of Ringo Starr's emotional intelligence, as his memory of being temporarily replaced...
2024-05-271h 29
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Anthology: episodes 1 and 2 (original version)In the first of our four episodes covering the 1995 documentary series, we start with some of our own memories of when it aired, when we were teenagers and Britpop had made The Beatles cool again in the UK. We note the vast structural difference between episode 1, which of course covers the bit of their career of which there's the least amount of video footage, and episode 2, which focuses much less on talking head recollections and more on live and TV appearances, often shown nearly in full.We also discuss the practical impact of the three Beatles...
2024-05-201h 36
The Beatles Films PodcastLet it Be (2024 restoration)A quick bonus episode to discuss Michael Lindsay-Hogg's film, restored by Peter Jackson's team and released on Disney+ on 8 May 2024.We discussed the original film at length in our two-part episode at the end of season four, and you can find that in this podcast feed. But we were lucky enough to get an advance viewing of the restored Let it Be, so we wanted to have a quick chat about the significance of this re-release. In particular we try and answer the question: Why do we need this when we have Get Back? We also...
2024-05-1031 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Concert for BangladeshGeorge Harrison of the Beatles and Ravi Shankar organised two concerts on 1 August 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, as relief for refugees from East Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide. The gigs featured Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Badfinger. We talk here about both the concert film released to cinemas in 1972, and the 2005 documentary on the DVD, The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends.We discuss how this set a template for the benefit concert as we know it today, and talk about...
2024-05-061h 21
The Beatles Films PodcastScot Williams interview: playing Pete Best in Backbeat, and directing Two Of Us, a playScot Williams is best known to Beatles fans for playing Pete Best in Backbeat, and In His Life: The John Lennon Story. Scot's been a successful actor, director and writer for 30 years, and having grown up in Liverpool the Beatles have always been a big part of his life, and have featured in lots of his projects.Scot is about to direct a play, Two Of Us, adapting Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 2000 film about John Lennon and Paul McCartney's final meeting. We covered it in our first episode, which we were delighted to hear Scot listened to, and...
2024-04-291h 01
The Beatles Films PodcastRingo (1978 TV movie)Let's look at Ringo Starr's 1978 TV comedy film, written by Neal Israel and Pat Proft, both of whom would go on to make significant contributions to film comedy through the Police Academy and Naked Gun films, and loosely designed to promote his recent album Bad Boy.We discuss where Ringo is in his career and how his performance (he plays two versions of himself in a take on Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper) made Hollywood reappraise him and led to his leading role in Caveman (also covered in a previous episode). We talk about...
2024-04-221h 04
The Beatles Films PodcastHow the Beatles Rocked the KremlinLeslie Woodhead's 2009 film for BBC Four wasn't his first entry into Beatledom: he also shot the Cavern Club footage in 1962 that we're all so familiar with. He's also spent time making films in Russia, so he's ideally placed for this look at Russian youth's relationship with The Beatles, during the Soviet era and into the early, less scary, Putin era. We look at Russian then-Deputy PM Sergei Ivanov's contribution to this film. He seems fun! Maybe less so these days. We also discuss the practice of smuggling contraband Beatle recordings about by etching them into X-ray acetates, and Paul...
2024-04-1559 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Family WayPaul McCartney's first solo project, other than judging beauty contests, was the score for The Family Way, a 1966 comedy-drama in which a northern English community have an invasive interest in the non-consummation of Hywel Bennett and Hayley Mills' marriage. Is Paul really the chief composer of the score for which he won the Ivor Novello award, or did George Martin do more than "supervise and arrange" it?There's a lot going on in The Family Way in terms of changing attitudes in the sixties, and of course the Beatles were at the forefront of this. Intellectualism...
2024-04-081h 08
The Beatles Films PodcastI Wanna Hold Your HandWe both loved Robert Zemeckis's 1978 debut feature, the story of a group of New Jersey teens trying to get into the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan Show performance in February 1964. We talk about the techniques Zemeckis and his writing partner Bob Gale use here and how a lot of it prefigures their later work, in particular the Back to the Future trilogy. We also discuss how using the Beatles as characters who are always just off camera or somehow out of reach plays into how America saw them at the time: almost as mythical figures or religious icons. And we...
