KILLING BONO- Review

It's kind of well known that one of my pet hates at the cinema is biopics about musicians. It's not that I don't like music, or that I don't like musicians. The problem is that different people's lives seem to fit the same old template, the same old cliches, and the kind of things that the excellent but underrated Walk Hard- The Dewey Cox Story expertly skewered.

So it's a good thing that Killing Bono is not a story about that most self-satisfied and untouchably nice guy whose name is part of the title. Instead, it's about the McCormick brothers, Neil and Ivan, who grew up in Dublin with Paul Hewson. All three boys want to be famous musicians, and Paul offers Ivan a shot at the big time when his band is on the rise. Neil insists that the brothers will go their own way, and Paul styles himself as Bono and goes on to form a little band called U2. Meanwhile, Neil and Ivan try to carve their own path to the big time.

Killing Bono comes from the pens of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the legendary British writers behind sitcoms like Porridge and The Likely Lads, who've nowadays turned their talents to making British features like The Bank Job and Goal! Thus you can expect that it's safer than the slightly suggestive title would imply. There's no leap into the hyper-reality of an Inglourious Basterds, but you can also expect something different from the norms of the sick and tired music biopic subset.

All the same, we're looking at the real story through two filters. First off, as with any adaptation, it's going to have been manipulated to make it to the big screen. And secondly, it's adapted from the real Neil McCormick's memoir, I Was Bono's Doppelgänger. Not that I'm saying McCormick would be an unreliable narrator, I'm just saying that it's one person's perspective. With respect to the author, I imagine fewer embellisments were made between the reality and the page than between the page and the screen.

Post-Social Network, I'm obviously not going to be a stickler for the truth, all of the time. The embellishments here seem obvious whenever they occur, and like the protagonist, I got sick of hearing about what a great guy Paul Hewson was, is, and continues to be. Martin McCall plays Bono as such a nice fella that it didn't surprise me a bit to see the first closing title card give special thanks to the man himself, amongst others. It feels like a cynical telling of the story, contingent upon Bono's sporadic appearances in the McCormicks' lives for it to function. Whatever the reality was, I'd have preferred to have seen less of Bono the character once he eclipses his old mates.

In the early parts of the film, I was quite enjoying it, but perhaps not in the way I was meant to be enjoying it. It's surely meant to be a comedy, but I didn't laugh at it often- the best running gag involves the feckless Neil constantly booking concert dates for his band that happen to clash with massive and distracting events, i.e. Live Aid. I also occasionally chuckled at Peter Serafinowicz as a foul mouthed and slimy band manager, but it feels like the material is very dry after a while, and so I found myself tiring of the film.

Killing Bono boasts the first decent performance of Ben Barnes' career that I can remember, and a likeable supporting turn by Robert Sheehan, put to much better use here than in Season of the Witch. But so much of the meat is their relationship, which operates on the same sort of big brother, simple brother dynamic as Fletcher and Godber in the writers' series Porridge, that it feels like it's running on empty after almost two hours of watching it. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a film that depicts a similar struggle in a way that is much more enjoyment, without the need for exaggeration or embellishment. This is mild stuff, but I can imagine actual budding musicians enjoying it more than me.

Killing Bono is now playing in selected cinemas nationwide.
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If you've seen Killing Bono, why not share your comments below?

I'm Mark the mad prophet, and until next time, don't watch anything I wouldn't watch.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Musicals have been popular enough for decades, but the musical biopic is an entirely different beast. The first biopic of a musician was 1946's The Jolson Story, but it's since the success of Ray and Walk The Line that the film industry has been tripping over itself to make similar stories about musical legends. This week I went to see Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, and also caught up with one of the much loved documentaries of last year, Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

As something of a regular disclaimer, it's only my opinion here- others are available. As ever, mild spoilers may occur in the process of reviewing, but never so far as to spoil any major plot developments.

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Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll is based on the life of Ian Dury, the founder of the punk-rock scene in 1970s Britain. Dury, played by Andy Serkis, was stricken with polio at an early age and was very much at a disadvantage in the early stages of his career on account of his disability and his unique performances. The film charts his rise to fame, and the effect his abrasive personality has on his wife and children. The spark has gone from his marriage as he turns to a younger woman, Denise, and his son feels neglected by his largely absent dad, but Dury is largely concerned with the stratospheric rise of his band, the Blockheads.

