SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

love-gordon I have been waiting for this movie all my adult life. It is a reaffirmation of my personal history and that of my city, Belfast. Punk made Belfast what it is to-day and the energy of the film reflects this. All aspects of the movie excel, but for me personally it is the first accurate, contemporary celluloid portrayal of my community – aggressive black humour, dogged determination underpinned with old fashioned sentimentality and a lack of respect for the Establishment. Protestants in Northern Ireland are often portrayed as rather dour and unaesthetic. Whilst Catholics tend to be seen as more creative and artistic,indeed Catholics are much more successful in the arts than Protestants. This in no way suggests that Protestants are discriminated against in the arts, we are not, but have simply been lagging behind, until now. So it is no mean feat that that the Good Vibrations movie shows the Protestant community in a refreshingly healthy and artistic light. For the benefit of readers from outside of Northern Ireland the two main bands portrayed in the movie and their fans where Protestant as were the initial wave of local punk bands, punk in Northern Ireland originated in the East Belfast Protestant heartland, Terri Hooley (the owner of Good Vibrations) came from the Protestant community, as did his partners in the record shop and the committee set up by Terry to run the famous Harp Bar were Protestant and of course the writers of the movie were Protestants. So I think that it is true to say that the Protestant ethic and history of rebellion fuelled the Northern Ireland punk scene from the start. Well done to all concerned.

andidektor This is a soundtrack, not a film. It doesn't ask any questions, lay out any arguments, or challenge any taboos. It's got a stonking lead performance and it looks period correct when not depending on stock imagery. It's got loads of minor pop music - a good mixtape, the sort of themed selection you'd find cover mounted on Uncut or Mojo magazine. It could have been a blast. Or, with some genuine insight to the personal relationships only vaguely sketched in the script, it could have been a more substantial drama.But it's a cheap shot to prop up Terri Hooley's self hype with endless stock footage of the troubles - especially the Miami showband material. As if the scene where Terri and his little band of gullible, fame seeking youths being stopped by the Brits and discovered to be the true cross-community ideal was somehow related (what an awkward scene that was).Truth is, punk didn't do much in or for Northern Ireland and after its brief bubble burst, Hooley never found another "wave" to incompetently exploit - except perhaps the trendy "hagiography of failures in popular culture" that passes for biography in too many recent films. (Next: The Gary Glitter Story...?).Where it really struggles to even entertain is in constantly trying to raise the minimal narrative above a basic "let's put on a show in the barn" story, by co-opting historical sectarian division and political oppositions as contextual justification for a bunch of people who were essentially running away, rather than confronting it.The fawning climax, a clumsy collage of wet eyed forgiveness and self-justification during a concert in the Ulster Hall ("It holds 2000 people!") is downright creepy.And if PUNK meant anything, anywhere, then surely Hooley's apocryphal shout "New York has the hair, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason." is its betrayal.

tommyroew3887 The film looks back nostalgically at the seventies. Those like the movies lead, Terry, who hoped that Punk Rock would prove more than a passing fad were to be disappointed. By the late seventies disco was the dominant element in popular music in Belfast, especially among the young, bringing thousands of kids together. Punk was a minority interest. However the film can still be seen as a celebration of punk, a time which saw the birth of a new, small but exuberant youth culture as young people asserted their tastes in music and fashion which were quite different to those of their elders/peers. In that sense at least, the punks of the late seventies had "never had it so good". But in the end the punks ran out of steam and melted back into the greyness of Belfast leaving no legacy what-so-ever. What is particularly disappointing is that the film makes a virtue out of failure.

Red-Barracuda This is a biopic about Terri Hooley, the owner of Good Vibrations record shop and record label. His biggest claim to fame was in getting The Undertones seminal single Teenage Kicks to DJ John Peel. Considering that this became Peel's favourite song of all time, this is something of note. I hadn't heard of Hooley, or Good Vibrations but this isn't too surprising seeing as – aside from The Undertones who were only involved with him briefly – the other punk bands on his label were very minor players such as The Outcasts and Rudi. It's probably fair to say that the movie overstates the significance of Hooley and of Belfast as a punk capital.Nevertheless, this is still a good film. It successfully illustrates how punk rock served a different purpose in Belfast compared to most other places. It happened during the height of The Troubles and music was a means of bringing people together from both sides of the fence, while the youthful anger of punk rock tapped into something very relevant in a population living in grim times with the fear of violence a constant situation. To help give a better feel for the times there are actual newsreels from the period spliced into the story. Although the politics always hover in the background and never really move into the central ground of the story. This is above all a story about the love of music and its power to overcome wider concerns. Although, admittedly it failed to bring an end to the civil war, seeing as it lasted for a further twenty years.The story is a fairly standard feel-good biopic with a little bit of adverse drama thrown in about two thirds of the way in. In fairness, it's only being true to its source material which is fairly slight to begin with. The period setting is captured quite well in its beige horror although there were some (very) dodgy wigs on display. This will connect most with folks who remember the punk times, especially ones who were in Belfast at the time. But it is a good film about a minor piece of music history.