Wordiezett So much average

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Larissa Pierry (tangietangerine) This film is definitely one of my favorites among the ones who pay some kind of homage to rock'n'roll history. That opening scene with Jack Fairy's childhood and then the credits rolling to the sound of Needle In the Camel's Eye is one of the best and most exciting things I've ever seen. I guess I could say I love everything about it, how can you not love a cast like that? They're all wonderful and so believable in their performances, especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan McGregor, who had very physical roles, but pulled it off just fine – I thought McGregor was especially brilliant in this, performing the songs live and jumping and throwing himself around, a certain Mr. Osterberg would be proud.The story is an obvious portrait of David Bowie's relationship to Iggy Pop and Lou Reed in the 70's (adding a little mixture of Kurt Cobain, why not?), a decade I imagine was unique to rock'n'roll, filled with exciting new music, rebellion and social changes, but it's also a story about discoveries and growing up, represented by Christian Bale's character ("That's me, dad, that's me!"). It's not an unknown feeling to us all, coming across a circumstance where we have to revisit years past, and the memories of what we once were may sound strange. Along with the glitter and the glam rock comes the melancholia of being a part of a movement that is already in decadence, because all great things must burn fast and come to an end. Besides, what other movie presents us with a more delightful sight than that of Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale loving each other beneath a glitter rain brought on by a UFO? Words are unnecessary after that.

wes-connors "Velvet Goldmine" wisely makes itself difficult to pin down; to escape criticism, it self-inoculates. It's good to defy description, but let's try. The film is a depiction of the 1970s rock fad alternately known as "glam" or "glitter" rock. The New York Dolls (herein, quaintly represented by "Personality Crisis") were early proponents, but the Queen of the movement became David Bowie. This film's main player is Jonathan Rhys Meyers (as Brian Slade). He impersonates the Bowie-type role well, but the character is elusive and difficult to understand. And, what we have here is a conglomerate..."Velvet Goldmine" is a Bowie tune. In a way, he did turn Lou Reed's "Velvet Underground" into a Goldmine. The plot structure follows Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" (1941). Former glam-fan and present day reporter Christian Bale (as Arthur Stuart) assumes the storytelling role. He searches for Mr. Meyers, who vanished when disappointed fans learned his death was faked. Think about that for a moment and you'd vanish, too. Meyers is washed-up and somewhat slightly dazed. In the flashback scenes, Mr. Bale looks more amusing than authentic. Toni Collette (as Mandy) does well...The other major player is Ewan McGregor (as Curt Wild). He's mostly Iggy Pop, but Mr. McGregor looks more like Kurt Cobain. This is probably a good thing, considering. McGregor does look better after taking off all his clothes, and he doesn't excrete anything on the audience. So much for realism. All of this is the brainchild of writer-director Todd Haynes, who nicely acknowledges glam grand-daddy Little Richard. Oscar Wilde also receives special attention. Everything in "Velvet Goldmine" looks nice but adds nothing bigger than the fact that Mr. Haynes is an excellent filmmaker.******* Velvet Goldmine (5/21/98) Todd Haynes ~ Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, Toni Collette

rap53 I saw this movie on Bravo so my comments are based on the edited cable version.A) I think this topic would have been better handled by a director who had lived and experienced this music and era in general as a teen-ager or young adult, unlike Haynes. The director seemed to be making queer theory political points wrapped in glitter rather than presenting an understandable epic of that epoch, probably leaving many heterosexual viewers out in the cold. The reference to Ronald Reagan ( President Reynolds in the movie) is one example. It is absurd to imply that Reagan was somehow responsible for the death of glam as it is for some gay activists to blame him for the spread of HIV. Nevertheless, I found the film enthralling both for the visuals and the recognizable historical figures and events B) I was somewhat connected to the rock scene of that time and to glam in particular so I think I have some insight to offer younger readers, although I am sure Haynes himself has more knowledge of gay history and "inside" glam gossip than myself.C)The "green pin" may combine both alien power as in the Green Lantern comic books that Haynes probably read as a child ( childhood is given strong play in the beginning ) and an icon of homosexual experience passed on from one time period to the next as expressed by Allen Ginsburg. Ginsburg once told of how ,through a series of sex partners going back in time, he was connected to Walt Whitman. Not exactly glam but he was a poet like Wilde, and Whitman's work is known for it's ethereal, pre-maturely modern tone as in "I sing the body electric" ( Alien Anal Probes anybody ? ). That poem was written over 20 years before anybody had electricity in their home. It was also the source of the title of a science-fiction story written by Ray Bradbury. Another film connecting UFO's,bohemian sex and alternative music is "Liquid Sky", which I am sure influenced Haynes.D) The Slade character is obviously based on Bowie, who came to be known to non-glam fans via his title role in the science-fiction movie " The Man who Fell to Earth" . Gay equals alienated equals "alien" may explain the UFO at the beginning. Bowie is much more talented than the Slade character whose vapidity and posing is similar to the now obscure real-life person known as "Jobriath", who like many who led the "drug,sex and rock'roll lifestyle" of the seventies died of AIDS in the 80s. Like Slade and Davie Jones/David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust, Jobriath also performed under a second stage name ( Cole Berlin ) Unlike Bowie but similar to Slade, Jobriath blamed his brief career on the failures of an egotistical manager.E) Ewan's Iggy stage performance was a great impersonation, almost comical in it 's accuracy.F) I could not figure out who Jack Fairy was based on but he reminded me of Klaus Noemi, whose cover of "You Don't Own Me" can still be heard on the Rush Limbaugh program.At last, an actual semiotic signifier that the Reaganites did co-opt glam !!!

Lechuguilla As music video (rock, glitter, glam,or whatever), parts of it might work. As a full-length feature film, none of it works. A film requires a story. There might be one here, but I couldn't find it.Even a visual fantasy needs some kind of structure, if for no other reason than to propel the fantasy forward. But this "film" seems to have multiple beginnings, a chaotic, nonsensical middle, and a non-resolution. Scenes are put together apparently in random order. Hey mister director guy, help us out here. Is this someone's idea of an inside joke? If so, I didn't find it amusing.None of the characters are worth caring about. They're all cardboard cutout dolls, stick-figure mannequins, two-dimensional caricatures. Self-proclaimed as artists, they're more flimflam than paragon. Maybe that's the point.The underlying concept is intriguing. A music star fakes his own death. What ever became of him? And so, the Christian Bale character goes on a Citizen Kane journey, of sorts. But all that glittery glam, or glam-glitter, gets in the way. We're lost in a phantasmagoria of colorfully bizarre images. Along the way we come to the conclusion that the "star" is so shallow, so immature, so unlikeable we lose interest in him and his destiny. The only message I got out of this cinematic mess was that mod music audiences are duped into thinking that image is reality. But that's hardly original. And I doubt that was the director's intent.Aimed at a pubescent crowd, "Velvet Goldmine" is hardly more than a flashy, moment-by-moment distraction. Lots of films, perhaps most, can deliver a higher quality, more mature form of distraction because they tell a coherent story that requires an attention span of greater than two microseconds.