Number Nein

Will the next Beatles revival really start here on 09/09/09? The four lovely lads from some bloody town in England are making another grab for the golden ring today with that age old marketing technique - supersaturating the market until resistance is futile. The Beatles Rock Band should blow minds everywhere with its tepid drumbeats (even on Expert I expect to not break a sweat) and the reissue of the entire back catalog is arriving just in time for the demise of the cd. Entertainment Weekly (my source) featured their pugugly mugs on this week's cover so the revolution must be in full swing. My only question is, where is the Criterion reissue of Help!

On the backburner somewhere, forgotten under a pile of dust and Eric Rohmer films where it belongs. It may be overstating the obvious to say that Help! is no Hard Day's Night but in the pantheon of films starring musical groups, it barely ranks up there with CB4.

Certainly it's not their finest hour but it did have some high points. The whole beginning of the movie is wonderful and the sustained lunacy throughout is so much fun.

But the thing goes on forever. It should have had an intermission like Fiddler on the Roof so I could get up, stretch my legs, take a walk and never return.

I agree, the plot gets a bit too thick and repetitive with the ring and the ring and the ring but I liked the Mod fashions and candy coloured madness. By the time they hit the beach, I was ready for it to wrap up but it's hard to dismiss the casual awesomeness of the Fab Foreigners. You can actually see them creating their own subculture in this film, digesting everything around them and spitting it back out in that unique Beatles way.

I give it a 5. It was missing the biting wit and incredible production of Hard Day's Night and the visual candy and psychedelic parlour games of Yellow Submarine. In their place was simply an endless silliness that was fun at first but grew tired and grating over the run of the film.

Okay, maybe it was a bit lazy, similar to the half-hearted improvisations seen in recent ensemble comedies but they're the Beatles and they get a free pass. It's almost critic proof at this point and whatever it was lacking in plot or pacing or dialogue it more than makes up for in songs. The soundtrack is the best of any of their films not only introducing the world the insane pleasures of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" but also the simple delicacies of "You're Going to Lose That Girl." As a showcase for such perfect songs, it gets a 10.

True, true. The songs are without fault but the movie is not and I still prefer the Monkees' Head more.

No doubt. Head is perfection.