John Lennon: Imagine
by Andrew Solt
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DVD details
Actor: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko OnoDirector: Andrew Solt
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-06-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of John Lennon: Imagine
DVD Review: A worthy documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
John is my favorite Beatle, so I really enjoyed watching this documentary about his incredible life. Although by now some of the film footage has been issued in other films (this was after all made in 1988), not everyone has seen all of the films and documentaries made about John or The Beatles, and it's always a treat regardless to see interviews and film footage you haven't seen before. Among the great moments are the confrontation with cartoonist Al Capp during John and Yoko's bed-in, John's heated argument with a female journalist who thought turning in his MBE was some empty protest, interview footage with John's aunt Mimi, and the bonus feature of an interview with John's former schoolmaster. The film is also loaded with great songs, many of them accompanied by videos, like "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Mother," "Imagine" of course, "Jealous Guy," and "God" (a song that always gives me chills).
As great as the documentary is, though, and as priceless as the film footage is, I kind of wish there had been more balance given to the different parts of John's life. I know that the original first cut was massive (20 hours), and that obviously it had to be edited down a lot to be shown in theatres, but another hour or so wouldn't have hurt. It seemed like most of the focus was on John's life in the Seventies, which in itself could be the subject of several films. It would have been nice to have given equal time to his childhood, early adulthood, and Beatle years in addition to mostly his solo years. While most fans already know his pre-1970 life backwards and forwards, particularly the Sixties, it still could have been expanded a bit more. When you're getting just John's perspective on the Beatle years, it's a slightly different experience than learning about them as a collective group. Other than that, I thought the film was fantastic, and with a number of nice extras.
DVD Review: Dream is over
Summary: 4 Stars
When this film was first released, it was quite interesting, introspective and entertaining. Now on DVD it almost seems like an afterthought with the release of The Beatles Anthology DVD set. It still holds up well, but sometimes the anti-war Lennon gets boring. Makes you wonder how great his solo career may have been had he concentrated on his music more than his politics & causes. A nice addition to any Beatles or Lennon fans collection. DVD Review: You'll fall in love with John Lennon
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in 7th or 8th grade when this movie came out and I saw it in the theater 3 times. It's truly a fantastic look at the life and times of John Lennon. From birth through death, it chronicles many of the highlights from his life. The music is fantastic, combining both Beatles and solo stuff. The interviews are top notch and I truly recommend this film for anyone who's ever been curious about John Lennon and who he was.
It's been a long time coming for this film to show up on DVD and it was worth the wait.
DVD Review: Imagine
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a very moving documentary.
I was brought to tears while watching these moments in the life of John Lennon.
It's an excellent product for any fan!
DVD Review: Imagine
Summary: 5 Stars
The strength of "Imagine" lies in its clear-eyed depiction of its subject. Gifted and well-intentioned as he was, Lennon was no saint, and at times, misguided if not na?ve. Example: John and Yoko taking to bed to protest the Vietnam War makes no more sense now than it did then. Conservative cartoonist Al Capp visits them and calls their action "self-aggrandizing" (don't miss this sequence). In truth, their motives were noble, but their tactics were too bizarre to resonate. Clearly Lennon was still assimilating an unprecedented super-stardom, and coping with the psychic scars of a mother who abandoned him, by letting Yoko infantilize and control him. As John himself wrote, "Whatever gets you through the night..." This revealing documentary is a must-see for any Beatles fan.
Description of John Lennon: Imagine
It can hardly be a coincidence that this "deluxe edition" of John Lennon - Imagine should be issued in late 2005, a couple of months after what would have been the former Beatle's 65th birthday and mere days before the 25th anniversary of his death. Whether that's cynical, poignant, or just good marketing is moot; what matters is that Lennon's impact, not just as a musician but as a public figure, remains largely undiminished. The film, released theatrically in 1988, will already be familiar to many fans. "Narrated" by Lennon himself and culled from hundreds of hours of footage, much of it home movies shot by John and Yoko Ono, Imagine is a substantial, reasonably illuminating portrait of the man, warts and all, from childhood through the Beatle years, his solo career, and his life with Yoko straight up to his fatal encounter with Mark David Chapman. It's the new bonus features that are the principal draw here; but whether or not they qualify as "deluxe" is arguable. The Lennons' radio interview with a BBC reporter is notable mostly for John's patience in the face of idiotic questions like "Is love very important to young people today?" The ten or so minutes spent with Lennon's school headmaster, William Ernest Pobjoy (love the name), yield little insight, especially considering that the two were at the school at the same time for just one year, half a century ago; likewise, a new "making of" documentary with Ono, writer-director Andrew Solt, producer David Wolper, and others isn't exactly ground-breaking. However, a previously unreleased performance of "Imagine," with Lennon and some unknown accompanists on acoustic guitar, is nice, as is some heretofore unseen footage of the Lennons at home on their Tittenhurst Estate. Add to that a fine transfer and Dolby digital sound, and you have another addition to the filmed legacy of the Beatles--a subject that, for many of us, will never be old news. --Sam GrahamBiography DVDs
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