Idolator

This isn't the first time we've ragged on I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' all-star rumination on all things Dylan, but as it's just been released on DVD and I haven't seen much of a critical backlash, I figured its nose deserves another tweak. The New York Times felt Haynes threw "a Molotov cocktail through the facade of the Hollywood biopic factory" by willfully screwing with the specifics Dylan's career, but fictionalizing the life of a pop star for your own purposes is nothing new. In fact, there's a TV movie from the '70s that equally reveled in '60s iconography, while revealing a little more about the music itself and throwing in a bunch of jokes to boot. Maybe not taking their marvelous meta seriously is why The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash doesn't get the same boot-licking treatment I'm Not There is enjoying. More »

Ed. note: It's time for another installment of "VHS Or Beta?", where Andy Beta looks at the music behind the movies—from preserved-by-Criterion classics to completely inane summer blockbusters. In this installment, he checks out Todd Haynes' look at Bob Dylan's multiple personalities, I'm Not There. More »