Mike Wuerthele
Apple Music-Exclusive documentary on Bad Boy Records — "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" has been released, but early reception to the film appears to be not good.
The film is centered around record label Bad Boy's owner Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, the rise of the label during the '90s, and efforts to put together 20th-anniversary shows in 2016. The documentary includes behind-the-scenes moments and interviews with industry executives, such as now-Apple Music head Jimmy Iovine.
"I went to the [Bad Boy Reunion] concert and thought it was incredible," Iovine told Billboard in April. "I think Puff and Bad Boy's story is incredible and one that a lot of people can relate to in any genre or in any business. His story is powerful. He really overcame a lot to get to where he's at today and the documentary shows that."
Early critical responses to the feature call it "shallow and dull" and "a vanity project strictly for the fans." More positive returns from some critics say that the feature is "intimate and revealing than these sorts of artist-approved self-mythologies usually are." At present, the average rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 2 out of 10, with a 43 percent "Tomatometer."
An advance screening of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" happened at the TriBeCa Film Festival at the end of April. Apple will hold onto exclusivity of the feature for at least a year.
Apple may have up to 10 original shows and documentaries planned for 2017 according to recent reports. Known to be in production are "Carpool Karaoke," "Planet of the Apps," and documentaries about Clive Davis and Cash Money Records.
The film is available to Apple Music subscribers now.
Andrew Orr
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16 Comments
LOL
what did they expect?
Its a movie about old, irrelevant has-beens trying to be cool with immmature phrases as the title. Even the poster image...seriously? It looks comical for something supposed to be serious and cool.
Aint nobody got time fo' dat!
the whole Beats deal feels more like a swindle with every project.
Question: What did Apple get out of that?
Answer: Some old guys.
Meanwhile those old old guys are getting Apples resources to accomplish their same old failed ideas. It's only when Apple went back to their tried and true simplicity and clean style that Apple Music turned around. Headphones? Apples own are better. They could have had Bose if that's what they wanted.
Instead they got Lovine - who's pretty much just a jive talker and maniplulator, and Andre Young - who's a has-been, but still given respect by his fans.
The whole thing seems so one-sided. Apple gets nothing and these guys get a windfall.
Hopefully we never see see a multi billion dollar deal like that again.
I'm not interested in music documentaries or this self centered "planet of the apps" cr@p but Ai, AR, autonomous driving and Apple itself! Yeah, I'm sorry for my self centered and monopolistic opinion.
Nothing that Apple has done so far in the area of original video content has interested me, but I assumed that maybe I'm just not the relevant demographic.
This doesn't disprove that I'm an irrelevant demographic, but it certainly doesn't sound like they're doing a great job of hitting whatever demographic they're going after.
For my eyeball time, Netflix is doing a very good job.
%43 on Rotten Tomatoes is about average. Had this been released by Netflix or another company the headline would have read "arrives to average reviews".
A lot of fan favorite movies are in the sub %50's and the real crap is usually below %20. Some films as low as %9 and %0. Suicide Squad for example is at %25 though it was praised by the people.
Diddy wasn't part of the Beats deal.... *facepalm*.
and BOSE? Seriously? That's about the worst company they could have purchased. WHERE exactly would Bose have gotten them?
Dr. Dre will be a has-been when his headphones stop selling and his artists are no longer on the radio.
the billions they "wasted" has already been returned by Beats products. That argument died long ago.