Beware Of Mr. Baker (2012)
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 35
Fresh: 34 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
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Average Rating: 4/5
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At home with rock 'n' roll monster Ginger Baker, Cream's legendary scarlet-maned, hell-raising drummer. This no-holds-barred, sad, and hilarious portrait of the man referred to as rock's first great drummer (and perhaps still its best) lets him tell his own story, intercut with footage of his continent-hopping life, from London to L.A., Nigeria, Italy, South Africa, and (way) beyond. Baker may have broken the mold musically, but his violent, dyspeptic mood swings, fueled by a multi-decade heroin
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All Critics (35) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (1)
Ginger Baker has been revealed as a major talent, an innovator and an unlikely survivor. And a not very nice guy.
Top CriticGinger Baker is, and was, a train wreck. Yet this film, like Baker's onstage playing, is always riveting, and something you can't look away from.
"Beware of Mr. Baker" is comprehensive, if somewhat overly glowing.
The takeaway: great musician, deficient family man, taxing friend and bandmate, excellent documentary subject.
This is warts and all, with the emphasis on the warts.
"Beware of Mr. Baker" argues that when an artist consistently delivers amazement, broken beaks and busted relationships are a fair price to pay.
By turns sad and darkly comedic, but never less than mesmerizing -- a moving and morally conflicted portrait of a true questing spirit.
This straightforward yet insightful documentary pays tribute to its subject without resorting to hagiography.
I watched Beware of Mr. Baker and longed for the time when rock was good, musicians were gods, and good god, the parties and the playing were species of their own.
Although it hits many of the same notes as other recent musical docs, Beware of Mr. Baker nevertheless does a satisfactory job of capturing a restless personality.
Even if you have no special interest in Baker's music, he's a compelling and witty subject.
The madman of rock drumming hasn't mellowed. Or croaked. That's two miracles attached to Ginger Baker's name.
Deftly presented, with appropriate respect for the past but a clear sense of intellectual curiosity mixed with editorial detachment, one need not fear from the warnings about Mr. Baker, as long as you duck from the swings of his cane.
Lots of surprises and unusual brio. . . in sorting out decades of stories and confusing points of view [with] visual documentation. Very entertaining.
Ginger Baker's perpetual enigma makes for a documentary subject both beguiling and inaccessible, receding and aggressing.
The rock documentary to be seen by all those who swore they would never see another.
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November 29, 2012:
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