Fantastic!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Con O'Neill is absolutely superb as Joe Meek, genius-but-disturbed record maestro. His slow descent into darkness is brilliantly captured in this movie, as is his gradual loss of all his friends and associates. Kevin Spacey is also a standout as his financial backer.At one point we see an advertisement phrase "Go to Work On An Egg" - which was also a t.v. advert that legendary comedian Tony Hancock fronted. There are some pretty close parallels between Hancock and Meek - a clever touch.The centre of the movie is really about his relationship with Heinz (J.J. Feild who is also excellent) and his attempts to propel him to pop super-stardom. It's worth pointing out that Heinz's family were deeply unhappy with his portrayal in this movie, stating none of it was true.At times the movie is very funny. Heinz's punch-up with Jess Conrad is hilarious. But overall this is a dark drama that packs a real punch. Even if the movie is fictional it largely sticks to the facts as I understand them. It also uncovers the sleaziness behind the early 60s pop world fantastically well. It's probably isn't a movie for someone just looking for a pleasant two hours of movie-watching, though.

Picked this up on whim in 2015, as it has Kevin Spacey on the DVD cover, and as you probably know, he is usually excellent. Telstar tells the story of Joe Meek (played by Con O'Neill, who is excellent by the way) the world's first independent record producer. As comical as the on screen action is at times, it's also rather tragic. Personally, I wasn't around during the 1960's, I have to assume the film portrays London accurately during that era. Either way, the backdrop to the film is interesting. It's also interesting to see the conditions under which Meek's hit songs were created, recorded, in a grubby flat above a handbag shop in London. Entertaining from start to finish. One of the best films I've seen in ages. Totally recommended.

I agree with arisdisc review. I'm an avid music lover but never knew some of the breakdown of how things unfolded in those earlier years. Stories like this hold so much meaning to what we actually listen to today. It's a remarkable insight that will touch most viewers and relate to what you listen to today. As I'm in my mid 40's I can see (or I should say hear) how this legend in the music industry influenced many of the bands I grew up with. As I'm an American living in Australia the casting to me was spot on. Digging deeper into the internet of the real people being portrayed here I can understand why they chose these particular actors. It's a shame this movie hasn't received it's proper nod of acceptance. Two thumbs up from me and well worth the time, money and effort to watch on your big screen TV.

I'm a little too young to appreciate Joe Meek's music and it seems to my ears that his music does seem nowadays as if it's from a museum, it sounds so fossilised....and yet, there's no denying the popularity of his rinky-dink pop music from the pre-Beatles era, even achieving the almost unique feat for a British "artist" (he'd have loved that soubriquet, no doubt) of having a number one in America with the irritatingly catchy "Telstar". I some time ago watched the BBC-TV "Arena" documentary on his life and times and my interest was piqued then at this most unusual man.Even if you didn't know Meek's life story, we pretty much get to know from the outset that Joe's final breakdown is going to end in tragedy, with the narrative frequently inserting scenes from his last day leading up to the tragic shooting of firstly his landlady (pretty much an accident, as it appears here), this giving him the final spur to almost immediately afterwards take his own life in equally violent fashion.The film unfolds from this downbeat start into a most entertaining first half as the story charts his rise to mini-Spector status, producing memorable number one hits for John Leyton, The Tornadoes and The Honeycombs. Into Joe's (no pun intended) orbit drift a motley selection of eccentric beat group personnel, with much bawdy humour to the fore. I especially enjoyed Kevin Spacey's spot-on upper-class English accent as Joe's eccentric business manager, military "crusty" Major Banks and there's also a fine turn by Tom Burke as Meek's nervous, sensitive indeed spiritualist in-house songwriter Geoff Goddard. I wasn't quite convinced that Con O'Neill really gave us Meek as he was, although there's no denying his conviction playing. As for the narrative structure, I felt that the the film failed to truly give Meek his due when he finally reached the top and believe his achievements deserved a bit more highlighting, before the round-the-corner Beatles-era of grittier bands with in-built songwriting teams with the flair and talent to display their own writing ingenuity and studio inventiveness, effectively consigned Meek to, quoting Chris Andrews' 1965 hit, a "yesterday man".The second half of the film I think, follows a little too much the fortunes of Meek's fellow-travellers, particularly the ridiculously one-dimensional "little-voice" that was Heinz Burt. Indeed Meek's character disappears from the screen it seems for some time before we're jolted back to the closing scenes and his final demise. His story is undoubtedly a tragic one (suppressed homosexual, thwarted talent, moody artist) but I didn't think the film quite got behind his character enough and thus failed to catch the full parabola of his eventful life.The recreation of the period is great though - from the swinging, jigsaw-style opening credits to the chaotic scenes in Meek's makeshift studio above his landlady's leather goods shop and good acting by almost all on board (helped by the main characters' physical similarity to their real life counterparts) and of course the reproduction of that so distinctive "Joe Meek sound" replete with plinky-plonk organ jungle-drums and loads of re-verb, often married to "death-disc" lyrics.An entertaining step-back-in-time then, if ultimately falling short in its attempt to do justice to the memory of a haunted but very talented and singularly individual pop maverick. To paraphrase Brian Wilson from a little later in the decade, I guess Joe just wasn't made for those times.