Love and Mercy - News and Reviews - First clip is out.

[The Heartical Don]

I only read positive reviews.

It's a life-enhancing strategy.

[donald]

as mentioned previously, a time or two, one should view Ruby Sparks for a preview of Dano playing the role of a bewildered and tortured writer whose imaginary book character suddenly comes to life and appears inhis home.  His casting as BW just had to have stemmed from this performance.  A very entertaining movie on its own.  Have a look.

[Shady]

4th "bad" review drops the movie to 64% aproval on RT. But... if you click to see the entire review on the actual source, the critic gave it 3 stars out of 5... is that rotten?! 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_and_mercy/

http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/love-mercy-review/

 

Yeah the whole rotten tomatoes system is flawed. Most of those "rotten" reviews are actually not that negative.

It will probably shoot up again when they start adding reviews from actual movie critics, not just some idiot bloggers

[donald]

always on the look out for new band names.  Idiot Bloggers strikes me as a good one.

[guitarfool2002]

Quoting myself here; I have to ensure that I am very clear in what I post ; I certainly do not want to denigrate Mark's role and participation in this film. Mark was hired to effectively recreate the look of the studio with the set designers , as well as provide the original BB tracks that are in the film.....and he plays Chuck Britz......the BW/BB fan base is well covered with their expertise for this film.

Here are some of the (awesome) visual results of Mark Linett's role as technical adviser on the film, recreating and depicting Western Studio 3 circa 1966. Also, one showing the famous firehat from another studio scene.

On-set photos from Love And Mercy, featuring Mark Linett, Paul Dano, and the recreated/"rebuilt" Western 3 control room:







Absolutely amazing visuals, I'm totally blown away by this. The attention to detail in the recreated Western 3 is stunning, it looks like it did in the original studio photos from '66. I cannot wait to see this on the big screen! Beyond excited.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, to borrow my dad's saying, but..is it just me, or does that rotary phone lack a...um...rotor?

[Shady]

Holy crap, Dano put on a lot of weight for the role

Cool photos

[Pretty Funky]

They could have got a horse in there!

[Pretty Funky]

I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, to borrow my dad's saying, but..is it just me, or does that rotary phone lack a...um...rotor?

I'm of an age that has seen these before. Used as an internal line only and probably a good idea not to have a outside line  calling during recording. May have pressed a button to an operator to be connected to the outside.

[guitarfool2002]

I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, to borrow my dad's saying, but..is it just me, or does that rotary phone lack a...um...rotor?

I'm of an age that has seen these before. Used as an internal line only and probably a good idea not to have a outside line  calling during recording. May have pressed a button to an operator to be connected to the outside.

I remember those too, a truly obsolete relic! It was the intercom, for inter-office communication. Actually, I know of at least one 1966 GV session tape where a phone rings in the control room. Here's a vintage Brian-at-Western photo where you can see the same kind of intercom/phone on the desk on the far left of the shot:

[Andrew G. Doe]

Quoting myself here; I have to ensure that I am very clear in what I post ; I certainly do not want to denigrate Mark's role and participation in this film. Mark was hired to effectively recreate the look of the studio with the set designers , as well as provide the original BB tracks that are in the film.....and he plays Chuck Britz......the BW/BB fan base is well covered with their expertise for this film.

Here are some of the (awesome) visual results of Mark Linett's role as technical adviser on the film, recreating and depicting Western Studio 3 circa 1966. Also, one showing the famous firehat from another studio scene.

On-set photos from Love And Mercy, featuring Mark Linett, Paul Dano, and the recreated/"rebuilt" Western 3 control room:







Absolutely amazing visuals, I'm totally blown away by this. The attention to detail in the recreated Western 3 is stunning, it looks like it did in the original studio photos from '66. I cannot wait to see this on the big screen! Beyond excited.

The eggnog cartons... WHERE ARE THE EGGNOG CARTONS ??!!!? Well, that's it for me - I simply cannot even countenance spending my hard earned coin on a movie with such disgustingly sloppy attention to detail.

Well really... 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, to borrow my dad's saying, but..is it just me, or does that rotary phone lack a...um...rotor?

I'm of an age that has seen these before. Used as an internal line only and probably a good idea not to have a outside line  calling during recording. May have pressed a button to an operator to be connected to the outside.

Ahhh...makes sense!

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Hey guys, just got back from watching the movie...and I gotta say, it was amazing!

Overall, my rating is 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up. The film was not perfect, but it did a great job and I think a lot of people in the theater left with more appreciation towards Brian's life and what he had to endure.

