Creation Stories

Creation Stories is by no means a classic but it really is a fun movie movie that has rewatchable qualities. It's a bit messy and fast paced, hard to form any emotional attachments, but its definitely not a bad film. The music is great, it is visually great, but it seems like an hour long trailer for the movie.

I find it interesting that Allan McGee has completely changed the narrative of his upbringing and early life. The large house he lived in was in a middle class area of Glasgow. His parents and family didn't speak rough Glaswegian (although in the film it appeared by their accents they were from Edinburgh!). No mention of the 6 week family holidays to California when he was a teenager?? Or the money his Dad loaned him to start Creation? The scene where his father was wearing Masonic regalia in the house ie out with a Masonic meeting, would never have happened. Let's just say the amount of artistic license used is nearly as big as Allan's over inflated ego. A megalomaniac in the right place at the right time. No more, no less. Judge for yourself the kind of person he is. I note they don't do go into much detail regarding the son he never acknowledged until the boy was a man. As for the actual film, much like the book, a jumpy, cobbled together tale of anecdotes to add to the self importance of Allan McGee. If you didn't know the Creation story you might think you were watching an Irvine Welch black comedy...

Two reviews for the price of one.

Creation Stories (2021) & 24 Hour Party People (2002) why have I grouped these reviews together quite simply they both deal with the running of two record companies Creation & Factory and their larger then life managers Alan McGee (Creation) and Tony Wilson (Factory) but then you knew that anyway.

McGee is played by Ewan Bremner (imagine Spud from Trainspotting on speed, you get the idea) and Tony Wilson played by Steve Coogan (well its's Tony Wilson with a dose of Richard Madeley for extra cringe factor) various musicians appear throughout look out for them, a special mention to McGee's dad, played by Richard Jobson who is played with menace and a constant threat which is terrifying, although no ones dad was ever that muscular or as hard as nails.

The format is very similar, fast paced with lots of drugs helping to manage the various talents on the labels. In Creation its, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and yawn Oasis.

Factory Joy Division & Happy Monday amongst many.

Musically you get lots of snippets of music from all of the above named bands, some of which are excellent Joy Division for example are great and makes you wanna reach out for their CDs.

Are the films any good? Both great and enjoyable with a great pace, laced with humour and what ever drug they were taking at the time.

Creation Stories I'd give a ecstasy fuelled 7/10 losing a point for the Scottish dialect which at time I couldn't fathom at all (sadly no subtitles which it clearly needs) 24 Hour Party People 8/10 for having some of the best bands ever.

Watch them both to see how exciting music and watching bands can be.

Peehaps the saddest shot of Creation Stories is Mcgee looking through the window of a stack it high supermarket at the now defunkt record shop, that and all the new Labour junk and Jimmy Saville.

This should have been a great movie but it's just a bit of a mess. A great story with the best bits skipped over pretty quickly. Screamadelica was Creations first big thing but was lucky if it got a minute's mention. The accents were pretty terrible too, I'm sure there's better suited actors to play JAMC, at least use Scottish ones, same with the Gallaghers, very poor choices. Still, at least the music was good. Probably would've made a better six part tv series than cramming McGee's eventful life into a movie.

I've watched my fair share of music biopics, and this was enjoyable enough once I'd tuned into it. It is however rather patchy - in every respect. Perhaps that's a deliberate choice.

It's also quite cheap, leaning heavily on contemporary footage. Due to this and merely average writing, it struggles to find its own aesthetic and develop its full potential. It's hard to believe this is a 2020s movie; it feels older.

Why does any of this matter? Because it feels like a story that ought to be told properly. But this ^^^ might be it. Even Elvis only got one biopic. Though Joy Division got two - just saying.