FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Stoned [DVD] [2005]

Stoned [DVD] [2005]
enlarge	Director: Stephen Woolley Actors: Paddy Considine, James D. White, Ras Barker, Will Adamsdale, Monet Mazur Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£15.99~~ Buy New: £3.94 as of 25/11/2009 17:08 GMT details You Save: £12.05 (75%) New (3) Used (9) from £1.22 Seller: muzicmadnezz Rating: 14 reviews Sales Rank: 13772 Format: Anamorphic, PAL Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 98 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5035822490338 ASIN: B000EOTSZ0 Theatrical Release Date: 2005 Release Date: April 3, 2006 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Long since written off as "death by misadventure," the soggy demise of Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones was in fact a considerably more sinister affair. At least that's what iStoned/i would have us believe. Director Stephen Woolley's 2005 film begins with the discovery of Jones' body at the bottom of his swimming pool in the summer of 1969, and while it jumps all over the place chronologically, it always comes back to the events leading up to that July night. As portrayed by Leo Gregory, the Jones we see in his final days is a drink-and drug-ridden wreck, utterly debauched, at once a misogynist who beats his girlfriend and a helpless child who can't bear to be alone. His contribution to the Stones now virtually nil, he barely notices when his bandmates show up to kick him out (the official line was that he quit). Enter Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine), a local builder hired to fix up Jones' country manor (once owned by iWinnie the Pooh/i creator A. A. Milne). Dour and dull, Frank is the perfect target for Jones' sardonic taunts ("You're fun to wind up," says Brian), and the movie posits the theory, supposedly supported by Thorogood's deathbed confession, that it all became too much for this simple country lad to take. Whether any or all of this is true seems almost inconsequential; many viewers won't even remember who Brian Jones was, and many others won't care. This unrated version is filled with sex and nudity (we see a good deal more of Jones', uh, tool than his guitar), and Woolley's style is hip and kinetic, as if he were trying to capture the swirling excitement of '60s England. iStoned/i is a bit muddled, sometimes cliched and often rather ridiculous (Jones in heaven, discussing his legacy? Hey, whatever), and it contains not a note of actual iRolling Stones/i music. But in a lurid kind of way, it's undeniably entertaining. i--Sam Graham, Amazon.com/i