So here's my review.

First, the production of the movie is incredible. They managed to recreate every single detail we've seen in photos and videos. Particularly good was the recreation of Brian (Paul Dano) performing Surfs Up solo on the piano for the Bernstein special. And I gotta say, Paul Dano did an amazing job singing and playing. In the end credits I read Darian was his music coach, so that explains a lot.

But aside from his singing (and a pretty good falsetto), he was the best in the cast. The mid 60s scenes were awesome and he did a fine job showing Brian's increasing mental deterioration. I think he has a great career ahead, top actor.

John Cusak was competent in the older Brian role. They didnt do much of an effort to make him look like Brian - actually that kind of sucked sometimes, since John is so John - but some of the scenes with Landy were very dramatic and he did good. Paul Giamatti (hope that's how its spelled) was a bit over the top, but then again from what I've read, Landy was like that in real life. You got to watch the scene when he's forcing Brian to finish up 'Driving to Heaven in my car'...its really tough and sad.

I saw Elizabeth Banks up close and personal when I was getting to my seat   Not only she's pretty but carried the role of Melinda pretty well. Its obvious the script wanted to put Melinda as Brian's savior and make her the reason why the guy is alive nowadays and so Elizabeth played the part strongly.

But the rest of the cast and how their characters were presented was kind of weak. Van Dyke Parks for example hardly gets 2 scenes, doesnt talk much and seems like he's not really important. They changed the lyrics discussion from Cabinessence to Heroes and Villains (the snuff bit), so that was kind of lame.

Murray gets a big part and its shown in all his evilness. They even showed him hitting kid Brian and making him deaf...and to this day I dont know if thats true or not, since I've seen interviews of Brian saying he was born deaf...so...aucune idee la

The Boys are not really worked as characters. Mike gets to be the asshole, but in a justifiable way if I may say. He's always shown as worrying about the band and how Brian is losing touch with their public's interest. I mean, I (we) know a bit more of the story, but I can understand if people who dont know much about the band would side with him. Since the Van Dyke's characters was not really built up, Mike's kicking him away seemed rather appropriate in the context of the movie. Anyways.

There was a good scene with Hal Blaine talking with Brian in the parking lot and comforting him, saying the boys were going to love what he recorded for Pet Sounds. But aside from that and a quick scene with Carol Kaye complaining about bass keys, not much was discussed about the Wrecking Crew.

Carl and Dennis got a couple of lines during the early days, but not much after. Al and Bruce practically didnt exist. Marylin looked really cute actually, I wonder who played her? Checking later on IMDB.

But then again the movie was about Brian and Melinda, so 90% was Paul Dano/John Cusack and Elizabeth Banks. The last scene was when she almost ran him over and then took him to visit his old house on Hawthorne to find they built a highway on it. And as they hug and kiss, Wouldnt it be nice plays over.

A little nice detail though, the closing credits were played over Love and Mercy sang live by Brian, with concert footage. When the song was over, we all stood up and applauded Brian for almost 5 mins. Standing ovation!

But one thing I really, really didnt like, was how so stupid some people in the audience were. During some really sad scenes, like when Brian was saying stuff like 'I dont get to talk to my family' or 'like I got this mental problem...since 1963', some people were laughing as if it was something funny. John  Cusack did a good job in getting Brian's impersonal way of talking, so its sounds somehow comical, but for the love of God, the guy who suffered this ordeal is there, in the audience!!! Show some respect  

Aside from that, the venue was cool, the screening and the atmosphere was Hollywood style. I recorded most of the Q&A session and Brian leaving the theater - it was funny everyone was there to take pics of John Cusack, and when he left, most left...so I could move up front and scream at Brian like a mad man   ...actually I didnt, I'm a fan, not a crazy stalker  

Anyways, hope this review gives you some insight to the movie. I recommended it completely, the focus is not the drugs but Brian's mental health struggle. I think it was a nice treatment of his life.

Gotta leave now and get some sleep, I'm catching the 6:00 am train back to Montreal. I'll share some of the pics and the Q&A session tomorrow night.

Bonne nuit a tous!

Why would we want to know exactly how the film ends before we've even seen it???

Please can all such similar posts please could with a 'SPOILER ALERT' tag at the top, thanks.

[Smilin Ed H]

Hey guys, just got back from watching the movie...and I gotta say, it was amazing!

Overall, my rating is 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up. The film was not perfect, but it did a great job and I think a lot of people in the theater left with more appreciation towards Brian's life and what he had to endure.

