Vinyl (2000)

Brilliant and touching

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Finally caught the documentary about insaneo record collectors, which since I am an insaneo record collector myself is of interest. There's lots of hilarious stuff, like the guy who is trying to get every record ever made in 'the world' but never thought of, like, Asia; or how about cinema-theorist-for-hire Geoff Pevere admitting that he threw 2000 records in a dumpster because he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else owning them. There's also lots of confrontational stuff where Zwieg, quite reasonably, tries to get these people to face up to what idiots they are being. A couple of them get very far out. But whatever's going along up top, way back in the distance somewhere you can hear this droning 80s infomercial music which I guess is supposed to be the movie's soundtrack. In a movie at least tangentially about music, is this some kind of bizarre attempt at irony? Docked a notch for that lazy sh*t.

i wish the show had had real audiophiles instead of who they interviewed. i've been at it as long as any of the people shown. i'm a collector and love to play them but the folks interviewed showed no real sense of quality in the way they kept their records or cleaned them and the stereo gear shown is total junk..i invite the shows producers to interview myself so people could see a more sane quality way to enjoy vinyl in the way 99% of the world never knew existed on this medium. my own personal collection is at least 15,000 records 5000 45's and 2000 reel to reels and a sound system that displays their total quality.

I really enjoyed Ivan Haffenden's portrayal of Zack X. McBuick MCMLIX--and found his performance as strong, nay, stronger, than that of James Coburn playing Britt in The Magnificent Seven (1960). Take the following line, for example: "Nobody throws my mint copy of Like Long Hair by Paul Revere & the Raiders at me and says it originally came out on Jerden. Nobody." The tension is palpable.The discussions of the relative merits of analog versus digital provided new insight into the rich and complex world of mindless polemic.Also worthy of note were the many antique cars and musical instruments that dotted this cinematic landscape. I was especially taken by the 1965 Studebaker Lark (the built-in vanity kit was an innovative feature!) and what appeared to be a Mellotron MkII of similar vintage.Overall, I give this picture high marks both for content and neat stuff.

Vinyl does deliver on its promise of delving deeply into the psyche of record collectors and their hobby/habit/obsession. What I didn't expect (and regretted slightly) was the filmmakers constant maudlin monologues on his state of mind. While funny, and occasionally actually making sense, and even sometimes referring to record collecting they got very distracting. I just wished he would shut up after a while so we could get back to the real stars.And what a motley collection of obsessives are gathered in this hour and a half. Ranging from the guy who wants to collect every song ever produced, to the gal who stands by in comatose shock as her baby jumps all over her vinyl collection, emitting satisfying crunching sounds as her posterior meets its target.Offering real insights into what could be described as an affliction, Vinyl covers a lot in its time and while proffing up many belly laughs perhaps gets a bit too serious about its subject matter. Satisfying nonetheless.