Good Vibrations (2012)

One of my all time favorites.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Grew up listening to Rudi, The Outcasts, SLF etc and Terri was a great character. Delighted when I heard they were to make a film of his attempts to bring music to the people of Belfast and wasn't let down by the result This really is a great bio, deals tremendously with the troubles in a humorous almost flippant way, shows Terri as the maverick and enthusiastic man he is. I once advertised in the NME for a copy of Bigtime by Rudi and Terri himself called me sending a parcel of singles to me in England, no wonder he never made money but that was him Loved every second of this, great performance by Dylan Moran,in fact is unfair to single anyone out but watch for Terri himself in the recording studio scene.Great stuff

Good Vibrations (GV) came highly recommended from my local liquor store attendant, an equally avid film buff. What began showing so much promise petered out by act three. I was stoked from the onset, jazzed, amped up, I mean with lines like "one of those special bonds, part pharmaceutical, part philosophical" and "a proper record collection should have track for every moment", how could I not? So act one had me all in, hook-line-and-sinker, fully ensconced in the message, meaning, and mayhem plaguing Belfast, Ireland. However, instead of gaining momentum, it slowed considerably and this once promising "true" story became slightly stale and insipid. In reflection, understanding the genesis of my disinterest was utterly perplexing and a sizable feat. I was unaware of any one point or instance where I could ascribe fault or blame, no aha light bulb moment. Taken individually on their own merit the components or factors which led to my disappointment are paltry and would otherwise go unnoticed, but as a collective they create a wet canvas snuffing out any chance for redemption or a grand crescendo. You know what, scratch that...there is one glaring omission, deliberate or not, is that no characters aside from Terri Hooley (I know it's his semi-biographic story) were permitted to develop, banished to forgettable cursory roles. It was all him to the exclusion of others. So the few remote opportunities to develop the pompous Terri possibly ingratiating him enough to grow endearing to us and welcome him in with respect to his laurels was assuaged if not totally lost. And lastly, to butcher and borrow from the Samuel Clemens stratum of brilliant quips: to say the movie score was better than it sounded is putting it mildly. I think he said of this after a German Opera and he was quoted as saying the music was better than it sounded. At any rate, terrible selection of music and I know they had to be true to the time and place, but shoot, they were lifeless songs and listless lyrics. In the end, it was rather unremarkable and for every Terri Hooley, they were hundreds scattered and mooching about. I would like to tip my hat to his bravado, courage, resourcefulness, and unwavering dedication to getting the vinyl in the right hands and played…kudos to the man.Rate: 52 / 100

Although I was born in Belfast, this occurred in the mid-70's so I really knew very little of the people and events in this film, even if I knew the music. I'm not really a punk fan either, but it was the country connection that made me interested in watching the film. The story is sort of based on reality, although of course I think a lot of it is rather simplified for the sake of telling a good story. Terri Hooley (so spelt as he only has one eye) loves his music and at a time when Northern Ireland is splitting down the middle along religious lines, he opens a record store selling reggae and the like. Through this he is put in contact with the punk scene and becomes an unexpected leader to bring it to greater attention.The main thing the film does very well is capture the sense of place and time; the bits of the film I recognise are instantly so and the rest it delivers so convincingly that one goes along with it and really feels it. The sets, costumes and locations are a big part of it as they capture the 70's real well, but the use of music is the real impact. I'm not a big punk fan but the music throughout the film worked very well and I liked that it even held back its biggest track until that famous moment that Peel played it twice. The story around the music is engaging and it touches on quite a few things but really it is about the energy and passion for it and in this regard Dormer is strong in the lead.One of several Game of Thrones cast in the film, Dormer's energy is infectious even if his flawed character is evident, he leads the viewer into the passion really well. He is well supported by many unknown faces who do great jobs while also having plenty of recognizable faces kicking around – although Moran, Cunningham and others have not too much to do. The direction of the film is really good and the film has a great look – even when it is in dark, chaotic bars, it still looks clear and crisp.It isn't a perfect film but it does tell an engaging personal story with energy and passion. The music and sense of place drive the film while the infectious and engaging performances add a lot. Very enjoyable film for what it does well.

This is a soundtrack, not a film. It doesn't ask any questions, lay out any arguments, or challenge any taboos. It's got a stonking lead performance and it looks period correct when not depending on stock imagery. It's got loads of minor pop music - a good mixtape, the sort of themed selection you'd find cover mounted on Uncut or Mojo magazine. It could have been a blast. Or, with some genuine insight to the personal relationships only vaguely sketched in the script, it could have been a more substantial drama.But it's a cheap shot to prop up Terri Hooley's self hype with endless stock footage of the troubles - especially the Miami showband material. As if the scene where Terri and his little band of gullible, fame seeking youths being stopped by the Brits and discovered to be the true cross-community ideal was somehow related (what an awkward scene that was).Truth is, punk didn't do much in or for Northern Ireland and after its brief bubble burst, Hooley never found another "wave" to incompetently exploit - except perhaps the trendy "hagiography of failures in popular culture" that passes for biography in too many recent films. (Next: The Gary Glitter Story...?).Where it really struggles to even entertain is in constantly trying to raise the minimal narrative above a basic "let's put on a show in the barn" story, by co-opting historical sectarian division and political oppositions as contextual justification for a bunch of people who were essentially running away, rather than confronting it.The fawning climax, a clumsy collage of wet eyed forgiveness and self-justification during a concert in the Ulster Hall ("It holds 2000 people!") is downright creepy.And if PUNK meant anything, anywhere, then surely Hooley's apocryphal shout "New York has the hair, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason." is its betrayal.