Wordiezett So much average

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

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

bugsmoran29 I really enjoyed this movie about Joe Meek, the English musical pioneer and the producer of numerous hit singles during the Sixties. The song "Telstar" was a major hit on the radio when I was a child during the Kennedy years of the early Sixties. Oddly enough I did see Joe Meek's movie "Live It Up" at the theater. I think it was paired with "A Hard Day's Night."I recently watched a BBC documentary from 1994 about Joe Meek's career, as well as his troubled life and violent suicide. I was fascinated by how the man had constructed his own tiny home recording studio that actually produced great records by the Tornadoes, Mike Berry, Jonathan King, Screaming Lord Sutch and the Honeycombs. I had to track down the DVD at amazon.com.I enjoyed this movie and being introduced to some of the early rock stars of Great Britain that were big before the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five and the Rolling Stones. I enjoyed the music very much. I also regret that Joe Meek didn't stick around longer: what he could have done for Pink Floyd. Obviously I quickly made a connection between Joe Meek and Phil Spect0r, another rather sinister and unlikable genius.

Andrew Jeff This is a very quirky film; whether you like it or not, really depends on the mood you are in. In my view it's worth seeing twice before you make up your mind.It did very badly at the box office, which is (in my opinion) more to do with the sophistication and open-mindedness of the British audience, rather than the film itself. It would have been more suited to perhaps a French or Italian audience - as the British audience is not so much into Arty Niche films as Hard Reality or Fantasy.The lead role is superbly played by Con O' Neill, who portrays this unbalanced and complex genius with great skill and imagination.Despite the criticism of his Gloucester accent (one critic described it as Welsh like Rob Bryden), I can tell you that it is very authentic. I spend a lot of time in Gloucester and he sounds spot on. It's a subtle accent to emulate and it is a great achievement to hold onto it throughout the film. The manic scenes are funny, and the tragic scenes are very moving. The final scenes are as good a tragic end as I have ever seen.Perhaps one day this film will get the cult following it deserves - but there will need to be some major expansion of the average cinema-goer's mind to make this happen.

Thomas Aitken Unfortunately all this film did was portray Joe Meek as a disturbed and mildly successful music producer - anyone who didn't know much about music history, or who didn't have the gumption to research the life of Joe Meek any further, could be mistaken for thinking that making a movie about Meek and his final years was a rather odd thing to do.What was sorely lacking from this film was any proper focus on the innovative nature of his work in the recording industry (something which is hinted at in places, but never really explored in any detail until the closing credits tell us that he is considered a visionary pioneer in mus recording).Another glaring omission was the fact that no explicit mention is made of his apparent lack of musical writing abilities and skills (something quire amazing when you consider that he was involved in so many chart busting hits).I also found some of the details rather odd, like the decision to have him accidentally shoot his landlady - something that the eyewitness accounts don't support, or the brief moment in the movie when we are led to believe that Meek was not at all interested in Tom Jones (the 'Welsh' artist that he is told about during one scene in the film) when in actual fact he recorded Jones and then shopped those recordings around major record companies before Jones had his first major success.Then there are also the odd things, like the inclusion of footage of the Beetles becoming hugely successful (news footage shown on TV at one point), without a very clear prior explanation/presentation of the fact that Meek written off the Beatles, believing that they would never make it big.It also seems (not that I was a huge Joe Meek expert before seeing this movie) that the way Meek is played in this movie is far too campy and weird when compared with the actual man himself.In the end, this movie was rushed, and as a result it's narrative becomes a little bit too confused, giving watchers only bits and pieces of information, while missing other vital things out, and then all of a sudden we're watching him shoot his landlady and himself and the credits are rolling.Watchable, but feels like something that the Reader's Digest would make if they were into making film biographies.

arisdisc I watched this last night and frankly, thought it was terrific. I was alive during this short period of musical history but was not aware of this story (and I ended up in the music business myself for the next 40 years). I see that a number of UK viewers are disappointed with the casting (apparently many are familiar TV stars) but for us in the USA this has no negative effect. Kevin Spacey is the only familiar face and frankly, I found his presence just a tad distracting, since 'anyone' could have played the part. Extremely well acted and directed. The musical segments are wonderful and I only wish they had been a bit longer. My only disappointment with the film is the thick British accent - a lot of dialog passed me by (there were no subtitles on the version I watched) but it's not a reason for US film lovers to pass this by. Fascinating story - and in my opinion, perfectly executed. See it!