Do you ever wonder how your favorite song was made or was brought to the radio? The music industry is often a huge part of the movies, especially in recent years, but with so many artists and hits – it’s hard to tell every story. We normally hear the story of a single artist and their struggle to get to the top of the charts, or what the industry does to them. But in Spinning Gold, we get a completely different perspective – it’s the story of Neil Bogart, the man behind Casablanca Records.
Bogart’s story and the way the movie is played out are as much fiction and recreation as the ones told on screen. It sets out to be an interesting story but you’re never fully sure what is real and what is embellished. The movie jumps from artist to artist, from the past and through time and back again. The creative storytelling is mostly done by Bogart on screen with little flashes of moments that are significant and the labels repeated failures before they became the success they later were known for.
At times beautiful, and at other times frustrating Spinning Gold is still an interesting look at the music industry from a perspective that people don’t usually get. The hard work and tenacity needed to continue to fight, and the small degree of con-artistry needed as well just to keep the label afloat is something Bogart did well, and the movie depicts as such. The movie just has a hard time balancing what to focus on and how long to stay on different elements of the story as well.
Spinning Gold tells a compelling story and one that is mostly based on facts. It is a movie that any music buff or lover will enjoy watching and seeing some of their favorite acts and songs come to life on the screen. And while the movie originally starts off with an enjoyable leisurely pace telling the stories in it, towards the end that pace seems to drag, and the movie’s long 2 hours and 17 minute run time starts to wear on you. It doesn’t matter interesting a story is, at some point a slightly bloated timeline will make you want it to end sooner rather than later.
Spinning Gold is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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About Spinning Gold
What do Donna Summer, Parliament, Gladys Knight, The Isley Brothers, The Village People, and Bill Withers all have in common with the rock band KISS? They all rose to their musical heights under the watchful ear of the music industry’s most colorful and brilliant music producer, Neil Bogart, founder of Casablanca Records, the most successful independent record company of all time. Along with a ragtag team of young music lovers, Neil and Casablanca Records would rewrite history and change the music industry forever. Their mix of creative insanity, a total belief in each other and the music they were creating, shaped our culture and ultimately defined a generation. In a story so unbelievable that it can only be true, comes the motion picture event of the musical journey of Neil Bogart and how his Casablanca Records created the greatest soundtrack of our lives.
Some of today’s hottest music stars are playing the icons who inspired them and singing their most popular songs including Grammy and Golden Globe nominee Wiz Khalifa as George Clinton, Jason Derulo as Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers, Pink Sweat$ as Bill Withers, Grammy Award nominee Tayla Parx as Donna Summer and multi-Grammy winner Ledisi as Gladys Knight. Spinning Gold features an all-star cast including Tony Award nominee Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, The Last Five Years), Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible franchise, Gone Baby Gone), Jay Pharoah (Saturday Night Live, Bad Hair), Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (The Walking Dead, The Goldbergs), Jason Issacs (The Harry Potter franchise, The Death of Stalin, The Patriot), Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine), Chris Redd (Saturday Night Live), Casey Likes (Almost Famous on Broadway), and comedian/actor Sebastian Maniscalco (The Irishman).