Download, Watch online 24 Hour Party People Movie.

seh-7 20 May 2012

Brilliant mockumentary

This is a brilliant movie about a brilliant time in music history. I'mtoo young to really remember Madchester, but have subsequently got intoelectronic music and adore the Joy Division/New Order sound.I loved this movie, because I love the music and I knew a bit of thehistory of the bands, the Factory story and the Hacienda. Not sure howaccessible it would be to people who don't have any knowledge of thishistory, as some of the funnier moments rely on in-jokes.Due to the tragic nature of some of the story, knowing the history ofthe bands can be a burden, e.g. the suicide of Ian Curtis. The scenepreceding it where he goes to talk to Wilson's first wife is horribleto watch, because you know what he does next and can sense hisdesperation. Sean Harris should've got some sort of award for thisrole, he plays Curtis to perfection.The madness of the Mondays is hilariously captured and you wonder howthey managed to produce any music at all, let alone the great stuffthey did. The DVD could be used as a powerful anti-drugs message too,as the interview with Shaun Ryder on the 2nd disc is unnerving to watch- poor bugger's been so shattered by drug use that he can barely stringa sentence together and can't sit still (is constantly jiggling about).But the movie chooses to follow Wilson's journey through this timeperiod, and the bands are secondary. Given that the easiest way to lookat this period is to look for the central connecting factor: FactoryRecords, and build the story around that, this makes sense. I alsoliked the way it took the Chopper Reid approach to "history" (ie."Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn") and how it openlyacknowledges that this is no true account of what happened, but a storycreated around the persona of Tony Wilson (the "I definitely don'tremember this happening" scene is classic!) In a way, this isappropriate - Factory is a fairytale, and was run on fairly ridiculousprinciples of management where art and not profit was the bottom line(how much better the world of music would be if this approach actuallyworked!!) But fairy tales don't work in real life, unfortunately, and24HPP shows what happens when the arse falls out of the fairytale quitewell.Also like the God cameo ("You're right!" "I usually am.")As far as criticism of the dialogue goes (the "I couldn't understandthe accents" line) - get over it! Not everyone speaks Yankee English,or BBC English, and the regional accents of the world are what makesthe English language interesting. If you have problems understandingMancunian speak (or any other Northern dialect), unplug your ears ofprejudice and listen. It's not hard to understand. And if it is...well, that's what subtitles are for on DVDs!!

pierre-dupont 19 May 2012

Funny, witty and thoroughly enjoyable!

24 HR Party People is easily one of the most enjoyable music"documentaries" I have seen. It plays at times like a Spinal Tap forthe Manchester pop scene, but Coogan as Wilson is fantastic.The movie does an excellent job of portraying the fervour, madness andantics of the evolving music scene and Factory Records. Having been aNew Order fan (and subsequently a Joy Division fan) since the mid-80s,I relished the opportunity to see it up close.The best bits are the ones about the Happy Mondays, a gang ofne'er-do-wells making incredible pop songs while completely out oftheir minds on drugs. Their trip to Barbados is priceless.While watching, make sure you turn the real Tony Wilson's commentaryon, his asides and notes will make you double over in laughter, andalso offer great insight on his work.I unfortunately could not give this higher than an 8 because at times,Wilson name-drops while introducing new people and even a hardcoreMancunian fan like myself was hard-pressed to identify and understandwhat was going on.Excellent movie!

Steven Rea 18 May 2012

The actors' performances are a mix of eerie mimicry and something more: a portrait of ambitious dreamers kicking around big notions and doing absolutely self-destructive, stupid things.

fedor8 17 May 2012

Better than expected.

