User Reviews

I had high expectations here and this movie didn't come close to meeting them. At it's core is an amazing story, but they failed to tell it with any suspense, compassion or coniction. The trailer sells you on inside details of every act on the label, but for the most part, we only get to know Kiss and Donna Summer.

The biggest problem with this film is none of the talent looks like who they are portraying. Kiss has 5 decades of Cosplayers and every one of those fans looks better than the clown squad they assembled for this film. Not a single member looks like the actual band member and Gene Simmons looks like he's about 5"6' and that is with the platform boots. Tall talent in real life is portrayed by short people. Thin people like Gladys Knight are portrayed by a fat woman, and short people like George Clinton are portrayed by talent a full foot taller.

As much as I tried to get into this movie, the poor portrayals kept pulling me out. The music also was poorly done again removing me from the fantasy.

There are two reasons this movie is going to tank. 1) its target audience is most likely retired or pushing it. 2) it's not true enough to the people to satisfy the crowd. This was a watered-down remake of Rock of Ages. A poor parody or of poor movie. That's what happens when you allow the family of the subject to run the show. These kids are not film makers and it shows in every scene.

It's a biopic of Neil Bogart (Jeremy Jordan) who co-founded Casablanca Records. In 1974, they are a new company with only one act on their roster. It's KISS. Neil is having an affair with KISS manager Joyce Biawitz (Lyndsy Fonseca) while his wife Beth (Michelle Monaghan) is at home with the kids.

It's an interesting story that I'm not familiar with. I do know all the songs, but they are a little before my time. The lead needs to be a star. Jeremy Jordan does a fine job. In fact, he's probably very close to the real Neil Bogart. A leading man role does require the biggest star that they can get. As for directing and writing, it's a mistake for Neil's son to do the job. He's also not the most experienced. It's a bit of his father's gambling mentality. He's betting on himself, but the film would benefit from someone better than him. In the end, the songs are great and the story is compelling. The filmmaking is average at best. It's a passable biopic.

A mediocre film that is neither overly bad nor overly good.

The casting is mediocre, some actors are solid in their roles and some are simply miscast. We follow the life of music producer Neil Bogart, his rise, as well as some famous musicians who collaborated with him.

The film is interesting at times, but it's simply mediocre, it's not that bad overall, but unfortunately it didn't live up to its potential.

Some of the supporting characters are interesting, like Big Joey, played by the excellent Vincent Pastore. But there is too little of him in the film, which simply doesn't look cinematic enough, it lacks the look that a different camera or perhaps a better director would give it.

The movie isn't a complete failure, but it's not the kind of movie you watch and think you'll watch again. This is a movie that you watch once and that's it.

There was a lot of potential, the seventies, the music, various famous musicians, but none of it was fully exploited. I don't know how to explain it other than that the film is too polished, it doesn't have the intensity it should have.

Jeremy Jordan isn't that bad as the main character, but he isn't great either. Some actors are unconvincing in their roles and don't even look like the famous characters they portray.

The film also lacks a bit more original music from the period and the story is incoherent at certain points, the script just isn't good enough. It's watchable, but that's all, it leaves the impression of another mediocre achievement that could have been much better.

In the end, it's a shame that this movie didn't live up to the potential it had.

I will give the director (son of the man this movie is about) credit. Watching this movie from beginning to end (or rather listening to the narration, A clear sign this movie was bad) made me interested in his dad. Ironically, I became so interested that I felt this man deserved a better movie about himself.

It was over bloated with too much stuff that could not be gel together well. Possibly would have been better as a series of episodes in which each musical act was on focus (If it was a series, I would give it a higher rating simply because of the Kiss episode).

Its funny that the movie is about the filmmaker's father because it felt like the man himself directed it as a stoke to his own ego.

Literally, the film was a man telling me how awesome he is and realistic that could have been done in a podcast or Youtube video. These days listening to some one talk for over two hours seems like better time management than watching a boring biopic.

Show started at 8:05pm. After 20 minutes of narration and bad acting, I walked the hell out. They had a scene where KISS debuted to the public, except they played Shout It Out Loud, a song they released in 1976, when they already struck Gold with KISS Alive. The makeup of KISS, I assume, was intentionally wrong (Perhaps a rights issue.) Once you realize that the horrendous acting and inaccuracies will persist for over 2 hours, I figured I might as well leave after 20 minutes. I looked around at the 7 people in the room, who might have been family of the Director, and got up and left. All was not lost. I did have some Pizza before the show.

