Rock 'n' Roll Animals

GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD 2011 (A-minus) - A brilliant deep-dive into the life of the spiritual Beatle, this offering from a relatively restrained Martin Scorsese clocks in at three and a half hours. The archival footage is incredibly rare and fascinating, from backstage antics during Beatlemania to Harrison's own recordings at his estate at Friar Park in rural England.

This is produced by his widow, Olivia, so it's highly respectful, although some of the best stories come from her describing the challenges of their 30-year marriage, as well as the attack by a home invader in 1999. Paul and Ringo chime in with insights and avoid telling the same old stories. George himself weighs in during various archival interviews, and his thoughts about drugs and hippies and peace and love are enlightening.

Scorsese mostly stays out of the way and lets a lot of the footage tell the story rather than swamping it with talking heads. A fine curation.

NOW MORE THAN EVER: THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO (B) - The normal reaction to the band Chicago these days (well, since the '80s) has been to scoff at their treacly easy-listening stylings. But they were a powerhouse jazz-rock band dating to the late '60s, and this Midwest workmanlike documentary dives into their roots and restores some credibility.

The band was filmed a lot in home movies, so the archival footage is plentiful hear and illuminating. Cheesy re-enactments are a middling distraction. The individual members come alive. Peter Cetera, long estranged from the band, does not participate, so he can't explain how he hijacked the band in the '80s with producer David Foster, who is around to flaunt his own arrogance. This is a very Chicago film, with classic accents abounding from the likes of manager Peter Schivarelli and actor pal Joe Mantegna.

The band was awash in drugs in the '70s when they were cranking out respectable brassy hits from their hedonistic Colorado ranch studio. Guitarist Terry Kath (apparently envied by Jimi Hendrix) was the main victim, dying in a gun accident fueled by a coke binge. Thankfully, the film spends all but the last half hour of its nearly two-hour running time on the good years and avoids the "Behind the Music" tropes of many rock documentaries.