Spike Island (2012)

Great story to keep me interested. Hoping there was going to be cameos by The Stone Roses but none the less still a great film. The story of 4 guys wanting to start a band always sounds cliché. "Maybe if we start a band we can be big and tour the world!" Not exactly like this here. They just pure and simply want to give there demo to Ian Brown which is somewhat unrealistic in my opinion but you know what? It's different. No one else thinks to do this with a plot line. It is a change. Whether it's language, accent, scenery etc. I just got really interested on every characters development. Knowing they can do better than what they are already doing. Working with the sources they have to build up a sense of what recording music and producing music is like. I give this a solid 10 for that!

Spike island was an amazing film that I would happily watch over and over. I was inspired to watch this as I like the period it was set in (1990s). As a teen I thought it was brilliant as well as many members of my family. Before this film I had never really listened to the stone roses but watching this film influenced me and now I really enjoy their music. Also some of the main cast in spike island I like such as 'dodge'. I like the whole atmosphere of the film and the themes as there is sadness, love and fun. I would suggest this film to anyone as I enjoyed it so much. It's great!! Another reason why this film is so fantastic is because it is so funny in some parts. I think this film is to varied people's tastes and you don't really have to be a fan of the stone roses as it's not that much about them it's more about how they bring people together nearer to the end. This film made me want to have been bought up during this period. I thank the producer for making this film as its so so so so good and amazing!!!!! 😊😊🎉😜🎶🎶

It's May 1990, Great Britain, and The Stone Roses are about to play a monumental outdoor gig at Spike Island in Widnes, Cheshire. A bunch of teenage acolytes of the band, aspiring musicians themselves, embark on a journey to Spike Island whist at the same time embarking on personal journeys of the real life kind.Us Brits do like ourselves a coming of age drama set to the backdrop of musical importance. Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll) taps into the era of Baggy Manchester, of a Northern Britain dominated by pills, thrills and romantic bellyaches. To many of a certain age The Stone Roses were "their" Beatles, a power pop foursome that rocked it big time, their influence on the British music industry is still being felt today. This in spite of their relatively short life span. Re: The Sex Pistols at Winterland, see The Stone Roses at Spike Island (in other words it was a pretty awful gig all told).However, the band are secondary to the teen angst narrative threads, to the scallywag japes and sexual growing pains. As Messrs Ian Brown and John Squire weave their chordal magic in the background, a bunch of spotty Herbert's with mad mac haircuts and iffy accents try and make sense of it all, of life, death, loves and hates. Music binds them together, but does anything else?It's all very formulaic stuff, but for those of the time, or for those with a love for how music can define your life, or at the least shape its direction, then this hits the requisite chords. It's funny at times and the cast are ebullient enough to carry the clichéd and thin material home, but come the finale you will be remembering the soundtrack more than the story itself. 6.5/10

The UK is good at this...creating great cinema. Some of the drivel Hollywood is churning out at the moment (constant re-boots because they have frankly run out of ideas), makes you realise how good the UK film industry is at this game. I enjoyed this film immensely. One reason- I remember the time and music-I was 25 when this film was set, and I remember the big furore around The Stone Roses. I didn't fall for it myself at the time. I was (and still am) a big fan of New Order, and they for me were the greatest Manchester band, but fair play to the fans of the Roses, everyone likes different things. The film is a bright, very watchable, and at times funny experience, each character played very well. The film doesn't always follow the rules of predictability-I won't spoil it, but certain aspects could have turned out differently, but the writers didn't go down that route, and I found it better for it. All in all, if you like The Stone Roses it's a no brainer-see this film. Music fan? See this film. Great soundtrack too. 8/10.