Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

cheesecrop Live Forever takes it's title from a 1990's song from the band Oasis, one of the premier English acts from the period 1991 - 1997, which is roughly the era this film hopes to chronicle. It does a fine job of highlighting the major players of the period, especially the bands Oasis and Blur.The problem here is that sometimes the film feels as though it is only the "Blur and Oasis Show". Other groups of the period, such as Supergrass, Elastica, Pulp, Suede, etc., are mentioned, but one sometimes has the feeling that they are perceived as supporting players to the big story. In addition, if you are not of a political bent, you may find the linking of the movement to future British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be a drag on the film. While it is relevant to what was going on, you may find yourself wishing for a few extra minutes of band footage, or footage of the audience of the times.In addition, you may be put off by the (quasi) American bashing of some of those being interviewed. In England, Britpop was king, but in America it skimmed the surface for the most part, which will make some of the claims of a worldwide phenomenon seem grandiose. Still, as a primer for those interested in discovering something new, this film is a solid place to start.

iplautus-1 Hilarious is what this often is, and often enough to make it good. The Wikipedia article on it complains that Radiohead and the Verve aren't given much coverage, but really I don't think they had much to do with the aspects of Britpop that are dealt with in the film, indeed the aspects that make Britpop interesting to documentarians, and are therefore the reason this movie exists. Had they been interviewed, I can't imagine Thom Yorke or Richard Ashcroft having much to say about the subject beyond "We never really considered ourselves part of Britpop, and I don't think many other people did either," which would be pretty much right. What's good in this movie? Noel Gallagher sitting on a throne talking about being working class; Jarvis Cocker doing an imitation of a person on cocaine; Liam Gallagher responding to questions about his supposed androgyny ("What, so I'm a bird?") Hilarious.

sonofjive Live Forever is a worthwile attempt at documenting the interesting post-Thatcher revival in British music exports to the US, labelled as Britpop by the NME and other such music magazines. Previous comments have already highlighted the emphasis that the film places on Oasis, and especially on Noel Gallagher's commentary on the scene and the times, but what else (realistically) could you expect from a film that uses an Oasis song as its title, made by a director that makes no secret of his adoration for the band. Nevertheless, I was shocked to note that the film earmarks a Stone Roses festival gig as the genesis of Britpop, and makes no reference to the debt that the Gallaghers, Liam especially, owe to Shaun Ryder's bands the Happy Mondays and Black Grape.Petty gripes aside, the film makes a clear and unashamed attempt to link the musical revival of Britpop with the revival of the Labour ideology - an easy task when Noel Gallagher is a valued customer at number 10. However, I believe that the political link that the film tries to make is at best tenuous, and at most non-existent. Specifically, Live Forever falls victim to its own hyperbole - that the music, created by youngsters who grew up during Thatcherite rationalisation, was among, if not the most important aspect to the general political and social change that ended God-knows how many years of Tory rule. I believe that the film deflates a little with this argument - it sort of chokes on its own self-importance. As for the rock stars, only Jarvis Cocker comes out of the film with an improved stature. Damon Albarn seems bitter, twisted and fed up (all traits of the archetypal great artist I might add), Noel Gallagher is the original hypocrite as he puts on his best working class whinge while sitting in an antique armchair surrounded by the trappings of newfound wealth, and I won't even bother with Liam.Before I close, I should mention that despite my own whinges, I actually did like this film. It was funny, poignant and affecting in turns, and it dealt with a subject that was very close to my heart. I can only say that I am glad that no mention was made of Radiohead or PJ Harvey.

Theo Robertson There`s a saying that " If you don`t read newspapers you`re uninformed. If you do read newspapers you`re misinformed " and that`s the problem I had with LIVE FOREVER , if you`re uninformed about Britpop you`ll be misinformed if you use this as your starting point , dangerously misinformed . The very first caption is from Alistair Campbell needs clarifying : yes in 1996-97 Britain was exporting music ( To the USA )again but this was only down to a select handful of artists namely The Spice Girls , Bush , Elton John , The Prodigy and Radiohead and in no way was this period a golden age for British record exports . Noel Gallagher follows this caption by saying " The eighties were f*** all " - NO THEY WEREN`T . In terms of record sales they were the golden age of British musical export . One week in July 1985 had eight of the top ten acts in the US billboard charts by Brits while 40% of the billboard 100 were by British artists . At the Band Aid concert held the same month each and every act at the London concert was from the British Isles while over 30% of the acts appearing at the JFK stadium were Brits . " The 80s were f*** all " ? I don`t think so Noel The other thing I disliked about this documentary is it`s political bais towards Tony Blair`s New Labour government where we`re force fed Peter Mandelson`s opinions of Mr Blair`s standard of guitar playing ! Completely superflous in my opinion , though there is a bit of irony in all this when Noel Gallagher ( Yes him again ) tells us Oasis songs sum up the 1990s . Yeah well I think Heartland by The The ( Written in 1986 ) sums up Tony Blair`s New Labour government and life in modern Britain perfectly , at least compared to the drinking songs Oasis released , and make no mistake that`s all they are - drinking songs Despite falling international sales British music in the mid to late 90s was far superiour to ten years earlier , but let me just repeat very very few British bands sold any records in the USA at this time which means LIVE FOREVER works only as a nostalgia piece with a good soundrack and not as a historical or cultural document since it leads us to believe Britain was the centre of the musical , cultural and political universe which sadly it isn`t and probably never will be again