David Chase, "The Sopranos" creator, to return with a movie 'about a bunch of guys who form a rock band in the 1960s.'

This movie was really bad. And it had nothing to do with the dialogue. It was just really vague. I get the feeling it might have made a really god TV series - like, there were lots of elements that could've been good if Chase had had the chance to explore them further. But he didn't, and what was there just did not work.

Like, I haven't even got a clue what the ending was supposed to mean, and the ending was by no means the worst part of the movie.

I was impressed that when they started writing their own songs they went from Stones covers to being The Replacements though.

if it were just stupid teenage talk, i wouldn't mind. approximating teenage conversation would actually be an achievement.

instead, it's stupid screenwriter talk.

a lot of those lines have teenagers in 1966 spouting clichés about The Sixties in language that wouldn't be born until years later. like a lot of films, this one grants its characters a kind of totalizing historical self-awareness that rings false. (see also the way the film suggests that awareness of civil rights, in the line of one of the protagonist's kid sisters, just kind of bleeds directly into the sort of politically-correct anti-homophobia that's the norm today. there's a weird telescoping there that seems to imply that the baby boomers are responsible for all the social advances of the past few decades.)

also the way that music is the central thing in our lives, man theme is integrated into film is incredibly heavy-handed. it doesn't give you any room to breathe, in fact. i found it insulting.

the filmmaking was pretty tired too. a lot of quality-TV-like "cinematic" chiaroscuro and stuff but staging/framing/editing showed no invention or excitement whatsoever. so really i just felt like there was little or nothing to chew on.

i'm not going to persuade anyone who loved or liked this film to change their minds, least of all the sort of folks who double-down on their opinions when they are challenged (I'm often in that group). so that's cool.

I was impressed that when they started writing their own songs they went from Stones covers to being The Replacements though.

yeah, that's a good reference point. the lyrics+music sounded more like an 80s indie band inspired by 60s bands than an actual 60s band. the specific sort of self-absorbed, lightly ironic relationship drama limned in the lyrics felt anachronistic.

nice post m8

i can't tell when people are being sarcastic anymore :(

im serious, that was a good post!

its just funny because i read it as being more self-effacing than trying to enchant you with boomer myths, tho i guess the dialog is glib - i barely ever notice bad dialog - but i think that's a strength of the movie too in a way, it maintains a little bit of distance from the realtime urgency of whatever they're talking about, its more just about the vibe of vaguely/fondly remembered embarrassing episodes recounted in a low-key way

i thought the sense of place & time was pretty cool too

music is the central thing in our lives, man theme - i didnt think the movie was insistent about this at all