The Boat That Rocked

Pirate Radio: Ehh....

**Note… this review contains spoilers… you have been warned** Got a chance to see the movie Pirate Radio recently… Phillip Seymour  Hoffman, the blonde version of me.  (or am I the red haired version of  him?)…
I looked forward to this one for awhile, and I have to admit I was  somewhat disappointed.  The story, which follows a group of “Pirate  DJs”… and broadcast rock music from the ocean, which is illegal in 1967  in the UK.
The film’s storyline just meandered back and forth between several  different storylines with no coherent structure.  I felt as though I was  watching a series of short comedic sketches, tied together with one  theme.  Obviously the underlying story was two fold, one was the British  Gov’t trying to shut down this Pirate Radio, and the other was an 18  year old boy who is trying to gain maturity on this ship.  Those two  storylines alone, were enough to keep this movie going for two hours.   But all the other storylines, just seemed to be filler…
Saying all this, I will admit that the movie did have a great ending…  when the police are finally chasing the pirate DJs, they decide to run…  but since the boat itself doesn’t really have a properly maintained  engine, it backfires and causes the ship to sink.
Now the reason that I have chosen to spoil the ending, is because  there is a scene… not even a scene, a series of shots, that literally…  brought a tear to my eye.
Let me set the stage… The ship is sinking, there is water rushing in  from all parts of the ship.  The crew is trying to get topside… then, we  see a shot of the record library, the boat tips, spilling all those  precious vinyl records, into the hull of the sinking ship… right into  the ocean water.  I screamed… I cried… I shook my fists.
Why?  Because I collect records, and I wanted someone to save the  music (which was awesome in this movie).
So, without prolonging the pain any longer.  The question remains,  rent… buy… or never again?  -  I think in this case, I am not totally  sure how to answer this.  I know I won’t buy it, but I would probably  watch it if someone else rented it.
By the way… the poster that I have above, is from this movie, but it  was originally titled “The Boat that Rocked” I remember seeing a trailer  for the movie, when it still had that title.  I just liked the poster,  so I thought I’d add it.
Ohh, and Nick Frost is awesome…

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The Boat That Rocked

"The Boat That Rocked" is written and directed by Richard Curtis. Someone decided to change the name of the movie to "Pirate Radio" which was a really dumb idea since the original title was way better. The movie starts Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, and Nick Frost.

The movie takes place in the 1960s. British radio stations won't play rock and roll. So a group of musical pirates, as it were, set to the high seas and start their own radio station on a boat so all the wonderful English people can get some of that old-time rock and roll. The English government doesn't take too kindly to this and tries to shut the radio station down.

This is based of a true story - one which I know nothing about since the events of the movie were all news to me.

The actors are good, but I didn't think the characters were extremely likable. The guys on the boat drink, smoke, do drugs, and have promiscuous relations whenever a woman is on the boat. Oh yeah, and they also play music. There's really no sympathy for these characters, but I guess for this kind of movie there's no need for stuff like that. The actors had some good lines that got a good laugh, and then others that made me wonder if the writer had just typed random sentences and hoped that they would be funny...which who knows, it could have happened. Some of my favorite scenes were actually between the really serious British people who were trying to get rid of the pirate radio station. Watching stuffy people is just amusing to me, I guess.

The soundtrack to the movie is one of best parts of the movie. Throughout the movie there are song by artists such as The Who, The Beach Boys, Cat Stevens, The Supremes, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, and numerous other great people/groups. Listing them all would just be really tiring. The songs fit the tone of the movie perfectly and just made sense because it was 1960s music in a movie taking place in the 1960s. People should really consider buying this soundtrack for its sheer variety and entertainment value.

The cinematography is the other best part of the movie. Some frames of the movie had parts of the picture blurred. This visually looked very good and was a good approach to some scenes. Also, the camera "rocked" up and down as it was filming scenes on the boat in case people watching the movie forget the majority of the movie takes place on a boat. Reaction shots from characters as well as just good camera movement are also evident. So the movie looked great is the main point of this paragraph.

