Spike Island

It's May 1990, Great Britain, and The Stone Roses are about to play a monumental outdoor gig at Spike Island in Widnes, Cheshire. A bunch of teenage acolytes of the band, aspiring musicians themselves, embark on a journey to Spike Island whist at the same time embarking on personal journeys of the real life kind.

Us Brits do like ourselves a coming of age drama set to the backdrop of musical importance. Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll) taps into the era of Baggy Manchester, of a Northern Britain dominated by pills, thrills and romantic bellyaches. To many of a certain age The Stone Roses were "their" Beatles, a power pop foursome that rocked it big time, their influence on the British music industry is still being felt today. This in spite of their relatively short life span. Re: The Sex Pistols at Winterland, see The Stone Roses at Spike Island (in other words it was a pretty awful gig all told).

However, the band are secondary to the teen angst narrative threads, to the scallywag japes and sexual growing pains. As Messrs Ian Brown and John Squire weave their chordal magic in the background, a bunch of spotty Herbert's with mad mac haircuts and iffy accents try and make sense of it all, of life, death, loves and hates. Music binds them together, but does anything else?

It's all very formulaic stuff, but for those of the time, or for those with a love for how music can define your life, or at the least shape its direction, then this hits the requisite chords. It's funny at times and the cast are ebullient enough to carry the clichéd and thin material home, but come the finale you will be remembering the soundtrack more than the story itself. 6.5/10

This film is set in England in 1990 and is about a group of friends in a band who desperately want to go to a Stone Roses concert and hand them a demo tape.

The first hour of the film offers very little, although the main character is struggling with his father dying. There seems to just be a bunch of hooligans running around having fun while waiting on a scalper to supply the concert tickets. Once the group actually get to the concert, the film picks up, but is almost over by that point.

The film is worth a watch if you are a Stone Roses fan (I am), an Emilia Clarke fan ( I am) or if you grew up in England in the early nineties ( I did not).