Note to self. Don't let the sons make a film about the father. Bad wigs, bad acting - covers that don't sound like the originals Tone is all over the place. Just bad and poor Jeremy Jordan in a terrible wig. Jason Isaacs so miscast. The actresses are badly used. Just a bad version of Scorsese or PT Anderson. How did this get a wide release? Who financed it? It should have gone straight to video. The lead character is unlikable and inconsistent. This is a vanity project if there ever was one. The script is terrible and the directing borrows from a bunch of different movies. Expect to see this on VoD very soon.

A colorful and moving tribute to Neil Bogart, "Spinning Gold" is about fulfilling dreams and life itself. A somewhat sedate and less manic "Vinyl" the movie is a cruise through mid - 20th Century America and the ascent of a young Jewish man from humble and troubled beginnings in New York to the pinnacle of success in Hollywood and beyond. Jeremy Jordan livens the party as the glib and amiable Bogart who navigates his way through debt and hairy personal situations in making his record label Casablanca Records the most successful independent music company. Along the way we're witness to music history as Bogart discovers or signs KISS, Donna Summer, Gladys Knight, The Village People, Parliament, etc.., and the rest is music history. One aspect missing here is the failure to bring life to the times and the music. Too much focus on the interpersonal relationships charts this tale into tunnel vision that misses the fun parts of a fun time. Perhaps the most glaring sin is the miscasting of the music legends featured. The actors are either too tall, too short or too fat. Considering the nature of the film they should have damn well made the actors look like their characters as much as possible. All in all a fine tribute to a man and a time that altered and enriched and whose legacy endures potently to this day.

It was apparent that the production took inspiration from Wolf of Wallstreet and Bohemian Rhapsody. It wanted to show great musical moments from the highs and lows of a man's career; although a lot of it was taken out of context and not entirely true, and the cocaine infused chaos of the 70s but with a Party City wig.

Bad: Casting choices (that's the least convincing Gene Simmons I've ever seen), Hair and wardrobe choices (I want to puke every time I see the pubes I mean chest hair from Neil), and the green screen and vfx.

Good: The music is real good! Tayla Parx is a new discovery for me, has bits and pieces of fun though they fail to sustain it multiple times, Jason Derulo with a surprising performance.

At the end of the day, you can't fault a family wanting to honor a legendary family member but it would have been better had the creative direction been given to someone with experience. Just didn't seem worth the 10 years of pre production for this level of output.

I don't understand the hate given some of the other movies out there like Cocaine Bear, 64 and Shazam. I thought this was a pretty good bio-pic. It is a very interesting insight on how the first Independent label was started. It also showed the people behind the scenes to get the talent, make the music and to get it out there for public consumption. Probably would have been better served if they focused more time on this change in the music industry. There was a bit of personal things they could have left out and it actually might have made the movie a little bit more focused. Regardless, if you can handle any of the above 3 other movies, then go out an enjoy a pretty good movie with some sound acting and editing, and make it a nice evening out.

Ok, so I totally understand the reviews this movie has received. If you knew very little about music in the 70's, then perhaps this movie was a dud for you. I agree, character building, a totally compelling spin on a historical story, etc... it's fairly flat... passable, not horrible, not good... passable. If you know some of the background of, or are a fan of... KISS, Donna Summers, etc... I think the dramatization of how these bands/singers got their start was very intriguing. I figure a lot of people are going to think this is a bad movie and a '5'... but to others that enjoy that musical era, they are more likely to enjoy it as a solid '7ish' as I did. Hope you enjoy.

This movie did recall the 1970s for me, but not in the way intended--it brought back completely plastic bad films of the era like "Viva Knievel!," "Roller Boogie" and (the Casablanca Records-affiliated) "Thank God It's Friday." I didn't even realize some of the cliches utilized were still in anybody's memory bank.

