obsession boyfriend i'm psyched girl crush i'm dreading enemy

(need an explanation?)

advertisements





when in Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K., I stay at
Adelphi Guest House




reviews Mon Apr 18 05, 10:36PM

It's All Gone Pete Tong (review)

Tragic and ironic disability. Crippling grief. Implacable personal demons. It sounds weird, but this is hilarious stuff. This impressive second feature from music-video director Michael Dowse pulses with energy and passion and the groove of the rave scene, but its affecting power is fueled by the true story of deejay Frankie Wilde, whose life of hard partying and nonstop pounding music in the clubs and on the beaches of Ibiza caused him to go stone deaf at the height of his creative power and popular success. (If you know your deejays, you know we're not talking about the guy hired for your cousin's wedding to play "The Electric Slide" for Grandma, but the kind of artist who uses his almost psychic connection with his audience and with the music to combine and intertwine beats and rhythms in a way that raises playing vinyl to an artform. And if you know your deejays, you'd be forgiven for thinking the flick is about superstar spinner Pete Tong; the title is Cockney rhyming slang that plays off his name and means "it's all gone wrong.") Pseudodocumentary in style, the film intersperses talking-head interviews with luminaries of the underground-music world discussing the enigma that was Wilde with dramatized bits in which Frankie (the electrifying Paul Kaye) traverses the ups and downs -- mostly the downs -- of his own calamity, to an effect that is as outrageous as it is unexpectedly poignant. The hallucinogenic segment in which Frankie's substance abuse takes on the form of a giant, disgusting skunk furry -- which he then proceeds to physically attack -- is one of the wisest and wittiest visual depictions of a man literally battling his demons that I've seen on film. It's also laugh-out-loud funny.

(more below the ad... scroll down...)

viewed at a private screening with an audience of critics
rated R
official site | IMDB
(more below the ad... scroll down...)



who I am


I'm MaryAnn Johanson: writer and ponderer in New York City who drinks too much wine and thinks way too much about such inconsequences as movies, TV, books, and the meaning of life.
[email me]
[become a Facebook fan]
[visit my personal Facebook page]
[follow me on Twitter]
[friend me on MySpace]

FlickFilosopher.com is available on Kindle

• contributor, Film.com
• member, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
• visit my scratchpad blog, MaryAnnJohanson.com
• read my Doctor Who fan fiction

photo by David Speranza

(postings feed)


top critic on Movie Review Query Engine


as seen on Rotten Tomatoes


member, Online Film Critics Society


member, Alliance of Women Film Journalists

Add to Technorati Favorites

monthly archives

recent screenings and hot movies

just opened (U.S.)
red for no The Twilight Saga: New Moon
yellow for maybe Planet 51
not viewed by me The Blind Side [trailer]
not viewed by me Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans [trailer]
yellow for maybe Broken Embraces
green for go Red Cliff [trailer]
yellow for maybe The Missing Person [trailer]
green for go Precious (expanding)
green for go Fantastic Mr. Fox (expanding)
just opened (U.K.)
red for no The Twilight Saga: New Moon
green for go A Serious Man
green for go The Informant!
box office top 5 (U.S.)
yellow for maybe 2012
red for no A Christmas Carol
green for go Precious
green for go The Men Who Stare at Goats
yellow for maybe Michael Jackson's This Is It
top limited releases (U.S.)
green for go Precious
red for no The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
green for go An Education
green for go A Serious Man
yellow for maybe Coco Before Chanel
box office top 5 (U.K.)
yellow for maybe 2012
red for no A Christmas Carol
not viewed by me Harry Brown
green for go Up
green for go The Men Who Stare at Goats
coming soon (U.S./U.K.)
red for no The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
yellow for maybe Serious Moonlight [trailer]
yellow for maybe A Single Man [trailer]
green for go Everybody's Fine [trailer]
red for no The Strip
green for go The Private Lives of Pippa Lee [trailer]
green for go The Young Victoria [trailer]
green for go Creation [trailer]
green for go The Road [trailer]
green for go The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus [trailer]
other current flicks (U.S./U.K.)
green for go Amelia
red for no Antichrist [trailer]
red for no Astro Boy
yellow for maybe The Box
green for go The Boys Are Back
green for go Bright Star
green for go Capitalism: A Love Story [trailer]
yellow for maybe Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
yellow for maybe Collapse
red for no Couples Retreat
green for go Creation [trailer]
green for go The Damned United
green for go An Education
green for go Five Minutes of Heaven
yellow for maybe The Fourth Kind
red for no Gentlemen Broncos [trailer]
green for go The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus [trailer]
green for go The Invention of Lying
red for no Jennifer's Body
green for go The Messenger [trailer]
green for go Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
yellow for maybe Paranormal Activity
red for no Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked)
yellow for maybe A Single Man [trailer]
yellow for maybe Where the Wild Things Are
red for no Whiteout
red for no Women in Trouble
green for go Zombieland

2009 screening log

new on dvd

11.17 (Region 1)
green for go Star Trek [buy]
green for go Humpday [buy]
green for go Bruno [buy]
green for go Is Anybody There? [buy]
yellow for maybe The Limits of Control [buy]
yellow for maybe My Sister's Keeper [buy]
yellow for maybe How to Be [buy]
green for go Farscape: The Complete Series [buy]
green for go Gone with the Wind: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.S.)

11.16 (Region 2)
green for go Star Trek [buy]
green for go Moon [buy]
green for go Sunshine Cleaning [buy]
yellow for maybe Four Christmases [buy]
yellow for maybe Tyson [buy]
green for go An Evening with John Barrowman [buy]
green for go Doctor Who: The Key to Time [buy]
green for go South Park: Christmas Time in South Park [buy]
green for go Star Trek Trilogy [buy]
green for go Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie Collection [buy]
green for go Star Trek: Films 1-10 Remastered Special Edition [buy]
yellow for maybe Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.K.)

11.10 (Region 1)
green for go Up [buy]
red for no The Ugly Truth [buy]
green for go The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season [buy]
green for go Ink [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.S.)

11.09 (Region 2)
green for go Bruno [buy]
yellow for maybe The Age of Stupid [buy]
red for no Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian [buy]
green for go The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season [buy]
green for go All Creatures Great and Small: Christmas Specials [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.K.)

11.03 (Region 1)
green for go The Taking of Pelham 123 [buy]
green for go Thicker Than Water: The Vampire Diaries Part 1 [buy]
yellow for maybe Food, Inc. [buy]
red for no G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra [buy]
red for no Aliens in the Attic [buy]
red for no I Love You, Beth Cooper [buy]
green for go North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition) [buy]
green for go Doctor Who: The War Games [buy]
green for go Doctor Who: The Black Guardian Trilogy [buy]
green for go National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Ultimate Collector's Edition) [buy]
green for go Mission: Impossible: Complete Series [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.S.)

11.02 (Region 2)
green for go Public Enemies [buy]
yellow for maybe Last Chance Harvey [buy]
red for no Year One [buy]
red for no Blood: The Last Vampire [buy]
green for go Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.K.)

my book (Amazon U.S.)

my book (Amazon U.K.)

advertisements

search

Google
flickfilosopher.com
web