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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 04/10/2009 : 09:37:17
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The Boat That Rocked
There really is only one reason to watch this leaky boat: Philip Seymour Hoffman. The man is incredible. I am so glad I never had to act opposite him because I'd be immobile with awe and simultaneously vowing I'd never act again because he is just THAT DAMN GOOD!
He plays The Count, the undeniable ubermensch of the deejays that woke up sleepy Britain in the mid-1960s broadcasting that evil r&r from a pirate radio ship in the North Sea. He's cock of the walk until flamboyant Gavin struts on board, flaunting his assured peacock ego, only crowing when absolutely necessary.
The rivalry between these two is more easily resolved than that between Bill Nighy's boat/station owner and Kenneth Branagh, the thistle-up-his-arse Minister determined to earn Brown-nose points with the Prime Minister by shutting down the boat. Forever.
Apart from some light-weight relationship side alleys, that's really all there is. In the hands of, say, Robert Altman, it would have been more than enough to keep this vessel afloat.
Sadly, though his script's okay - though not as sharp as 4 Weddings - Richard Curtis as director has set himself too tough a task. Since it's loosely based on history, it's no spoiler to reveal the boat sinks at the end. A dangerous metaphor, Richard!
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 04/11/2009 : 23:43:07
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I dunno, I think that is a minor spoiler -- it's not based on a particular pirate radio ship, is it?
I enjoyed it more than you. It was just fun. I didn't think Hoffman's performance was better than many of the others', though. And I found it strange that so many characters were middle-aged. They seemed to me more like the stereotype of ageing D.J.s who were young in the 1960s.
After seeing this, I was amazed to discover that Radio Caroline is still going, though no longer at sea. |
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lemmycaution
"Long mired in film"
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Posted - 04/12/2009 : 00:18:19
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And then ther was Radio Luxembourg:
Take me back, take me way, way, way back
On Hyndford Street
Where you could feel the silence at half past eleven
On long summer nights
As the wireless played Radio Luxembourg
And the voices whispered across Beechie River
In the quietness as we sank into restful slumber in the silence
And carried on dreaming, in God
And walks up Cherry Valley from North Road Bridge, railway line
On sunny summer afternoons
Picking apples from the side of the tracks
That spilled over from the gardens of the houses on Cyprus Avenue
Watching the moth catcher working the floodlights in the evenings
And meeting down by the pylons
Playing round Mrs. Kelly's lamp
Going out to Holywood on the bus
And walking from the end of the lines to the seaside
Stopping at Fusco's for ice cream
In the days before rock `n' roll
Hyndford Street, Abetta Parade
Orangefield, St. Donard's Church
Sunday six bells, and in between the silence there was conversation
And laughter, and music and singing, and shivers up the back of the neck
And tuning in to Luxembourg late at night
And jazz and blues records during the day
Also Debussy on the third programme
Early mornings when contemplation was best
Going up the Castlereagh hills
And the cregagh glens in summer and coming back
To Hyndford Street, feeling wondrous and lit up inside
With a sense of everlasting life
And reading Mr. Jelly Roll and Big Bill Broonzy
And "Really The Blues" by "Mezz" Mezzrow
And "Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac
Over and over again
And voices echoing late at night over Beechie River
And it's always being now, and it's always being now
It's always now
Can you feel the silence?
On Hyndford Street where you could feel the silence
At half past eleven on long summer nights
As the wireless played Radio Luxembourg
And the voices whispered across Beechie River
And in the quietness we sank into restful slumber in silence
And carried on dreaming in God.
VAN MORRISON
Happy Easter
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Edited by - lemmycaution on 04/12/2009 00:21:04 |
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The Boat That Rocked
