UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

TxMike I came across this movie on Netflix streaming. I am a Rickman fan so watched it because of him. The subject turns out to be Punk Rock, a music genre that I truly hate, but the story of how all this came about is very interesting.Alan Rickman is New Jersey native Hilly Kristal who in 1973, after at least a couple of failed businesses leading to bankruptcy, decided to start yet another new business. He was certain that country music would be the next big thing so he called his place 'CBGB' which stood for 'Country, Blue Grass, and Blues.'As it turned out those musical forms never took off in his place, they took off in Nashville. But the CBGB became a magnet for alternative forms of music, like Punk Rock. Like The Ramones, or Debbie Harry, or The Dead Boys. Even The Police featuring Sting.Hilly was never much of a businessman. His place was crude and pest- infested, and he probably had the dirtiest toilets in Manhattan. He never bargained contracts for supplies and was paying too much, cutting into profits, which ended up in cash in his freezer.His daughter is played by Ashley Greene as Lisa Kristal, she recognizes his lack of business skills and sets out to make things right but Hilly was not very cooperative.All in all a pretty fascinating story, if it had been written as fiction we would have a hard time believing many of the things that are portrayed here.

mowasteph First off, I love Alan Rickman so it pains me to say this - why was he cast in this role? He sleepwalks through the whole thing. And I was told he was supposed to be all New York-y. He's about as New York-y as the Queen. A jew-fro, 20 extra pounds and a wardrobe of overalls does NOT make a character.Now on to the real problem: who wrote this thing? Did YOU get any sense of the importance or significance of CBGB watching this dumb movie? Because I didn't. Mostly it seemed to be a movie about a guy who steadfastly refused to pay his rent for no particular reason whatsoever. If the real Hilly was this much of a moronic aye-hole nobody would have had anything to do with him and history would not have been made.Now onto the "famous acts." These characters were paraded on in a ridiculous fashion. Oooo, there's Blondie. Oooo, there's Taylor Hawkins being Iggy. Oooo, there's the Ramones and the Talking Heads and a glimpse of Annie Golden and Harry Potter's friend in the Dead Boys. And why were those polished studio recordings used every time someone "played"? Where was the rawness? There was no sense of the growth of these bands or the growth of the club and there was no sense of what Hilly really meant to anyone. Remember in the final credits and they show Tina Weymouth at the RnR Hall of Fame bringing Hilly on stage with them and she talks about how Hilly FED them, and NURTURED them and blah blah blah. Did you see ANY of that in this movie? No.Finally...what was up with that comic book style? What in the world has this got to do with comic books?

marklamendola Saw the CBGB Movie last night... Great job! no car crashes.. just Hilly's truck, no alien invasion, no love story unless you count the part with.. Well, I wont mention any names.. Just a story about a little club that could.. at least for a little while. Alan Rickman did capture the essence of Mr. K.. this is not a documentary so I did not mind the time line of certain things not being accurate, it was entertaining and if you were not fortunate enough to have been there back in the day you can still learn a thing or two about the beginnings of Punk Rock. Yes there were many bands that played that stage and some are upset for not being included.. perhaps writing scathing reviews.. I was happy to be there "cant all be rock stars" Great tribute to Hilly at the end when Talking Heads were added to R&R Hall of Fame. I loved it and do want to see it again!

michaeltaaron-1 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.