If there's an obvious statement to make about Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, it's that Andy Serkis is just terrific in this role. He embodies the impresario in Dury perfectly, but it's also a very personal performance. Someone who's never heard of Dury or his music before seeing this film could very well come out of it feeling that they really know the guy. You might not like him, but you get a great sense of his character. I say that because I didn't know much about Dury except that I liked a couple of Blockheads songs. Naomie Harris and Bill Milner are typically reliable as Dury's mistress and son respectively, with Milner soldiering through the latter half of the film with the worst haircut worn by an actor since his screen-dad David Morrissey in last year's Is Anybody There? Outside of the performances though, it's a shame that this doesn't really leave much of an impression.

Music biopics these days, to quote Johnny Cash, walk the line. They always follow a massively familiar narrative structure, even though they're often about very different people's lives. I reviewed Nowhere Boy a few weeks ago, and was interested to learn when seeing this that both John Lennon and Ian Dury had nightmares about their childhood, handily illuminating the audience about their back story. It's a sub-genre in danger of becoming over-saturated now, and if I see that shot of a singer on stage in silhouette with an audience clapping before him, I think I may scream. The only real innovation here is the inclusion of Dury telling an audience about the story of his life, as a framing device which might have been more effective if given a little more prominence. When biopics are so similar, they can only be as interesting as the person they're about. Thankfully, Ian Dury was very interesting, so even though the script goes through the motions, it scrapes through and is actually fairly enjoyable.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll should be remembered for Andy Serkis' tour de force performance- he's a terrific actor who ought to be getting more recognition for his actual on-screen roles than for putting on a motion-capture suit to play Gollum or King Kong. His Gollum was good, of course, and will be again when The Hobbit comes out, I'm sure. But here, he is just dazzling, gleefully showboating his way through Dury's life, on stage and off. The script is burdened by familiarity and by a bizarre sort of grimy mawkishness about its subject, but it's the performances that make this worth watching. Awards for Serkis, please!

When I went home after watching Serkis tell the audience never to let the truth get in the way of a good story, I caught up with Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a documentary about a Canadian metal band trying to make it in the music business. The unusual thing about the titular band is that they've actually been around for 30 years, playing gigs alongside Bon Jovi and Whitesnake at the prime of their career. For frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner, the band is a labour of love, and the film follows the production of their thirteenth album, "This Is Thirteen." Record companies don't seem to appreciate them, promoters don't reach their audience and Anvil goes through a hell of a lot as they continue their search for fame and recognition.

Yes, it's real. The drummer might have the same name as the director of This Is Spinal Tap, a film this shares more than a few similarities with, but Anvil is a real band. I knew that in advance of watching it, but I have to wonder if I would have believed it otherwise. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a very funny film, but it's even funnier when you know it's real. But more than that, it's the best type of documentary- the type that has a real appreciation of its subject. The director is a long-time Anvil roadie, Sacha Gervasi, and he never patronises the band or makes them figures of fun. At the same time, he's not afraid to show their bad days, and that's where most of the hilarity comes from. The band is horribly mismanaged, frequently missing trains on their way to gigs and not getting paid as a result. Furthermore, Robb is given to quite Spinal Tap-like interactions, best shown in the scene where a lawyer and fan of the band tries to point out how terrible their management is.

But as I said, the film isn't taking the piss out of Lipps and Robb. Lipps in particular is very passionate about the band, and even though I largely hate metal music, I really found myself rooting for them because Gervasi gets under their skin so well. The whole thing is oddly inspiring, with these 50-something rockers still soldiering on. Gervasi is never overly flattering or self-indulgent, and the result is a refreshingly honest documentary. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is by equal turns heartwarming and hilarious, but it also manages to be an effective appraisal of the cutthroat music industry. It's also heartening to know that the success and critical acclaim for this film has finally given Anvil some recognition and high-profile gigs, and this stands as a charming tribute to their struggle.

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Music isn't exactly my field of expertise, so if you have any comments on Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll or Anvil! The Story of Anvil, why not share them below?