Drama, music. Fate itself prompted me to watch this movie, I was especially interested in the reviews - only three in Russian (two in Kinopoisk, one in Yandex), on IMDb - nineteen from the audience and thirty-one from critics. And I thought - why not look, the more Emilia Clarke starred here. I tried it - and did not at all regret the time spent. Until now, I am moving away from the pleasant impression that this picture had on me, but for now let me tell you my brief opinion - British cinema about musicians of the nineties. As in any picture, there are pluses that were pleasant, and cons that were a little annoying when viewing. Therefore, I intend to dwell on them in more detail and convey to you those thoughts and what I experienced. The preface turned out to be very short this time, so pour a cup of tea, sit back - go! So, the pros: 1. Musical atmosphere - one of the reasons for my interest in this picture was that I almost never watched pictures about musicians, and I even successfully missed the recent "Bohemian Raspoda", which, by the way, I do not regret, so viewing this picture became for me new experience in the movie - and it was great! The picture about the musicians of the early nineties is saturated with music a little more than completely. The film contains songs by the mega-popular (at that time) British band "The Stone Roses", the concert of which our heroes rush to the island of Spike Island. I liked the music, and all the musicians of The Stone Roses, and the characters of the picture, and the usual clockwork tracks. I conclude that I like paintings of a similar genre, and I will continue to watch them. If you can recommend something like that - welcome in the comments. 2. Youth style - the picture was created for youth, with its eternal problems of finding oneself, impudent and defiant behavior, problems in the family, misunderstanding, ambitions, naive dreams, craving for the forbidden. The target audience will definitely like the picture, as for the rest - is debatable. Personally, I haven't seen such youth films for a long time, the last thing I remember is the "Road Trip"of 2000, but now I won't watch this movie. 3. History - the picture tells us about a group of musician friends called "Shadow Caster", whose idols are "The Stone Roses". The guys commit bold acts and dream of getting to the concert of their idols in Spike Island, but as always, various difficulties arise. And if at first, the story seemed boring to me, where you shouldn't wait for anything interesting, then in the middle I noticed that I was starting to closely monitor what was happening, and closer to the final it was impossible to tear me from the screen. And the finale - so it turned out to be vital, as if someone did not relate to it. Well, the romantic line harmoniously screwed. This is not the best story told, but I liked it! 4. Dramatic moments - drama was added to the picture, and very strong, which will definitely cause an emotional response from the viewer. Actors at these moments really tried. There's nothing to complain about. And for those particularly impressionable, these moments can survive a tear, or even more than one! So cons: 1. Drugs, foul language and so on - since the picture is youth, then the language of communication among the heroes is the same. Here and there, and sometimes through the word slanderous words slip. Heroes use drugs, all of this is here, and not everyone can like it. Yes, this is due to the context, but when viewing the amount of it all was very annoying. And yet - the creators of the picture were clearly inspired by the works of Guy Ritchie, because the style, dynamic installation and some moments damn much resemble his early paintings. This is not a minus, but rather an emphasis on fact. Is it bad - no! Did it interfere with perception? A little about the main characters: 1. Tits performed by Elliott Tittensor is the charismatic leader of Shadow Caster, a young man at a crossroads whose dream inspires others. A born leader with a head on his shoulders. The song in his performance is a hymn to the generation of the nineties, and how many feelings! And what simple, but at the same time strong words! You have to listen to it yourself to feel it! Elliot did a great job with this role. He didn't even play - he lived as his hero! Well done! 2. Dodge performed by Nico Mirallegro - the most responsible member of "Shadow Caster" and a certain antithesis of Tits - a little reserved, timid, which, nevertheless, is the mainstay of the group and a talented musician. Those tests through which the Dodge passes are well known to me. We, creative people, sometimes need strong trials, because the emotions that they awaken can inspire us to create something new, extremely strong, which will go through the most callous holes and get into the heart. Niko is great! 3. Sally performed by Emilia Clark - a classmate of the band members, a young, romantic girl who loves music. Emilia, besides all the reasons, you were the one for which I looked at this picture, I decided to appreciate the acting. My findings are Amy! You know how to play when you want! Your pretty and romantic Sally turned out as it should. The image is classic and always working. I love your heroine Kate from "Last Christmas", and your Louise from "Me Before You", and your Sally from this picture - was a great addition to your piggy bank! Bravo! Good girl! Well done! Well, the conclusions that the picture brings are very instructive and truthful, although we have already seen it thousands and thousands of times, and we will see more than once, as long as there is a movie in the world! As a result, we have a drama about young, daring and talented musicians, whom fate leads to a mega-cool event, with excellent and atmospheric music, excellent acting, sunny Emilia Clark and with tearful dramatic moments. My rating is 7 out of 10 and my recommendation for viewing!

I didn't watch this movie for the Stone Roses reference, The Stone Roses are of no particular interest of mine, I have nothing against them it's just the music simply isn't my scene.

Having read reviews on here after watching this movie, I seemed to rate it more than many others and the factor which I believed allowed me to enjoy it more, was ironically, my non-existing interest in The Stone Roses. If you went into this movie solely on the basis that it is marketed with the Stone Roses i believe you would be disappointed. Spike Island is a run of the mill, coming of age, British indie flick. It's a very familiar story, Five lads from Manchester who are all in their last year of school travel to Spike Island in hope of watching the Stone Roses in concert. The usual story of falling outs, romance, friendship, loyalty and most of all growing up are covered in this movie. The Stone Roses are really a back story, a focal point of their interests but it is not relevant in the story or character development. The acting is good, but the characters lack any real substance. They all seem very clichéd and predictable, the manc accent is also overdone at times, we get that you're from Manchester, its based around the Stone Roses!

Overall Spike Island is a feel good, entertaining watch with good acting and a pleasant if not clichéd, storyline.

7/10

A film about being young, carefree and the most important thing in your life being your favourite band. A great summer film with an amazing sound track (unless you don't like the Stone Roses).