Though it's being eclipsed by the latest disaster flick, there is a great new movie that just hit the theaters this weekend.
Lacking the explosions and carnage might create less furor at the box office, Pirate Radio is bound to have much more value to viewers and will outlive the end of John Cusack's world.
Once upon a time when rock and roll was young and Britain was even more stuffy and oppressive than it is now, sex, drugs and rock were quarantined off shore as pirate stations who defied the government's restriction of the Stones, Beatles, Dead, etc., tunes and gave the kids what they want.
With a goofy premise, abstractly based on real stations that existed in the 60s, it was bound to be a fun movie, if done right.
Early promos had it called "The Boat That Rocked" which led me to believe they were not doing it right.
The story centers on a young kid named Carl (Tom Sturridge) who goes to live amongst the DJs and crazy folk of Radio Rock, anchored in the North Sea.
He arrives and finds an eccentric group of rock-and-rollers who border on cliche, but manage to stop short of going over-the-top.
The ensemble cast includes the ever-impressive Philip Seymour Hoffman and a veritable who's who of the U.K. actors who you know even if you can't always remember their names.
Writer-director Richard Curtis led the production with the same surprising grace that weaved the stories in his previous directorial effort, Love Actually.
One of the best parts of the whole film is the soundtrack, which takes on a larger role than average, which is apt since it is a film about a radio station.
Lots of classic rock binds together the story of the struggling radio station, the government suits trying to shut them down, and the general populace loving the music and the changing times in the world.

Pirate Radio gets an A-