2024-04-011h 02
The Beatles Films PodcastImagine: John LennonThe 1988 documentary commissioned by Yoko Ono might have been the jumping-off point for the Lennon legacy project we know today. It shows John at his best, for the most part, and there's not much dissent from the talking heads, including May Pang, Julian Lennon and Cynthia Lennon. We ask why John chose George Harrison to play on How Do You Sleep?, his Paul McCartney diss track, when he could've got a session player. We discuss how John and Yoko's bed-in confrontation with the cartoonist Al Capp prefigures a lot of contemporary online discourse. And why wasn't Paul familiar with...
2024-03-251h 22
The Beatles Films PodcastSam Mendes' four Beatles biopics: movie release and casting discussionWith the announcement that Sam Mendes is to direct four Beatles biopic films for release in 2027, one from each of the perspectives of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, it'd be remiss of us not to speculate wildly about what this might involve. Will it tell the same story four times? Will bits of it only be told from one Beatle's perspective? Will it actually just be a bit more metaphysical than that, bypassing the need for narrative realism? Will it be like Beatles Peep Show? God, we hope so. Join us as we discuss all...
2024-03-1844 min
The Beatles Films PodcastPipes of Peace video (40th anniversary Christmas special)Merry Christmas! Here's a festive gift marking 40 years since Paul McCartney's Pipes of Peace video, which recreates the 1914 Christmas Day truce on the Western Front of World War 1. How was this video turned around fast enough to be aired on the BBC six days after shooting? Has Paul got the acting bug after spending half of 1983 shooting Give My Regards to Broad Street? Does his decision to play both the English and the German soldier lend a sense of shared humanity and emphasise the futility of war? (Seriously, stay with us here.) And why hasn't the song endured as...
2023-12-2547 min
The Beatles Films PodcastLet it Be (part 2)To finish off our fourth season, thrill as our takes on why George Harrison is laughing when Ringo Starr starts playing Octopus's Garden differ slightly. Later we discuss how Let it Be's pacing is affected by showing the finalised songs in full. Would it defeat the purpose to have done this differently? Plus, is John Lennon's claim that the film was set up to make the other Beatles look like sidemen for Paul McCartney justified, given how Let it Be, The Long and Winding Road and Two Of Us are shot almost like music videos with Paul the focus...
2023-12-1857 min
The Beatles Films PodcastLet it Be (part 1)Now is the winter of our discontent: or is it? Michael Lindsay-Hogg's Let it Be is widely thought a miserable affair, documenting arguments and the breakup of the Beatles. But watching it afresh after Peter Jackson's Get Back in 2021, it doesn't feel so much like that. We ask whether the widespread consensus that it's a negative depiction is actually more a failure of collective memory. What was it really set George Harrison off when he told Paul McCartney "Well, I'll play whatever you want me to play"? And what do we make of Lindsay-Hogg's decision not to let you...
2023-12-1149 min
The Beatles Films PodcastStuart Sutcliffe: The Lost BeatleThis 2005 BBC Four documentary, narrated by Paul Morley and featuring contributions from Astrid Kirchherr, Pauline Sutcliffe, Tony Sheridan, Rod Murray and Horst Facher, looks at the life of fifth Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe before his tragic death at 21. It makes the case that he would’ve been a significant artist in his own right, but spends a lot of its time looking at his work with the Beatles, so we discuss how well it manages to fulfil its brief. It’s also not the only BBC documentary of this period to be a bit coy about the idea...
2023-12-041h 09
The Beatles Films PodcastMad Men: Lady Lazarus (featuring Tomorrow Never Knows)Mad Men's Matthew Weiner paid $250,000 to use the Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows in season 5, episode 8, "Lady Lazarus". We talk about the licensing of Beatles music in film and TV, which is also referenced in the episode, where the agency is trying to find a song for a Hard Day's Night parody advert. This episode is in August 1966 and we discuss how the characters are feeling the paranoia of the sixties closing in on them. America is tense and chaotic: the Richard Speck murders in Chicago and the Texas University sniper shootings have just happened, just as the Beatles are...
2023-11-2758 min
The Beatles Films PodcastPaul McCartney: In the World TonightFirst shown in May 1997 on VH1 and ITV, Geoff Wonfor's promotional documentary for Paul McCartney's Flaming Pie album is a bit of a puff piece, but an interesting one. For context, this is all shot when Linda McCartney is receiving cancer treatment, which the public doesn't know about. We talk about how the film and the album might give insights into Paul's state of mind, and what sort of future he's contemplating. Watch the film: https://youtu.be/-BhnIClthqQWatch the video for the Smokin' Mojo Filters' cover of Come Together, featuring Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher...
