Sick Product of a Sick System

I'll tell you why so serious

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I think this one needs only a short review. We have here a lifetime overview of the legendary musical icon that is Ozzy Osbourne. Granted all other major music icons are exceptional musicians, Ozzy was more just a great lead singer in the seminal and ground-breaking Black Sabbath, for Ozzy it was more his character. His fellow musicians in Black Sabbath were the genius of the band and Ozzy was the great lead singer who helped put the cherry on top.This documentary shows Ozzy from the start as a wild man, after Black Sabbath, again as a wild man, and then as the self-destructing father.It's a great insight without being too crude. It's entertaining as well as interesting. There is hope as well at the end. There's a lot of humour along the way, and Ozzy you will love a lot.A good viewing.

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne (2011) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Very good documentary on the life and times of Ozzy Osbourne who is certainly one of a kind. The film covers Ozzy's early days growing up poor and follows him to Black Sabbath, the fame, the drugs, the partying, the solo career and of course his comeback, which itself had many highs and lows. GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE is an appropriate title because if you know anything about the madman then it's really amazing that he survived the 70s. The documentary uses behind the scenes footage mixed in with both past and present interviews as well as news footage. All of this is perfectly mixed together and in the end you really get a great idea of who Ozzy is and why he did some of the crazy stuff that he did. The majority of the running time deals with the craziness, which of course means a lot of wild pranks, drugs and alcohol. There's no question that all of these stories are used for entertainment because as sad as it might be to see a father neglect his children, the crazy lifestyle Ozzy was leading just puts a smile on your face because he survived it all. Had Ozzy died then it's doubtful these same stories would have been as amusing as they are today. We get interviews with his family, friends and fellow musicians who all tell their stories of what Ozzy means to them. At just 91-minutes the documentary goes through pretty much every stone leading up to the musicians current state.

A documentary charting the life of rock star Ozzy Osbourne; his early days with seminal heavy metal band Black Sabbath, his solo career, his notorious party lifestyle and his life-long battles with drink and drug addiction.John Osbourne, aka Ozzy, is that rare breed - a rock-and-roll survivor who has somehow managed to outlive the most outrageous excesses of showbiz, maintain a very successful career in music for forty years and produce an incredible body of work. As he admits in this film, he should be dead many times over, but somehow he's not only very much alive but still a great musician and songwriter. This is a fairly conventional documentary; it starts at the beginning, with Ozzy's working-class childhood in Aston, moves through the Sabbath years, talks to his friends and family. There are the expected lurid anecdotes of drug-fuelled craziness and some sharp moments of honesty (at one point, he's unable to remember what year his daughter Jessica was born), but unfortunately for me there's very little discussion of his music. This is a man who's made (at the time of writing) eighteen outstanding albums, who has a unique voice, and is a truly gifted lyricist. I want to ask him things like how did you work out the melody for Crazy Train, or what inspired you to write the beautiful words to Spiral Architect ? But no, it's always about why did you bite a bat on stage or how much coke did you snort in '85. There's a long section towards the end dealing with his battles with booze, but it isn't nearly as informative or eloquent as when he sings (in the song Demon Alcohol), "I'll wash away your lies / And have you hypnotised / There'll be no compromise today / I'll share your life of shame / I think you know my name ... ". The movie deals with the (many) low points of his life, such as the heartbreaking death of the brilliant young guitarist Randy Rhoads in 1982, but is oddly uplifting towards the end, showing Ozzy's sideline in painting and his determination to pass his driving test. For someone who has led such a screwed-up life, he's philosophical, articulate and non-judgemental. I didn't like (or watch) the MTV show The Osbournes, which, while it may have been a canny promotion tool on his wife's part, embarrassed me in its peepshow depiction of one of my rock heroes as a bewildered clown. This film goes some way to redressing that image, but not far enough. It's informative and balanced but to get to know the real Ozzy, buy any of his records (I'd suggest starting with Master Of Reality or Diary Of A Madman), turn your TV, phone and all the lights off, and crank up the volume - that's really what he's all about.

The only other review (at the time I'm writing this) sums this movie up quite well, but I'll try to add just a little in the form of a different perspective. To start off with, I'm not an avid Ozzy fan, I have and do still enjoy several of the classics like paranoid and crazy train on occasion; so yeah I think people who aren't big fans may enjoy this movie, I sure did.The movie has a nice balance of the musical background and home/family/party/everyday life. There is a lot about the struggles Ozzy dealt with throughout his life. The drug and alcohol abuse is confronted head on, and really gives the viewer a unique insight. Ozzy truly seems to be one of a kind. I found the part about The Osborne's show particularly interesting. It made me think of the show differently. ...Trying not to give away any spoilers. I'm sure many people already knew what I didn't. The part I found interesting is the comments made about how the outside viewer may say or think that Ozzy's actions and behaviour on the show was 'cute' or 'funny', but really it was quite 'sad'.I have much more respect and empathy for Ozzy and his family after watching this. Though I admit it's not going to make me more of a fan of the music.