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 14 1 2 3 Next » Stoned April 15, 2006 S. J. Colwell (UK) 4 out of 6 found this review helpful I really loved this film, the director captured the whole feel of the sixties, the arrogance, the musical talent and dispair of Brian Jones. Historically, I feel it was spot on. The actors were just enough like the originals without becoming impersonators. Beautifully made, well acted. Would recommend it to anyone - even if they don't know the full story. hits the essence April 7, 2006 W R Visser (Leusden Netherlands) 2 out of 3 found this review helpful Having been a teenager in the Sixties, it's odd to experience the Brian Jones-drama in a 2005-computer-age style. Whatever, there's no denying that this film hits the essence of the Brian Jones-phenomena: his music, his women, his drugs, his great insecurities, and of course his tragic death. It's all correct history in a nutshell.pFor those who weren't around in the Sixties, I guess 'Stoned' makes fine entertainment. As I am emotionally too charged with BJ-martyrdom, I do not feel able to judge on that in a proper way. The only thing left for me to say here, is that 'Stoned' appears to be well-made. Stoned September 5, 2006 David Jones (Wales) 2 out of 3 found this review helpful "Would you allow your daughter to go out with a Rolling Stone?" br /Such was the rhetorical question provocatively headlining many of the pop world and tabloid publications during the era when the London based group were establishing themselves as the quintessential vehicle for sex, drugs and rock and roll. The introduction of the Stones onto the conventional music merry-go-round of the swinging sixties signalled the arrival of an iconoclastic force that would influence generations of fans and followers. br /This film is about Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones, who in 1962 became the founder member of the band. Born in Cheltenham on February the 28th, 1942 to middle class parents, Lewis and Louisa, he was destined to live for only twenty seven years and to perish under dubious circumstances. He became a choir boy who loved music experiencing a conventional upbringing until a significant attitudal change during his early teens produced a nonconformist resistance to authority. His love of producing, mainly children, is legendary. He fathered his first before his sixteenth birthday and his second two years later. br /Directed by Stephen Woolley, the drama is all the more refreshing through the exclusion of established mainstream actors in the main cast. This helps to create a mystique and unpredictability as the economical screenplay discourages a flamboyant character pantomime, to delve ponderously into the inner thoughts and reflections of the person. This story is, after all, a tragedy; the self-destructive demise of a man admired by his contemporaries and adored by his supporters. br / br /The plot peaks and ends with Jones' inexplicable death in the swimming pool at his Cotchford Farm home (once owned by "Winnie the Pooh" author, A. A. br /Milne). Subsequent theories have speculated over the cause of death and of the preceding circumstances on that night. His death certificate recorded a plausible verdict of 'Misadventure - swimming whilst under the influence of drugs and alcohol' with the more sinister conclusions from press reports mooting suicide, a conceivable act considering Jones' Byzantine split with the band. The film script asserts the involvement of a third party, namely Frank Thorogood, a builder that the Stones' management had employed to undertake renovation of the property. The acidic relationship that had developed between the two could have presented an adequate motive for manslaughter or murder considering Jones' alleged taunting and non-payment of the work gang. Thorogood's 1993 deathbed confession to the 'murder' of his employer remains conjecture and was never investigated! br /Leo Gregory (Eastenders, Cracker, Fallen Dreams) delivers a credible performance in the lead role portraying Jones as a reclusive, belligerent individual clearly conceived from a silver spoon society. The other band members are significantly reticent in comparison, with Charlie Watts (James White) and Bill Wyman (Josef Altin) literally restricted to non-speaking roles. Ardent Stones fans will inevitably refer to the blatant omissions from the film of sensitive facts surrounding Jones' funeral including the group of thirty photographers focusing into the unfilled grave, and the fact why band members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards did not attend. br / br /The film is devoid of actual Rolling Stones recordings with their songs being performed by their acknowledged alto-egos 'The Counterfeit Stones'. br /This is clearly an enlightening film despite the inconclusive ending which will engender copious discussions down the ages and in Brian Jones' own words, br / br /When this you see, remember me br /and bear me in your mind br /Let all the world say what they may, br /speak of me as you find. br / br / br / Surprisingly Good September 17, 2007 Happy Sam (UK) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful A previous reviewer has compared this to the Beatles movie Backbeat and compared Jones to Stuart Sutcliffe which I think misses the point. Sutcliffe was a brilliant painter who was mates with John Lennon and who went along with the Beatles for a brief ride in Hamburg. He was in no way the leader of the band. Jones on the other hand was the man who formed and named the Rolling Stones and who therefore played a much more important part in the history of Rock music. br /I was expecting this movie to be lousy, I had heard that the lead actor's performance was wooden, that the narrative jumped about like a Stones fan at an early concert, and that the sound track contained no Stones music. All that is true yet somehow despite all that this is still a very enjoyable slice of 1960s nostalgia that had me reaching for my record collection the next day. I've even added a few old Stones CDs to my collection since - very cheap on Amazon nowadays! Stones fans will enjoy this film. It's fun and manages to convey a little bit of the magic. Now would YOU let YOUR daughter marry a Rolling Stone? Stoney Endgame - a witty, intelligent, witty take on Jones's story April 12, 2006 Pismotality (London, England) 2 out of 4 found this review helpful Stoned is an intelligent and witty take on Brian Jones's final days, whether or not it's the last word on the mystery of his drowning. Published accounts contain contradictory details, and ex-Stones employee Tom Keylock, consultant on the film, may have his own particular spin, but Stephen Woolley and scriptwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have fashioned a coherent and logical story out of the available material, supplemented by their own research: if his death didn't come about as suggested here, it makes sense in the context of the film. br / br /The growing interdependence of Jones and Frank Thorogood, hired to do up the Sussex farmhouse where Jones hoped to kickstart his creativity, drives the narrative; Leo Gregory, as the seductive, exasperating rock star, and Paddy Considine, the baffled but intrigued builder, are compelling in a relationship which alludes both to Joseph Losey's 60s film The Servant (scripted by Pinter) and, appropriately enough, Performance, in which Mick Jagger played a dissolute rock star with echoes of Jones. br / br /The mindgames with Frank are interspersed with flashbacks from Brian's point of view, allowing us to see key moments in the breakdown of his relationship with Anita Pallenberg (the one woman whose loss seems to have mattered), and glimpses of his slipping status in the group he once led, without sacrificing the immediacy of the central conflict. This device also creates a much-needed degree of sympathy, his constant need to pick over his past suggesting just how damaged Jones has become by this stage - it doesn't make him any more likeable, but it does explain his need to lash out at someone else for distraction. br / br /That said, while Stoned doesn't purport to be a conventional biopic - the last days, not the whole life - I wondered whether there might be too much shorthand for an audience not familiar with this star who died in the 60s. The director's commentary clarifies matters but details can whizz by in the actual viewing. It feels right that the focus is not on Jagger and Richards - this is not the Rolling Stones story - but is the brief (though powerful) scene with Brian's family enough to suggest everything in early life which shaped the man now messing with Frank's head? br / br /I also wondered whether the character of Frank was treated too gently. The biographies suggest that Jones was more scared of him than is implied here: for almost the entire film, in fact, he is more Frank's tormentor (and pretend-buddy) than victim. Similarly, the extent of Jones's continuing music-making seems downplayed, a bit of inconclusive jamming with Frank the only indication of any hope for his creative future. But this isn't a documentary, and these decisions serve to intensify the bleakness of the scenario, locking the two main characters into what might be termed a Stoney Endgame. br / br /The story's dictates may also be why we see little indication of the man capable (according to Bill Wyman's Stone Alone) of being gently supportive of Suki Potier after the death of her boyfriend Tara Browne or of spending a final, untroubled day with his parents. And it has to be said that despite the coup of persuading Janet Lawson, the nurse present on the last night, to tell her side of the story for the first time she, like Brian's girlfriend Anna Wohlin, is strangely characterless in the film. But then that also seems the case in the biographies, even Wohlin's own, and this is finally a film about two men - and the absence of one woman (Pallenberg). br / br /Essentially, then, Stoned succeeds in making an unwieldy amount of information into a playful, inventive - and touching - story. Whether or not it's the whole truth, it has its own truth, and there are undoubted insights along the way into the psyche of "this fragile monster," as Keith Richards once described his former bandmate. Showing reviews 1-5 of 14 1 2 3 Next »

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