Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n Roll
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n Roll
2010
Dir. by Mat Whitecross
Biographical films seem to often be the result of an obsessive fan or admirer of the subject. Their stories typically then get an added boost of nostalgia or fanboy-esque fawning, where the subject at the center of the tale becomes perhaps more important than they actually were. However, when the subject chosen actually seems to be much larger than life it lends some credibility to the the film's efforts in the end and makes for a more entertaining time.
And such is the case with Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n Roll, the Ian Dury biopic starring Andy Serkis as the crazed, manic, polio-ridden entertainer. Given Serkis' aptitude for physical portrayals (Gollum in LOTR, the ape in King Kong), plus his apparent adoration of Dury's work he's a natural here, gleefully and flamboyantly stealing the show as, really, Dury did in his time.
The film starts with a strong, loud punch, mixing stop-motion, self-narrative and show performance into one grand opening number that sets up how Serkis is going to portray Dury. That level of frenzy returns at key career moments during the telling of Dury's story throughout the film. And yet the scenes in between these “highs,†detailing the passionate mess that was Dury's personal at-home life, especially his troubled relationship with his volatile, impressionable son, Baxter (Son of Rambow's Bill Milner, excellent here again). His long-suffering love interests wife Betty (Olivia Williams) and groupie Denise (Naomie Harris) each go through the struggle of loving and supporting the troubled artist who invests more into his career than his family or personal relationships.
Even though Ian Dury & the Blockheads only had a couple of chart-toppers it seems like the filmmakers here want to underline Dury's importance as an artist in his place and at that time of his popularity. Contrasting scenes of him facing an obstacle in his adult life and his rough childhood in a tough boarding school for polio-affected children are played throughout the film to demonstrate the strength of his character and how it developed and found its voice. While these seem exploitational or overly-sentimental (especially the flashbacks of the brief appearance of young Ian's father, played solidly as you'd expect from Ray Winstone) they provide a proper tone and story-telling technique that reaches a conclusive climax toward the end of the film, when Dury composes a controversial hit in support of the disabled (Spasticus Autisticus). It's a measured but sharp crescendo, showing that not only had Dury not lost a step but that he also held some things very clearly dear to his heart and was not about to compromise anything in his support of them.
If you're a fan of either Ian Dury or Andy Serkis then this film's a must for you. Stunningly well-shot and fairly evenly paced it's an entertaining look at a wild ride of a counter-cultural icon.
Rating: C+Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (272)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4162)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2513)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (300)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (497)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: February 22nd, 2022.
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance
Year: 1976
Purchase From Amazon
God’s Gun – Movie Review:
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini in 1976, quite late in the spaghetti western boom years, God's Gun (Diamante Lobo in Italy) introduces us to a bad, bad man named Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) who, along with his gang of equally bad, bad men, start wreaking...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:10 PM -
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 8th, 2019.
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Christopher Lee, Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo, Gaia Germani
Year: 1968
Purchase From Amazon
Hercules In The Haunted World – Movie Review:
Directed by Mario Bava in 1961 and featuring a screenplay by Bava (and Sandro Continenza, Francesco Prosperi and Duccio Tessari), Hercules In The Haunted World (also known as Hercules At The Center Of The Earth and...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:08 PM -
-
Released by: Cinématographe
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jack Nicholson
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi
Year: 1978
Purchase From Amazon
Goin’ South – Movie Review:
Made at the height of his career as an actor, 1978’s ‘Goin’ South’ sees Jack Nicholson once again in the director’s chair, seven years after his directorial debut, ‘Drive, He Said,’ failed to set the...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:29 AM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: April 20th, 2024.
Director: Noburo Nakamura
Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Mikijiro Hira
Year: 1964
Purchase From Amazon
The Shape Of Night – Movie Review:
Directed by Noburo Nakamura for Shochiko in 1964, ‘The Shape Of Night’ follows a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). In the opening scene, she’s working as a streetwalker on the outskirts of town and soon enough, she’s picked...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:26 AM -
-
Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: April 22nd, 2024.
Director: Bryce McGuire
Cast: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle
Year: 2024
Purchase From Amazon
Night Swim – Movie Review:
The feature length directorial debut of Bryce McGuire, a collaboration between James Wan's Atomic Monster and Blumhouse, 2024’s Night Swim opens with a scene set in 1992 where a young girl looks out her window and sees a toy boat floating...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:24 AM -
-
Released by: Film Masters
Released on: April 23rd, 2024.
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Lugene Sanders, Susan Gordon
Year: 1963
Purchase From Amazon
Tormented – Movie Review:
The late Bert I. Gordon’s 1963 horror film, ‘Tormented,’ is an effectively spooky ghost story made with an obviously low budget but no less effective for it.
The story revolves around a professional piano player...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:19 AM -