Velvet Goldmine Reviews

rise and fall of the god of glitter

Surreal, orgasmic, swirling mass of colour and delight. I love this film and J.Rhys-Meyers is beautiful throughout. Ewan McGregor's accent is a bit dodgy.....which is a shame.Toni Collette and Christian Bale are reliably great and Eddie Izzard's screen time, though minimal, is thoroughly enjoyable. Certainly one of my favourite films ever. At first viewing I found it highly confusing and the chronology a little hard to follow (you have to watch the hairstyles), i think trying to analyse and make sense of the plot only defeats the object of the piece though. In the end, this is supposed to be a surreal film - it is a mixture of different peoples memories and I think that the story was intended to be warped. Don't try and work it out just enjoy the music, the colours and the abundance of glitter.

Disappointing

I was not at all impressed with this film. The only good point was that it captured the retro glam rock ambience very well and seemed promising from this viewpoint.

However,there was really no substance to the film at all. The plot was trite and uninspiring; I was waiting in vain for the story to unfold, but in the end it developed like an amateur rocumentary.

I was equally unimpressed by the performance of the actors. They also seemed wooden and amateurish.

Velvet Goldmine: A warning for the lads :(

this review is for people who find an actor they like (eg Christian Bale) and then look into their back catalogue of movies to see if they have any 'before they made it big time' Gems. I am one of such people, so when i found out Bale had made a movie with Ewan McGreggor and Eddie Izzard (to name only the biggest names) i was like 'yeah i will rent that' when the disc turned up i got some beers in, a few of the lads over and a pizza with the works. we sat down to watch the movie and in the first 15-20 mins there is a full frontal of McGreggor. Now, we decided to soldier on and give it another chance, how ever things got worse! With more and more same side of the road action, with very little boob to compensate. In short this is a weak movie with an entirely sub standard plot, unsatisfactory conclusion. the type of movie you are forced to watch with the girlfriend (who will love it). i cant belive they got so many big names for this film.

This movie is what we call in the industry, really Really REALLY gay

Interesting!!!

If you a music lover this one's for you(although not for the fate hearted)a very interesting film definitely worth watching!

Elegance walking hand in hand with a lie.

There are two ways to watch this film. The first is to sit down and attempt to watch a biography of 70s Bowie and, if you do that, then you've failed from the start and will be utterly disappointed for this is not what this film is about and Todd Haynes will quite happily tell you that himself.

It is more about the Glam Rock era per say and the idea of building up personas, experimentation and the whole shebang. In that sense the film works very well because it twists and turns, deceives and never gives a completely straight answer and plays joyfully with your interpretations and senses.

In some ways the idea of having Christian Bale’s looking back at his own past and how it intertwined with glam rock is a good idea as we can connect with this rather everyday character, and together we can look back and try to remember incidents, wild days and ideas that only seem more mysterious and strange with the passing of time.

Of course, as with all things, the passing of time renders things more beautiful and dreamlike than they ever were and the film plays on this, mixing the everyday with fantasy and dream until what the truth was, or is, is never that clear despite that the fact that we appear to have found all the answers and discovered Brian Slade’s big secret.

A truly awful film

Whenever the 'worst film you've ever seen' conversation crops up, Velvet Goldmine is top of my list. It's got not style or substance and is very, very boring. I managed to watch the whole thing expecting something entertaining to happen at some point, but to no avail.

[Highly rated reviewer]

(Almost) a classic...

As a (very thinly disguised) homage to David Bowie and Iggy Pop and the excesses of the 70's, this film almost succeeds. Whilst the era is recreated perfectly and there are some stunning performances, the plot is spolit by the lameness of lead actor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Brian Slade (read, David Bowie), who swaggers but does little else. It is left to Ewan McGregor as Curt Wild (read, Iggy Pop) to ignite the screen (and pose the question - would he make a damn good rock star in reality?) and the ever-excellent Toni Collette, who adds gravitas as Brian's wife Mandy. One to sit and watch and wallow, whilst wearing your flares and platforms...

Pretentious drivel. Somehow tries to make out that glam rock was a significant movement in British culture - as if! I guess Ewan McGregor can be forgiven for getting involved in it - he was a lot younger! Best place for this one is at the bottom of a mine!

Dissapointing

To be honest I only got it out because Ewan McGregor was in it and actually he was'nt in it all that much.

A good capturing of the glam rock era, especially for those of us who lived thru it. The story however was all over the place , hard to follow and desperately boring at times and not with any real payback at the end.

Avoid it.

A Very Acquired Taste

If you like a film to jump around more than a kangaroo on speed and have random gay sex scenes interspersed throughout then this is for you - if like me you don't - do not watch this!