The idea of a movie about Casablanca and its founder had a "Boogie Nights" type appeal in that it could show the good, bad and ugly of the Me Decade at its most flamboyant and decadent. They apparently had major-league talents (including Spike Lee) involved at various points. Yet somehow it ultimately fell to the subject's own surviving family members to make it. So this ends up the worst possible case of exactly the wrong people making a dumbly idealized portrait of a complicated figure, without having the filmmaking chops even to pull off that kind of sugar-coating well.

This movie immediately hits notes that are meant to be big, bold and splashy, but instead come off as incredibly simplistic and ineptly done. Not to mention the performers cast as famous recording stars who look and sound nothing like them (hello, "Donna Summer"). The guy in the lead is tasked with playing Neil Bogart kind of as "The Music Man," in that we're supposed to think of him as a tiny bit of a con man but a terribly charming, persuasive one. Admittedly, this actor gets no help from the awful script, and for all I know he's fantastic in Broadway musicals (where he was recruited from). But this movie bets heavily on a star turn with oodles of charisma, and instead right away have the same allergic reaction you do when a parent says "Look how cute!" at the antics of their bratty child: You grimace and think "Please god get me away from this obnoxious little twerp as fast as possible."

I'll admit I didn't make it all the way through--it was just too painful. Even the music isn't redemptive, because I don't think they used the original recordings (or at least just the backing tracks, with new vocals). This movie may ripen into camp gold one day, because it certainly has the wall-to-wall cliches, bad dialogue et al. Required. But for now it's just a grotesquely ill-made (and very, very long) slog that wastes a potentially good real-life music industry story no one will likely ever try to dramatize again. Which is a pity.

Tbh im shocked by how bad some of these reviews are. This was a fun and easy to watch movie. I am sure there are a lot of embellishments that you take with a grain of salt - just like the Queen and Elton John biopics but if you liked those you'll enjoy the drama and music on this movie.

The fact that the family was involved in it too makes it a sweet tribute to their dads contribution to the music industry and they definitely did not sugar coat or canonize him.

Take this for what it is, and not too literally, it's made for entertainment not an exact historical record and it's not high end drama. It's a fun musical story and then you will enjoy it.

I didn't know anything about this movie going into it. But I was not pleasantly surprised, more so unpleasantly annoyed.

I gave it a 5 stars because it is not a terrible movie, some of the musical scenes I enjoyed a bit. And I generally do see a lot of work has been put into making this film hence I don't like to give it lower. However I didn't enjoy this movie at all.

The whole film I found myself annoyed with the main character (forgot his name, I think he was called bogard, which I know is ironic since It is even mentioned in the movie that everybody knows kiss but nobody knows this guys name). I'll just proceed to cal him bogard in this review. Normally I could enjoy a movie about a flawed character and since it's a biopic I was willing to give it a go. But the writing of this character is just laughable, I felt as if the movie wasn't aware of the way the viewer would feel about this character. And then in the end I felt it getting better but then there was this horrible scene made to make us feel pity for him but it was done in such a unsubtle, forced and rushed way.

Everybody in this movie is overacting, nothing feels genuine and real. I felt no connection to the characters and lost interest in the story very soon.

I didn't understand what was happening Sometimes, I didn't know what the movie wanted to be or wanted me to feel. One second it felt like a drama, the next like a comedy, then it had some darker crime moments and none of it blended together to make one cohesive film.

I wouldn't recommend watching it in cinemas.

My rating (6) is higher then the movie actually deserves.. This has to do that I'm greatfull to learn the origin some of my music. Not using the original music tracks is a big miss of the true feeling in my hart. No discredit to Donna Summer actrice Tylor Parks, but she does not have the voice or image of Donna Summer. I'm sure it has to do with the original song rights where proberly to expensive to use in the movie. That's a real shame because it would give the movie much more credit. The acting is oke-ish, but story play is poor. I had people that just walked out of the cinema that could not look at it anymore. (...) second half of the movie was better. But it took to long to be involved as a viewer.

This movie reminds me a lot of Bohemian Rhapsody movie, why?

The director had took full freedom to changes some facts and time period didnt make sense for us who lived that time and remember what really happend.

Maybe the reason for this was...purely entertainment but for some people extremely annoying.

Acting was kind of so so with some actors, if I remember right original plan was to hire Justin Timberlake for the main role. I guess it didnt worked so after that production value has come down few bars....or then some more.

