5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A small town band makes it big, but loses track of their roots, as they get caught up into the big-time machinations of the music biz. Now, they must thwart a plot to destroy their home town.
Starring: Peter Frampton, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Barry Gibb, George BurnsMusical | 100% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
On the Mount Rushmore of glitter-thwacked, cocaine-dusted cinematic camp from the late 1970s and early ‘80s, there’s “Xanadu,” “Can’t Stop the Music,” “The Apple,” and 1978’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” I’m sure the production marched into battle with a sincerity, striving to redefine an iconic album from The Beatles for a new generation, offering a loose narrative and legendary tunes to The Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Billy Preston, Alice Cooper, Steve Martin, and a host of additional musicians and comedians. Assuming the jukebox musical form, “Sgt. Pepper” means to be a good time with familiar music, but producer Robert Stigwood can’t help himself, with the feature bizarre and excessive; it’s an iffy idea that’s out of control, endeavoring to define classics, but ending up a garish curiosity. However, it’s no trainwreck, boasting many fine production achievements during its presumptuous run time. It’s an easy film to dismiss, and perhaps it should be, but director Michael Schultz is after something memorable, doing his best to marry classic Hollywood spectacle to the soft rock sounds of the 1970s.
The AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation offers an atypically comfortable viewing experience for a Universal catalog title. Clarity is generally strong overall, and while the feature does encourage softness with hazy cinematography at times (creating slightly bloomy whites), detail remains available for inspection, permitting examination of the sets and costuming, which retain adequate texture. Facial specifics are also appealing, clarifying reactions and passes at emotions, along with period hair and make-up. Most interestingly, HD brings out production limitations, with painted backgrounds easier to identify. Colors are bright and engaging, supported by an already explosive palette, which keeps primaries defined and secure, while more disco-y hues retain their shimmer. Dramatic concert and performance lighting handles well. Delineation is mostly ideal, preserving low-lit interiors and evening distances. Outside of expected roughness with special effects, the source is in wonderful condition, without overt points of damage.
The default choice for "Sgt. Pepper" is a 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix, but more compelling is the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track, which gives the musical the sonic presence it requires to sell oddball fantasy. Dialogue exchanges are limited here, with only a few characters permitted to speak, two of them being robots, and voices are defined to satisfaction. Music is the event here, and it's offered with compelling bigness, delivering sharp instrumentation, thumpy percussion, and hearty vocals, generating intended energy with cohesiveness. Soundtrack cuts are consistent and comfortable, never slipping into distortive extremes. Scoring is equally engaging. Low-end is active, keeping the beat and selling air travel sequences. Sound effects are adequate, fitting the needs of the movie. Surrounds are spare, but crowd sequences handle with depth.
Interestingly, "Sgt. Pepper" arrived in theaters only a month after "Grease," another Stigwood production that became a pop culture phenomenon, still beloved to this day. Schultz's film was destroyed by reviews and fan response, and time hasn't been kind to the endeavor, but certain elements are impressively executed, including choreography by Patricia Birch (also from "Grease"), which keeps the movie shaking along, even while certain performers look bombed out of their minds. The picture overwhelms with oddity, and that's part of its appeal, extending to a final scene where stars from the day (including Carol Channing, Tina Turner, Dame Edna, Sha-Na-Na, and Wolfman Jack) gather in a chorus to sing the title track, sending viewers off with a celebratory festival that's not entirely earned. Despite its many faults, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" aims to please, and it's just wacky enough to pass at times, really pursuing era-specific interests in gaudiness to such a degree, it's difficult to resist its desire to become "Fantasia" for the disco era.
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