Good Vibrations

Mark Kermode had been raving about this for some time, citing it as his favourite film of the year thus far so I was expecting something special. I wasn't disappointed. It tells the story of Terri Hooley, a record store owner in 1970's Belfast who became one of the most important figures in the brief rise of punk music in N. Ireland. It's a commendable comedy drama which cleverly intertwines the story of Hooley's life with archive footage of the troubles affecting the city.

There are some wonderful scenes, most notably when Hooley first discovers the anarchic, pulsating sound of punk in a Belfast club - his face transforming from impassive to bewilderment to absolute joy in the space of a few seconds. There are genuine laugh out loud lines and it is a film which despite the times it lives in is full of warmth and heart. It's not perfect, it slowly drifts into an overly sentimentalised story and some plot turns are annoyingly predictable. That said it never stops being an intriguing and funny film with a brilliant central performance by Richard Dormer as Terri.

War, poverty, desolation.

When everything looks dismal and negative, how can one escape and persevere? Through music of course.

Terri Hooley had the answer to the misery of his time. By opening a record shop and encouraging locals to create new music he provided an antidote to the gloom and became instrumental in establishing the Belfast punk scene.

Some thought he was mad, but creativity and madness go together and without any regard for consequences he just stormed ahead driven not by materialistic ambition but out of love for music.

An inspiring bio faithfully brought to the big screen, that effortlessly brought a much needed smile to the audience.

A good film to go and see. The protagonist, Terri Hooley, is a self obsessed music lover who stumbles across punk while running his independent record shop in Belfast in the late 70's early 80's and goes about promoting and recording punk bands from Northern Ireland.

The acting is great, great script and unlike the Commitments this is a true story.

Positives: Filmed in colour and atmosphere that portrays the era. The subtle humour and the last line of the movie which I will not give away but will stand as a great movie quote.

Negatives: Adrian Dunbar's wig - Cheap is not the word for it.

No matter what anyone says, this is utterly fantastic. Good Vibrations was well-received in its American premiere. A chronicle of Terri Hooley's life, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk-rock scene. I found the film a little too dark and a little too slow as it moves to what seems like an inevitable bitter end. The plot is not as well thought out as the original, but it still does the cast well. I would suggest renting it, or perhaps buying it if the price is right. My final rating for this movie is 7 out of 10, and it deserves it in every way. This film is worthy of all the hopes you have.

This is a biopic about Terri Hooley, the owner of Good Vibrations record shop and record label. His biggest claim to fame was in getting The Undertones seminal single Teenage Kicks to DJ John Peel. Considering that this became Peel's favourite song of all time, this is something of note. I hadn't heard of Hooley, or Good Vibrations but this isn't too surprising seeing as – aside from The Undertones who were only involved with him briefly – the other punk bands on his label were very minor players such as The Outcasts and Rudi. It's probably fair to say that the movie overstates the significance of Hooley and of Belfast as a punk capital.

Nevertheless, this is still a good film. It successfully illustrates how punk rock served a different purpose in Belfast compared to most other places. It happened during the height of The Troubles and music was a means of bringing people together from both sides of the fence, while the youthful anger of punk rock tapped into something very relevant in a population living in grim times with the fear of violence a constant situation. To help give a better feel for the times there are actual newsreels from the period spliced into the story. Although the politics always hover in the background and never really move into the central ground of the story. This is above all a story about the love of music and its power to overcome wider concerns. Although, admittedly it failed to bring an end to the civil war, seeing as it lasted for a further twenty years.

The story is a fairly standard feel-good biopic with a little bit of adverse drama thrown in about two thirds of the way in. In fairness, it's only being true to its source material which is fairly slight to begin with. The period setting is captured quite well in its beige horror although there were some (very) dodgy wigs on display. This will connect most with folks who remember the punk times, especially ones who were in Belfast at the time. But it is a good film about a minor piece of music history.