Does the pathetic Manchester music scene need a movie about it? Well,yes and no. The music is certainly horrible enough to be ignored bymovie-goers and music fans alike – this sort of mediocre garbage beingdestined for oblivion. (The title song alone can only appeal to theseverely tone-deaf.) However, was there a sufficient number ofinteresting (read: moronic) characters and events in this music sceneto warrant a movie? Yes.I had so far seen only the flawed but solid "Butterfly Kiss" and theawful/silly "9 Songs" from my favourite-name director, Winterbottom("Zimskaguzica" in Serbian, "Winterarsch" in German), so I expect(ed)little from any of Coldrear's offerings. However, to his credit hehired Steve Coogan (or did Steve hire him? matters not…) who does avery good job in a semi-dramatic semi-comedic role. The hand-heldcamera shtick is so trite, but the story itself unfolds briskly enoughas to make one forgive and forget that little pretentiousness-induceddirectorial travesty. The rest of the cast are quite solid, too.

16 May 2012

Filmed perfection

Funny, moody, sublimely acted, and casting that is completely on target. Even if you're not familiar with Manchester's post-punk music scene, it'll at least make you think about what you've missed. Coogan is brilliant as Wilson.Fantastic film. I cannot say enough good things about it.

Peter Howell 16 May 2012

Winterbottom captures the spirit of the times, although the film's camera shakes and psychedelic colour bursts may make many viewers feel like reaching for Gravol rather than Ecstasy.

DVD_Connoisseur 16 May 2012

A thoroughly entertaining trip down memory lane

Watching "24 Hour Party People" was a nostalgic experience for me,bringing back memories of nights many moons ago. From beginning to end,the film is a genuine treat for anybody who experienced the Madchesterscene or who has an appreciation for the music that came out of it.Steve Coogan's portrayal of the late, great Anthony H. Wilson ismarvellously entertaining. Every scene is a joy to behold and thedialogue is hilariously true to life.The scenes around Manchester are superbly staged and there's asmörgåsbord of familiar faces in the movie. On top of this, thesoundtrack and the recreation of the Hacienda's final night are toogood to miss.9 out of 10. Not a perfect film but a genuine pleasure to view.

Ken Fox 16 May 2012

An absolute thrill for fans of the Manchester scene.

Steven Rosen 15 May 2012

With enough verve and energy, if a not an absolute devotion to truth, to keep you dancing and thinking for days.

DesbUK 15 May 2012

A Piece of genre defying brilliance

I watched the DVD of '24 Hour Party People' again on the August nightin 2007 when Tony Wilson died. I first saw it in 2002, and then I'dnever heard of Tony Wilson, Factory Records, Joy Division, and was onlyvaguely aware that there had been a group called The Happy Mondays anda Manchester nightclub called the Hacienda. Yet, it's the strength ofMichael Winterbottom's film that it made me wish I was a film director- the picture is so alive with the genuine possibilities offilm-making.7 years later, the film stands up to many successive viewings as apiece of genre defying brilliance, and like the best English films - AMatter of Life and Death, A Hard Day's Night, Monty Python and the HolyGrail - finds fantasy in reality.Steve Coogan neither looks nor sounds like the real Tony Wilson - butthat's part of the idiosyncratic point of the film. He's terrific inthe part of the Cambridge graduate with ambitious plans for theManchester music scene. The film follows Wilson from 1976, when he is aTV presenter in Manchester, up to closing of his nightclub the Haciendain the early 1990s. It's the story of his record label, the groups hesigned - Joy Division (later to become New Order) and the Happy Mondays- his epic nightclub and lots of civic pride.'24 Hour Party People' portrays the Manchester music scene of the timeas being populated by foul, rowdy, drug fuelled yobs. Other thanWilson, none of the characters are remotely likable. Winterbottom'sfilm is full of the authentic shabbiness and aggression of thelate-seventies and the 1980s, but whilst the look is realistic, thedirectional style has an anything goes brilliance about it. Forinstance, Coogan's Wilson narrates to camera constantly referring tothe fact you're watching a film. Indeed, the first scene is a 1976Granada evening news report about hang gliding after which Wilson tellsus - like the film we're about to watch - it works on a literal andmetaphorical level. It's full of memorable moments like Shaun and PaulRyder on a Manchester roof top, feeding the pigeons rat-poison filledbread then watching the pigeons fly and off and drop from the skiesdead - all accompanied to the Ride of the Valkyries on the soundtrack.Or Wilson walking across Hacienda dance floor surrounded by franticclubbers and saying of the birth of the Rave culture "Somethingepoch-making is happening, they're applauding the DJ....Welcome toMadchester."Frank Cotteral Boyce's script gives Coogan's Wilson some sparklingdialogue, such as "Jazz is the last refuge of the untalented. Jazzmusicians enjoy themselves far more than anyone listening to them."Wilson eventually looses control of his nightclub to drug dealers andhas to sell his record company Factory Records after the Happy Mondaysspend three months in Barbados spending the company's money on drugswhen they should have been recording their new album (they eventuallyrecord one, but without lyrics) In the final scene - atop of a gloomyManchester roof top - Wilson sees a vision of God, who looks just likehim. The supporting cast is uniformly good, from Shirley Henderson as hiswife, Paddy Considine as Rob, the manager of Joy Division; Andy Serkisas the drunken, drug addicted sound recordist Martin Hannah; even RobBrydon as a local rock journalist. Winterbottom is an astonishingly versatile director, but this is -along with it's companion piece A Cock and Bull Story - is by far hismost entertaining film.

