Visitors Review

rosskiwrongun (2012-05-23 00:23)

Great era, miss them days

I don't think they nailed the drug scene accurately, but its a coolfilm none the less.I liked the music and sound track. I liked the venues and different locations. The plot was easy to follow and I didn't get bored at all. Difficult to compete with the original Human Traffic movie but Icollect clubbing movies so I can happily add this one to my moviesshelf ;-)I don't really have much more to say about it. i have no idea why Imust write 10 lines of review.

Mondo_Giallo (2012-05-22 11:53)

Rave on

Weekender follows a couple of young guys in Manchester in 1990. Thepair of them are petty thieves but soon realise that they can make somemoney if they begin organising their own raves. Everything starts outwell but serious problems soon complicate things.Weekender is a likable snapshot of the early 90's when dance music aswe now know it was just emerging from the underground. Many peoplestarted going along to raves and got loaded on ecstasy. While the moviefollows the usual trajectory of ascent and descent, similar to filmssuch as Human Traffic it doesn't have a 'drugs are bad' message.Instead the villains of the piece are local gangsters who turn up onthe scene and start controlling things with force. Weekender does lookback on those early 90's times with a certain amount of fondness andthere is an effective soundtrack of house music to emphasise the senseof time. The music isn't the usual familiar array of well known danceanthems from the time; it goes for a more specific selection of tunesthat ravers would have encountered back in the day.In fairness there isn't anything overly new in Weekender. Its storydoesn't really offer up any surprises at all. However, it's a goodlittle movie about an important time in British music history.(no pills were popped in the watching of this film)

dazski (2012-05-22 06:19)

If you were there, you'll like this!!

Charming little bit of early 90's nostalgia that deserves far more thanthe 3 out of 10 currently being offered up by IMDb users.I can only assume that the people giving this film low ratings were notthe people who were partying in the early 90's - if they were they'd berating it far higher just from the nostalgia perspective.Great soundtrack that pretty much corresponded chronologically (exceptfor Kendo Nagasaki which was a much later track, but hey its a greattrack so who's complaining!!).No where near as dark as Trainspotting and less schmaltzy than HumanTraffic this is well worth a watch if you are looking for a trip downmemory lane or if you fancy an glimpse of how it was.

Daniel Murray (2012-05-20 07:28)

Long live The Rave

Weekender takes place in the 90's, following the story of a couple ofpetty, small time crooks Dylan and Matt who find a new outlet for theirfun loving schemes, hosting raves.As their success grows boundlessly they are swiftly brought back toreality when they begin to attract a more sinister side of raveculture, that of violence and power/dominance. The movie demonstratesthese discourse extremely well in my opinion. The acting by both of theprotagonists I found to be quite enjoyable, with almost flawlessperformances. The castings' were great in this film with every actorrepresenting and portraying their characters traits very realistically.The Weekender may not have the most extraordinary plot in its twistsand turns, but is with out a doubt a good if not great movie, with asolid stand up plot-line/narrative and cast. This movie for me wasdefinitely a 6/7 out of 10. I urge you to see this movie because youwill not be disappointed. IT'S NOT A BAD FILM!!! (p.s. I don't know howthis film could have such a low rating because it is NOT a bad film andnot a film that should be 3.7 on IMDb)

Not Impressed (2012-05-19 17:09)

Awful

Why Chris Coghill even attempted this as a film is beyond me. To sayit's a 'poor man's Human Traffic' or 'an account of the rave scene asseen by your Great-Aunt' are complete understatements. It's featuresrange from bad acting to badly chosen music (it's meant to be 1990, andhalf the tunes are from '92 onwards) I'm surprised i lasted watching itas long as i did. I put this down to being ill and couldn't be botheredto move. It's also a who's-who of annoying telly actors... I'msurprised Coghill didn't cast himself. IMDb say i must write ten linesabout this film, but I'm really struggling without swearing. It'sbad... Don't watch it... Human Traffic made me miss the 90s, if thisfilm was true-to-life it would make me feel like I had missed the 90s.

CreedsFarm (2012-05-18 19:49)

Well worth buying

This film is far better than I expected it to be. I thought it would beOK having read some of the press reviews, but the storyline was farbetter, the characters interesting, intriguing and you definitely caredwhat happened to them as it got darker. OK I've never been to a rave ortaken the drugs, but am of that generation - but have been to plenty ofclubs, all night parties etc so think they recreated 'the scene' OK. Itwas very well shot & edited, and some really cool little bits of cameraaction that take things a bit further on than Guy Ritchie might do totie trips abroad etc nicely into the rest of the film. Saw it on DVD -reckon they'd be wicked on Bluray! Anyway well worth buying - I shallbe recommending it highly to friends... Great soundtrack too!

