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March 28, 2024, 01:57:55 PM

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Creation Stories - Alan McGee/ Creation Records film

Started by holyzombiejesus, March 18, 2021, 03:02:26 PM

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SteveDave

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on March 21, 2021, 11:06:17 AM
That Malcom McLaren was one of the most stupid things I've even seen in a film. Did you notice Carl Barat in it, supposedly playing someone called Griff? I thought that may be meant to be Gruff but I can't remember SFA even being mentioned.

I didn't see his Eric Idle face in it. "Demons" by SFA was played during the Labour press conference. That was as far as they were used.

I did see Paul Gallagher quite early on after the move to London in the pub they were playing in. I presume a lot of the other extras were family members of One Lady Owner or Mishka?

Malcy

Thought this was good. Bit daft in places. Danny John Jules was definitely channeling Crazy Legs from Don't Be A Menace To South Central etc. Some of the Scottish accents were very ropey. Music was good. Saw a few names in the credits that I didn't spot in the film like Bez as a DJ. It was all a bit fast at times so easy to miss stuff.

Malcolm McClaren was very camp.

phantom_power

I am about 3/4 of the way through this and in general it is by the numbers rock biopic dross but one thing they do get right are the gig sections. They do make the music sound exciting and fun, particularly the Television Personalities gig.

Some terrible wigs on display as well

Malcy

Glasgow Film Fest showing their Q&A with Nick Moran & Ewen Bremner tomorrow on YouTube at 6pm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7b7gv3BNvQ

phantom_power

It manages to make the Oasis gig, which is meant to kick of the final third of the film and boost Creation into the stratosphere, look incredibly dull and anticlimactic. McGee is standing there bathed in light while some terrible Gallagher lookalikes stand still and strum their guitars/sing into a mic

non capisco

Quote from: phantom_power on March 25, 2021, 09:44:09 AM
It manages to make the Oasis gig.. look incredibly dull

So there is some verisimilitude, then.

SteveDave

Quote from: phantom_power on March 25, 2021, 09:44:09 AM
It manages to make the Oasis gig, which is meant to kick of the final third of the film and boost Creation into the stratosphere, look incredibly dull and anticlimactic. McGee is standing there bathed in light while some terrible Gallagher lookalikes stand still and strum their guitars/sing into a mic

To be fair, it doesn't look exactly like the place was jumping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpozn3nedMs


Blue Jam

Did The Secret Drug Addict have anything to do with this?

Worth a follow on Twitter:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ScrtDrugAddict

phantom_power

Quote from: SteveDave on March 25, 2021, 09:59:56 AM
To be fair, it doesn't look exactly like the place was jumping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpozn3nedMs



But I would have thought they would at least want to give the impression that this Massive Moment In Music History was exciting, which they managed with the previous gig scenes


El Unicornio, mang

Thought this was OK, mostly for the nostalgia and Ewan Bremner. Seemed quite cheap and amateurish in places, and some glaring anachronisms like modern cars in the background during a 90s scene. Wanted to be 24 Hour Party People badly but lacked the wit and style. Also what the fuck was going on with Tony Blair? Suki Waterhouse looks more like him than that guy.

phantom_power

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on March 25, 2021, 11:11:05 AM
Just remembered that scene in the cafe.

The whole rave section was terrible. No club would have that much room on the dancefloor and it was so cliched, making jokes that Spaced did 20 years ago. Did they actually make much of an impression on the dance scene? The film seems to make out that they we real movers and shakers but they were fringe at best weren't they?

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

A very silly film, but Bremner was good - he always is - and it reminded me that McGee, massive twat though he is, introduced some great music to the world. And loads of absolutely terrible music. Quite a legacy.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

And what's the deal with these Scottish musicians/scenesters of a certain age who insist on referring to each other by their surnames? "The thing about Gillespie, right, is when he hooked up with Beattie..."

It's indicative of that bullshit last gang in town self-mythology they're all party to. I find it so embarrassing. Mate, you're not in Goodfellas, you're a middle-aged Scotsman with an ill-fitting trilby on your Mr Peanut head.

holyzombiejesus

I think a huge part of the blame for this must go to Irvine Welsh, fucking embarrassing old has-been.

Keep thinking about how McGee's character changes when the New Labour stuff comes in. There are little earnest bits crowbarred in to the script to show how much McGee was hobnobbing with The Establishment because he wanted to help ver kids, not because he was a rich wanker. (He actually told someone I know who was on Creation that he voted tory in '92.)

phantom_power

Yeah that was that shit bit at the house party where the "intellectual" lefty was made to look shit because McGee was thinking about helping out the working class kids and not just intellectualising.

