I give it ......7 thumbs up....(pretty descent....enjoyed it, didn't feel like a waste of time.......not over the top....but good...)
I missed it in the movie theaters, but rediscovered it again at blockbuster (which is slowly turning into "gut-buster" if i don't stop buying snacks....). My "Dan" pick of Pirate Radio beat out Whip It (pronounced WHHHHHHhhhhhip it) and some other movie starring Kevin Spacey (..........he's Gay....right??)........most likely...i will watch Whip It starring Ellen Page (Juno, X-Men 3, and Smart People) eventually......but remain picking up the Kevin Spacey movie (on the cover he's laying on a beach chair face down with bottles of booze around him (sounds like my kind of flick!)) about 45 more times...and will never watch it....i literally carry it around the store.....and unfortunately for the Blockbuster workers....place it down right next to where ever I find the replacement movie.....usually on the other side of the store.
I'll tell ya what, Pirate Radio has a super fantastic score! I recommend you buy the score and not the soundtrack ...because often they will skimp on the good songs and fill the CD with really "cheap to obtain" songs so they can make a quick buck on the movie name "recognisablity" alone....(is that a word???).....the score for this one should have the songs as well as the lyrics.......but if they don't....this would be an awesome CD to bring to your neighbors karaoke night!!!! (karaoke is Japanese for, "get super drunk...and you'll believe your a great singer as long as you have a microphone or something that looks like a microphone in your hands to sing into.........like a large screw or spoon......")
I feel this movie will appeal to young and old. These days i think alot of kids are finding artists from the mid 60's are still as hip and with it today as they were back then. Emo and Hipster kids have obtained of influence from this era as well as the 70's, and 80's. I actually chuckled alittle because alot of the male costumes probably could have been bought in stores on the lower east side in Manhattan.......but the female wear was definitely well researched and required a little creative savvy.... (Mod wear??????)
For the most part....this movie was "loosely" based on true times when artists like, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Turtles, The Who, The Beach Boy's...and alot of other great bands with a "The" title, were banned from actual accredited radio stations.........but pretty much 99% of the movie was made up in the minds of its writers.........it was just inspired by the lives and times of the crazy people of the 60's.....when drugs were new and totally safe......and drinking all day long was totally accepted....
I was actually excited that I was watching a dramatized version of history here.....but don't believe for one moment that this movie based on true events.......the only thing that was true about this movie was that these songs played in the movie were from the mid 60's....and there was a such thing as pirate radio.....but there is no such historical instance of a boat being launched for this purpose....which basically is the whole premise of the movie.....i kinda felt that this movie is a big lie........but after calming down a big....pretty much all movies are a big lie.....and apparently...i love being lied to...
Now, I think the movie was totally historically accurate on what a bunch of bastard pricks the British government was during this time.......they knew the people loved this music....why censor it.......because it wasn't Jazz?????.........so what if the F-word was thrown out a few times........
Newcomer British actor Charlie Rowe, was "so so"....as the lead actor that gets kicked out of school and his mother send him to live on the Pirate Radio boat in the middle of the North Sea to live with his God Father, "Quintin" (played by Bill Nighy who also starred as rocker Billy Mack in the movie "Love Actually.") who runs this radio broadcasting operation. He meets all the round the clock radio personalities.....one of which might be his actual long lost father........
The movie deals with life at sea with the different 60's persona's coming together for a common cause.... "Free Radio for All!!!"
Obviously there are some personality conflicts...."the butting of heads, " but in the end they all remain friends as the piece of shit boat breaks down and sinks in the North Sea.........
They end up getting rescued by non other, Their beloved fans of the Pirate Radio Station!.....
I think a better ending would have been if they all drowned and had been martyrs of the cause.....but that's just me......