If I remember Kiss song Beth was purely Bob Ezrin brainstorm and I guess he almost composed it complete...not like in this film.

Same also with Donna Summer "Love to Love you Baby" it didnt go like in the film....ask Giorgio Moroder.

That song didnt safe Casablanca records I believe it was Kiss Alive double album.

Movie kind of run out of time, cause Village People was just side note here....few other important things but hey of director was happy with results.... For me this was a mess with no logical order of what really happend and how.

No I do not love you - wait, wrong producer ... or is it another case of no pun intended? Probably the latter! Would have thought that 2023 would be a year where music producers would really be the main topic of biopics? Certainly not me - this also has way more musicians/artists than the movie I am referencing in my summary line (you only had Milli Vanilli in that - well mostly and kind of only).

Great cast and the acting is really top notch. Yet it feels ... kind of dragging most of the time. Well if there aren't songs playing that you may know and love. Because those moments almost make you want to rate this way higher than I did. I also can not tell you if everything we see here is or rather was actually true. But you gotta believe ... well you have to believe in yourself ... because no one else will if you do not yourself.

Sometimes that may go above and beyond ... you can't treat friends or associates ... well badly! Well you can - who am I to say what is right or wrong anyway? I never ever was able to spin gold ... yet?

I saw the movie because I am a huge fan of Jeremy Jordan, but I was expecting an okay movie. What I actually saw was an incredible movie about an amazing man. The story was so compelling, I loved seeing the journey that the man who produced many icons of the music industry went through. The ups and downs were so exhilarating. Every character had such personality and were so fun to watch. All of the actors were fantastic. Not only could they sing amazingly, but they gave amazing acting performances. Jeremy Jordan gave one of his best acting performances as Neil Bogart, he really brought the character to life and made you feel connected to the character. 10/10 definitely recommend you should watch.

A biopic of 1970s music producer Neil Bogart, co-founder of record label Casablanca Records. Biography of Neil Bogart, music producer and co-founder of Casablanca Records, in the 1970s.

I really like biographies, but unfortunately this one interested me very little and captivated me very little, despite the excellent rhythm and narration to help with the introduction, but unfortunately, musicals are not my style, unless they are very captivating... The final statement It was emotional, throughout the film, it was a fair tribute, people who make their dreams come true are always a great inspiration for all of us who still dream...

Watched the movie because I usually love movies with a 70s backdrop. And as a fan of Kiss I wanted to see if it answered to my expectations. It did not. There are things in the movie that never happened, the Kiss make-up is not correct probably due to rights issues and somewhere midway in the movie there is a billboard with Johnny Carson and... January Jones, who wasn't even born in that year the scène is set in.. Paul Stanley, who was in his mid-20's at the time is portrayed by a 50 year old actor who looks nothing like him. Neil never had something to do with the song Beth and so on.

The music are real mediocre cover versions, as the originals were too expensive I assume.

The actors are not bad, but it certainly is no Boogie Nights or Almost Famous, to name a few. It could have been a far better film if it were more accurate, with the original songs and more eye for the right details.

One of those movies that is well made, but lacking spark and punch.

The bad: it kinda toddles along, predictable and safe. Nice alright, but the kind of tedious nice. This movie is too much molded in such a way that it wants to please all the time, turning out to be just, an nice ish movie, but without real cojones.

Not any good then? It's above average, but not very much. The music is great though, for those who have lived through these times, hearing back those songs is great, but simultaneoulsy a bit embarrassing because of the way the actors act while they are (fake) singing.

Spinning bronze, not gold. Kinda average nice, but not great.

Dire egotistical writing (from director Timothy Scott Bogart) & an abysmal lead performance (Jeremy Jordan) make the charmless, clichéd, pure cringe "Spinning Gold" practically unwatchable, despite being the true '70s based tale of the rise of the likes of Kiss, Donna Summer, The Isley Brothers, Village People & Bill Withers (and the revival of Gladys Knight). Unfortunately Bogart finds his own dad (the crass producer / executive behind those acts) more interesting than them... but he aint, he's an odious, self-satisfied twerp (if the film's to be believed). Supports from the likes of James Isaacs, Lyndsey Fonseca & Michelle Monaghan don't save this turd... it stinks. Flush!