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Stoned [DVD]

Will Adamsdale , Ras Barker , Stephen Woolley    Suitable for 15 years and over   DVD
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: Will Adamsdale, Ras Barker, Paddy Considine, Nathalie Cox, Luke de Woolfson
  • Directors: Stephen Woolley
  • Producers: Stephen Woolley, Finola Dwyer
  • Format: PAL
  • Language: Castillian
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent.
  • DVD Release Date: 3 April 2006
  • Run Time: 102 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000EOTT68
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 191,909 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

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 Stoned 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 Winnie the Pooh 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. Stoned 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 Rolling Stones music. But in a lurid kind of way, it's undeniably entertaining. --Sam Graham, Amazon.com

Product Description

Producer Stephen Woolley's directorial debut is based on Terry Rawlings' notorious book about the death of Brian Jones, who was considered more than just a 'Rolling Stone', he was their founder member, their leader, their visionary and their most gifted musician. The face of the sixties revolution, his blonde ambiguous style and considerable talent inspired enormous curiosity. Woolley spent ten years researching events surrounding Jones's suspicious death, and this film charts the rise and eventual fall of one of Britain's original rock stars.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars A Great Story Wasted 3 April 2006
Format:DVD
I have been a fan of Brian Jones' for many years and have always wanted to see a movie made about his life - and his was one of the great disregarded stories of any Sixties pop star. How many of the general public knows it was Brian Jones who founded and named the Rolling Stones? How many of the general public knows Brian Jones was the multitalented instrumentalist in the Stones and who played a key role in their creative sound during the Sixties by playing instruments like the Indian sitar (Paint It Black, Street Fighting Man), recorder (Ruby Tuesday), dulcimer (Lady Jane, I Am Waiting), mellotron (2000 Light Years From Home, We Love You), marimbas (Under My Thumb, Out Of Time), harmonica (Not Fade Away, I Want To Be Loved), and who was one of the first to play slide guitar (I Wanna Be Your Man, Little Red Rooster, I Can't Be Satisfied) in Great Britain - and one of the best slide guitarists as well. His slide guitar playing would have made any American Bluesman envious.

However, the movie does show flashbacks of his life, but unfortunately overlooks many important things like how hard he worked to get the Rolling Stones off the ground in their infancy years 1962-63, by writing countless letters to record companies trying to get their interest in signing the Stones, or writing letters to music papers encouraging journalists to come and see the Stones perform in Blues clubs around London, and to get bookings on British radio shows. It also does not mention that Brian Jones was one of the great fashion icons of the Swinging Sixties. Instead, this movie focuses on his self-indulgent lifestyle of sex and drugs (and there's plenty of it) and very little of what made him famous - the music.

The movies main plot focuses on the last few months of Brian Jones' life which climaxes with his 'murder' (although to this day his death certificate still reads 'misadventure'). The movie Stoned was based on the following three books: Who Killed Christopher Robin: The Truth Behind the Murder of a Rolling Stone by Terry Rawlings, Paint It Black by Geoffrey Guiliano and The Wild and Wicked World of Brian Jones by Anna Wohlin, but yet this movie is nothing like any of those books. It was as if the filmmaker just made up his own story. The movie also leads you to believe that Brian Jones (played by Leo Gregory) and builder Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine) were good pals. It shows them playing cricket together; sitting by the pool together and Brian giving Thorogood his whole life sob story; and playing and recording music with him in an empty swimming pool. Almost every person who was there at the time said that Brian Jones didn't trust Thorogood and even complained that he was being charged astronomical amounts of money for work that the builder never completed. The film is rubbish.

Don't say you haven't been warned. You would be better off renting it at Blockbuster Video. Buy at your own risk.

Rob Weingartner
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Artistic Licence, Why? 13 May 2009
Format:DVD
There is no denying something dark went down on Cotchford Farm that July night. And yes, it was murder. Some members of Sussex Police to The Stones themselves always believed a homicide did indeed occur there.

My issue with this film is enirely based on the relationship between Brian Jones and Frank Thorogood. Brian at the time was paranoid and probably suffering from a persecution complex. He had previously been busted by corrupt Chelsea drug squad officers (some of whom did do time for corruption in the early 70s)bullied into handing over cash, he was also aware that his band were probably about to kick him out. He moved to Cotchford Farm (AA Milne being a childhood favourite of his) to escape the drugs, the tension of London (He was still brokenhearted over Anita Pallenbergs defection to Keith) and to probably indulge in a little childhood regression. Enter Frank Thorogood, ex Paratrooper, womaniser, small time crim. Frank had already been given the boot from Keith for pilfering his wares and ripping him off. Those who were around Brian and Frank at this time tell of a different relationship than the one shown in the film.

Frank hated Brian, he was absolutely jealous of him. Frank was an old school tough working class Londoner, he despised the young long haired dandy. He bullied Brian, stole from him, mentally tortured him, always pushing Brian's insecurity buttons. Toward the end he sometimes wouldn't even let Brian leave the farm(Hiding his moped in the woods)Brian was fearful of Frank. And Brian, like a little boy attempting to appease the school bully, would offer him all sorts of incentives to help diffuse tense situations: Drinks, food, swims, etc. Lets be honest, Brian was no angel, but the spoiled foppish satanic dandy of the past was pretty much erased by then. In his place stood a frightened paranoid little boy, surrounded by happy childhood memrobillia and dark hangers-on.