2023-11-201h 15
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Compleat BeatlesDirected by rock doc specialist Patrick Montgomery, 1982's The Compleat Beatles still represents the only real attempt at a feature length documentary covering their whole career, and was a huge success in the early days of the home VHS market. It was released at a time when there was renewed interest in the band after John Lennon's murder, and in the 20-year anniversary of Love Me Do, alongside a lot of other Beatles products.It's a different beast to The Beatles Anthology, but how does it measure up? We talk about whether it was the original...
2023-11-131h 19
The Beatles Films PodcastNow and Then: The Last Beatles Song music video and documentaryPeter Jackson's music video for Now and Then, and the 12-minute short documentary film by Oliver Murray, Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song, were both released this week.What do we think of the techniques used, and what does the amount of restored footage point to? Plus! Is the song a Beatles song? If a song features all four Beatles, does it automatically sound Beatley? And AI: will it kill us all? Watch the music video: https://youtu.be/Opxhh9Oh3rgWatch Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song: https://youtu...
2023-11-0443 min
The Beatles Films PodcastRubber SoulJon Lefkovitz's 2014 film Rubber Soul recreates – very faithfully – John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1970 Rolling Stone and 1980 Playboy interviews, juxtaposing them and showing how John's thoughts on issues like drugs, fame and The Beatles changed over the intervening decade. We talk about the artistic value of recreating something exactly, and how that might play into Beatles fans' expectations and desires when seeing the band played on film by actors.It also raises questions about the significance of the rock star interview, and John's interviews in particular. His statements in these conversations were accorded great importance, and Jann Wenn...
2023-10-301h 21
The Beatles Films PodcastSgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThat's right, we couldn't put it off any longer: it's the Bee Gees' towering hubris of 1978. We spend some time unpicking Robin Gibb's contemporary quote in which he confidently predicted that the Bee Gees' version would effectively make the original Sgt Pepper obsolete, and we talk about rock operas and how this one is structured. We delve into its interesting backstory involving Brian Epstein contemporary and potential NEMS heir (whom the Beatles rejected), Robert Stigwood, plus: what did George Martin get out of it, and why didn't he take the chance to finally do his own string arrangement for...
2023-10-231h 08
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Lost Weekend: A Love StoryWe have a look at May Pang's documentary about her relationship with John Lennon, just released digitally and on blu-ray on 13 October 2023. We talk about perspectives and whether or not there's such a thing as "the truth" in a documentary, and whether that matters. Also we discuss how Yoko Ono comes across in this film and how a critical depiction fits into contemporary Beatles fandom.We interviewed May Pang about the film back in April 2023, and you can find that episode in this podcast feed.This episode includes a clip of May Pang's appearance on...
2023-10-1656 min
The Beatles Films PodcastCavemanOur attention turns to 1981's Caveman, starring Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, Shelley Long and Dennis Quaid. We discuss where Ringo is in his life and career at this point, the shadow cast over the production and release by John Lennon's murder, and how Ringo's physical and expression-based performance measures up in a film without dialogue. Also, while it's fair to say neither of us thought it was Citizen Kane, we do disagree a bit about the merits of the film in general, so if you like a scrap you've come to the right place. (Assuming you like your scraps...
2023-10-0959 min
The Beatles Films PodcastGeorge Harrison: Living in the Material WorldWe're opening season four with one of the big hitters: Martin Scorsese's 2011 George Harrison documentary. George's life gets a proper going-over for three hours, and we talk about how the film approaches his spirituality and how it relates to familiar religious themes in Scorsese films. This is an interesting film for the calibre of talking heads it attracts, Scorsese's milkshake very much bringing all the boys to the yard: Astrid Kirchherr, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Phil Spector (!), Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison and Olivia too. We talk about Dhani and Olivia's contributions in particular, and how the film...
2023-10-021h 31
Saturday2Sunday Football PodcastEpisode 575: Matt WilliamsonPaul is joined by special guest Matt Williamson(@WilliamsonNFL). Matt shares his thoughts on many of the top rookies from the 2023 class from a redraft and dynasty perspective.
To purchase the S2S Premium Notebooks for $9.99 or to read the full descriptions of what is in each notebooks, click here.