Matt Easterbrook 14 May 2012

Steve Coogan makes a likeable enough narrator, and director Michael Winterbottom uses enough cinematic tricks to keep things interesting. Still, for those not in the know, 24 Hour Party People can seem 24 hours long.

Mark Adams 13 May 2012

Thanks to an excellent script from Frank Cottrell Boyce, brilliant cinematography by the legendary Robby Muller and intelligent direction by Winterbottom, the film is constantly amusing and fascinating.

nqure 05 May 2012

And on the 7th day God created Madchester

An anarchic portrayal of the Manchester music scene from the late 70s & punkto the acid fuelled dance phenomenon of the late 80s/early 90s. The filmcentres on the maverick tv presenter Tony Wilson, who, with Alan Eramus, setup Factory records, the pioneering independent Manchesterlabel.The film seems to be in two parts. The first half chronicles the influencepunk had on Wilson and his own influence in establishing one of the greatBritish bands, Joy Division. Sean Harris gives an excellent, almost eerie,performance as Ian Curtis, the band's highly sensitive lead singer. There-enactment of gigs, Curtis's strange jerky dance are all capturedgenuinely and this is one of the film's strengths.The scenes following Curtis' death are uncomfortable & slightly black: atown crier yodelling news about his suicide, Curtis' grandmother tellingWilson how much she likes him as a tv presenter at Curtis' funeral and evenWilson's rather strange, typical pseudo-intellectual remark to a futurebiographer that the singer was the musical equivalent of Che Geuvara. Butjust when you think the film is bordering on poor taste, it then has itsmost affecting moment as Wilson, usually all pretentious bluff & bluster,says a final tender goodbye to his friend at the open coffin.The second half moves onto Wilson & co's initially unsuccessful entry intothe club scene with the opening of the Hacienda before lurching into theanarchic self-destruction of the Happy Mondays. The film becomes almostfarcical as we see Wilson, the Cambridge intellectual, out of his depth withthese Manc chancers as they practically bankrupt Factory after blowing£200k, supposed to be spent recording the album designed to save Factory, ona drug addled binge in the Caribbean. Wilson's (Coogan) reaction as he playsthe tape with the new album, only to find it has no vocals, isgreat.There's an element of sadness to the end as it charts the end of era forManchester music; the end of Factory, a label that competed with London andwhich gave its artists creative liberty; and the end of the Hacienda, adance venue which put Manchester on the world music map.The film is a mix of drama documentary; I particularly liked the openingscene at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, where at a seminal Sex Pistols gig,Wilson tells us about who was in the paltry audience of 42; practically allthe great & the good of Manchester music.It's also a film about the blurring between truth & myth. I was particularlypleased to see the real Howard Devoto (Buzzcocks and the great underratedMagazine) appear suddenly to challenge Wilson's story about catching him &Wilson's first wife 'in flagrante'. The film's not perfect, some would describe it as a mess, but there's nodisputing its energy and range of memorable characters (Paddy Considine asRob Gretton, Andy Serkis as Martin 'Zero' Hannett); it's certainly a Britishfilm that's come at the right time and makes a refreshing change from thestaples of gangsters, period dramas, & Richard Curtis-land. It's a musicfilm that, on the whole, works and it also has plenty of good humour.All in all, a great tribute to a great city and the bands it hasspawned.

