Popular reviews

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  Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★½ 3

  When you hear the likes of Keith Richards wax lyrically about the influence that Robert Johnson had on him when he first took up the guitar, then you'd think he'd be the most well known blues guitarist of all time, but with all due respect to the filmmaker and old saddlebags Richards himself, what we know about Johnson could be written on a side of A4. Everything about him is based on folklore and legend, he was a real guy alright, he could play guitar that's for sure, but nobody can really verify anything other than the 29 songs he recorded in 1936 and 1937. He's an enigma, did he make a pact with the devil? Who the fuck knows,…

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  Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★½

  The very fact that so little is known about Robert Johnson is reflected in the short running time of Devil at the Crossroads and, indeed, its content.

  Even despite what little there is to go on in chronicling Johnson's life and career, this still gets in a muddle as to whether it really wants to talk at length about the myth of Johnson selling his soul to the devil or his incredible influence and legacy as a musician.

  It ends up falling between three stalls with the highlights being the music, obviously, and Keith Richards, with a chuckle, saying that he'd survived 'The 27 Club' curse. "So far!"

  You're 77, Keith, and have done a Mount Everest of drugs.

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  Review by Sweetbaby ★★★★

  The combination of Robert Johnson's guitar playing, lyrics and voice put him in a league of his own in the 1930s. His blues guitar playin was so good during his time that people claimed that he had sold his soul to the devil. After his death, his music would go on to serve as a driving force for blues and rock n roll.

  Remastered: Devil at the Crossroads covers his short lived journey that led to the most unique legacy in music history before becoming the most mysterious member of the 27 club (a club of famous musicians that died at the age of 27 such as Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy…

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  Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★½ 3

  COVIDEODROME: A Quarantine Challenge
  19: A film based on the Faust legend.

  The problem with making a documentary film about Robert Johnson is that Johnson is so elusive a figure. Only two photographs exist of him remember, and those who knew him have departed from this earth now. So what we have here is essentially the visual equivalent of a Wiki article, enlivened by some archive clips (footage of John Hammond' Jr's 1992 documentary, The Search for Robert Johnson is included and frankly, that looks better in many ways) some cool animation that depicts not only the Faustian pact which Johnson was alleged to have made but also key moments from his life and, erm, well his death. But perhaps…

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  Review by Villain

  I was vaguely aware of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil because of his influence on some of my favourite artists. I really didn’t know much about him. Turns out no one really knows much about him.

  This documentary feels a little flat because there is so little about Robert Johnson’s life that be considered factual. There is just so much mystery around the man. So many questions that will likely remain unanswered for eternity.

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  Review by benton tarantella

  a real life southern gothic

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  Review by Leo Pietro ★★½

  maaan, can't the guy really just practiced real good?

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  Review by tom ★★★½

  most people realize that the devil isn’t real, but what this documentary would like you to consider is that the story of robert johnson having sold his soul to the devil in order to become a great guitar player is but one equally believable possibility out of many, another of which happens to be that he spent a year taking intense guitar lessons from the man everyone considered to be the best guitar player in southern mississippi at the time...

  anyway, all the “27 club” stuff here just seems like an excuse to pack more white people into a movie that really needed way less white people, and the first ten minutes of this seem more like an extended trailer…

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  Review by clairefm ★★★★

  they didn't expose led zeppelin enough they stole a lot more then that one line

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  Review by Bre

  “Robert Johnson wakes up the genius in everyone and his music speaks to all of us. But with that genius also comes the Devil.”

  A fascinating deconstruction of the life, legend, and influence of Robert Johnson that sheds a great deal of light without taking away any of the shadowy mythos that surrounds Johnson.

  One of my coolest musical moments was a late, sleepless night when on a whim, I decided to listen to Robert Johnson in the dark. Spooky as all get out but well worth it. Did he sell his soul to the devil? Who knows. But hearing his wails shrouded in darkness at the midnight hour… well you start to believe in something.

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  Review by Brian J. ★★½ 2

  More of a history on African-American culture in the Deep South during a brutal time than an actual piece on legendary guitarist Robert Johnson, but that's probably because not much is known about Robert Johnson, and the talking heads featured here are only retelling bits of stories and anecdotes they've gleaned over the years. White the history is certainly interesting (and sad), it doesn't appear that anyone has a true account of Johnson's life, and while that seems like something that would add to the mystique, it feels more like a missed opportunity. Watched via Netflix streaming.

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  Review by ireland

  me, the next time i am inconvenienced: must’ve been all that devil’s music :(