Hosts:
Paul Perdichizzi (@paulie23ny)
Jeff Abercrombie (@theSofascout)
Editor: David Nakano (@KawikaNakano)
Website: Saturday2SundayFootball (@s2sfootball)
2023-06-3031 min
The Beatles Films PodcastLive and Let Die (with Neil Alcock)To celebrate 50 years since the film's release we've got together with our friend and James Bond authority Neil Alcock for an episode on Live and Let Die. As we'll hear, the theme song by Wings represented a gear shift and a new direction for Bond themes, away from big band singers and towards rock. Was Paul McCartney instructed to write elements into the song to fit the film's theme?We also talk about Bond and the Beatles as British cultural exports of the 1960s, and the connections between them, and we discuss George Martin's score, how...
2023-06-271h 11
The Beatles Films PodcastYellow Submarine (Part 2)In part two we close out our third season with some good old-fashioned British magic realism. Is Yellow Submarine a magic realist piece, and if so are the submarine or the Beatles themselves the conduit for the magic?Plus! We discuss its eastern European influences, and talk about the failed Robert Zemeckis remake, how far it got, and the technological and industrial reasons why it didn't go any further.Thanks very much for listening to us again this season. If you could give us a five-star rating in your podcast app, tweet about...
2023-06-1942 min
The Beatles Films PodcastYellow Submarine (Part 1)In the first part of our season finale we're discussing 1968's Yellow Submarine, the Beatles' animated film and, as we outline, their only musical. We talk about how the project came about and how much the Beatles were involved (spoiler alert: not much), as well as the choices made in their characterisations, and what that says about their public personas at the time. We also talk a lot about the new songs included in the film: Hey Bulldog, It's All Too Much, Only a Northern Song and All Together Now.You can rent or buy...
2023-06-121h 02
The Beatles Films PodcastAll Together NowWho doesn't love Love? We're talking about the documentary about the Cirque du Soleil show The Beatles: Love. The film is an official Apple product and has talking head input from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Neil Aspinall, George Martin and Giles Martin. So why isn't it more widely known? We discuss how Apple moved on from here and became the legacy-preserving machine it is today. We also talk about the Love album and the impact it had, Yoko and Olivia and their understandable efforts to fight the corner for their late husbands' legacies, and what...
2023-06-0557 min
The Beatles Films PodcastLiving is Easy with Eyes Closed (Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados)Here's a companion piece to last week's episode. In David Trueba's 2013 film, set in Spain in 1966, English teacher Antonio and two young hitchhikers take a road trip to Almeria where he hopes to meet John Lennon on the set of How I Won The War.Starring Javier Cámara, Natalia de Molina and Francesc Colomer, Living is Easy with Eyes Closed won several Goya awards and was Spain's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 2015 Academy Awards.We talk about how Strawberry Fields Forever and Help! are used as t...
2023-05-2955 min
The Beatles Films PodcastHow I Won The WarOnto John Lennon's solo acting debut in Richard Lester's How I Won The War, best known for John having written Strawberry Fields Forever in Spain while shooting it. We talk about how John is a significant figure to cast in a film commenting on the British class system, and how he and the film upend your expectations. Green, green, green!Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/d8cK7Z78o8kWatch a handy YouTube video with all of John's scenes: https://youtu.be/KEZFe94xpkkMeet the Beatles Films Podcast
2023-05-2255 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Linda McCartney StoryWe discuss the 2000 CBS TV movie in which Elizabeth Mitchell played Linda McCartney and Gary Bakewell reprised his Backbeat role as Paul McCartney. It's pretty corny of course, and there's a lot wrong with it, but there are positives, and we discuss how much you should expect from a TV movie, and talk about how its budget seems to have been applied. Did John Lennon throw a brick through Paul's window? Did he shout "McCartney! Who the hell do you think you are?" (Yes, this film is the source of that Shaun Keaveny clip.) Did Linda...
2023-05-151h 06
The Beatles Films PodcastProduced by George MartinProduced by George Martin was originally a 2011 episode in the BBC's Arena documentary series, before being released more widely in 2012. We look at whether its informal conversational interviews work as a documentary technique, how watching it in the light of Get Back is quite revealing given George's recollection of his contribution to those sessions, and what his conversations with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney say about the relationships they had with him. Plus! Hear Matt talk about George's martini-making technique for longer than you were probably expecting.NOTE: ironically given the subject matter, we had some...
