Rating: 
Summary: Cool, sleek, engrossing and crammed with great music
Review: "Live Forever" takes a sleek, well-documented look at "Cool Britannia," the British pop movement of the 1990s that briefly filled the void left by the demise of Nirvana and provided a soundtrack for the new era of Tony Blair and the Labour Party.
Though the DVD box promises looks at great bands such as Radiohead, The Verve, Elastica, Massive Attack and Portishead, those groups are just name-checked. The movie is actually dominated by Oasis, Pulp and Blur, three of the era's most popular bands who flew high for a while, got bogged down by feuding and excess and eventually tanked out. My only quibble is that the movie pokes a stick into the old Blur/Oasis rivalry; the feud was a marketing gimmick but the movie lingers on it too long and structures its coverage so that Damon Albairn (who famously came out on the bottom) gets kicked while he's down.
Seemingly taking its cue from the Experience Music Project's excellent musical history "Rock and Roll," "Live Forever" offers well-negotiated & stylishly arranged interviews (check Noel Gallagher being questioned first in the study of a posh estate, then later in what appears to be a ship's cargo hold), period clips and also sends a cool, composed camera into the areas from which the music came -- the streets of Manchester, the highways of Bristol and carefully tended suburbs.
Though the movie scatters details in a somewhat disorienting way that almost demands a repeat viewing, the interviews and the music are excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: [Wait, what's this you're watching?]
Review: (...) Wait, what's this you're watching? A documentary about the whole BritPop explosion in the mid ninties. Oh, cool there are the brothers McGallagher, talking incoherantly as usual. And, there's Damon Albarn. Wow, he's gotten, uhm, bigger over time. Man.
Pretty cool soundtrack. But why do they have to complete re-iterating the whole Blur-Oasis singles fued that was lame in '95 and is even lamer nine years later. And they only play a few seconds of great records, and focus more on Tony Blair then Massive Attack. What's that about? And why do I care what kind of clothes Liam Gallagher was wearing in some magazine article? Dude this flicks lame and boring.
Wake me back up when its over.
(...)
Rating: 
Summary: Some Pulp and a bit of a Blur regarding this cultural Oasis
Review: Although a bit scant and lacking in depth overall, this rock doc about the rise and fall of Britpop deserves an "E" for effort, trying to encapsulate What It All Meant in just over 90 minutes. The golden era of "Britpop", as defined by the filmmakers, begins in 1994 with the release of Oasis' "What's The Story Morning Glory?" and is bookended by the death of Princess Di in 1997. The "movement" involved not only music, but a sea change in British fashion, movies, and politics. Present-day interviews with the brothers Gallagher (Oasis), Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and Damon Albairn (Blur)take up the majority of screen time, with teasingly short performance clips of key acts sprinkled in. The reflections range from thoughtful (Jarvis Cocker) to exasperating (Liam Gallagher, whose unintelligible mumbling and belligerent glare adds little insight to the precedings). The filmmakers spend too much time trying to rekindle the infamous (and silly) Blur vs Oasis "rivalry" hype by pushing an obviously reticent Damon Albairn to put in his two shillings worth (Noel Gallagher, on the other hand, readily takes the bait). The only real revelation for this viewer was the filmaker's interesting conjecture that this cultural explosion was primarily a "rebellion" by a new generation of Brits against the creeping "Americanization" of thier pop culture (Sort of a Boston Tea Party in reverse?! Discuss.) Worthwhile as a collectible for Anglophiles and/or fans of this specific music genre, other non-Brits will likely just shrug and think "Why an entire film on this subject?".
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Review: Brainstorm coming....... West Coast in the house! (Why are all reviewers here west coasters?) I'm also a Yank of Brit blood: I repress a lot, and every few weeks I go to a kids soccer game and start a riot. Then I throw my arms around the soccer moms, we hoist Hi-C juice boxes, sway, and sing Oasis songs. So I'm down with the Brit-scene.
This documentary of 1990's Brit-pop has a few threads: 1) US influence on Brit tastes and mass consumption 2) Brit reaction against this... while still partially going for US bank/approval with "Be Here Now," etc. 3) Brit move from conservative (anti-labour) to "new" politics for the first time in a generation. 4) Brit media (tabloids especially) distorting and hyping pop stars' aims, conflicts, and weaving in a broad national(ist) context. 5) The key pop players, their lives, and their role in all the above.... 6) Modern times and the increasingly short shelf life of pop styles/stars. 7) And the whole scene framed by Brit narrators' penchant for discussing class, background, schooling, north vs. south, etc.
