Also checked out the new(ish) Beastie Boys documentary cleverly called The Beastie Boys Story. This was on Apple TV Plus… the streaming service, not the device. The movie came out earlier this year and not very many people noticed… and the reviews were kind of “yeah, it’s alright”… which is a fair assessment.
This is not a traditional documentary… it’s actually more of a filmed presentation (and hardly an objective one at that). Instead of using talking head interviews with various people involved in the Beastie Boys story, it’s hosted and presented by the two surviving members of the group. Mike D and Ad-Rock – middle aged statesmen of rap and rock – walk the crowd (and viewer) through their formative years up through the point where MCA died of cancer (at which point they apparently officially disbanded the group). They do this talk, mostly scripted (not always smoothly), with the help of a video wall showing archival photographs and performances.
It presents plenty of backstory and the guys are genuinely entertaining on stage. However, to be clear, you put a gun to my head and ask me which Beastie Boy had died recently, I wouldn’t have known. I like most of the music from them I’ve heard and they were certainly iconic in High School… but I never was a big enough fan to tell you which was a Mike D, which was Ad-Rock, and what the other guy’s name was. My point is, I have to take them at their word about their own life… which is why this is neither a documentary nor is it objective. But they do admit to treating some people in their lives shabbily and partying way too much… and express remorse… but I don’t know if they are skipping some incidents or glossing things over.
But all that is largely fine… it’s their story that they are presenting and I’m the guy who watched it, knowing full well the limitations of the format. It is the kind of presentation they (and director Spike Jonze) wanted and it doesn’t make them into sinners or saints. I enjoyed this film and if you are one of the scattered few with Apple TV Plus (who also has any interest in the Beastie Boys), you should check it out.
Score: 86