2023-05-081h 05
The Beatles Films PodcastBlindmanAs ever, here's this season's "Ringo Starr appears in seventies film which is problematic by modern sensibilities" episode. Blindman, a spaghetti western produced by Allen Klein, features Ringo as an unhinged Mexican bandit. We discuss, inevitably, its sexual and racial politics, talk about whether Ringo is playing against type (and, more broadly, whether he has established a "type" against which to play), and assess his performance and position within the early 1970s film industry.You can rent Blindman in the UK on Prime Video: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/blindmanOr in the US you...
2023-05-011h 02
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Hours and TimesOn to Christopher Münch's short fictionalised account of John Lennon and Brian Epstein's 1963 Spanish holiday, which explores their relationship and themes like miscommunication, and the power dynamic between the admirer and the admired. This was Ian Hart's first go at playing John, and we discuss how he and his co-star David Angus perform, the significance of the pair watching Ingmar Bergman's The Silence in the film, and the merits of taking narrative licence with a real event to explore something wider. Oh, and there's some innuendo, obviously.If you're in the UK you can p...
2023-04-241h 03
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles and IndiaWe're back in our documentary ashram with Ajoy Bose's 2021 film about the Beatles' relationship with his home country. The film does more than just tell the story of when they visited (though it does of course do that, AND tell the Ringo/baked beans story again, God love it): it takes its time exploring how India influenced the band and vice versa. We talk about how it represents George Harrison, who is of course prominently featured in it, and the seriousness of his spiritual journey and commitment to studying the sitar. We note the talking head contribution made by...
2023-04-171h 04
The Beatles Films PodcastMay Pang interview for The Lost Weekend: A Love StoryWe're thrilled to bring you this special bonus episode where we got the chance to talk to May Pang about her documentary, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story. We spoke about her part in the filmmaking process, her relationship with John Lennon and how she continues to be close to Julian, and why she wanted to tell this story, 50 years on. May was great fun and fascinating to speak to, and we want to thank her for being so generous with her time!The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is on limited release in the US...
2023-04-1332 min
The Beatles Films PodcastGive My Regards to Broad StreetWe knew this day would come. The 1984 film written by and starring Paul McCartney, derided by many, tolerated by some. We explain a bit about how a project like this actually gets as far as a cinema release, point out as gently as possible which bits don't stand up to narrative scrutiny as much as they might, and talk about the bits that - whisper it - actually have some merit. And we ask: is this just an ego project or is there more going on? Why did Paul choose these songs to rerecord? And should Ringo Starr be...
2023-04-101h 19
The Beatles Films PodcastIf These Walls Could SingWe got an advance look at Mary McCartney's Abbey Road studios documentary If These Walls Could Sing, released in the UK and Ireland on Disney+ today, 6 January 2023.What did we think of its approach, and its array of heavyweight talking heads, from Paul McCartney (natch) to Elton John, John Williams, Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd and Nile Rodgers? Plus! Hear what revelations made Matt gasp, and how the film somehow sets up a scrap between Noel and Liam Gallagher when they're not even in the same room.Meet the Beatles Films Podcast
2023-01-0646 min
The Beatles Films PodcastMagical Mystery Tour (Part 2)To close out season two, welcome to part 2 of our conversation about The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film. Thrill as we dissect the choreography of the Your Mother Should Know sequence in frankly punishing detail. Gasp as we unpack the quasi-religious subtext of The Beatles playing a group of omnipotent wizards. And nod knowingly as we wonder whether George Harrison was all that into it in general or if he'd have really just preferred to be dropped off at the services.Thanks a lot to everyone who listened to episodes in 2022 and talked to us through...
2023-01-0245 min
The Beatles Films PodcastMagical Mystery Tour (Part 1)Magical Mystery Tour first aired on BBC1 on Boxing Day 1967 in black and white. It didn't go down all that well. Then it went out in colour on 5 January 1968 on BBC2 and wasn't much better received. This was the Beatles' first major critical failure, but in part one we discuss whether it succeeded on its own terms: were they actually trying to entertain their audience, or were they more interested in challenging them? Was the film just a showcase for the songs or was there more going on?Meet the Beatles Films Podcast
2022-12-261h 02
The Beatles Films PodcastThe US vs John LennonWe're talking about David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's 2006 documentary on John Lennon's activism, with its dizzying array of intellectual heavyweight talking heads. There's a lot to unpack here, from how it doesn't shy away from showing John's naivety, to the value of pop stars using slogans to promote political causes, and whether you should expect them to contribute more than a catchy chorus.You can rent/buy the film on Amazon, iTunes and Apple TV at the moment: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/the-u-s-vs-john-lennon. But as we mention in the episode, get the DVD...