JoBlo 05 May 2012

The film went on for too long, delivered very little substance, offered zero interesting characters and ultimately just bored the crap out of me.

Robert Wilonsky 03 May 2012

It's not so much the sound of 'Madchester' captured on film as it is the spirit -- how a place so gloomy could wind up the center of rave culture, how the dreary finally got up and danced.

Framescourer 03 May 2012

Funny and poignant chronicle of irrepressible 1980s Manchester music scene

A brilliant, original "docu-drama" about the Post-Punk to Rave musicscenes that took hold in 1980s Manchester. It keeps hopping the fencebetween irony and simple documentary film-making; between affectionate,almost self-effacing ridicule and pathos.It's inescapably personal, put together with sense of love andnostalgia. This is reflected in the British cast, equally split betweencomics and actors and with a smattering of cameos from the subjects ofthe documentary. At the centre of this project is Steve Coogan's TonyWilson (a promoter at the centre of the 'Madchester' scene). Coogan isa comic of the same stable as Baron Sacha Cohen (Ali G), Ricky Gervais(David Brent of the The Office) or the satirist Chris Morris, given toblurring the demarcations between character and comic-actor in order toobfuscate the boundaries of irony. The technique is brilliant in satireand works at least as well here. We are encouraged to look back, unsureas to whether to laugh with or at the content of the documentary. Theresult is that our only points of reference are the relationships ofthe characters – detached in this way from the stigma of fashion or, infact, any association – and the music.At the time of writing this there is a fresh attention to the work ofthe third-way musicians taking on the 1980s, who rejected the"id-rock", if you like, of Punk in search of an artistic social realism– without returning to the operatic contrivances of Prog-Rock. Thisfilm serves as a resonant, thorough reference to that period which isnow informing a fresh swing from the flatulent, market-driven music atthe start of this century. On its own it still stands as a touching andextremely funny examination of the wildly eclectic elements that makefor good music/artists and the persistence of fluke being the mostimportant factor that brings them - and us – together.

01 May 2012

Don't waste your money on this one

Talentless people and garbage music torture you in this turkey-in no time flat,you'll be driven to pure insanity as you run screaming "MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" out into the yard.Do not spend money on this product unless you want to wind up beating your head against the wall and babbling nonsense.

cyrus33139 01 May 2012

Movie? No. Soundtrack? Yes!

Though I've never been to Manchester, I owe much of who I am today to thesubjects of this film. I was six years old when the punk scene began, butcaught up to it in my early teens. I spent most of my early teen yearslistening to Joy Division, New Order, and the like. Towards my late teensImoved on, and evolved, as did Manchester, into the acid house and earlyravescene (though my raving days were in San Francisco). So, of course, when Iheard about this movie I couldn't wait to see it.Having said all that, I found this movie to be quite disappointing. Thoughit told us throughout the film that the birth and evolution of theManchester scene was a historical event it failed to show us the trueenergyand excitement. It is a film about Factory Records, but it seems tointentionally avoid creating a sense of what the punk-then new wave-thenacid house subculture was about. Factory records was obviously created outof a passion that is all but missing here. The story line is incoherent,though not in the avant-garde way that i believe it was meant to be. Ifyoudidn't spend the eighties living off the music that was the Manchesterscene, don't expect to learn anything about it from this film. If you did,like I did, then there will be parts inspired by the soundtrack that willinstigate a great longing for the days, when underground really was.There are some good points that should be noted. The portrayal of IanCurtis is amazing. And the dancing Happy Mondays guy and shots of theHacienda crowd while Voodoo Ray is playing will, for a moment, take youback..But, be warned, the comedown is harsh.Recommend the movie? No. Buy the soundtrack? Definitely!

