27: Gone Too Soon (2018) Reviews

• No insight, no point

  bishbash732018-05-12

  I was hoping for some insight into the reasons for the untimely deaths of some of my favourite artists, but all you get is cheesy back ground music and some random people who say heroin lots of times and that they had a difficult upbringing. The fact is that the 27 club is nonsense, all these genuine talented musicians resorted to drinking excessively and using hard drugs for many different reasons and to try and badge this as a club is pointless and disrespectful. Total waste of time, go and search out the real stories of each of these special talents for your self, read, listen and YouTube.

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• I thought it was weak.

  subxerogravity2018-05-18

  I'm a huge fan of music and the history of music, so the idea of this documentary appealed to me so greatly. I was looking for something to watch on Netflix and I saw this and decided I wanted to watch it. Gone Too Soon talks about the infamous curse of musicians dying at the age of 27. Though they're were many over the years the documentary focus on six specifically. Not just any Six, these are possibly the most famous six (Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimmi Hendrix, Janis Joplin ,Jim Morrison (the "big three" of the myth cause they all died the same year) Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse (last but not least). Note that the documentary is also focusing on the ones who's death can be explain heavenly by drug abuse. Even though, everything being said is vaguely true about all these stars, each one of them having childhood issues that lead to their outburst in music and wanting attention that becomes too overwhelming and they try to drown it with substance abuse, that goes too far. In a lot of ways I just feel that the documentary is a little unfair to the musicians that died simply because the stories being told are being told second hand from people who feel like they did not actually know any of these people personally. It really feels like just a group of people like you and me just gossiping about musicians they like. Despite the fact that these people are shrinks, music authors and professionals as well as substance abuse experts, they don't seem more informed than anyone on the street who just happen to be a fan of the artist. I especially felt this way about the first musician, Brian Jones. This could just be because, I was not as familiar with the terms of his death as I am with everyone else on the list, but they just made Jones look so depressing and how he seemed to matter so little. It set a tone for the whole thing that never goes away. Not fully the docs fault, cause I'm sure in perspective what they said is genuine. Yet still, it felt so geriatric that it's a little insulting to the memory of these people. I'm being harsh but with the exception of Jones, I know they have better docs that explain the death of these six with a little more heart and interest. I think VH1 did a doc called the 27 club that really goes into depth of the whole curse more interestingly (but Amy Winehouse was not part of this club at the time)

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• Could have been interesting if accurate

  brittmeyer2018-05-11

  I love documentaries, but if they are inaccurate or just full of lies, what's the point? I stopped watching this movie after the Jimi Hendrix segment. Here's why. Lesley Ann Jones (whoever she is) claimed that Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock because he was "castigating" his government, "loathed his country", and was protesting the war in Viet Nam. She claims this is the "sole reason" he is remembered by many. Her statements are wrong in so many ways, but I'll only touch on two. First of all, Jimi Hendrix was in the 101st Airborne. The 101st Airborne you may have seen in "Band of Brothers". He was not anti-military and was not a known Viet Nam war protester. In fact, he said to a Dutch periodical in 1967: "Did you send the Americans away when they landed in Normandy? That was also interference... but that was concerning your own skin. The Americans are fighting in Vietnam for a completely free world. As soon as they move out, they will be at the mercy of the communists. For that matter, the yellow danger (China) should not be underestimated. Of course, war is horrible, but at present it's the only guarantee of peace." On another occasion, while watching a protest, he said "When the Reds come down from China and they take over North Vietnam, and South Vietnam, and then they go for Japan, and beyond, then are you going to understand why the U.S. is there fighting these guys?" Over time he became less vocal about his views. He just wanted to make music. And it's his MUSIC, Ms. Jones, for which we remember him.

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• Disappointing

  AmosMulder2018-05-10

  Random people repeating stuff that we have already heard much more comprehensive and interesting in nice films such as 'Amy', 'Cobain: Montage of heck', 'Crossfire Hurricane', etc. Its all pretty superficial and unfocused and nothing new comes to the table. It could have still be sort of entertaining if the artists would have played a role in the film, but there is almost no music from them, just a lot of cheap-sounding background music. Also almost no visual material, but lots of random close ups of tape machines, record players, random 60's shots and a lot of talking heads in a dull studio setting. So not really worth your time if you ask me. Watch one of the films mentioned above instead, or read a good biography of these people.

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• Weak documentary

  inkswamp-985172018-07-02

  Instead of delving deep into the mythology of this "27 Club," the documentary just reviews the careers of a handful of prominent members offering no real insight and connecting very little of each segment to the main idea. And what little is connected is obvious and didn't require a documentary. Gee, yeah, Jim Morrison was moody and depressed and drinking himself to death. And...? Given that and a few glaring factual issues (most annoyingly, the guy who keeps asserting incorrectly that Nirvana had "one hit song" and "one hit album") this is a disappointing documentary that rambles on and on about the celebrities but sheds very little light on the actual title topic.

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