2022-12-121h 03
The Beatles Films PodcastWonderwallThe film whose soundtrack yielded the first Beatle solo album, and the first release on Apple Records, 1968's Wonderwall is on the face of it just a mad, psychedelic wig-out about a nutty professor. But is it saying something deeper about British repression and how the flower power generation chipped away at it? What did it mean to George Harrison to go off and do this on his own, given how he was developing as a songwriter? And how many feeble Oasis puns can we shoehorn in?There's a good quality version of Wonderwall on YouTube...
2022-12-0549 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Brian Epstein StoryOriginally released in two parts in the BBC's Arena strand (as The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow and Tomorrow Never Knows on Christmas and Boxing Day 1998), The Brian Epstein Story was later re-edited and has aired twice on BBC4 with this title. The version we're discussing is this single edited version, which you can see on YouTube with some sound missing for copyright reasons at https://youtu.be/apKqMVej1cw.Do its techniques do Brian justice? We also discuss how the nineties was a sort of golden age for Beatle insiders contributing to documentaries, and how this...
2022-11-281h 02
The Beatles Films PodcastThat'll Be The DayIt's 1973: The Beatles are no more, but don't worry, David Essex has 100% filled the void. Here he stars as Jim MacLaine, a wayward youngster trying to make it after leaving home. His best work friend is played by none other than Ringo Starr, and neither of them is all that nice. How shocking is it to see Ringo playing a womaniser? Do we see his bum, or is it a stunt bum? (This gets more discussion than it arguably merits.)NOTE: Matt might sound a bit tinny in this episode, because of his laptop wiping his...
2022-11-2154 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Rutles: All You Need Is CashIt's time to kill a sacred cow like the tiresome contrarian clickbaiters we are: is The Rutles actually terrible? Well, no, it's good, but we're not wholly convinced. Does it work as a parody, or does it too often just imitate rather than parody? (We say "parody" a lot in this episode.) Join us as we deconstruct it until you're no longer able to enjoy a thing you once loved. It's why the internet exists. Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker...
2022-11-141h 00
The Beatles Films PodcastMcCartney 3, 2, 1McCartney 3, 2, 1 arrived on Disney Plus and Hulu as a sort of Get Back appetiser in 2021. Rick Rubin asks Paul about his craft and runs through isolated tracks from some of his most famous songs. What does it tell us about Paul, his creative process and his role within The Beatles? How does he come across, given the reverential tone? How impressive was the portable camping stove he had in his teens? Find out!Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed...
2022-11-071h 04
The Beatles Films PodcastI Am SamWe're looking at Jessie Nelson's 2001 film, which features an Oscar-nominated performance by Sean Penn as a man with learning disabilities and a Beatles obsession, fighting for custody of his daughter, soundtracked by Beatles songs played by contemporary artists. Is Sam's Beatles fixation used effectively as a motif? What's it like to watch portrayals of disability from this period compared to contemporary treatments? You can watch I Am Sam on YouTube and other places for £3.50 or so, and it's currently on Apple TV.Meet the Beatles Films Podcast
2022-10-3145 min
The Beatles Films PodcastBirth of The BeatlesArguably the only actual proper Beatles biopic, 1979's Birth of The Beatles has big leather cowboy boots to fill. Can Nick Cotton from Eastenders pull off the role of George Harrison? Why is the guy who plays John Lennon about sixty? We also discuss how this is the only real template we have for the inevitable Beatles narrative film, and Matt gives his pitch for making one. Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles...
2022-10-2454 min
The Beatles Films PodcastNowhere BoyWe're back for season two, with the potentially warmish potato of Sam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy, a 2009 telling of teenage John Lennon's relationship with his Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia just before her death. How good are the performances and casting, and where does Aaron Taylor-Johnson rank on the Lennometer? Did John really want to be, uh, in an Oedipus's Garden in the shade? Do we buy the kid from Love Actually as Paul?Stream Nowhere Boy, https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/nowhere-boyRead Matt's review from 2009: http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/nowhere-boy.php
2022-10-171h 09
The Beatles Films PodcastHelp! (Part 2: The Film)In part 2 of our season one finale (so, the last one, the actual FINALE finale, the episode_final-FINAL(1).mp3), we're looking at Richard Lester's Help! and in particular the story and the film at large. For a discussion of the music and how it's treated in the film, see part 1. Or just listen to them both in a row.Is it, inevitably, a bit problematic seen through today's lens? Does the story make sense? Does any of this matter because the whole thing's just so ruddy joyous?Meet the Beatles Films...
