72. Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked) (2009)

February 3, 2014

In memory of the recently deceased Philip Seymour Hoffman, my wife and I decided to watch Pirate Radio for the first time. Actually it was because this is one of the three movies directed by Richard Curtis, who also directed two of my favorite "guilty pleasure" movies - About Time, and Love, Actually. Nevertheless, we watched it the day after Hoffman passed away, and as people who know me know I've never really liked Hoffman's acting, but I was pleasantly surprised by his performance in this movie. It certainly helped that it was well written, and the supporting cast included Bill Nighy, Rhys Darby, Rhys Ifans, and the always excellent Nick Frost (Oh, and Ralph Brown who played Danny in Withnail & I). Pirate Radio was a really enjoyable movie, which solidified my opinion that Richard Curtis is an exceptional director. In Britain in the 1960s, the radio was controlled by the government, so groups of people would start up pirate radio stations on boats out in the North Sea. The British government was, of course, opposed to such things existing, so they tried many different ways to make what they were doing illegal, while the radio stations mocked them at every turn. Eventually, the government succeeded in making it illegal, and the stations had to fight for what they believed in while being chased by the police. This was a fun movie that I would recommend to anyone who loves music.