Jump to content

Review of ITS SO EASY AND OTHER LIES documentary by AV Club


Recommended Posts

Fuck, that review makes the movie look bad!

 

Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan deserves a better documentary than It’s So Easy

Jun 1, 2016  12:00 AM
960.jpg
(Photo: William Anthony)

(Photo: William Anthony)

150.jpg
C-

It's So Easy And Other Lies

Director: Christopher Duddy
Runtime: 84 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Cast: Documentary
Availability: Select theaters June 3

Community Grade

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
?

Your Grade

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
?

It’s all too fitting that It’s So Easy And Other Lies, the new documentary detailing the tumultuous life of Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, opens on an image of McKagan’s book, an autobiography of the same name. The entire thing is basically an hour and a half advertisement for the written version, done as a sort of live audiobook of excerpts from his story—and it’s exactly as appealing as that description sounds.

The biggest mistake this “musical documentary” makes is assuming watching McKagan read his memoir from a stage works as a framing device. McKagan is a charming and immensely likable presence, but he’s no Spalding Grey, and narrating excerpts of his memoir, with mellow musical accompaniment from his current band Loaded, carries little gravitas and even less cinematic heft. Large chunks of the film are given over to McKagan delivering isolated snippets of his life story, occasionally paired with photos, or brief animated segments à la HBO’s recent Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck. Mostly, the camera just returns to the musician onstage, ably lit, recounting his life in the present day. It may have been reasonably entertaining live, but it‘s ill-fitting as a big-screen tactic.

Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of first-time documentary filmmaker Christopher Duddy, a longtime camera operator... (read the rest here = http://www.avclub.com/review/guns-n-roses-duff-mckagan-deserves-better-document-237107)

Edited by ludurigan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with the sentiment that Duff deserved a better documentary. He could've had someone tell the story and ask questions instead of just a video of Duff reading his own book. Plus Axl would probably agree to be in it. Duff's books on the other hand are great. 

I wish there would be a definitive GNR documentary now, with everyone from the band commenting on the history. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, KiernanProud said:

I agree with the sentiment that Duff deserved a better documentary. He could've had someone tell the story and ask questions instead of just a video of Duff reading his own book. Plus Axl would probably agree to be in it. Duff's books on the other hand are great. 

I wish there would be a definitive GNR documentary now, with everyone from the band commenting on the history. 

BBC 2 in January released quite a good GnR documentary...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...