2022-08-1556 min
The Beatles Films PodcastHelp! (Part 1: The Music)The Beatles Films Podcast covering an actual Beatles film! It'll never catch on. For our season one finale (yes, we're calling it that) it's a two-parter on Richard Lester's 1965 film, derided in some quarters and compared unfavourably to A Hard Day's Night.But ah, the songs. In part 1: how are the songs treated, how are they staged and how do they fit into the film? What's interesting about the score? Was this the beginning of the music video?Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films...
2022-08-0859 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe True History of the Traveling WilburysGeorge Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison: pretty solid line-up. Is a 25-minute documentary enough to do it justice? Is George happier in the Wilburys than he was in the Beatles? And what sort of AirBNB host would Dave Stewart be?You can watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SUQ_gj-biIcMeet 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...
2022-08-0150 min
The Beatles Films PodcastChapter 27We don't approach films about John Lennon's murder by Mark Chapman with much enthusiasm, but there's a place for them if they're done well, respectful and insightful. How does JP Schaefer's 2007 telling do on this score? Well ...You can watch Chapter 27 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Ss66lBY3EMeet 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...
2022-07-251h 17
The Beatles Films PodcastIt Was Fifty Years Ago Today ... Sgt Pepper and BeyondSo to Alan G Parker's 2017 documentary, long on title, short on the rights to use any of the songs. Is this a problem? How tight a focus on the album does the film have? How does its collection of talking heads stack up?Watch it on streaming services: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/it-was-fifty-years-ago-today-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-and-beyondRead Ed's review from 2017: http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/it-was-fifty-years-ago-today-the-beatles-sgt-pepper--beyond.phpMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film...
2022-07-181h 09
The Beatles Films PodcastBackbeatDon't know about you, but for us Backbeat was just about as formative as anything in our views and mental image of Stuart Sutcliffe and The Beatles' early years. We discuss how he and John Lennon are depicted, how the casting choice of Stephen Dorff impacts Beatles fans' view of Stuart to this day, and why there's so much nudity in it. Won't anyone think of the children?There's a New Yorker article about Stuart we refer to in the episode. It's by Ted Widmer and you can read it at https://www.newyorker.com/culture...
2022-07-111h 17Saturday2Sunday Football PodcastEpisode 508: Matt WilliamsonPaul is joined by special guest Matt Williamson(@WilliamsonNFL). Matt shares his thoughts on many of the top rookies from a redraft and dynasty perspective.
In addition, Matt shares his detailed takes on all things Pittsburgh Steelers including how much they like Mitchell Trubisky, why he thinks they chose Kenny Pickett, his thoughts on George Pickens and Calvin Austin and whether or not Diontae Johnson may be a Steeler after this year.
To purchase the S2S Premium Notebooks for $9.99 or to read the full descriptions of what is in each notebooks, click here.
2022-07-0830 min
The Beatles Films PodcastAcross the UniverseWe're on about Julie Taymor's 2007 Beatles jukebox musical, starring Jim Sturgess, WITH Evan Rachel Wood, AND Joe Anderson, BUT Bono. Is it problematic to repurpose songs with a specific meaning to suit a story? Is there any way around this in a jukebox musical anyway? Find out literally none of the answers to these questions, but hopefully enjoy some discussion around them. But hey, it's not the destination, man: it's the journey...Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson...
2022-07-041h 08
The Beatles Films PodcastWingspanWe're discussing the 2001 TV documentary released alongside the Paul McCartney/Wings retrospective compilation. Does it do a good job of changing public opinion post-THAT Alan Partridge joke? What's the effect of having Mary McCartney interview Paul? And what does the word "wingspan" actually mean? (If this last one interests you and you'd like to hear it argued about at length by pedants you're in luck.)You can watch Wingspan on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2w36Tptn48Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe...
2022-06-2752 min
The Beatles Films PodcastThe Magic ChristianThe Magic Christian, starring Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers, was the reason The Beatles were up against a deadline to record Let it Be. But it was also an actual film that you can watch and everything. How did Ringo get on in his first starring role without the others? Is its anti-capitalist theme expressed with any purpose? And why is Yul Brynner in it singing a Noel Coward song to Roman Polanski? (Spoiler: we can't answer this one.)Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is...