The movie was way too long and I thought the end was awful. Toward the end the film makers decided to go all "Titanic" on us. This caught me by surprise since it was previously a comedy. The ending didn't really make sense and seemed forced and ridiculous. I won't ruin the ending...but yeah...didn't really like it...then again I kind of lost interest by then because it started to drag.

Sountrack and cinematography made the movie for me. Both were great...and that's where the movie gets 2 stars of 4 from me. I was in a really bad mood when I was watching this so that may have had something to do with me not liking it that much...who knows...but still....a good 20 minutes could have been cut and some lines changed and it would have been better...so yeah...seeing it once was enough for me...

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Last updated: 2010-02-28 23:14:23 by user01

Pirate Radio: Fun, fun, fun 'til...

The 1960s: A great musical moment? Or, the greatest musical moment ever?

The movie slut chooses the latter with apologies to Mozart and Beethoven.

Has music ever been so insane, frenetic, fierce, liberating, energizing and life affirming?

Pirate Radio, a British flick with all the usual characters — (Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost) where's Hugh Grant? — attempts to capture this time when rock was roaring and the British government banned it from the airwaves sending a ragtag team of rock-a-holics to the high seas to broadcast.

The movie succeeds when it moves on land to capture the madness of listeners caught up in the greatest musical moment — ever. In case you're interested, this soundtrack is on the Movie Slut's holiday wish list.

See you at the movies, The Movie Slut

The Boat That Rocked

This film makes me wish I was born in the 1960's even more. Innit be cool? Being born during the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Beach Boys, The Who, Kinks time. It be even better if there was Internet then to.



The story of the film is that in the 1960's, when rock music was in it's renaissance, mainstream British radio refused to play any rock or pop songs. But there was this pirate radio station, broadcasting from a ship in the middle of the ocean (so that they weren't bound to any laws) played rock music 24/7. So just like our Malaysian govt, the British didn't like it and tries to shut them down.


It's nice to finally see Philip Seymour Hoffman play a happy character for once. All he ever plays are depressed, angry or crazy characters.

1. Doubt- Angry pedophile 

2. Synecdoche, New York- Crazy 

3. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead- Angry

4. The Savages- Depressed

5. Copote- Depressed and crazy

He plays The Count and OMG this guy has gotta be the greatest man to ever walk this earth. I don't know why. I just ate up every single thing he said and loved it.



One of my biggest complaints is that besides Philip Seymour Hoffman, the other characters were really one note. They have one thing that they do and that's what they stick to through the whole movie. It'd be nice to get the back stories to the other characters besides Philip Seymour Hoffman's. And I didn't like the progress the film made cause it developed really slow, it developed with lots of comedy and great music but it was still slow.



That being said, the characters are cliche'd but I just can't help but love them. There are films that have really complex characters but after the show ends, I can't even remember their names. The characters in The Boat That Rocked were hilarious and memorable.




There is no plot or character development for the film, sure. The film drags on too long, sure. But that's not what The Boat That Rocked is suppose to be. It's about rock n roll. It's about youth. It's about rebellion. It's about fun. It's all about capturing the spirit of the 1960's and The Boat That Rocked delivers that perfectly with awesome comedy, lovable characters and FRUCKIN AWESOME SOUNDTRACK! I had tonnes of fun watching this.

"To all our listeners, this is what I have to say - God bless you all. And as for you bastards in charge, don't dream it's over. Years will come, years will go, and politicians will do fuck all to make the world a better place. But all over the world, young men and young women will always dream dreams and put those dreams into song. Nothing important dies tonight, just a few ugly guys on a crappy ship. The only sadness tonight is that, in future years, there'll be so many fantastic songs that it will not be our privilege to play. But, believe you me, they will still be written, they will still be sung and they will be the wonder of the world.": The Count

RATING: 7/10

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NicholasC

Pirate Radio (Movie Review)

If you love music from the mid to late ‘60s, Pirate Radio is for you. Based on truth, this is the story of a group of ragtag disc jockeys playing rock and roll 24 hours a day to half the British population from a small boat in the middle of the North Sea . The film features a great English cast (many from Love, Actually) led by America’s fabulous Phillip Seymour Hoffman. My audience erupted in applause at the movie’s end. Just a good, fun time at the movies.

Last updated: 2010-01-22 07:01:36 by jfuchsman