John Lennon: Love Is All You Need

While it celebrates his life it is difficult towatch because he is no longer with us and you …
This DVD is not for a casual fan. I have been a die hard fan of John’s for 40+ years. This DVD gives a poignant view for those closest to him. While it celebrates his life it is difficult to watch because he is no longer with us and you can feel the pain of those, again closest to him. I do feel that the video is hard on Yoko which I feel is unfair. While my heart goes out to Cynthia and Julian, John had a mind of his own, and fell in love with Yoko. It has been almost 34 years since we lost John. While his loss is painful, I believe we should celebrate the gifts and wisdom that he gave us while he was here. This DVD is an insight to a beautiful mind that tells us that we must believe in ourselves and each other, to to hopefully someday find peace in the world.

Well Done
Just saw this on the Bio channel and was surprised and delighted that it was just released on DVD. They show many of the interviews that we have seen before except they are longer. We can see and hear John talking about his immigration outside the court room and it goes on for much longer than the typical sound bites we are used too. Same with his meeting Pierre Trudeau in Canada when he was filmed walking the garden. What we have all seen before is not shown but what we haven’t seen is here. New footage of Yoko and her newest art are presented.Old footage, again more, of Cynthia and Julian discussing John. Old girlfriends, pre Beatles, early Beatles, etc.For $6.99 it is a very good documentary and it should be stated, and known, the images are not perfect as it is the 50’s thru the 80’s but exceptable.SUMMARY: Informative, entertaining, and sad!

Decent, but too much missing info
I liked the John Lennon parts of this documentary, where he speaks for himself. But I have to drop the rating down two stars not for what’s there, but for what’s missing:- Who the heck are some of the people who are speaking so authoritatively about Lennon? While we’re given the interviewees names, we’re not given their relationship to Lennon or the reason why we should take their information as any more valid than that of, say, any fan.- Where is Sean? He barely gets a mention.- No detail at all about what Lennon did in the time from 1975-1980, except fight for his right to stay in the U.S. He had some rough challenges to overcome in that time, but they’re not mentioned at all.For me, this was a decent documentary and worth watching, but not really worth owning. (Oh, and the second “bonus interview” lasts literally three seconds before it cuts out. Maybe I’ll just return it as defective.)

Disappointing
Being a Beatles’ fan since I was 14, and having scene The Beatles live in concert three times, I was extremely disappointed with this documentary. It was solemn and not uplifting. It was not a tribute to John, it was an amateur commentary from people who seemingly dislike the world’s greatest band. It dwells too much on John’s innocent statement that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ, there’s no Beatles’ music on the entire DVD, and it gives you the feeling that The Beatles didn’t “fit” into society. That is bull. This was poorly edited and the interviews appeared to be scripted. I don’t want to totally bash it, so the one star I gave it goes to some historic scenes of Beatlemaniacs and early live concerts including a dig at The Cavern in Liverpool. But you never heard them sing…just the voice-over of a narrator that could put a baby to sleep in a heartbeat. I don’t think John would approve of this presentation. The book “The Love You Make” about The Beatles is a better buy and much less expensive. I wouldn’t waste my money on this. I’m so glad I got it used for $4…and even that was too much.

There have been so many words written about John- how can I possibly add more? Very interesting book ; every book adds a little bit more about this incredible man. Taken from us far too soon. With every world event,I wonder “What would John have said,written,sung about this?” I don’t see him as a saint by any means,just a hugely talented,caring,flawed human being. There can never be too many books about him. Miss you ,John.

Hard to say what the takeaways are from this documentary other than like all the other members of the Beatles, each artist decided to go down a new path. Certainly George Harrison had more to say about “Love” and “Peace” through the video “Living in the Material World” than this one. So I found the title misleading and not as credible or insightful as Harrison’s.The video seems to splice together a lot of bits and pieces of footage that most have already seen. So if you want to have John Lennon on-camera, and all in one place, this is worth adding to your collection of Beatles memorabilia. It is certainly affordable.The audio and video quality was average at best. Certainly it comes up short, when compared to McCartney’s and Harrison’s post Beatles DVD productions.I would like to have heard more about what inspired John to produce some of his greatest work in his post Beatles life. But Yoko just does not offer anything but more Yoko. Sean could have been a significant contributor in getting a rich understanding of the “Love” and “Peace” John Lennon. Especially since John seems to have concentrated or “doted” on him until he was murdered outside the Dakota in 1980. Unfortunately, Sean had nothing to say. Does not even show up in his father’s documentary. Disgraceful!Cynthia and Julian Lennon do come across as believable, understanding, loving and caring of John and his memory but don’t offer any perspective on John’s “Love” and “Peace” vision and mission.Could not find anything particularly new or perceptive in this portrait of Lennon’s life. “Imagine” if John put his many talents and artistic taste into his memory DVD. He would have created a compelling statement to convince all viewers to crusade hard (“Across the Universe”) for “Love” and “Peace”. Opportunity missed.PJ Keys