View Poll Results: Elvis (Baz Luhrmann)

Voters
6. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yay

    5 83.33%
  • Nay

    1 16.67%
Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Elvis (Baz Luhrmann)

  1. #1
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    9,853

    Elvis (Baz Luhrmann)


  2. #2
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    9,853
    This is a fantastic biopic with peak performances from Hanks and Butler. As you might expect from a Luhrmann film, it has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the head, but that not only manages to be the right tone for the story but it also doesn't mean the central relationship between artist and manager isn't portrayed with the appropriate complexity. I sense a lot of people will focus on the make up and accent and say Col Tom Parker is a caricature, but I believe he's actually written as a flawed, memorable character who happens to be the villain of the piece but also the narrator.

    And anyway it's a blast to watch, this coming from someone who usually despises music biopics.

  3. #3
    Evil mind, evil sword. Ivan Drago's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    6,995
    Saw it twice and pretty much loved it both times. It's extravagant and over the top as a Baz Luhrmann film usually is, but as Grouchy stated, that's the right tone for the biopic of an enigmatic celebrity that was truly larger than life. It may be overlong in parts but it needs to be in order to cover Elvis's life in every facet, from his childhood home evolving into Graceland and his relationship with Col. Tom Parker to meeting his wife and his role in advocating for social justice. And yet it's the latter part I'm left wondering how to feel about considering it's recently come out that all of Elvis's interactions with BB King, Little Richard and the like throughout the first half never happened in real life; they were fabricated for the movie. It does reek of facetious, revisionist history on one hand, but despite that the movie still celebrates the music that influenced Elvis even if The King himself never did, so credit to Luhrmann for that. And on that note, the soundtrack is incredible as is Austin Butler's transformative and commanding lead performance.
    Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)

    The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
    Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
    Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
    M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
    Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
    Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5

    615 Film
    Letterboxd

  4. #4
    Producer
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    2,936
    I've been mostly in for Luhrmann's style in his past films, but this -- even more than others -- swings back and forth between exhilarating and exhausting with dizzying speed, the latter because this is nearly Montage: the Movie at times, for better (music sequences pop; barely any biopic stodginess) and worse (never sustain any real dramatic depth once the film gets serious). Still on the positive side of this because that style captures the film's arc of Elvis disrupting America's norm taste pretty well, and Austin Butler is sensational. 6/10
    Midnight Run (1988) - 9
    The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
    The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
    Sisters (1973) - 6.5
    Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
An forum