I wanted to like this movie, but it was flawed in many ways. In summary, 1) no cohesive story 2) an uninteresting main character 3) not believable.
It was obvious to me that the creators were not real fans of the music, but rather looking to capitalize on a genre they 'thought' would make a good movie. They cast Stiv Bators to be a callous, brash, jerk who didn't care about Johnny Blitz's stabbing. He was, in fact, nothing like that. He was thoughtful, soft spoken, and incredibly upset about that incident. Another case in point, there were stickers all over the walls from the 90's & 2000's (ex. Naked Aggression, OFF!) when the Ramones were first taking the stage. Oops.
I also couldn't stand the way that Lisa Kristal, an executive producer of the film, clearly tried to make it seem like she had the vision for CBGB's (by telling her dad that this was the next big thing) or that she 'saved' the club from financial ruin, when in fact, this is complete nonsense.
In a tiny cameo, they portrayed Iggy Pop as a fool, as well, when he, not Hilly, is widely considered the 'Godfather' of punk. These people were not nihilistic morons, as they were portrayed. They were intelligent artists, making a statement against the music of the time (Foghat, Pink Floyd, etc). And yes, Hilly was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to give them a venue, but that fact alone does not make him a very interesting main character.
As a fan, I wanted this movie to be good, but it was just so wrong on so many levels. I'm sure everyone that was around to remember it feels the same way, too.
It was obvious to me that the creators were not real fans of the music, but rather looking to capitalize on a genre they 'thought' would make a good movie. They cast Stiv Bators to be a callous, brash, jerk who didn't care about Johnny Blitz's stabbing. He was, in fact, nothing like that. He was thoughtful, soft spoken, and incredibly upset about that incident. Another case in point, there were stickers all over the walls from the 90's & 2000's (ex. Naked Aggression, OFF!) when the Ramones were first taking the stage. Oops.
I also couldn't stand the way that Lisa Kristal, an executive producer of the film, clearly tried to make it seem like she had the vision for CBGB's (by telling her dad that this was the next big thing) or that she 'saved' the club from financial ruin, when in fact, this is complete nonsense.
In a tiny cameo, they portrayed Iggy Pop as a fool, as well, when he, not Hilly, is widely considered the 'Godfather' of punk. These people were not nihilistic morons, as they were portrayed. They were intelligent artists, making a statement against the music of the time (Foghat, Pink Floyd, etc). And yes, Hilly was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to give them a venue, but that fact alone does not make him a very interesting main character.
As a fan, I wanted this movie to be good, but it was just so wrong on so many levels. I'm sure everyone that was around to remember it feels the same way, too.