Underwhelmed


As a long-time fan (became a fan at 14 in 1994, joined Ten Club in '96 and been a member in good standing since) I was really looking forward to this movie. But I was very disappointed in it.

My main problem is how little focus every album after Vitalogy received. If we're going to call it Pearl Jam TWENTY, let's not focus on 4 years and barely acknowledge the rest. Since "No Code" and "Yield" are my two favorite albums I was very sad to see them barely even explored. I think "No Code" was basically just given a 2 sentence acknowledgement, and that was it.

Also, there was a whole lot of Italy '06 footage. They didn't really dig deep for that, it was Pearl Jam's last DVD release.

As far as a documentary about a band, or an overview of a 20 year career goes, I think this movie didn't work. I don't really know who this is for. Fans of the band already knew most of this stuff and received no real insight and some of their most beloved albums were largely ignored. For casual fans and newcomers it does not work to give a good idea of what this band has done.

"IF THE DEVIL HAD A NAME, IT WOULD BE CHUCK FINLEY!!"

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I agree - I have been a massive PJ fan since 'Ten' and have every album since so purchased this on Blu-ray last week only to form pretty much the same opinion as yourself.

Better to regret something you did, than something you didn't do!

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I haven't bought the DVD or Blu-Ray yet. I certainly wasn't going to pay $65-$75 for the Deluxe Edition that Ten Club had. I don't care how good the bonus features are, in this day and age $65 is an outrageous price for 3 DVD's, especially when the single disc version is only $14.99. Two discs of bonus features and nicer packaging can't be worth a $50 price hike. Seems to me like bonus features, by definition, shouldn't cost more than the feature film itself.

I'll probably buy the single disc version sometime down the line, but since I didn't care for the movie too much I'm in no rush. I'm more looking forward to seeing the PJ20 festival on DVD, or getting Canadian tour bootlegs than buying this movie.

"IF THE DEVIL HAD A NAME, IT WOULD BE CHUCK FINLEY!!"

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"I don't really know who this is for."

Cameron Crowe.

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"I don't really know who this is for."

Cameron Crowe.


True, but this was also a project of Kelly Curtis (the band's manager, who served as a producer) so I'm not sure how much freedom Crowe had, or if Curtis had ground rules or what. This wasn't just Cameron Crowe getting a wild hair up his butt to make this movie about this band, it's more about (as Cameron has said in interviews) the band's manager pestering Cameron for years to make this movie, and since the time seemed right, and Cameron was the obvious choice, agreeing to it. I think Crowe is a big enough fan of the band that he would be more interested in showing their whole career, as opposed to just focusing on the early years. I would think (speculation mind you) that he would be interested in perhaps showing people who stopped following them after the decline of grunge what else this band was capable of. As the film stands it seems like it is pandering to casual fans who just know the first 2-3 albums and don't really care about their lesser known works or career as a whole. That seems more like a business decision as opposed to an artistic one, which is why I suspect Kelly may have had more to do with it than we might think. I don't know though. But what a wasted opportunity this film was, it actually makes me kind of sad.

"IF THE DEVIL HAD A NAME, IT WOULD BE CHUCK FINLEY!!"

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No Code and Yield are my favorites,too, so I can see where you're coming from. I would have liked less about Andy Wood and more about that era (although I get that the MLB thing was important to their arc as a band). Overall, though, I actually liked the movie. I had also been a Ten Club member since the mid-90's but I let my membership lapse. I really disliked the Avocado record and thought the most recent one was just alright. The movie made me remember a time when i was crazy about them. It made me remember why I saw them live 33 times. It actually made me excited to see them again (I skipped their last go round). I guess I know in my heart that they will never make another album of the quality of No Code and Yield (or even Vitalogy which I also love). The film was not perfect by any stretch, but the nostalgia made it worth it for me. And I will always love Cameron Crowe for being a big old music nerd...even if Singles did suck.

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[deleted]

Pearl Jam Twenty had the feel of an A&E "Biography". Basically produced for the person who knows nothing or very little about the subject.

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