Happy New Year! The temptation to see this film is obvious, but be prepared. There are more Stones references in this film than in "Crossfire Hurricane". Do NOT miss the opening scene of the movie. A real brain jolt if you're not expecting it.

Come on Tour 2013...

ROCKMAN

The film is front-loaded with cool Stones references, but David Chase should have cut to black much, much sooner.

Chase says in the Rolling Stone article, about rock and roll, "Nothing can tamp
down this energy."

Well, he certainly did.

I grew up just a few years after, and just a few towns south of Chase in NJ, and
it didn't feel like this film to me. It felt much more fun, much funnier, and much
more high-energy.

The great thing about the Sopranos is how it often felt like watching a movie.
The not-so-great thing about this film is how often it feels like watching
an overly long and downbeat episode of a TV show. It certainly attempts to honor
the Stones and all the great music of that time, but really doesn't do any of
it justice.

i went to see 'Lincoln' yesterday...it was cool to see the preview for "not fade away'... "Parachute Woman' played throughout the preview for this movie. sounded great in the theater.

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duke richardson
"Parachute Woman' played throughout the preview for this movie.

unless i completely dozed off for a minute, which is certainly possible,
"parachute woman" was not in the film.

i remember bits of "satisfaction" "not fade away" "time is on my side" and
"tell me". bits of the stones story are also incorporated into the fictional
band's story (instead of covers writing your own material, firing a band member
who is drugged-out etc). the stones images appear regularly. and an actor
portrays a glimpse of charlie watts leaving a party and getting into a limo.

*Slight Spoiler follows*

although mick jagger is not portrayed**, his presense at the same party that
charlie is leaving is mentioned and it is hinted that mick may have been
the reason for the mysterious disappearance of the fictional lead singer's
hot girlfriend from the party. which was a nice note to end the movie on.

**WHOOPS another spoiler: actually he is portrayed in the a very small
part of the film that takes place outside the USA, and i think this small
part was very well done. well done enough to make me wish chase had made a
whole different film, expanding the small part with mick and keith to be
the film, and forgetting about the boring NJ characters.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-01-07 23:18 by superrevvy.

Saw it last week and was disappointed in it, tried to cram to many story lines into it. If he stuck with the garage band struggles and stayed in the realm of Jersey and NYC he may of been able to pull if off. I guess being his first movie he needed a good editor or someone to tell him it's not like the Sopranos you don't have six seasons to tell a story. The music was good though.

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duke richardson
i went to see 'Lincoln' yesterday...it was cool to see the preview for "not fade away'... "Parachute Woman' played throughout the preview for this movie. sounded great in the theater.

Yes, I saw that too, and I really want to go see that movie. As my wife asked me, is it about a specific group?

And Parachute Woman was definitely in the trailer.

its in the trailer, its just not in the movie, i'm almost certain



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-01-07 20:06 by superrevvy.

by way of comparison, scorcese's "mean streets" is roughly the same time period
and geographic location, and for me actually re-captured the feel of the period,
as well as being ten times more rock and roll than this movie.

david chase's emotional flatness worked well for the Sopranos, the story of an
empire in decline, but not here, when everything was just bursting into flower.

also of course, this film needs to be contrasted with "crossfire hurricane".
"hurricane" vibrates with all the energy of the period and "not fade away"
simply does not.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-01-07 20:58 by superrevvy.

Has Parachute Woman been played live other than R&R Circus? I always thought it to be one of the best bluesey,raunchy Stones songs.

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Floorbird
Saw it last week and was disappointed in it, tried to cram to many story lines into it. If he stuck with the garage band struggles and stayed in the realm of Jersey and NYC he may of been able to pull if off. I guess being his first movie he needed a good editor or someone to tell him it's not like the Sopranos you don't have six seasons to tell a story. The music was good though.

I saw the trailer when I saw Lincoln also.....Most films like this are disappointing .......
It's one of those things that must be hard to recreate in a film. They always come off as cliche and corny.

