#or rather...

... exactly the way you might assume theyd look.

prowls had his grumpy face since he was a grub, and jazz was suuuuper wiggly. i think that sometimes cybugs can also change eye colour when pupating, but it's pretty rare...

jazz has his visor already, but its up on his back atm! its extra protection when he curls up :] also, unlike prowl, he can't see much.

Naruto textposts I've made part 1 (except it's just my fave characters)

I made these during a blackout to distract myself and since I had no internet connection and I only have pictures of Team 7 mostly this is what turned out :[ I'll make some for the other characters later I'm so sorry

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So here we are at last, talking about the first of a debatable amount of Beatles Movies! This one has the reputation of being the best, but is that based on an objective measurement or is it as it's the least Odd and the least Colourful? Either way, let's have a closer look~

Twaaaaaaaang--!

Our tale begins ...black and white-ly. This was the style at the time, to do a throwback to the slightly older moving pictures and to contrast that association with the antics of four young men. It also made the film a bit less expensive to make, but while some people dig the aesthetic I'd prefer it to be in full colour, myself. I can watch and enjoy monochrome films and TV, but here I feel like I should be able to behold the scenery and the lads as the world at the time saw them. I don't know what colour the seats on the train were! I didn't get to see them in the 60s! It's a minor and mostly subjective complaint but it is one of those things on my mind as I watch.

While it's a somewhat fictionalised Day in the Life, there's also a surreal bend to the whole movie. The Boys appearing outside the moving Train and fooling around in the narrow corridors, John in the bathtub, the carjacker, and some of the background details offer a curious glimpse into the future overt zaniness. But it's also extremely grounded and arguably uncreative in scenes where they recite lines previously said off the cuff in their interviews (e.g. the "How did you find America?" question and response). There's a happy medium in there with slight exaggerations of real situations they faced [Ringo getting the most fanmail in one scene comes to mind] and also an unfortunate setting of future Typecastings on the boys that they'd soon tire of.

BUG ACTING

In this flick, the Beatles are playing versions of themselves. John and George adapt quite naturally, easily incorporating their lines and relaxing into their roles, possibly throwing improv in while they're at it (I feel like I've heard John in the bath was an unscripted John Moment).

Paul doesn't do as well, and I think the case is that he's the most into plays, while also being bad at Acting As Himself. He thrives when he's doing a little Bit but he can't sustain a scene as "Paul", which is most likely why his solo part with a pretty girl was cut (that, and the film getting a bit too long with it.) when all the others get a bit of individual focus.

Ringo, after a fumbled first line improves in leaps and bounds, and is effectively the Main Character, another trend that would persist in later films, and he does a lot of his acting just with body language. He feels like a silent movie star(r) for quite a long portion of the film and his performance wrings some genuine emotion forth.

The 5th main character is Paul's Grandfather (whose name is, I kid you not, John McCartney. I will instead call him Grandfather to prevent confusion...), who is a living apple of discord. He's very clean, though. Played by Wilfrid Brambell of Steptoe & Son fame, he's the Mixer who pushes people's buttons for his amusement and to make some quick cash. He's right about ACAB though, he phrases the last part as Villains but it's the same sentiment lol.

This film also shuffles the Beatles Supporting Characters to have substitutions of the real life equivalents, and naturally there's many bit parts like the people in the TV Studio, the field owner and the police. As for the hoards upon hoards of fangirls, I think only a handful were hired extras (including Pattie Boyd, where she and George made their Connection), with most of them just being in the right place at the right time and behaving like foxes in a henhouse.

PLOT

So the key story being told is that The Beatles travel down to London to film a TV Special, with the addition of Paul's Grandfather. Even without him it seems tensions are already a bit elevated, as their Manager is constantly reminding the Boys to be well behaved (something that John seems to delight in subverting), other members of the public like the Man On The Train and in the TV Studio are rude, and the inescapable sea of excited young fans meaning the life that the Beatles are currently living in is one of a series of shuffled boxes.

To get his jollies, Grandfather subtly sows seeds of discord between people, like the Manager and the Roadie, and then pivots to singling out Ringo from the other Bugs. Eventually this works, but the reconciliation in the third act ensures the Beatles make it for their final performance before they're whisked away to their next booking with nary a moment to breathe.

SCRIPT & SUCH

My favourite little exchange may be an ADR'd sequence where the Bugs are roasting the Victor Spenetti character and his hideous wooly jumper. You'll hafta trust me on this and see it happen in the film, transcribing it doesn't do justice!

Another cracking line is "Being middle-aged and old takes up most of your time, doesn't it?" And in general this movie is stuffed to the gills with witty lines ...possibly too many? It doesn't fall into the MCU insincerity trap with its one liners, it's taken me multiple watches to really Hear most of them. I guess it's not a good movie for the duller minds as by the time I'd processed a witty quip, I'd missed another handful XD;; By now I can keep up but still, it requires watching with subs and/or a bit of effort!

That being said, it's still amazing how influential even this single branch of the Beatle Tree is. The opening to the first Austin Powers movie duplicates the sequence here, the pioneering camerawork for the whole song sequences, and indeed the basic concept of having a Musical Movie also show much of the hum-drum and mundane moments instead of being "Singer Goes To Place, Picks Up Girls And Sings" lol - It's quietly cynical without losing its Fun factor.

MUSIC

There's an odd use of the songs -- they're almost all from A Hard Day's Night, naturally, other than a snippet of I Want To Be Your Man and She Loves You as the finale. They get uneven airplay. The album itself is a swinging of the quality pendulum, but the title track and Can't Buy Me Love [both very good] get played in full twice, we get If I Fell and then almost all of that again, we have to endure I Should Have Known Better twice too, but some of the others feel like mere cameos. I do appreciate the use of instrumental versions for some incidental music though~

While not my favourite of the songs, my favourite Sequence set to music is Can't Buy Me Love, the one where they're gaily running about on a field and guys being dudes dancing with each other. It's utterly charming and conveys freedom and fresh air, something in short supply of in the narrative.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While I see the appeal in the film, and can understand why it's generally considered the best of their moving pictures. However, as much as I respect it and enjoy the serotonin it offers, it's not my favourite nor do I think it's their best. But it's endearing and has surprising edge relatively speaking, given that it does show a few of the downsides to the kind of wild fame the Bugs were living in.

It may sound harsh but I'd rate it at 2/3, but a very high 2! If they'd given us a proper look at the Steam Locomotive that pulls the Act 1 Train, it coulda hit the high score... but more Trains and indeed Beatles Movies are to come! 🚂

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