So here's my review.

First, the production of the movie is incredible. They managed to recreate every single detail we've seen in photos and videos. Particularly good was the recreation of Brian (Paul Dano) performing Surfs Up solo on the piano for the Bernstein special. And I gotta say, Paul Dano did an amazing job singing and playing. In the end credits I read Darian was his music coach, so that explains a lot.

But aside from his singing (and a pretty good falsetto), he was the best in the cast. The mid 60s scenes were awesome and he did a fine job showing Brian's increasing mental deterioration. I think he has a great career ahead, top actor.

John Cusak was competent in the older Brian role. They didnt do much of an effort to make him look like Brian - actually that kind of sucked sometimes, since John is so John - but some of the scenes with Landy were very dramatic and he did good. Paul Giamatti (hope that's how its spelled) was a bit over the top, but then again from what I've read, Landy was like that in real life. You got to watch the scene when he's forcing Brian to finish up 'Driving to Heaven in my car'...its really tough and sad.

I saw Elizabeth Banks up close and personal when I was getting to my seat   Not only she's pretty but carried the role of Melinda pretty well. Its obvious the script wanted to put Melinda as Brian's savior and make her the reason why the guy is alive nowadays and so Elizabeth played the part strongly.

But the rest of the cast and how their characters were presented was kind of weak. Van Dyke Parks for example hardly gets 2 scenes, doesnt talk much and seems like he's not really important. They changed the lyrics discussion from Cabinessence to Heroes and Villains (the snuff bit), so that was kind of lame.

Murray gets a big part and its shown in all his evilness. They even showed him hitting kid Brian and making him deaf...and to this day I dont know if thats true or not, since I've seen interviews of Brian saying he was born deaf...so...aucune idee la

The Boys are not really worked as characters. Mike gets to be the asshole, but in a justifiable way if I may say. He's always shown as worrying about the band and how Brian is losing touch with their public's interest. I mean, I (we) know a bit more of the story, but I can understand if people who dont know much about the band would side with him. Since the Van Dyke's characters was not really built up, Mike's kicking him away seemed rather appropriate in the context of the movie. Anyways.

There was a good scene with Hal Blaine talking with Brian in the parking lot and comforting him, saying the boys were going to love what he recorded for Pet Sounds. But aside from that and a quick scene with Carol Kaye complaining about bass keys, not much was discussed about the Wrecking Crew.

Carl and Dennis got a couple of lines during the early days, but not much after. Al and Bruce practically didnt exist. Marylin looked really cute actually, I wonder who played her? Checking later on IMDB.

But then again the movie was about Brian and Melinda, so 90% was Paul Dano/John Cusack and Elizabeth Banks. The last scene was when she almost ran him over and then took him to visit his old house on Hawthorne to find they built a highway on it. And as they hug and kiss, Wouldnt it be nice plays over.

A little nice detail though, the closing credits were played over Love and Mercy sang live by Brian, with concert footage. When the song was over, we all stood up and applauded Brian for almost 5 mins. Standing ovation!

But one thing I really, really didnt like, was how so stupid some people in the audience were. During some really sad scenes, like when Brian was saying stuff like 'I dont get to talk to my family' or 'like I got this mental problem...since 1963', some people were laughing as if it was something funny. John  Cusack did a good job in getting Brian's impersonal way of talking, so its sounds somehow comical, but for the love of God, the guy who suffered this ordeal is there, in the audience!!! Show some respect  

Aside from that, the venue was cool, the screening and the atmosphere was Hollywood style. I recorded most of the Q&A session and Brian leaving the theater - it was funny everyone was there to take pics of John Cusack, and when he left, most left...so I could move up front and scream at Brian like a mad man   ...actually I didnt, I'm a fan, not a crazy stalker  

Anyways, hope this review gives you some insight to the movie. I recommended it completely, the focus is not the drugs but Brian's mental health struggle. I think it was a nice treatment of his life.

Gotta leave now and get some sleep, I'm catching the 6:00 am train back to Montreal. I'll share some of the pics and the Q&A session tomorrow night.

Bonne nuit a tous!

Why would we want to know exactly how the film ends before we've even seen it???

Please can all such similar posts please could with a 'SPOILER ALERT' tag at the top, thanks.

Don't worry; he's pulling your leg. It ends with Brian donning a Lincoln hat, freeing the slaves and winning the Civil War. Then we get Wouldn't It Be Nice on the soundtrack.

