GOOD VIBRATIONS | MOVIE REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY
GOOD VIBRATIONS is a muso film that has been killing it overseas. It is about Terri Hooley’s life, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast’s punk-rock scene. When I read the words, muso film, I just forwarded the invite to Kernel Andrew, this is his field, I am so relic now I have moved to talkback on, wait for it, the AM band hahaha. So unless it’s an old Australian band, Bieber or 1D you really want to read Andrew’s thoughts on this film :). GOOD VIBRATIONS is currently sitting on 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, out of 25 critics. The film runs for 103mins, is yet to be rated (I am going to throw it out there and have a guess at M) and it is releasing on my birthday, when I get another year older, June 12th. Good news is that thanks to the amazing peeps at CURIOUS FILM we have 10X doubles passes to giveaway, find out down below on how to enter and if the film is playing at a cinema convenient to you. Enjoy Andrew’s review below………………..all the best………………JK.

REVIEW BY ANDREW BRUSENTSEV
Sometimes out comes a film which should be seen by everybody but gets a limited marketing campaign, limited press and generally flies under the radar. GOOD VIBRATIONS, made by husband and wife team Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barso D’Sa, is such a movie (directed by the former, written by the later). It is based on the true stories of Terri Hooley who is known as the Godfather of Belfast Punk. So obviously it is/was a big deal in Northern Ireland. Sadly for the rest of the world it has not been given the due attention that it should, although luckily for us, CURIOUS is getting it released in Australia.
So who is Terri Hooley (Richard Dormer) you may ask? Well Hooley was the man who believed that music was the answer to the troubles between Catholics and the Protestants through some of the worst times in modern Northern Irish history (the period known as The Troubles). Terri sees the world a little bit differently (he was blinded as a child in one eye, a scene we see quite early in the picture) from everyone else around him. Refusing to affiliate with either side, Terri finds that the coming of the Troubles and the end of the hippy period sees old friends becoming enemies and simmering tensions breaking out into outright violence. Many flee to London, but that’s not Terri’s style. Instead he consults with his wife (Jodie Whittaker) and decides to open up his eponymous, ironically named record store on one of the city’s most bombed streets.

He starts the seminal Good Vibrations record label and store. This determined stand eventually sees Hooley discover and then release The Undertones genius “Teenage Kicks” unto the world. If you are asking who are The Undertones get thee to Wikipedia or Google and then listen. It was the only track that the legendary DJ Sir John Peel played back to back on his radio show on BBC1. The movie explores all of this but goes further. It explores the man, the myth and the angry streets of his hometown.
The success of The Undertones could have made the man a millionaire but this major turning point in the movie shows Hooley to be a very rigid (perhaps even selfish protagonist). Instead of asking for money to move The Undertones over to a major label he signs over all rights for a new £500 van and a signed photo of The Shangri-Las. This would be and is an hilarious scene but then we remember that Hooley has just had a young child and the family is really struggling on ideals alone. It’s tough to fully respect the man for acting as a father figure to hundreds of young punks when he fails to fill the same role in his own home.
But that is what makes this movie so special. It is a warts and all account of an important figure in Northern Irish music but one that is not all happy and upbeat. At some points the Punk Godfather really has no clothes.

I won’t reveal too much of the plot, I want people to see this excellent movie, but suffice to say it’s very well structured. It gives us a potted history of the period, from our hero’s first encounter with the first Mrs Hooley, to Hooley setting up his infamous record store, discovering punk almost by accident, and finally facing the closure of his record shop (due to his passion being far greater than his business sense). This crisis leads to a rousing fundraiser at the Ulster Hall where the punks of Belfast come to the stores rescue in true Hooley style with mixed results. I won’t spoil it but it’s true to the Hooley legend.
Richard Dormer plays Hooley impeccably. Part oddball, part genius visionary, he is the archetypal crazed fanatical music fan. Two other familiar faces to most will be Liam Cunningham (familiar to GOT fans as Davos Seaworth, in fact Dormer will soon be in GOT himself) as well as Dylan Moran who both acquit themselves very well.
All in all this movie is a must see for any music fan.