For a brief, shining moment Brit political royalty reached toward the coattails of (formerly) regular lads. Oasis played to record crowds. A national wave was rising. A more tolerant Britain, not at the center of things for some decades, rises anew in glorious sound and color. (Without all the burdensome imperialism-wink).
What can you say -- Oasis totally rocked (if many songs now seem stuck in the 90's... and 60's), Blur songs are timeless, and Pulp's "Common People" is a classic. The dvd shows this music scene, amidst the whole pop scene of fashion, clubs, drugs, restaurants, mass media, and the pop art of "new" politics.
One thing the Brits could never do as well as Yanks? Is Hype!!! This DVD does not hype the music, even to capture how big it was at the time! The Brit penchant for understatement comes through in the interviews and the tone of the film itself. And... that's a good thing -- Brit flavor.
PS. The dvd has Spanish subtitles, but not English. Whatupwitdat? Some British folks cannot be understood, nowhatameen?
PSS. In special features, there is close to one hour of straight interview footage (Jarvis, Noel, etc), that is top notch.
Rating:
Summary: fair, but not what you are hoping it will be
Review: I can't really justify 3 stars other than 90's Brit pop is generally exceptionally good so subject matter inflates my view. Oasis and Blur (and a bit of Pulp)are more or less the film's focus. If you like the bands prominently touted on the DVD case, e.g. Portishead, Verve, Radiohead, or Stone Roses, forget it; they are only very barely even mentioned. This is a pretty silly documentary that pretends to be politically highbrow (i.e. high school lefty variety, of course). Could someone please stop the Oasis brothers from embarrassing themselves every time they speak? They actually make so little sense that even the lame brain self important rock "critics" in the film seem slightly smarter than the half wits they are talking about. The music? well there's not much here; too bad, because the 90's really did produce some great English bands.
Rating: 
Summary: Make your own film
Review: I hate people who complain that films don't have enough of some element, some band who they want to see. There are enough Oasis, Blur and Pulp videos out there to catch up on. There is John Harris' Britpop book. Britpop WAS a media invention. It is a tired subject. But it did happen. It is essential to talk about the Blur vs. Oasis thing at some point. I feel that this film succeeded at some point. There are another hour of interviews with the bands as a bonus. If you don't like this film, make your own. It will probably suck. It will probably have a thousand close shots of Jarvis Cocker. That is just fandom. That is monomania. That is not narrative filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: British nostalgia doesn't quite go all the way
Review: I recieved this DVD for my birthday. I was currently in college in england when this all took place and it brings back great memories to see various brit bands. Unfortunately I think the documentary lingers too long on the thoughts and opinions of the Gallagher brothers, making it very one sided. I think for a documentary to work a view from various sides of the story have to be covered, and to a ceratin extent it was, with views from Jarvis Cocker, Damon Alban, and some very snooty music journalist who seemed very out of place, but there was very little input from one of the most important parts of the equation; the fans. The DVD mentions music by various brit bands, but barely plays a few seconds of each. Before you know it the documentary is talking about the appearance of Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls. Come on..... thats quite a jump, not to mention the a lack of discussion about how these bands of the 90's have been so influential to the music of the day.
I think any Britpop fan around in the mid 90's could have written a better diary of events than this documentary. There just seems like a little is missing.
Rating:
Summary: missing one star
Review: I recommend "Live Forever" to the fans and the curious as the story of Britpop is documented from beginning to....not exactly THE end as the Blur/Oasis contest continues in the form of Who Is The Most Dull And Pretentious: Is it Insane Liam from Oasis lounging in the midst of what appears to be a secondhand furniture sale (or his living room) or Barely Awake Damon from Blur who plays the "I am SO over it" role to such extent he feels the need to strum a ukulele during the last half of his narcoleptic Q&A. woo hoo.
These interviews are from the NOW however THEN in America we were being smothered with bad indie and drama dummies such as Smashing Pumpkins and NIN so by the time US MTV got hold of Britpop it was with much hesitation and unattractively attached to the "Firestarter" video by Prodigy.
