I just watched Love and Mercy, and it's a sweet portrait of the troubled Brian Wilson. It has its happy ending, which is a little too tidy considering that Wilson's still having mental struggles--remember the tour with Jeff Beck and his comments that Brian didn't know what was going on sometimes.
Still, Pet Sounds is one of my favorite albums, and it was fantastic to see the sessions recreated--even if they're over-dramatized.
Highly recommended.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
I'll watch it just because I like the band & the music, but I'm going to take it all w/a grain of salt.
Great movie - focused a bit too much on the Landy stuff and the mental illness...I would have liked to have seen more of the music making parts of his life...
Then again, the other Beach Boys movie includes more of the early heydays.
For me, the Beach Boys were better up 'til Pet Sounds (and still had moments of brilliance during and after) - but at that point for awhile Brian kinda got into the navel-gazing stage - and then there was the awful '70's studio glossiness...
Anyway, the movie was great, a little stressful (Giamatti is AMAZING at playing an evil, sinister Svengali (and a self-absorbed asshole, as well, referencing his turn as Pig Vomit in Private Parts, the Howard Stern biopic) and as the wine snob in Sideways.))
I love Elizabeth Banks, and as well, I'm a John Cusack fan, even though I feel like he's almost always (like Costner) playing himself.
"I'm gonna find myself a girl
that can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams..."
I'm not a fan of Paul G. Just don't like his acting style. I always know he's "just acting."
The Pet Sounds album and even Smiley Smile are my favorite Beach Boys album. I have never cared too much for their surf stuff. I think that if decent meds had existed then, BW would have proven himself even more of a genius, speculation of course.
My fave Beach Boys song is Good Vibrations--that just has everything I like in a pop/rock song: complex vocal harmonies, instrumentation, melody, great lyrics.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
Thanks for the review ---it is certainly on my "to watch" list
The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.
T. Roosevelt
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