mala-12 (2012-05-18 10:56)

the needle did not hit groove

OK, we're 40 seconds in and Kariya, Baby Let Me Love You For Tonight,one of the greatest records from this era is playing.This movie is going to be amazing, I can tell...This however is the highlight.The acting starts, if you can call it acting. The characters arepathetic, and it's not the actors fault as I have looked at their bioson IMDb and they have done decent work before, so the fault can only belaid at the feet of the director.The character development stopped and started at loading a stolencigarette machine into the back of a van. All other characters wereugly, uninteresting, and offered little to no acting skills also andcan only think they were friends of the director that had an afternoonspare.After 45 minutes I was struggling to think of a reason not to pressstop on the remote. I lived through this era, and not for a second(after the intro) did the movie transport me back.Stick with Human Traffic to see how it should be done.

jabbajosh (2012-05-18 12:22)

Last night a film stopped me from being bored

A short satisfying romp. Deceptively satisfying as the ending is notso. I really got to like the characters and would have hoped for abetter resolve, alas the pill bashing, money grubbing, bouncer smashingfilm came to a very bad ending. Fine good-looking believable cast and a great development of therelationships between characters, especially between Matt and Dylan whoI enjoyed watching as a fun boyish pair. There was a lot of good music,pretty girls and heavy drugs which made for an exciting yet hardlynovel adventure. I'm not sure if I recommend this film as it's finalle isn't really afinalle atall. It's like a really well built up tune that once fullyascended drops into nothing but a whistle and rolling credits.

Valithanithizum (2012-05-18 07:20)

Weekender - A Cult Classic

First off, let me say that I'm absolutely shocked that this is ratedonly 4.8/10. This movie is bloody fantastic.I can guarantee that this will become a cult film in the future thesame way Requiem for a Dream is today.While not without flaws, this movie has so much to offer someonelooking for a good time. It starts out with the 2 main charactersDillon and Matt getting into the UK underground rave scene. They meetup with Captain Awesome and begin hosting their own raves. That's whenthe fun begins.There are so many twists and turns, and epic moments in the film that Iwon't spoil anything. Give this movie a chance and you may find thatyou really enjoyed it, a guilty pleasure with a great ending.

wheres_lee-181-462483 (2012-05-17 09:09)

disappointing

I saw this film in the local DVD hire shop and thought 'wow' this looksgood acid house music, 1990, the guy out of Eden lake, it should begood. This film could have been amazing,there were too manyanachronisms (the phone box, the bank notes, the vehicles that can beseen on the Amsterdam scene and the majority of the soundtrack! notablyNakasaki from 1995 ). The warehouse scenes were poor, no gurners, nosweaters no wide eyed crazy dancers. The costumes could have beenbetter I was expecting acid face t shirts, shell suits, baggy jeans andsome curtains or mushroom haircuts. On the plus side I liked Dylan'shair do, the acting was good from the main characters, John the rat andhis mob looked the part. younger audiences will probably enjoy this butas someone who was around in 1990 wearing a shell suit and listening totunes on a Walkman I wanted more.

davideo-2 (2012-05-17 01:26)

Appropriately lively, bouncy but unfocused rave culture thriller

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Manchester, 1990. Dylan (Jack O' Connoll) and Matt (Henry Lloyd Hughes)are two scallywags who get by nicking fruit machines from pubs, untilthey spot a marketing opportunity in the shape of the emerging acidhouse/rave culture that is springing up in towns and cities across theUK, with hordes of disenfranchised, disaffected young folk breakinginto abandoned warehouses to get off their faces and dance the nightaway, only for the authorities to clamp down on them. Dylan and Mattpropose the biggest rave yet, and enlist the help of a top DJ to helpsee them over. However, it's not long before drugs arrive on the sceneand the criminal element involved plunge the lads into a new anddangerous world that threatens to destroy everything they've worked tobuild.Ever since it arrived over from Ibiza in the late 80s, rave culture hasplayed it's inimitable part in the music, fashion and style of acertain generation of young people, and what it went to lead on to wasarguably it's greatest achievement. Weekender attempts to be a storybased around this phenomenon and is squarely aimed at the audience thefilm is depicting. At the beginning it starts out as sort of style oversubstance, opening with the start of what promises to be a funky,lively soundtrack featuring just the sort of tunes that made thatperiod in musical history so memorable. The soundtrack remains the best asset of the film, but it's worthsticking with the story, because although it retains it's sense ofbeing frenetic and sort of jumbled and incoherent, it does develop intoa more engaging portrayal of two lads living in a very recent time,caught up in an emerging world with unexpected dangers cropping up init. The manner of the film is in line with it's style, with it's spedup shots and blurry camera moments giving it it's added authenticity.Performances wise, O' Connoll is convincing in another notch to hisresume, while Hughes, best known as the bully in The Inbetweeners, ispretty decent support. Emily Barclay and Zawe Ashton are the chicks ondisplay, and they make their mark on the film.The problem with Karl Golden's film is it sometimes (most disasterouslyat the beginning) gets lost in it's own style and doesn't have anengaging story to follow. But it still comes off as a fairly decentthriller, inspiringly set against the back drop a lot of people youngback then can remember. ***