Yes, "Live Forever" is reliable without the fast sound bites or the know-nothing-all-knowing TV presenter.
The film details the hype, the clubs, drugs, BLAIR/Oasis, snapshots and NME covers in amazing, almost glorious montages then follows each segment with a less than intentional "come-down" as if reliving tragedy. Smile! It was fun! Right?
Many interviews conducted in dim settings and while Noel Gallagher is hilarious from a distance Jarvis Cocker of Pulp is poorly misrepresented as a near casualty when in fact Cocker is the most intelligent. How can Jarvis seem less witty than Noel Gallagher- leading me to ask "Who edited the last 20 minutes?" which is where the presentation falls apart. The problems are the uncertain end and not enough substance however many bland dialogues from Ozwald Boatneg (designer AND tailor) and Damien Hirst (he ruined Blur in just three and a half minutes). I can live (forever?) with the baggage though the biggest flaw is no mention of the disappearance of Richey from Manic Street Preachers which gained so much media attention and general hysteria it grew to overshadow Britpop and helped put the Manics at #1.
Whatever the reason, no excuse for ignoring it. Worth seeing, glad i own it and most American bands STILL
suck so maybe Blur and Oasis both won.
Rating:
Summary: It is as it was...
Review: I was at university in Wales at about the time when this all took off and this DVD filled me with a warm nostalgic glow, with occasional goose bumps, remembering how vital the whole scene was. The Oasis and Blur duel really was an important national news story. People actually bothered to watch Top of the Pops every Thursday. British music and film seemed to matter internationally and was finally taking over from Nirvana-alikes like Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden. Whilst detailing the main players in the music scene, you also see how the whole Britpop phenomenon was tied up with the political paradigm shift in the mid-90s from Conservative to New Labour and Alistair Campbell's Machiavellian meddling. One caveat, for "Britpop", read Blur, Oasis and Pulp, as no one else really gets a look in. Given that the whole documentary weighs in at a mere 86 minutes, maybe that's as wide ranging as you could make it. That said, I'd like to have heard other Blur members' takes on events, or even just more from Jarvis Cocker or (the lovely) Louise Wener . It would certainly have benefited from heavier editing of the ramblings of fashionista, Oswald Boeteng and that bloke from Loaded magazine. The Gallagher brothers both make riveting viewing, as ever, even if they can't stand to be in the same room these days- Noel waxes lyrical about his working-class roots from what looks like one of the more elegant rooms of Balmoral Castle. For an acid take on how Britpop was already in decline by the time of the Vanity Fair cover I'd recommend Hugo Young's book, "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". He was one of the people responsible for getting the unlikely cover stars to the photo shoot and is not shy in describing the monstrous, coke-fuelled egos involved. I heartily recommend this to anyone with even a fleeting interest in Blur, Oasis or Pulp. It offers a fair amount of insight into the 90s British music scene and while it could be more thorough and take in more bands, it does cover a lot of ground in a short time. If you've never watched a UK documentary and have grown up with VH1's Behind the Music or even Michael Moore, then you should watch this just to see that you don't have to cram in 30 different camera angles per minute to keep viewers interested. A very tastefully-presented film peopled with interesting characters and with a top-notch soundtrack.
Rating:
Summary: Good but maybe a bit too surface for true fans
Review: I watched a new to DVD documentary called "Live Forever" this weekend and it's entertaining as hell. Most of the interviews feature the big names of the era: Damon, Noel, Liam, Jarvis and other assorted talking heads and pundits. In addition to the 90 min main film, there is a supplement with all the interview bits they didn't edit in, and that section has some priceless moments, especially from Liam. Two examples:
Interviewer: You've often been described as androgynous..
Liam: What's that mean?
I: You have a feminine quality...
Liam: What's that mean?
I: You have a look that's neither masculine or feminine exactly...
Liam: You mean I look like a bird?
and he goes on to explain that he does care about how his hair looks cuz that's important. I: "Live Forever" has been mentioned as a song that cystalizes the mid 90s. What's that song about?
Liam: It's about living forever, innit? Lots of good music and vintage footage, but overall a somewhat surface look despite getting all the main participants to agree to on camera interviews. Worth at least renting. I would also recommend John Harris' more insightful book about BritPop in the 90s called "The Last Party."
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