Head Gardener

The flashback bit to the record shop near the beginning has record sleeves covering the wall. I always assume they have top folk fact checking stuff but as this scene is apparently set in 1974 (there are references to the current music papers, Bowie's Rebel Rebel having just been released - Feb '74 etc) it seemed odd to see this Elton John sleeve up in clear view as it didn't come out until May the following year, dunno what others I might have missed but hey




Enrico Palazzo

The Tony Blair was jarring. The portly, gurning version at the end of the film plus the one in the poster with shades of Red Skull. Pretty bad film all round, Spud apart.


Phil_A

What's going on with his lips in that poster? It's a bit Nicholson Joker-ish.




Custard

Alan McGee DOES care maaaan. Mainly about Alan McGee

Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: Head Gardener on March 30, 2021, 11:12:07 AM
The flashback bit to the record shop near the beginning has record sleeves covering the wall. I always assume they have top folk fact checking stuff but as this scene is apparently set in 1974 (there are references to the current music papers, Bowie's Rebel Rebel having just been released - Feb '74 etc) it seemed odd to see this Elton John sleeve up in clear view as it didn't come out until May the following year, dunno what others I might have missed but hey



[CinemaSins Bell!]

imitationleather

I just can't get over the fact that a film about Alan McGee actually exists.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: imitationleather on March 30, 2021, 08:25:15 PM
I just can't get over the fact that a film about Alan McGee actually exists.

Bizarre, isn't it? A film about Tony Wilson, that makes sense. He was interesting, charismatic and (not always intentionally) funny. McGee is a self-aggrandising dullard who signed some great bands over 30 years ago. That's why the film tries so hard to dazzle viewers with its frenetic pace and 'anarchic' flourishes - the protagonist is boring.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I should add that I met McGee once and he was perfectly pleasant. He's a wally, no doubt about that, but he's not a nasty person. And Creation released some amazing records during its heyday. So (tiny) hats off to him for that. He made a lasting contribution to the world of pop and rock type stuff, but my God, he's been dining out on that brief chapter in his life for years.

The Culture Bunker

#54
Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on March 30, 2021, 08:53:27 PM
Bizarre, isn't it? A film about Tony Wilson, that makes sense. He was interesting, charismatic and (not always intentionally) funny. McGee is a self-aggrandising dullard who signed some great bands over 30 years ago. That's why the film tries so hard to dazzle viewers with its frenetic pace and 'anarchic' flourishes - the protagonist is boring.
It's a funny one, because as you say, Wilson was an interesting personality but I'd argue his track record in terms of signing bands who went on to make decent records for him was a bit, umm, erratic at best. But then there was the Hacienda to pad out the post-Ian Curtis suicide part of the tale at least.

McGee has put out a hell of a lot more albums that I've enjoyed, maybe more than any other indie label, but the problem is that most of the people who made them weren't exactly very interesting. And those that were (ie Lawrence) barely sold any records. So to make a film people are going to watch, I suppose it has to be mostly Oasis with a dash of Primal Scream and hints of the Mary Chain/MBV (both of whom made up of frankly quite boring people).

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Oh yes, I agree with all of that. McGee facilitated more good records than Wilson ever did, his hit rate during the Creation era was impressive, but as you say, Wilson is a more compelling character. I thought Bremner was very good as McGee, especially considering that he didn't have much to work with. But Wilson was a gift for Coogan, he had an actual character to play.

I appreciate that 24 Hour Party People revels in post-modern irony and Coogan is to some extent playing a caricature of Wilson. But that approach works, it's a film about a fairly eccentric man who fancied himself as an ironic post-modernist. McGee is just a bloke who loves music and signed some talented (albeit boring personality-wise) acts. Nothing wrong with that, and the Creation saga is interesting, but it's not the stuff that great films are made of.

The Culture Bunker

I mean, I'm assuming there's no scene of Bobby Gillespie taking a dump in Lawrence's toilet to wind him up, despite it having potential to be comedy gold.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

The genuinely odd and funny moments from the Creation story are conspicuous by their absence.

phantom_power

And McGee claiming to be responsible for the rise in CD sales and getting Labour into power is a bit of a stretch as well

buzby

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on March 30, 2021, 09:10:35 PM
It's a funny one, because as you say, Wilson was an interesting personality but I'd argue his track record in terms of signing bands who went on to make decent records for him was a bit, umm, erratic at best. But then there was the Hacienda to pad out the post-Ian Curtis suicide part of the tale at least.
Factory had some decent bands (besides the big two) who made good records, but were so inept at promotion that nobody ever got to hear them. Wilson was an excellent self-promoter, but not good at promoting his bands (he also had a massive blind spot when it came to dance acts, much to Graeme Park's annoyance). McGee was probably the opposite (at the time, at least).