Kodie Bird
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Aubrey Hackett
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Janae Milner
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Tim Kidner
So surmises Andy Serkis, as punk poet extraordinaire, Ian Dury, at the end of this excellent film. How the most unlikely of popsters made it to the top despite crippling polio and how that both complicated and fuelled him as both a person and an 'entertainer' (as he describes himself). When I heard that this film was being made and Serkis was cast as the uniquely ambiguous Dury, I was both delighted and deeply satisfied. That Dury's legacy was to be laid out by 'Golem'. Not that we've seen a lot of Serkis, the actor, though his physical adaptability and no bullshit, in-the-face approach bore well. And that in my mind, he would do proud the now late, rascally, lyrically dexterous Essex wide boy, Ian Dury.I've been aware of the Blockhead's music rather than an avid fan but do at least own their greatest hits CD. I also really like my rock'n'roll biopics - from The Doors, 24 Hour Party People and Sid & Nancy. The more honest and frenetic the better. The ups and downs, the grime as well as the fame. That way, we can live for a couple of hours as the 'dream' but knowing as we do, the downsides. I like them a bit mysterious too, with symbolisms and dreams and druggy effects. That way, I tell myself, I don't have to actually do things that like myself, in 'real' life.So, how does this fit in with those others? Surprisingly well - and better than more sedate reviewers had suggested. In depth, without being overlong, I know more about Dury, his psyche and his life - and I was entertained along the way. Which is about all one can ask for, really. Except, we get get some other great British acting talents adding colour and familiarity to the motley crew and the film's overall colourful tapestry. Downsides - Yes. A couple. The oft cited film's lack of portraying the big time - 'Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick' stuck out like a sore thumb when it hit no 1 in the UK singles chart. (I remember it on BBC Radio 1's Sunday chart show at the time) More than a novelty song, it really was a breath of fresh air. That must have been on Top Of the Pops - it's certainly on YouTube now. The film should have shown that, at least. In conclusion, Serkis is great (anyone else being unimaginable) as is the witty script, cast, period detail and most else. Whether a Blockhead fan or not, this film really adds to the line-up of decent music biopics. Like its subject, it's bitty and scurrilous but entertaining enough for most people who want to take a peek behind the scenes of one of music's most charismatic and misunderstood British heroes.
paul david
Well I was a 70s teenager and no Punk rock fan but I certainly enjoyed this film almost to its conclusion despite its many shortcomings. I was aware that it was on the shortlist for Oscar nomination but didn't quite make it, I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.Ian dury was a popular musician in the 1970s but I would hardly call this film a tribute to him. In many ways it is a very sad film because through Andy Serkis, we can get an idea of the musical potential which Dury possessed and that which was surely wasted.There were many poignant sensitive moments and I really liked the opening sequences; not sure if all the songs in the movie are originally from Dury and his Group and the era? Then suddenly the film began to fall away and the ending was somewhat desperate. As others have commented, there was a lack of cohesion and so maximum 6 for this movie because of that alone.Not in the same league as Ray, Walk the Line or even This is It and some even wonder who Ian Dury was; a Shakespearean Punk legend with a fabulous use of the English language, alas, mostly put to waste.One strong message the film gives is in the father-son relationship. Dury clearly loved his Son very much but was lost in his own musical world of what the film title dictated, though there was no sex in this movie and I would not suspect Mr Dury to have been a playboy by the nature of the character acted out by Serkis. Furthermore, we are surely talking about Punk Rock, not rock n Roll, though I know it derives from the title of the song.I may be wrong here but didn't he also write 'Hit me with your Rhythm Stick'/ I thought that might have been evolved when Mr Dury was in the group meeting with the 'kids' and they started to work on a new song with 'rhythm'.There are many harsh and uncomfortable moments in the movie but don't be put off and you don't have to be a 70s teenager to enjoy it. All the songs used in the movie are lyrical and worth absorbing in the context of the movie but if it intended to tell the mans life story (such as it was), I am sorry but for me it failed.
clivey6
A fine lead performance by Andy Serkis who played Gollum, King Kong and, er Moors Murderer Ian Brady. I suppose what with him playing real people - or at least established characters - he's following a similar career path to Blair/Frost/Clough actor Michael Sheen. (While Serkis doing Blair would be a stretch, I could see Sheen playing the anaemic po-faced Brady.) Serkis seems to BE Dury though he doesn't look that much like him; Dury looked like a malformed Kray twin and Ray Winstone (who pops up as Dury's dad) in his younger days would be more a physical match.Talking of which, Jamie Winstone appears before the film starts doing her schoolmarm bit, telling us to watch out for anyone videoing the movie. "There's always one who's got to spoil it isn't there..." The movie is good stuff and I liked the dialogue, though much of it may be bon mots from the man himself rather than from the scriptwriter. It's mainly The Life and Death of Peter Sellers type stuff, in that we have a guy over 30 held back by perceived physical limitations and prejudice who makes it big at the expense of his family life.That said, the genre is a bit box-ticking in its emotions, it's all emotional shorthand. Everything is deliberately simplified, prettified and made a bit phony. When we see the band practising at home, and Dury sacks the drummer while his wife is giving birth upstairs, well, that's based on a real event, except here it looks phony, comical. And it's a bit like that throughout: here's the girlfriend looking moody, here's the kid petulantly burning his dad's presents, etc. It lacks verisimilitude, or that seedy, downbeat 1970s punk vibe. The audience is spoonfed and every scene is a stepping stone. It also has to overlook the fact that unlike Gene Vincent, Dury did not die young, say in 1980, but 20 years later, not in a ripe old age admittedly but with enough time to conjure with.Still, enjoyable throughout and artist Peter Blake's titles are very good. Blake was Dury's tutor don't you know.
Framescourer
Any film featuring Andy Serkis is worth investigating. The man's magnetic, assimilating his characters sufficiently to expunge most of himself. He's also very good at swearing. Proper screen swearing is tricky as it requires total annihilation of self-consciousness - Serkis manages to get his Dury to produce profanity that is both rasping and idiomatic.The film itself is a bit irritating, inasmuch as it's rather flat. Serkis aside, the other performances are fine but no more. It moves around trying to give an impression of Dury's relationships and the background to his intense punk behaviour. We don't get a particularly fleshed out impression of the late 1960s - 80s (not least as there's a horrible anachronistic yellow-hatched 1990s 'no-stopping' road marking in shot during a 70s sequence). The montage/stage-show sequences don't tell us much about the man as they are strangely solipsistic to the biopic itself.Of the two British rock biopics released this year, Nowhere Boy is still a more even, detailed and satisfying film than this. 4/10
