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Velvet Goldmine

Velvet Goldmine

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $15.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: feast for the eyes
Review: This movie is incredible. It is a feast for the senses. There are so many scenes that mean so much more than what they appear to. It is a land that is crazy, decadent, dreamy, fun and nothing is what it seems. For music fans, this is a must see!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: What Just Happened Here
Review: This movie was good, but i am still confused by it. I am not sure what happened to the main charactor, or his aquantences. I was also unprepared for some of its, ummmm graphic ... tendencies. I enjoyed it none the less. It had a good soundtrack, flamboyent costumes, and larger that life charactors. It truly opened my eyes to the era of glam rock.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not a movie; an Experience!
Review: Wow is all I have to say. Todd Haynes has created an incredible visual and musical trip through 1970's glam rock and its aftermath. It is impossible not to get sucked in by this movie!
Ewan McGregor is absolutely awesome asa Curt Wild, the, well, wild American rocker. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is absolutely creepy as Brian Slade, the Bowie-esque pop idol. Toni Collete as Mandy wows you through the changes she makes from beginning to end. And Christian Bale is astounding as Arthur, the "Journalist from the Herald" who embarks on the mission to discover whatever happened to Brian Slade.
All I can really say is wow. Again. This movie will shock you, make you cry, make you laugh, make you wonder, change you forever. It will "mangle your mind". And the thing to remember is that "Meaning is not in things but between them."

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Cave In The Mine
Review: What does space aliens, Oscar Wilde and glam rock have in common? Absolutely nothing! And that is what this movie is worth. Yet the director tries to make you believe they are related in this story.

The music didn't merit listing to and the same goes for much of the dialogue. Too many "flashbacks" for both of the major characters made the movie seem disjointed. It starts out in the 1800's then jumps around the 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's.

Put this on your "Do Not Buy" list. Don't even waste your time renting it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: And this movie meant what, again?
Review: Yes, I picked this movie up because I wanted to see Ewan McGregor. But I had vague recollections of it being a decent movie on its own terms, and it did win an Oscar for costume design, I believe. So I put it in the VCR with high hopes for 2 hr.+ of a very cute Mr. McGregor in a sexy glam rock/David Bowie getup and lots of great music.

Whoops. For a brilliantly costumed movie about one of the most exciting periods in pop music history as well as three of the most attractive men on the planet (McGregor, Christian Bale, and the terrifyingly beautiful Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), this has got to be one of the most boring tales ever told about sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. Even Toni Collette couldn't lift this heavyhanded, massively tedious allegory out of the doldrums. What might have been bearable at 90 mins drags on for a seemingly infinite 127 minutes. The color was all washed out for some reason, and the makeup, which was supposed to be fun, was just distracting. The connections with Oscar Wilde and Kurt Cobain went over my head, but I wasn't interested enough to watch it again and try to figure it out.

... If you want to relive the 70s better just to put Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on the turntable, dress up in Lycra and draw zigzags on your face with lipstick. You'll have a lot more fun than I did watching this tape.

The one star is because you do get to see Ewan nekkid, and like I said, Bale and Meyers are lovely to look at.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mmm....Reconisance:)
Review: It's a lot like Hedwig^_^ This story has everything a shounenai girl could want; Bi/gay men, crossdressing, prettyboys, a lead actor who looks 25% Japanese, & men crawling all over eachother^.^ ::droll::
& it brings back sweet memories of the 80s & has a touching love story. ::sniffle::

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ewan McGregor-Christian Bale....ooohhh yeah!!
Review: I'm sorry, if they gave me a choice to give zero stars, I would. This was the most messed up movie I have ever seen. I love Ewan and Christian and I was excited to see that they made a movie together, but I wasn't expecting TOGETHER! You have to be either an alcholic or seriously stoned to even find a story line in here. True, seeing Ewan and Christian in the full monty caught my attention, but that's about the only part that did. I gave it a chance by watching the whole thing, but it just got stupider and more confusing (which didn't make any sense because I didn't understand any of it from the begining). If I was you, stick with American Psycho and Trainspotting, they are both still messed up, but at least they make sense.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Meh.
Review: I have a quest. I'm a huge fan of Ewan McGregor, so I want to see all of his movies. I was pretty excited to see Velvet Goldmine because I heard it was good. Sadly, I was misinformed. Maybe it's because I'm not into glam rock or something, but nothing about this movie really did it for me. I thought it was rather dull, actually. I expected McGregor, as the top-billed actor, to have a larger role, and while I did see a lot of him (all of him, in fact... wink, wink), I wanted to know more about his character and see more of his performance.