[Ray Lawlor]

Quoting myself here; I have to ensure that I am very clear in what I post ; I certainly do not want to denigrate Mark's role and participation in this film. Mark was hired to effectively recreate the look of the studio with the set designers , as well as provide the original BB tracks that are in the film.....and he plays Chuck Britz......the BW/BB fan base is well covered with their expertise for this film.

Here are some of the (awesome) visual results of Mark Linett's role as technical adviser on the film, recreating and depicting Western Studio 3 circa 1966. Also, one showing the famous firehat from another studio scene.

On-set photos from Love And Mercy, featuring Mark Linett, Paul Dano, and the recreated/"rebuilt" Western 3 control room:







Absolutely amazing visuals, I'm totally blown away by this. The attention to detail in the recreated Western 3 is stunning, it looks like it did in the original studio photos from '66. I cannot wait to see this on the big screen! Beyond excited.

Awesome job by Mark ; I agree; the attention to detail is incredible. As the studio is such a critical part of the story of Brian 66/67, it is great to see this level of detail....right down to Chuck's ashtray !  Not to mention Paul Dano's "Brian" circa the "Fire tapes" session !!

[puni puni]

Don't worry; he's pulling your leg. It ends with Brian donning a Lincoln hat, freeing the slaves and winning the Civil War. Then we get Wouldn't It Be Nice on the soundtrack.

As I already posted in this thread, it is still a film like any other... I'd rather be surprised by the creative liberties they took than be spoiled by what they decided to include and exclude

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

But one thing I really, really didnt like, was how so stupid some people in the audience were. During some really sad scenes, like when Brian was saying stuff like 'I dont get to talk to my family' or 'like I got this mental problem...since 1963', some people were laughing as if it was something funny. John  Cusack did a good job in getting Brian's impersonal way of talking, so its sounds somehow comical, but for the love of God, the guy who suffered this ordeal is there, in the audience!!! Show some respect

What'd be funny would be if Brian was one of the people laughing!

[c-man]

Quoting myself here; I have to ensure that I am very clear in what I post ; I certainly do not want to denigrate Mark's role and participation in this film. Mark was hired to effectively recreate the look of the studio with the set designers , as well as provide the original BB tracks that are in the film.....and he plays Chuck Britz......the BW/BB fan base is well covered with their expertise for this film.

Here are some of the (awesome) visual results of Mark Linett's role as technical adviser on the film, recreating and depicting Western Studio 3 circa 1966. Also, one showing the famous firehat from another studio scene.

On-set photos from Love And Mercy, featuring Mark Linett, Paul Dano, and the recreated/"rebuilt" Western 3 control room:







Absolutely amazing visuals, I'm totally blown away by this. The attention to detail in the recreated Western 3 is stunning, it looks like it did in the original studio photos from '66. I cannot wait to see this on the big screen! Beyond excited.

Wow...Mark gets to play Chuck Britz AND Larry Levine! And the re-created Western 3 studio gets to double as Gold Star A! I'm REALLY impressed! 

[Andrew G. Doe]

I stand to be corrected, but I distinctly recall reading that amongst other vintage equipment, Mark has an original Putnam console from Western (2, not 3, but no matter), so I'm guessing that what we see here isn't a reconstruction. How cool.

[guitarfool2002]

I stand to be corrected, but I distinctly recall reading that amongst other vintage equipment, Mark has an original Putnam console from Western (2, not 3, but no matter), so I'm guessing that what we see here isn't a reconstruction. How cool.

Andrew, Mark discusses his original Putnam consoles in this interview from earlier this year, which I posted to the board a few days ago and as of this afternoon has exactly *zero* replies, comments, debates, etc. But who's countin'...

Here's the thread with the link(s), there is both audio of the interview and a transcript where Mark describes the two Putnam boards which he owns and continues to use:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?PHPSESSID=1376b2dd94fa33c9a81ee2bb80fb63ea&topic=18341.msg477850#msg477850

And here is the excerpt from that interview:

Bonzai: Alright, I think that’s about it. Is there anything in this room that would really make a technological person start salivating?

Linett: The big feature here, and I don’t like to take pictures of them, are these two original UA Bill Putnam designed 2 consoles. They’re both original to what used to United Western Studios, which is now Oceanway and EastWest. This one was the original remote console when they started the business, and was the twin … there were two of these built. There was this one for remotes, and another one that was put in Studio Three, where you see Brian sitting in1964. If you look closely you can see that it’s pretty much the same exact console.

Bonzai: With the round pots.

