Pearl Jam Twenty (2011)
**** (out of 4)
Wonderful documentary from Cameron Crowe about the twenty years of Pearl Jam. Crowe talks about how he was living in Seattle when the entire grunge/alternative scene broke and from here on we see how the band came to be. Using interviews, archival footage and current concert footage, Crowe turns this into one of the better documentaries out there. We see the band starting out, rising to the top with the album Ten, taking on Ticketmaster, touring with Neil Young and then continue to try and make sure they stay true to themselves even when some of their fans started to question them. I was around 13 when the Seattle based rock really took off and I remember listening to Pearl Jam for a few years but then my music tastes started to change. I really haven't kept up with the band since then so one should keep that in mind as they read this but I thought the documentary was terrific. It really gave me a terrific idea of what the band is, who they wanted to be and it was great fun seeing their rise to fame and seeing how they almost broke up. I found Crowe's direction to be marvelous because a lot of times with these documentaries you have someone who doesn't know how to put all the footage together to make it entertaining. Concert footage is great. Interviews are great. Even television show clips are great. However, so many documentaries don't know how to put all the footage together but Crowe does a wonderful job and really delivers a film that even non-fans should enjoy. Even though I haven't followed the band in many years this documentary really made me want to rush out and buy their CDs and DVDs. I found the interviews to be extremely good and I liked the fact that Crowe didn't shy away from some of the darker moments in their twenty years. The documentary also covers some other groups from this Seattle era including the relationship between Pearl Jam and Nirvana. The suicide of Kurt Cobain is also covered and we get concert footage from the night of his death. Overall Crowe really has worked a mini miracle in bringing Pearl Jam's story to life. If someone like me enjoyed it so much I'm sure die-hard fans of the group will feel as if they're in Heaven.
**** (out of 4)
Wonderful documentary from Cameron Crowe about the twenty years of Pearl Jam. Crowe talks about how he was living in Seattle when the entire grunge/alternative scene broke and from here on we see how the band came to be. Using interviews, archival footage and current concert footage, Crowe turns this into one of the better documentaries out there. We see the band starting out, rising to the top with the album Ten, taking on Ticketmaster, touring with Neil Young and then continue to try and make sure they stay true to themselves even when some of their fans started to question them. I was around 13 when the Seattle based rock really took off and I remember listening to Pearl Jam for a few years but then my music tastes started to change. I really haven't kept up with the band since then so one should keep that in mind as they read this but I thought the documentary was terrific. It really gave me a terrific idea of what the band is, who they wanted to be and it was great fun seeing their rise to fame and seeing how they almost broke up. I found Crowe's direction to be marvelous because a lot of times with these documentaries you have someone who doesn't know how to put all the footage together to make it entertaining. Concert footage is great. Interviews are great. Even television show clips are great. However, so many documentaries don't know how to put all the footage together but Crowe does a wonderful job and really delivers a film that even non-fans should enjoy. Even though I haven't followed the band in many years this documentary really made me want to rush out and buy their CDs and DVDs. I found the interviews to be extremely good and I liked the fact that Crowe didn't shy away from some of the darker moments in their twenty years. The documentary also covers some other groups from this Seattle era including the relationship between Pearl Jam and Nirvana. The suicide of Kurt Cobain is also covered and we get concert footage from the night of his death. Overall Crowe really has worked a mini miracle in bringing Pearl Jam's story to life. If someone like me enjoyed it so much I'm sure die-hard fans of the group will feel as if they're in Heaven.