I enjoyed the spectacle, the sound and the flash - I've been to see it twice - but I know what you mean and I think that Tommy would have agreed with you, Tosh. A lot of the footage was stuff we were already familiar with: Cracked Actor and TWFTE ... I saw an interview with the director and he more or less said he deliberately made it to be pretty dumb and glitzy. I was dazzled to see the He's-Smashing girl on the giant IMAX screen. Tommy would have loved that at least. I cried my eyes out when Starman came on at the end credits... almost entirely my own grief at the dire absence of my favourite Bowie officionado.
Brilliant review of a movie that could have been so much and was a bad version of the Little Engine That Could. Bowie would have been deeply disappointed at the missed opportunity to shine the light on his diverse influences and how they strung together. At least he captured Bowie's humor and candor about what it's like to be an artist on the planet and manages to touch upon his vast creative explorations and how they tied together. There was way too much time wasted on trite visual crap that could have been Bowie talking or performing.
Great review! I wholly agree! Watching this felt like punishment for wanting to celebrate Bowie on the biggest screen possible. Instead we got a gross, self-indulgent film that was less about Bowie and more about the filmmaker's artistic voice and statement. It's very hard for me to comprehend how anyone could enjoy this. We were excited to see this and treated going to the IMAX theater like we were going to a show. We would have been better off, as you say, staying home listening to his music.
I enjoyed the spectacle, the sound and the flash - I've been to see it twice - but I know what you mean and I think that Tommy would have agreed with you, Tosh. A lot of the footage was stuff we were already familiar with: Cracked Actor and TWFTE ... I saw an interview with the director and he more or less said he deliberately made it to be pretty dumb and glitzy. I was dazzled to see the He's-Smashing girl on the giant IMAX screen. Tommy would have loved that at least. I cried my eyes out when Starman came on at the end credits... almost entirely my own grief at the dire absence of my favourite Bowie officionado.
Brilliant review of a movie that could have been so much and was a bad version of the Little Engine That Could. Bowie would have been deeply disappointed at the missed opportunity to shine the light on his diverse influences and how they strung together. At least he captured Bowie's humor and candor about what it's like to be an artist on the planet and manages to touch upon his vast creative explorations and how they tied together. There was way too much time wasted on trite visual crap that could have been Bowie talking or performing.
Great review! I wholly agree! Watching this felt like punishment for wanting to celebrate Bowie on the biggest screen possible. Instead we got a gross, self-indulgent film that was less about Bowie and more about the filmmaker's artistic voice and statement. It's very hard for me to comprehend how anyone could enjoy this. We were excited to see this and treated going to the IMAX theater like we were going to a show. We would have been better off, as you say, staying home listening to his music.