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Stoned (2006)
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:7
Rotten:40
Average Rating:4.1/10
Theatrical Release:Mar 24, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Director/Producer Stephen Woolley's STONED is a dramatic attempt--researched for 10 years--to accurately portray the controversial events surrounding the death of Rolling Stones founding member and... Director/Producer Stephen Woolley's STONED is a dramatic attempt--researched for 10 years--to accurately portray the controversial events surrounding the death of Rolling Stones founding member and guitarist Brian Jones at age 27, on July 2nd, 1969. To create his work, Woolley synthesized the written memoirs and testimonials of the witnesses who were there. Beginning a few months before Jones's death, the film focuses on a relationship he forged with Frank Thorogood (Paddy Constantine), a builder hired to fix up the rock star's home. Alone--save for his girlfriend Anna--and ostracized from his band-mates due to drug problems and legal tangles, Jones draws Thorogood in as a part-time friend and part-time assistant. When Jones is summarily fired from the band--only weeks before his demise--Thorogood is also let go, and becomes jealous and enraged. Deftly placed flashbacks throughout the film catalog Jones's ascent and--more gratuitously--his drug-filled self-destructive descent. Coupling these with the volatile relationship with Thorogood, the film discreetly shows the complex causes of Jones's untimely death. To capture the spirit of the times, Woolley fills his soundtrack with 1960s nuggets, including excellent covers of Stones material by modern British acts like A Band of Bees and Little Barrie. He also shoots the flashbacks and recreated concert footage with a hand-held 16mm camera, achieving a real-life documentary feel. In this film, Brian Jones and his unfortunate end (strangely ruled "death by misadventure" at the time) are cast further into the mythical and legendary status they have achieved--and deserved. [More]
Starring: Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, Monet Mazur, Luke De Woolfson
Starring: Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, Monet Mazur, Luke De Woolfson, James D. White
Director: Stephen Woolley
Director: Stephen Woolley
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Reviews for Stoned
Stoned stylishly captures the counterculture look and feel but suffers from dazed and confused storytelling, due to awkwardly inserted flashbacks and a dramatically inert script.
Wooley is more interested in emulating Nicolas Roeg's 1970 film Performance than in making the story his own. In style and content, this movie is a weak imitation.
The overall package ... while not stingy with the sex and drugs, really needed to convey a lot more rock 'n' roll.
Gregory has all the necessary quicksilver, will-o-the-wisp, mercurial charm to play Jones, making his brilliantly etched personality seductive and fascinating, whether he's being gorgeously appealing or viciously mean.
Most of the movie is a tired sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll cliché, and many of the performances are so bad as to be laughable.
Leo Gregory's performance as Jones fails to capture his rebel charisma, and the film, like its subject, winds up all wet, floating without direction, and lifeless.
Stoned manages to take a potentially intriguing depiction of popular music genius and water it down into a story of predictable egos and trite love triangles.
A flat riff on Jones's short life. You'll get the highlights but no sense of what made him special -- or what really haunted him.
'Stoned' is good cinema but suffers because of the nature of its own subject.
A tawdry fictionalized account of Jones' last days, ignoring his contributions to rock to focus on the sex, drugs and controversy
The acting is fine, but all in all, we wonder whether or not this was worth the effort.
You can't exactly blame Jones for leading such a clichéd rock-star life. You can, however, blame director Stephen Woolley for making such a clichéd rock-star film.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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