Vampires and music are fairly reasonable links, and there's another to follow in the next post, as I take on double doomsday in the form of The Road and The Book of Eli.

I'm Mark the mad prophet, and until next time, don't watch anything I wouldn't watch.

The Reel Deal: And Back Down To Earth...

The title of this post refers to a line in Telstar (reviewed below), where the tone-deaf Joe Meek is dictating to his drummer and guitarist exactly what he wants them to play as they record the titular anthem, which made him a success. It can also refer to my return to form in a week where I've had to defend my views on Transformers 2, having unwisely forgotten that it's one of those films that internet fanboys will defend to the hilt. As the antidote to this rather depressing week, I went out and saw some films that were actually good.

And now of course, it only remains to review them- in addition to Telstar, I'm going to do the long overdue review of The Hangover, but first, onto a film that broaches the ever-so-popular vampire trope- Blood- The Last Vampire.

Reviews, as ever, shall contain minor spoilers, but not so far as to ruin your enjoyment of the films in question if you haven't seen them yet.

BLOOD- THE LAST VAMPIRE



Who's in it? Gianna Jun (Superman ieotdeon sanai, amongst other Japanese language films), Allison Miller (17 Again) and Liam Cunningham (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)

What's it all about? Saya (Jun) is a vampire who lost her human parents to her own kind shortly after her birth. Raised by a kindly old man, she now works for a shady government department in post-WWII Japan. Her mission is to find and destroy bloodsuckers while also assauging her personal vendetta and hunting for the oldest demon, Onegin, who murdered her parents.

Any good? Anyone who's read the recent post I did about vampires is probably expecting a drubbing, but believe me, this certainly isn't the worst vampire film I've ever seen. The film is based on a Japanese anime film of the same name, but several changes have taken place. Like last year's Forbidden Kingdom, this is a very Americanised look at the martial arts genre, and that's most obvious for the inclusion of Allison Miller's casting as a plucky, (and more importantly American) army brat as a secondary lead. The crucial part of this is that she's the audience's insight into the scary world on "the other side of the looking glass", as Colin Salmon's creepy schoolteacher character intones at an early point in the film. Yes, Colin Salmon is here, and bafflingly, so are Liam Cunningham and JJ Feild- both British actors who play American in this film and don't have an awful lot to do.

As you might have guessed from the fact that this is based on an earlier film, it isn't terribly innovative. Nothing new is brought to the vampire characters except the nifty martial arts. On the contrary, the film is actually derivative of films other than the one it was based on- a scene where a truck is chased by a winged demon is almost identical to the similar scene in Underworld: Evolution. And more distractingly, there is some terrible CGI. Masses of special effects don't make films good as a rule (see last week's review), but when you see the unconvincing fountains of animated blood and Harryhausen-style creature effects, it'll take you right out of the film. Not to mention that Saya never once has a single drop of blood on her person during a fight scene- a practical impossibility given how much of it is flying around. Blood is an accurate title. The Last Vampire part, less so, given how many vampires Saya battles here.

Blood- The Last Vampire is the latest in a long line of vampire films that don't really do anything original with the trope, but it's not unwatchable. Enjoy the spiffy martial arts, if that's your thing, but substance is slightly lacking when it comes to the plot, which grinds to a halt for a whole twenty minutes midway through for some unnecessary flashbacks.



THE HANGOVER



Who's in it? Bradley Cooper (Yes Man), Ed Helms (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) and Zach Galifanakis (Into the Wild)

What's it all about? A groom-to-be goes to Vegas with his three best friends (Cooper, Galifanakis and Helms) for his stag party, only for the four of them to get catastrophically drunk. When they awake the next morning, hungover, they find the groom is missing, and it falls to his buddies to retrace their steps through the carnage of the previous night.

Any good? On paper, it doesn't sound that good. The Hangover could easily have been another of the dumber comedies that have come out in the last few years, aping Old School or American Pie. But in the capable hands of Todd Phillips, who actually did direct Old School, and the cast he has assembled, the film is much more. And it's much funnier too. While I don't think anyone watching this will ever have been so devastatingly inebriated as to borrow a baby, a tiger and a chicken and take them back home while on a night out, it's a high-concept comedy and you go with it because the performances are so endearing. That it remains funny and relatable even after Mike Tyson (yes, as himself), and the Chinese mafia come after the friends looking for revenge is just a testament to how well-scripted and performed this comedy is.

