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I thought someone here reviewed this but it’s too common a word to search out.
It was distracting. Kinda reminded me of the first Kelvin timeline Star Trek movie in that the actors portraying the players were doing solid impressions yet making it their own. Lots of nods to the show back in the day, references to various sketches and characters. You’d really have to be in our gen who saw the premiere of SNL to follow who’s who. I didn’t buy into Lorne’s portrayal, which was awkward because he was the protag. Ackroyd’s talkdown method made me giggle. I also liked some of the one-er shots - not too long but captured the frantic ness of it all, which is was those kinds of shots do best.
D00M recommended for the nostalgia alone.
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thatGuy reviewed it. I saw half of it last night. Will finish tonight.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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And now there is this.
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(01-27-2025, 07:05 AM)Greg Wrote: thatGuy reviewed it. I saw half of it last night. Will finish tonight.
I thought so. I searched to no avail.
Merge. MERGE!
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(01-27-2025, 07:05 AM)Greg Wrote: thatGuy reviewed it. I saw half of it last night. Will finish tonight.
I did? I don't recall seeing it...
I did watch the SNL Music special last night, live on Peacock. I missed the first 20 min. It was good, stressing how much the musical guest spot impacted culture, made careers, and the performances are a time capsule.
Belushi & Cocker
Sinead tearing up the photo of the pope
Introducing Rap and hardcore Punk
They covered famous cameos and artists that participated in sketches.
They covered musical parodies/impersonations.
It was overall good, nostalgic, and a vehicle for lots of commercials.
I'm guessing I missed them talk about the cowbell sketch and when Julee Cuise filled in when Sonead refused to appear as Andrew Dice Clay was hosting. If they covered the SNL outro song, it was in that first 20 min. If they didn't, it was an omission. They should have covered the SNL band and that song that has been played so many times...
https://kottke.org/25/01/questloves-fant...-snl-music
Quote:Oh this is just delightful: for the opening of his documentary film on the history of music on SNL he co-directed with Oz Rodriguez, Questlove produced what the NY Times calls “a high-speed, six-minute DJ mix of SNL music highlights”. So. Good.
From the same piece in the Times, Questlove explains how it came about:
Quote:It’s impossible for me to phone anything in, even if I wanted to. I just wanted to throw the ultimate D.J. gig and hook you in from the gate. It started off small, and it couldn’t stop.
In the beginning, I was just going in five-year intervals — what’s the three strongest moments between ‘75 and ‘80? — and do it that way. But I’m so programmed as a D.J. it’s physically impossible for me to gather a group of songs together and not start — that’s my version of improvisation. And once you put, like, 17 songs together, you have a conversation with yourself: “OK, are we really doing this?”
My producers said: “It’ll never happen! The clearance, the clearance!” This is the first time that I realized my diplomatic position in music. People say, “Ahmir, you might be the next Quincy Jones, because your whole thing is more social than creative, knowing the right people, knowing who’s who.” There were at least 19 situations in which I had to come hat in hand to said person, and mind you, this is for two seconds — Michael Bolton singing “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” just once.
He got every clearance except for Luciano Pavarotti:
Quote:The only outright no that I couldn’t fix was that Luciano Pavarotti was going to be part of the Bobby McFerrin-Busta Rhymes mash-up. But it was too much to explain to his estate, and I couldn’t go to Italy and whatever. It could have been brilliant, Bobby McFerrin and Pavarotti going toe to toe.
The film premieres tonight on NBC and will be available on Peacock starting tomorrow.
Update · Jan 27, 2025
According to Questlove’s Instagram post, the musical montage was edited by John MacDonald, Coordinating Producer of The Tonight Show. (via @solace.bsky.social)
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(01-28-2025, 09:26 AM)thatguy Wrote: (01-27-2025, 07:05 AM)Greg Wrote: thatGuy reviewed it. I saw half of it last night. Will finish tonight.
I did? I don't recall seeing it...
WTH? I thought you posted a review on this too.
But now all I can see is your woody snake.
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Dude, stop looking at his wood snake.
I finished the film. It was fun picking out the Easter Eggs, but overall I don't think the film was very good. I wanted more story. It all seemed cursory. I do think JK Simmons and Willem Dafoe had a great time with their characters.
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I think JK had fun whipping out his wood snake.
That was such an odd scene.
I want more Ackroyd talkdown scenes.
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Saw the music doc last night. Unfortunately we came in late and missed the opening montage. Have to find that online. Mostly good, but too much Jimmy Fallon and way too much Jack White. Also didn't show King Tut or More Cowbell, or I was out of the room when they did. And it spent too long on things that didn't need it, like Kanye, Fear, and the Jagger/Fallon sketch.
It did pointedly show how they were much more daring in their choices of musical guests early on, and now it's just chart leaders. Another sign that it's time for Lorne to retire.
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The opening montage is just the vid posted in the thread above. I went back and watched the beginning and after the 6-7min montage and an opening segment asking people if they knew what the SNL theme was (I thought they should cover that), and maybe one other sketch, I really hadn't missed anything else (probably due to commercials).
The bit I liked best, which I don't remember seeing was the Armeson getting the band back together sketch
This one was also not included and worth a watch (at least for the ending...)
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01-31-2025, 02:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-31-2025, 02:56 PM by King Bob.)
I vaguely remembered both of those, and the first one is really funny.
That link above didn't work right for me - it only showed a third of the screen. Found and article where they linked the Instragram post of it. It reminded me that there was too much Billie Eilish in the doc too. The more I think about it, the more I feel like there was some lazy documentary making - too many easy to get interviews instead of the best ones.
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