Rent Good Vibrations (2012)

Belfast Kicks - Good Vibrations review by CP Customer

This is the first movie about Punk that I've really enjoyed. Partly because of the general chutzpah that ensures the film never lets up for a minute; partly for the skillful and intelligent use of news footage to illustrate the Troubles for those who may know nothing about them. Mainly, though, it shows Punk in a setting which makes sense for the whole aesthetic. Terri Hooley says during the last scene where he's addressing 2000 punks during a concert at the Royal Ulster Hall that New York Punks have the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason for the existence of Punk itself, In a city where over 3000 people were shot, blown up, beaten and burned to death over 30 years, the pure and elemental joy of Punk seems like the only answer possible, leaving the cynical money-making machine of McLaren and Westwood in the dark. After all, John Peel said that the Undertones' Teenage Kicks gave him the best 2 1/2 minutes of his life.

Almost an Undertones Biopic set in Belfast - Good Vibrations review by PV

Fun but sometimes plodding Northern Ireland-set story of a record shop, and how punk - especially The Undertones and their first single Teenage Kicks - put it on the map.

The first half is great and has pace; that goes in the second half which drags a bit - the direction is workmanlike (though it seems a couple direct!)

The main actor irritated me or at least the clueless innumerate character - I wonder if that record shop is still open. If so, how?

Probably the first time I have seen muso DJ John Peel portrayed in a film, and the accent is bang-on - having talked to him in 2004, i can confirm that (though John was actually from a rather posh background are affected that accent).

Watch the film '71 (2014) if you want the Troubles politics. Watch The Crying Game (1992) if you do not. Watch Sing Street (2016) to see similar in Dublin. Watch Killing Bono (2011) for the best film made about NI music via a U2 failure, and about the shark-run rapacious music business in general.

Watchable punk-birth biopic. 3 stars