Bradley Cooper seems to have escaped the stigma of playing assholes from his earlier career, but while he's too good-looking and knowingly leading man material to be an everyman, the slack is picked up by his beta-male co-stars. Zach Galifanakis might not become a household name (try saying it three times fast), but you can tell from his performance in this that he's going on to big things in comedy. Ed Helms is endearingly impotent as the obligatory stuffed-shirt-learning-to-be-himself character, and holds his own in a script that's full of one-liners. Heather Graham makes an appearance as the wife he married while drunk and proves as she does in every film that she really ought to be getting more work in Hollywood.

Despite taking a little too long in the beginning to get to the start of the real plot, The Hangover is a wonderfully quotable and enjoyable comedy. It quite deserves to be the sleeper hit of the summer that it has become stateside, and I hope that the mooted sequel doesn't lose the charm of its predecessor.



TELSTAR- THE STORY OF JOE MEEK



Who's in it? Con O'Neill (TV's Criminal Justice), JJ Feild (Blood- The Last Vampire- see above) and Kevin Spacey (21)

What's it all about? Covering the first seven years of the 1960s, the film charts the rise and fall of the eccentric and flamboyantly gay music producer, Joe Meek (O'Neill), as he mismanages his production studio, offends his musicians and sinks more and more money into making insufferable bully Heinz Burt (Feild) into the UK's answer to Elvis.

Any good? If you're a fan of 60s music, then Telstar is for you. Joe Meek's hits- Jonny Remember Me, Just Like Eddie and the anthem of the title- may not have passed into the accepted canon of musical classics, but it's the story of the man that makes this film so fascinating. If I complained that The Boat That Rocked was guilty of forgoing any real historical context in order to make a film where some comedy actors danced around to pop music, then I have to applaud this film for doing the opposite. This is a harsh appraisal of both the period and of Meek's life. Homosexuality was illegal at the time, and this comes as a source of great turmoil at one point in the film for Meek, who's played larger than life by Con O'Neill. The best part of O'Neill's performance is that you want to like him, but can't. You're brought close enough to Meek to be shocked when the film turns on him, portraying him as an emotionally disabled, paranoid old man, spending his life worrying about people stealing his music after he faces plagiarism lawsuits over his most successful song.

This representation is not unique to Meek- director Nick Moran has made a film in which there are very few likable or endearing characters, and that just makes it all the more real as a biopic. JJ Feild's Heinz is terrific, going from clueless and stupid one minute to threatening and self-important the next. It's his character that leads Meek down the road to self-destruction, and the dynamic the two characters have is one of unrequited love and abuse. The supporting cast cannot be praised enough either, most notably in Kevin Spacey's performance. His role is small in this one, but more memorable than most of his other performances since The Life of David Gale, and the rest of the cast are at the top of their game too. Ralf Little and James Corden in particular show off acting chops that I didn't realise they had. The pacing seems to depart with the rest of the supporting cast in the last half-hour, and as electric as O'Neill is to watch, the film might comfortably have lost ten minutes and been even better.

Telstar is essential viewing for any Joe Meek fans out there, but I didn't know who he was until I saw this film, and I loved it all the same. Poignant, well-acted, and one of the best films currently on release. Sadly, it's not in wide distribution in the UK, perhaps due to it being released in the same week as a certain robot-smacking army-loving shitfest, but I strongly advise you to catch it when it comes to DVD if you can't catch it in cinemas.


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Righto, that's your lot. The next review will likely cover Year One, Ice Age 3 and Public Enemies. Aside from the latter, there are few other films to look forward to this summer. I read a review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince earlier on, from someone who isn't a fan of the books or the movies thus far, and yet suggested it might be considered Oscar-worthy with the recent changes to the Academy's voting procedures for Best Picture. So hell yes, I'm looking forward to that.

Until next time, don't watch anything I wouldn't watch,
Mark