The Boat That Rocked (2009)
An ensemble comedy, where the romance is between the young people of the 60s, and pop music. It's about a band of DJs that captivate Britain, playing the music that defines a generation and standing up to a government that wanted control of popular culture via the British Broadcasting Corporation. Loosely based on the events in Britain in the 60's when the Labour government of Harold Wilson, wanted to bring the pirate radio stations under control, enough to see the passage of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act on 15 August 1967. Also known as "Pirate Radio".
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Fresh and Exciting
Beautiful, moving film.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
I would rather watch paint dry. Would be more entertaining and funny. Very disappointing film for the great cast it had.
It's 1966. Official radio rarely plays the popular rock music of the era. Some pirate radio stations pop up broadcasting from international waters. Carl (Tom Sturridge) got expelled from school and arrives at his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy)'s Radio Rock ship in the North Sea. It's staffed by various oddballs like American DJ The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman). They are allowed to bring female friends aboard sometimes. Government minister Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) and his sidekick Domenic Twatt (Jack Davenport) try to shut the radio station down through legal loopholes. Quentin brings legendary DJ Gavin Kavanagh (Rhys Ifans) out of retirement.I like the various characters but the story meanders too much. It's like a run-on sentence that runs out of steam. This show should simply follow Carl and watch the fascinating wild times from his point of view. The movie starts out fine but the light humor fades quickly. Maybe Tom Sturridge is not big enough to hold center stage against this wacky cast of characters. This is a great era for music although the movie seems to be more about the rotation of beautiful babes. I would rather have the girl stay on the ship for the entire trip and have a real relationship.
I really enjoyed this film and found it a very fun watch. I think that the cast members and characters compliment each other and work well together to produce a very good cast. The film itself is very laid back with a subtle plot that is in the background behind the main description of the life on board the Boat. The ending itself provides a nice contrast to the laid back running with an exciting ending. a fantastic watch highly recommended. The attitude of the film, such as the characters and the attitude clearly reflect the era in which it is set to give a convincing portrayal of the time period that gives us a good insight into the mood of that time. The music that is played in the film is excellent and is classic 60s music. A fantastic watch
As someone who grew up just after the pirate radio movement, I found this to be a really good film - I could recognise similarities between the DJ's and those real life DJ's who became radio 1 stalwarts. Oh and the music - fantastic.For those who say it is too long - it is as long as it needs to be and the plot while lacking in subtle hidden meanings is as it should be. It tells the story of a generation (albeit the one before me)and it tells it well.Strangely, my music mad 15 year old daughter said it left her cold. She just couldn't understand as in her world pop music has always been there and with so many ways to access it the idea of pirate radio just does not compute although I think maybe the lack of 1 dimension may have also had an impact.