Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

werefox08 Andy Serkis gives a great performance as the 70s/80s alternative punk psycho...Ian Dury. If only the rest of this movie was up to the standards of Serkis. Sadly its not. It is made in a kind of "experimental" way, with strange and severe flashbacks. The idea was (probably) to make a movie in the style of Ian Dury. I am pretty sure Dury would have hated this. The attempts to make Dury...at times...a regular guy sitting at home with his wife--are simply ridiculous. Doing his biggest commercial success "Hit me With Your Rhythm Stick" in a swimming pool was desperation. It is a movie that is always mis-directed. The great performance by Serkis will ...unfortunately...be forgotten.

ajs-10 Back in 1977 while punk was just getting going, a band called Ian Dury and the Blockheads released an album called 'New Boots and Panties'. A few years later, feeling a bit nostalgic, I bought said album really cheap. I still have it today; in fact I'm listening to it as I type this review. Now, onto the film, it's a biopic all about Ian Dury, his fight against disability and his rise to fame. Here's a brief summary before I tell you my thoughts (summary haters please mingle with the audience while I write the next paragraph).Ian Dury was an entertainer, or that's what he always said he was interviewed. He had been struck down with polio when he was young and this left him withered down his left side. When we first see him, he is with another band who are rehearsing downstairs while his wife, Betty, gives birth upstairs. Later, after their last gig, he meets Denise Roudette, with whom he has an affair. They move in together and a while later, his son, Baxter, comes to stay with them. As Ian puts a new band together, including musician and songwriter Chaz Jankel, Baxter struggles to come to terms with the chaotic lifestyle he has been thrown into. The film plots his rise to fame and the effect it has on Ian and those around him. It also tells of his early life in flashback, his relationship with his father, Bill, and his unhappy childhood in an institution. I won't say any more as I don't want to give too much away.Made in a very theatrical style, this film cuts from live action to animation, to live musical performances and back again. It all sounds a bit chaotic, but, for me at least, it works. At the centre is a really great performance from Andy Serkis as Ian Dury, although he doesn't particularly look like him, he has all his mannerisms down to a tee. I also thought Bill Milner played the part of Baxter Dury very well, it can't have been an easy part for a young actor and I thought he coped with it pretty well. Similarly, Wesley Nelson played the part of Young Ian Dury very well. I should also give honourable mentions to Olivia Williams as Ian's wife, Naomie Harris as Denise Roudette, Tom Hughes as Chaz Jankel, and nice cameos from both Ray Winstone as Bill Dury (Ian's dad) and Noel Clarke as Desmond.Although Ian Dury wasn't the easiest person to get along with (for those that don't know, he passed away in 2000) and consequently not the nicest man in the world, I found this quite an enjoyable film to watch. I can't say I'm a huge fan of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, but I do recognise that Ian was a very talented chap and I always respected him as an artiste. Later in his career he appeared in quite a few films, not a bad actor. Over all, it's quite an interesting film, very touching at times but also quite bold in its approach. I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but still… recommended.My score: 7.1/10

Jackson Booth-Millard I had seen clips of this British film on Film 2010 with Jonathan Ross, and it looked highly interesting to see the actor who was Gollum take on a really good role like this. Basically Ian Dury (BAFTA nominated Andy Serkis) was born with polio, an infectious disease based disability causing problems for the spinal cord. This film shows his journey towards stardom as a punk rocker of the 1970's, with his alternative and ingenious approach to singing with great lyrics. It sees his leaving wife Betty (The Ghost's Olivia Williams) and going from place to place with son Baxter (Bill Milner), and his meeting of new love interest Denise Roudette (Naomie Harris). Ian Dury with his band The Blockheads started out in low key gigs, before eventually going for the guns with a recording studio and as we see in many cutaways from the story, a live concert. Through the film we see his struggling through childhood with his disability, his time with his father Bill (Ray Winstone), and the relationships of those who spent time with him musically and socially. Also starring Tom Hughes as Chaz Jankel, James Jagger as John Turnbull, The Office's Mackenzie Crook as Russell Hardy and Noel Clarke as Desmond. Serkis is brilliant as Dury, with his deep voice, costumes and make-up, his prominent drinking and smoking habit, and of course his on the money performances with songs like "Billericay Dickie", "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", "Spasticus Autisticus" and the title song. If it wasn't for the fantastic performance by Serkis I don't think this film would be worth seeing, so thank goodness they chose him, it is a colourful, musical and really likable biographical drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Music for Chaz Jankel. Good!

markgorman I was a regular Ian Dury record buyer in my late teens but wouldn't say I was in his thrall. Nevertheless, I was intrigued enough to go and see this biopic featuring Andy Serkis (Golum in Lord of The Rings) as the great man himself.His performance is top drawer and does make you feel you are in the room with the chief Blockhead himself. But this is more than a music homage. This is a reasonably complex life story told with more than a smattering of real film skills. It opens a bit frenetically with a hotch-potch of animation, flashbacks, montage and "stuff" that the director's (Mat Whitecross - not one I know) using to try to tell the back story quick as a flash. Whilst it works in story-telling terms it feels like it's trying too hard and it takes 20 minutes for the film to find its feet as Dury metamorphosises from Kilburn and The High Roads into Ian Dury and The Blockheads.Thereafter, the film is far more assured, but strangely unmoving on the whole, despite the fact that there are a lot of episodes that could have jerked a tear or two. Little is made of his chart success. other than the typical excesses that stardom inevitably brings in its wake; rather, the film is much more interested in his complicated love life and (abysmal) family life which lays true the aphorism that what goes around comes around. Actually, it's better for that.In particular the relationship with Dury and his son, Baxter (played brilliantly by Son of Rambow star Bill Milner) is the main thread of the movie. Initially reticent, Baxter becomes increasingly influenced by his rebellious father and follows suit. Again, like Dad, in response to the bullying and humiliation he faced at school.The finale is really good and pulls together a lot of strands including the Spartacus references that cropped up earlier in the action. I won't spoil it by telling you how though.actually,the movie tries a little too hard; it's a touch too stylised for my liking, but it zips along quickly despite its fairly lengthy 115 minute running time.Overall, I'd recommend it; if for no other reason than to wonder at Andy Serkis.7 out of 10.