01 May 2012

Great movie about a horrible genre.

SOMEWHAT OF A SPOILER NEAR END - The item may be common knowledge to fans of this music scene (or may not). It is also presented pretty early in the movie but it the weight of it is not actualized until the end of the movie. So it probably isn't really considered a spoiler, but I am giving the warning just in case.********The time period was the greatest time period in underground music. Hardcore punk and extreme metal underground was at it's strongest before degenerating into a sub-genre of pop music as it now stands.As always happens, bridges are always being built joining popular culture and independent cultures. The extreme music scene of the 80s unfortunately had spawned more than it's share of these musical bridge culture experiences.Nu Wave - bridging punk and popGrunge - bridging punk, extreme metal and pop.Alternative - bridging punk and pop.The Sub-pop bands - a particularly annoying subsection of alternative.Industrial - bridging extreme metal and pop.Nu Metal - bridging death metal and pop.and a whole slew of "edgy" mainstreamers such as NIN, Marilyn Manson, White Zombie.All this watering down of genres does is to dilute it to the point that it no longer effectively exists, minimally affects pop culture, and can no longer regain its purity due to the ever dilluding association.This movie describes itself at looking at the Manchester "punk" scene which shows how the word punk has lost every aspect of it's definition in use today. This is alternative pop clear and simple.This is a scene I totally despised back in the day and still hate now. But I was surprised at how much I liked this movie.This movie has a lot of bad reviews and I see a lot of bizaare criticisms of it.One said it was a "mockumentary worse than Best in Show". This is not a mockumentary. It is a true story and quite an interesting one.Others complained that Tony Wilson was a despicable character. This is utter nonsense and shows the vicious twisted values of pop culture. Quite the opposite, this movie presents Tony Wilson as an angel of person giving entirely of himself for the sake of the music and the artists. If this movie is an accurate portrayal of him, Tony Wilson self-destructed by his own extreme generosity and authentic love for the genre. I still view it wasted being in the service of garbage music but this movie shows Tony Wilson of holding extreme virtue. The total opposite of a despicable character.This movie shows Tony Wilson falling in love with the sprouting alternative scene in Manchester and investing himself totally into it and its promotion. It shows his creation of the Hacienda Night Club and Factory Records. It presents this in a unique stylish manner (which probably appears similar to the Spinal Tap style confusing the other reviewer that this was a mockumentary) that actually works for the movie. It is also one of the few movies that properly utilizes self-reference by introducing information while reminding us that it's main purpose is to tell a real story.I didn't know the story of these events before but I assume the main points are correct.You will see the sincerity of Tony Wilson as he gets run over by the very bands he is promoting, his many struggles, and the many unique situations in the music business. The music exploded but Tony's mismanagement in business structure caused Factory to struggle along financial always near collapse. For Tony it was all about the music. He had great skill in promoting the scene but almost no skill in taking the money out of it for himself.Finally, Factory failed and Tony would have then been able to cash in for big money by selling the entire business to other more business focused parties. THE MILD SPOILER> However, if the movie is correct, the only contracts Factory had with their bands was that each party had "the freedom to f**k off". They were free to take the spoils of Wilson's labors without dealing with Wilson.Despite hating this music scene, I recognize it is a great story of the independent do-it-yourself spirit as exhibited in the Tony Wilson character.

darknessbeauty666 30 April 2012

A charmingly British film that is both funny and facinating

Alternative music is a passion of mine, so when I heard that there was filmbeing made about factory records/'madchester', I was looking foward toseeing it. I wasn't disapointed.The script is very witty, the soundtrack is brilliant (Buzzcocks, A CertainRatio, Sex Pistols, Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, I could goon....), it probably isn't 100% true to what actually happened, but thatdoesn't matter that much, after all, 24 Hour Party People is only afilm.It also brings you into the lives of those there, and also heavily exploresnot only the music, but the scene too, which is very important because itessentially spawned the rave music of today.A fun filled way to spend a couple of hours. Highly recomended.