The Stone Roses: Made of Stone

A brilliant,superb documentary about the return of the stone roses.remember this film is not about the history of the stone roses,nor is advertised as such,it is about the roses come back gigs in Manchester,and the warm ups to that.

Shane Meadows is one of my favourite directors; the Stone Roses are one of his favourite bands, and when they reformed a couple of years ago, Meadows got the job of making a film about their comeback, which is also a review of their career. The maker of 'This is England 90' is at his best when he captured how the band both shaped and were shaped by their time; perhaps unsurprisingly in an official documentary, we don't get much discussion of why the music on their second (career-ending) album was considered so disappointing by so many.

The Stone Roses are definitely a seminal band. In many ways their music set the scene for the musical landscape of British rock of the 90's.

It's pretty obvious from the off - in spite of a bizarre Hitchcock interview to open proceedings - that director Shane Meadows has made a love-in piece for his favourite band. Which of course is honourable and perfectly understandable, because, like, we all would do it.

This is an interesting film if you like the Roses, and has some great live footage. However it's far too long.