To be honest, we will probably never know the true events leading up to the murder. (There are witnessess that night to a party that apparently never happened, also, since 69, there has been quite alot of discussion concerning gangland involvment in Rolling Stones Inc, and why has Tom Keylock, seen at the farm during the day of July 2nd and at 11:15pm, denied been there that day?)

What we do know is Frank Thorogood was a key player, all fingers point towards him, but since he is long dead he can't argue his case and point a guilty finger to any of the other players involved. Maybe Frank is the scapegoat we see being sacrificed in the movie. That aside the relationship between Brian and Frank portrayed in the movie is a false one.The filmmakers are portraying a cliched view of a decadent Brian Jones and not adhering to the complex, paranoid & fearful character he had finally become. All that research (10 years by all accounts) let down by a cheap cinematic device. That is a real shame.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars I feel stoned 13 Sep 2006
By E. A Solinas HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, and the downward spiral all three can inspire.

Brian Jones was the ultimate rock tragedy, dying young, rich and ruined by his own success and the loss of his lover. But the late Rolling Stones founder deserved a better biopic than "Stoned," which focuses on every part of Jones' life that is NOT interesting or insightful.

The movie opens with two flashbacks -- Jones being confronted about a girl he got pregnant, and an early Stones show. Then it flips ahead several years to when builder Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine) is being hired by soon-to-be-ex Rolling Stone Brian Jones (Gregory), to do work on his new mansion and the grounds surrounding it. Soon he's fascinated by the mercurial Jones.

Jones himself is lost in memories of his glory days of drugs, sex, jetsetting and exotic music -- and especially his former lover Anita Pallenberg (Monet Mazur), who dumped him for his bandmate Keith (Ben Whishaw). He draws Thorogood into a dangerous game of hedonistic fun, until the degraded builder strikes back at him -- with tragic results.

In theory, Jones was the ideal subject for a biopic -- he lived a short, colourful life full of drugs, art and sex. Perfect subjects for a wild movie. Too bad this movie is actually about Frank Thorogood.

Unfortunately director Stephen Woolley doesn't seem to realize that nobody really cares about Thorogood, or why he murdered Jones. What people want is Jones -- tortured artist, forlorn child-man, girlfriend-beating sadist. Woolley provides brief glimpses ("You're fun to wind up") into Jones' psyche, but there's a lot more of Thorogood getting stoned, whining, and jumping on sleeping women.

How did Jones start the Stones? How did fame and drugs change him? How did he deteriorate until his bandmates had to kick him out? Nope, don't expect answers. Instead we get about a hundred lingering shots of the swimming pool on Brian's estate -- thank you for that subtle foreshadowing, Mr. Woolley. We had almost forgotten that Jones drowned in the pool.

In the end, "Stoned" is remarkable more for what it leaves out than for what it contains. Anita, those illegitimate kids, and Jones' musical skills are all sort of pushed to the side so we can see the big bad rock star mess with a country lad. And Woolley NEVER focuses on his relationship with the Stones. It's a shame, because the flashbacks to the Moroccan vacation are the most intense and colourful of the whole movie.

Leo Gregory does a fairly good job with Jones' personality (too bad they look totally unalike). But star is Mazur as the dangerous, charismatic Anita; it's a shame the affair is basically dismissed as a longtime S&M romp. Whishaw and Luke de Woolfson deserve a special shout-out for their portrayals of Richards and Mick Jagger. Neither one has a lot of onscreen time, but they are utterly convincing.

"Stoned" is full of moments that show what the movie could have been, and never was. Instead of a study of a brilliant, manipulative musician, we have a study of how he messed with his gardener. A limp, schizophrenic mess.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Stoned
A beautifully shot film about the latter life and death of Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. It was really interesting and reflected the period very well. A must for Stones fans.
Published 6 months ago by Simon D
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Avid Rolling Stones fan. Was not expecting much of this dvd due to reviews. However, it is a fascinating film - the era in terms of fashion and research is excellent, the main... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Inkwork
4.0 out of 5 stars sadly probably the true ending
if you were hoping for a film about the stones this is not it as this movie is more about brian jones than the doors was about jim morrison. Read more
Published 19 months ago by mr x
1.0 out of 5 stars This film. It sucks
Oh Dear! I was expecting this film to have a promising insight on the founder member of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones and the band with the rifts he had with fellow stone members... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Jonathan Sanger
3.0 out of 5 stars Good try.
Well-cast, well-directed, and strong on creation of atmosphere. The tricky thing is, the movie floats a controversial idea (ie that Brian Jones was murdered) and takes its... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2011 by Christopher Vowles
2.0 out of 5 stars what a waste
The fact that this film is visually quite appealing and goes some way in capturing the atmosphere of the period is about all it has going for it. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2010 by O'Casey
1.0 out of 5 stars Yawwwwn!
Poor Paddy Considine. Such considerable acting talent and yet always in such terrible films. This is typical of populist British filmmaking in that it uses cliched storytelling... Read more
Published on 24 July 2009 by Mr. N. C. Mitchell
4.0 out of 5 stars Good and bad points
There are elements of this that are well researched and well put together, however, the film falls short on several points. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2008 by Mr. D. A. Cure
2.0 out of 5 stars I feel stoned
Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, and the downward spiral all three can inspire.

Brian Jones was the ultimate rock tragedy, dying young, rich and ruined by his own success and... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2008 by E. A Solinas
4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good
A previous reviewer has compared this to the Beatles movie Backbeat and compared Jones to Stuart Sutcliffe which I think misses the point. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2007 by Happy Sam
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