2022-06-2051 min
The Beatles Films PodcastYesterday (2019)We discuss Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle's 2019 film Yesterday, in which Jack (Himesh Patel) wakes up to find he's the only person who remembers the Beatles. Does its premise stand up to scrutiny? Has Jack robbed the world of Wings? And did we really need to spend so long discussing the price of a Martin acoustic guitar?Watch Yesterday: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/yesterday-2019 (or just get it for a quid at your local CEX)Read Ed's review from 2019: http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/review-yesterday-i-saw-a-film-today-oh-boy.phpMeet the...
2022-06-131h 10
The Beatles Films PodcastTwo of UsJohn Lennon and Paul McCartney's last meeting was on 24 April 1976. Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 2000 VH1 TV movie presents a fictionalised account of it, but is it a fair depiction of their relationship at the time? Does it reflect how they were seen or how they were? Does Yoko Ono come off badly?Watch Two of Us on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/577090018Meet 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...
2022-06-0652 min
The Beatles Films PodcastTRAILER: Meet The Beatles Films PodcastWelcome to The Beatles Films Podcast! Matt and Ed explain what the whole thing's about (I mean, the title sort of gives it away, but still). We're professional film writers and Fab Four fans and each week we discuss a different film or TV show about, starring or inspired by the Beatles, or the solo careers and lives of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.Subscribe to the podcast: personally endorsed by Vera, Chuck and Dave.Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles...
2022-05-2700 min
Matt ReportPippin Williamson on selling his plugins to Awesome MotiveFollow my WordPress newsletter https://thewpminute.com/subscribeToday’s a bittersweet moment in WordPress business land with the announcement of Awesome Motive acquiring Sandhills Development suite of plugins including Easy Digital Downloads, AffiliateWP, and more.
I’m honored to call Pippin my friend who has helped me “grow up” in the WordPress community. I’m happy for him, and sad that he’s retiring from the WordPress world…for now.
I had a chance to sit down with him earlier this morning to hash out all the feels around this news. I hope you enj...
2021-09-2238 min
Mark Williamson Chat ShowEpisode 103: Al Del Bene and Matt CoffeyLive from EDGE HQ it’s episode 103 of the podcast host Mak Williamson is joined by returning guest Mr Matt Coffey, Ryan ‘Special Comments’ Crawford and on debut Al Del Bene.
For more information please visit or follow
www.comedyonedge.com
www.twitter.com/M_W_Oh
www.twitter.com/RyanTheCrawford
www.twitter.com/AlDelBene
www.twitter.com/MrMattCoffin
2014-08-181h 02Mark Williamson Chat ShowEpisode 082: Matt Coffey and Josh CohenA Grilled Cheese sandwich making Masterclass
Comedy on EDGE presents the Chat Show.
Live from EDGE HQ we have everybody’s favourite bearded vegan Comedian Mr Matt Coffey and he is here to tell us all about his brand new Sydney Comedy Festival show that he will be doing with Ryan ‘Special Comments’ Crawford, Team Friendship (tickets on sale now)
As well Josh Cohen tells us the secret of how to make the World’s best grilled Cheese Sandwich, as well as how to make the worlds quickest.
If you like...
2014-03-2352 minMark Williamson Chat ShowEpisode 046: Matt ElsburyLive from EDGE HQ or were they on set at the TV show Redfern Now?
Host Mark Williamson sits down and chats with Melbourne Comedian Matt Elsbury and together they chat about everything from last meals to Politics. Actually they talk a lot about Politics. Including parts that may or may not be defamatory.
Follow Matt Elsbury on twitter www.twitter.com/thinkforasec
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And for more info please visit www.cmedyonedge.com
2013-07-1545 minMark Williamson Chat ShowEpisode 027: Matt Okine and Tom Oakley This really is a breast piece!
Live from EDGE HQ, MW sits down and talks to Matt Okine and Tom Oakley.
Strap in and join the guys as they cover every thing from Ads, Indian beers, perverts, facebook kino, lotto, setting up ones own mafia, KFC myths, racists ads, Disco Matt MC and tapas.
Get in touch with Comedy on the Edge.
Follow everyone on twitter: @comedyonedge @M_W_Oh @mattokine
2013-03-0443 min