Linett: They all have that, but these two in particular are the only ones that I know of that are this vintage. The modules are different. Easiest way to explain it, this is an early high impedance board. Originally, when they built consoles, they were only designed for mono, stereo, three track, because that’s all there was. You weren’t thinking about, “How can I take twelve mics and put them on twelve tracks?” This console, when it was built, all you could do was run through the busses and have, at most, three tracks at a time.

Somebody, at some point, modified this one to have a fourth track, and the last person to own it before me, who did a beautiful restoration on it, put transformers in every forth input, so you can take it direct out. It’s not what they were designed for. This was meant for up to three tracks recording. The one behind me was originally in Studio Two, this actual console. By this point they had put transformers on the outputs of each module before the summing buss, so its not why they did it, but it made it a lot easier when eight track and onwards came along. I don’t think this board was in service after eight track days.

Bonzai: Do you use these?

Linett: Oh yeah, I record on them all the time.

(there is more at the link)

So that console in the photos is, as they say, "the real deal" (as far as I think I know...). An authentic, original, working Bill Putnam modular board of the type they had in Western in the 60's.

You said it best: How cool. I'd add the superlative "freakin'" in between how and cool, but maybe that's an East Coast thing.  

[donald]

I think it would be authentic and entertaining to see the inclusion in the film of BW's love not only for music and mood altering substances, but his love of food and the numerous other things he consumed with such gusto........done artistically to point a light on his seemingly insatiable hunger for ........we'll  something that might have been missing.....

[RangeRoverA1]

Why would we want to know exactly how the film ends before we've even seen it???

Please can all such similar posts please could with a 'SPOILER ALERT' tag at the top, thanks.

You shouldn't've read it, then. same applies to appak.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I stand to be corrected, but I distinctly recall reading that amongst other vintage equipment, Mark has an original Putnam console from Western (2, not 3, but no matter), so I'm guessing that what we see here isn't a reconstruction. How cool.

Andrew, Mark discusses his original Putnam consoles in this interview from earlier this year, which I posted to the board a few days ago and as of this afternoon has exactly *zero* replies, comments, debates, etc. But who's countin'...

Here's the thread with the link(s), there is both audio of the interview and a transcript where Mark describes the two Putnam boards which he owns and continues to use:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?PHPSESSID=1376b2dd94fa33c9a81ee2bb80fb63ea&topic=18341.msg477850#msg477850

And here is the excerpt from that interview:

Bonzai: Alright, I think that’s about it. Is there anything in this room that would really make a technological person start salivating?

Linett: The big feature here, and I don’t like to take pictures of them, are these two original UA Bill Putnam designed 2 consoles. They’re both original to what used to United Western Studios, which is now Oceanway and EastWest. This one was the original remote console when they started the business, and was the twin … there were two of these built. There was this one for remotes, and another one that was put in Studio Three, where you see Brian sitting in1964. If you look closely you can see that it’s pretty much the same exact console.

Bonzai: With the round pots.

Linett: They all have that, but these two in particular are the only ones that I know of that are this vintage. The modules are different. Easiest way to explain it, this is an early high impedance board. Originally, when they built consoles, they were only designed for mono, stereo, three track, because that’s all there was. You weren’t thinking about, “How can I take twelve mics and put them on twelve tracks?” This console, when it was built, all you could do was run through the busses and have, at most, three tracks at a time.

Somebody, at some point, modified this one to have a fourth track, and the last person to own it before me, who did a beautiful restoration on it, put transformers in every forth input, so you can take it direct out. It’s not what they were designed for. This was meant for up to three tracks recording. The one behind me was originally in Studio Two, this actual console. By this point they had put transformers on the outputs of each module before the summing buss, so its not why they did it, but it made it a lot easier when eight track and onwards came along. I don’t think this board was in service after eight track days.

Bonzai: Do you use these?

Linett: Oh yeah, I record on them all the time.

(there is more at the link)

So that console in the photos is, as they say, "the real deal" (as far as I think I know...). An authentic, original, working Bill Putnam modular board of the type they had in Western in the 60's.

You said it best: How cool. I'd add the superlative "freakin'" in between how and cool, but maybe that's an East Coast thing.  

Apologies - in mitigation, I'm having considerable hearing problems right now, so anything audio is off the menu. And I correctly remembered which studio the console came from. Now that is freakin' cool, given my recent track record ! 

[Tricycle Rider]

I hope you get well soon Andrew. 

Royce

[SMiLE Brian]

Andrew it's time to listen to SIP and GIOMH for research.