GOOD VIBRATIONS WILL BE PLAYING:
Australian Cinemas June 12:
Cinema Nova
Palace Brighton Bay
Palace Centro
Palace Como
Palace Electric
Palace Leederville
Palace Norton St
Palace Nova Eastend
Palace Verona
State Cinema
New Zealand Cinemas June 12:
Alice Cinematheque
Basement Cinema
Bridgeway
Paramount Theatre
Penthouse Cinema
Rialto Newmarket
Rialto Dunedin
The Gecko (19/06/14)
With special thanks to CURIOUS to win one of the 10X double passes to see GOOD VIBRATIONS you need to either like and share this post on Facebook or retweet/ favourite it on Twitter, you then need to leave a comment below stating the answer to the following question:
What is your favourite IRISH movie and why? I think I would go with IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, although BREAKFAST ON PLUTO is amazing. It should be noted that out of the top 100 Irish films of all time – IMDB lists this at number 24. This should help you HERE.
If you do not have Facebook and Twitter then get with the times old timer – You can still enter, leave your entry below and email me at jking@saltypopcorn.com.au telling me you don’t have social media
The prizes will be sent in the next week. Good luck! Oh, and minor housekeeping – huge apologies for overseas readers, this competition is only available to Australian residents.
Lots of interesting people in it, i always like Liam Cunningham and Dylan Moran is hilarious, I’m really looking forward to seeing him in Calvary soon. My favourite Irish movie is The Guard, Brendan Gleeson is fantastic in it. It’s just like an Irish buddy cop movie should be full of black humour, lots of swearing and just the right amount of machine guns.
“My Left Foot”. A wonderful performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. Very inspirational and moving film.
Friends of mine saw this last year in the British Film Festival that Palace Cinemas held and said it was great and really recommended seeing it. I’m picking my favourite Irish film based on it giving us possibly the finest actor of his generation and that’s Daniel Day Lewis in the film – My Left Foot, it’s an amazing performance and a fully deserved Oscar, I’m just glad it got the international acclaim and attention that it deserved so we all got to see it.
There hasn’t been an Irish movie in ages and now we seem to be getting a run of them with Calvary and Frank coming soon too. I’m not certain it’s my favourite but definitely up amongst them – Disco Pigs starring one of my favourite Irish Actors – Cillian Murphy this was especially memorable because at the Melbourne Film Festival donkeys years ago when it screen, despite them speaking English, the film was subtitled for Australian audiences because the accents were so difficult to understand. I also got to see the play which was great too.
My favourite Irish film would be Ian Fitzgibbon’s pitch black comedy entitled irreverently “A Film with Me in it.” Its plot tackles an inherently interesting prospect: how would you deal with a situation entirely dictated by a cataclysm of remarkable coincidence? In this case it is the deaths of numerous of the main character Mark’s associates by inexplicably ridiculous means all within a concentrated period of time. Dylan Moran, wonderfully hilarious in Black Books, lends his dogged drunkard persona to provide a discerning and cynical eye upon such strange events joining the hapless Mark Doherty as a jobless actor stunned when life begins to imitate art. It’s the kind of movie that makes you assess your own personality as to examine why you are laughing at such horrific things – a great Irish movie.
Can you overlook my unfaithfulness and allow me to enter? 🙂 I loved an Irish film that I watched on DVD only recently – What Richard Did – actually I think Andrew got the dvd from you guys, I discovered it sitting beside the TV one night looking for any random movie to watch. I honestly didn’t expect much from it but thought it was a really refreshing and honest depiction of modern teenagers very different to what you usually see of teenagers in Hollywood movies. My ever-knowledgable movie flatmate has since pointed me to the director’s first film – Garage which was hilarious if not really odd and I believe he’s the diretor of the new film with Michael Fassbender & Domhnall Gleeson – Frank, so it seems Irish cinema is on a bit of a roll.
We even accept whore’s on Salty, it’s how we roll Ryan 🙂 Nice work on What Richard Did being your answer – one of my favourite films from last year and yes, he won that from Salty. We are reviewing FRANK this week. Very much looking forward to it.
You all win tickets 🙂 Sending this afternoon as completely forgot it releases tomorrow – gratz!!!
Harry Varvaressos – have emailed you as I need your postal address, I have all the others – they are all Comp Junkies 🙂 Haha