In general, I found this movie lacking. There wasn't enough plot to keep me interested, and the music wasn't good enough to keep it going for me. I thought this movie was rather blah.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Inventive and deliciously decadent
Review: I admit to a real fondness for the world of independent film. It is often not commercial fare, but then many big budget Hollywood movies wind up being not commercial. Independent film serves at least two higher purposes. It acts as a proving ground for people both behind and in front of the camera. For example, if you look at the filmography of many of today's stars, you'll see that they started out in small movies. Independents also are an outlet for many actors who alternate between large movies that earn them big bucks and little ones, where they can spread their acting wings.

When you have a budget that is equal to that of one of Titanic's sets, you are forced to improvise. Improvisation can lead to a great deal of imagination and creativity.

This is certainly the case with Velvet Goldmine, a loving but bitingly satirical melodrama about the Glitter Rock movement of the 1970's. This is the music which took the naive, idealistic messages of the 60's Flower Children, and turned them into something much darker and more sophisticated. Drugs were celebrated, but in a hedonistic way, rather than as an aid for a journey to enlightenment. The sexual revolution turned into a real revolt, which included sexual experimentation that had always been around, but never in such a public way. The whole period was quite confusing and anarchistic for many young people.

Velvet Goldmine explores this phenomenon with utter candor and style. Sometimes it seems to go too far - not in an artistic sense, but in the sense of turning off some audience members. But then, perhaps there is too much celluloid pablum out there any way. It is not a great film, but it has its moments of brilliance. It has enormous substance, even if a lot of its subject matter does not. It could not have cost very much money, but its highly original photography makes it look costly. Most remarkably, it has an energy level and a sense of purpose which is sadly lacking in most movies.

The movie opens in 1971 - well, technically, it starts a hundred years before, but I don't want to confuse you. A burned out, fed up glitter rock star, Bryan Slade [Jonathan Rhys-Meyer], plots his own assassination at a concert. When it is discovered that the shooting was faked, his fans quickly abandon him. Cut to 1984. A journalist, Arthur Stuart [Christian Bale], is assigned to find out what ever became of Slade. Ironically, Stuart is far more knowledgeable about Slade, as well as his rock idol pal, Curt Wild [Ewan McGregor], than Stuart's editor will ever know.

The hunt for Slade is shown through a series of interviews with people who were close to him. There are many flashbacks to 1971, where we find a very young Stuart on a collision course with both Slade and Wild. The look and the feel of the period are expertly recreated. As I've said, some of what goes on may be too much for some viewers.

Jonathan Rhys-Meyer is superb as Slade, while Ewan McGregor is absolutely mesmerizing as Wild. Whether you like the movie itself or not, it's hard to ignore the power of these two, for they are the epitome of actors. The further a performer can become a character which is unlike the real him or her, the more gifted that actor is. Rhys-Meyer and McGregor are so talented they even perform their own vocals. Slade is a dead ringer for the young David Bowie, while McGregor's Curt Wild may be the best interpretation of an American rock star gone mad ever filmed. By the way, McGregor's salary for Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace was probably larger than the entire budget for Velvet Goldmine.

This movie is recommended for adults who like variety in their film fare and who enjoy an occasional detour from the mainstream.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Velvet is Goldmine!
Review: Get ready for the ultimate glitter trip of a lifetime. This movie has it all, great music, wild clothes, and outragous behavior all of which signifies GLAM ROCK! Ewan McGregor shines as Curt Wild and Jonathon Ryes Meyers is perfect playing the flamboyant Maxwell Demon himself, Brian Slade. A must see for any music fan!


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