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MickRichards
Has Parachute Woman been played live other than R&R Circus? I always thought it to be one of the best bluesey,raunchy Stones songs.

Orpheum, Boston, Mass. 2002.

Sounded great. I went out of my mind...

Thanks Rev, Wiki had it listed as being played on the licks tour. Thought it might be on my Four Flicks DVD but it isn't.

Here's my brief review from the film when I saw it at the Memphis Indie Film Fest:

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memphiscats
I was excited about this film but it just didn't deliver what I hoped for.

Stones moments: There was a scene at the beginning with Keith & Mick as teenagers on the train where the seed of the band is sown. That was kind of sweet. And there a bit of footage from the Ed Sullivan show.

While the film had some good moments it lacked energy and tension (IMO). The actor who played Doug was talented (although the character wasn't sympathetic). Actually all of the acting was all quite good. I think the script was a bit slow; it felt cumbersome. Things that happened towards the end of the film felt disconnected from the plot. It was like the writer became bored with the story and tried to wrap it up without regard for the audience. I felt a bit cheated - out of what, I don't know.
I had my hopes up that this was going to be another Almost Famous. OH WELL!

Chase was seriously depressive during his teenage and university years, and its
pretty obvious his impressions from the period are filtered through that.

While the era certainly led to some depressing outcomes for some of the
participants, in the moment it was truly a cultural revolution, a youth
revolution, and is remembered by most as mostly a gas gas gas.

I wonder if the studio insisted Chase tack on the sorta semi-happy surreal ending,
with little sis dancing in the street. I think the more natural Sopranos-type
ending was just before that when the fictional lead singer was trying to hitch a
ride home after losing his girlfriend, at least for one night, to Mick.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-01-12 07:32 by superrevvy.

I agree, Superrevvy, the ending felt contrived & didn't echo the film's earlier themes. And as much as I love Jonathan Richman (used to see him in Cambridge), I don't think Roadrunner was the best choice as the final song. Most of the music worked pretty well with the film but that selection felt incongruous - maybe it was supposed to? Or maybe I'm missing something.

Quote
memphiscats
I agree, Superrevvy, the ending felt contrived & didn't echo the film's earlier themes. And as much as I love Jonathan Richman (used to see him in Cambridge), I don't think Roadrunner was the best choice as the final song. Most of the music worked pretty well with the film but that selection felt incongruous - maybe it was supposed to? Or maybe I'm missing something.

mc, i suppose "roadrunner" was also supposed to lighten things up at the end...

but if they would have went with the loss-of-girlfriend ending, that's where they
could have placed "parachute woman". mick's survival-of-the-sexiest snarl would
have fit thematically and chronilogically.

It was the Sex Pistols cover of Roadrunner they used at the end not the Modern Lovers.

regarding the speculated-upon "tagged on" ending:

when "roadrunner" by the sex pistols is first heard, it is coming from a car
radio! in 1968!

when you see the film, substitute "parachute woman" at that exact moment and it
all ties together quite well. it becomes a film that both opens and closes with
the stones, as it should, from a literary perspective.

i guess we'll have to wait for the director's cut DVD to know if this
speculation about the producers forcing a "happy" ending is sound.

but it does seem to me that "little sis" has been blue-screened in over the
original more-desolate ending. the producers may have got their "happy ending"
but Chase seems to also have been able to convey his true intentions via subversion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-01-13 16:20 by superrevvy.

finally saw this movie last nite..

its ..um..OK..

but that opening scene is really good. that scene points to possibilities aplenty for a movie that could credibly re-enact the Stones' beginnings.

I didn't like the ending. Not sure where they want us to believe it was going. I was hoping he'd at least meet up with a few musicians at the party and leave us to wonder if they'd found success. The girl in the story was inconsequential to me. Didn't matter if he ended up with her or not.