"Elvis" (2022) - Baz Luhrmann Film Reviews/Discussion!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by EternalReturn, Feb 14, 2022.

  1. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    As an actual Dutch person said:
    Which is the point.
     
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  2. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    Not me :)
     
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  3. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I think the point should be to portray him as he actually sounded. Whether the accent is well-done or not is beside the point if the Colonel didn't speak with any accent. I guess we all have our things. I could care less if a microphone or cable is anachronous by a few years, but this detail does bother me a bit. As I said, it strikes me as Hanks taking an opportunity to show off a little bit. If he wasn't such a big name, I suspect Baz would have told him to rein it in or outright lose the accent.

    The only way it will matter to general audiences is if the film makes a point of mentioning that Parker's immigration status was a secret and that no one around Elvis suspected him. If that is a plot point, then it makes Elvis and everybody around him look a little foolish for not suspecting that a guy who talks like Juror #11 from Twelve Angry Men might be an immigrant. But if they don't mention that, then it's no big deal. I'm guessing they probably won't mention it... the only way it's relevant to the story is if they get into the "why didn't Elvis tour overseas" issue, and that's probably way more detail than they can cover in a 2+ hour film.
     
  4. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I don't think Tom Hanks adopting a slight dutch accent for the role was an attempt to show off, but more of a hook for him to be able to dive into the character in his own way. Parker had a weird speaking voice. I can hear traces of an accent now and then. I was born and raised in Southern California, yet my elementary teachers always thought I had a slight southern or midwestern accent. Well, both of my parents were raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so I am sure that some of their southern accent rubbed off on me now and then.

    I think Mr. Hanks looks and sounds terrific in his scenes so far. I still await for the 24th before I endorse his role as Parker or the movie itself. Here is an interview with the real Tom Parker below.

     
    Last edited: May 23, 2022
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  5. Jord

    Jord Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Tom Hanks has a very recognisable voice so him adopting an accent is almost necessary when playing soneone who actually existed, even if the person didn't have much of an accent.

    Also liked his take on Walt Disney, in which he also adopted an accent.
     
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  6. Diego Lucas

    Diego Lucas Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brazil
  7. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

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  8. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I am right with you my friend. I believe Baz is going to show just how Elvis's revolutionary music is still important to many artists of today. My daughter will be very excited about Eminem, whose early music she admired greatly. My daughter is also a huge Elvis fan and once recorded a couple of songs at Sun Studio in Memphis. Baz is going to try to reach out to this current generation and try to grab them by the throat, Lol; Hey you young punks, you need to get to get to know this Elvis guy!
     
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  9. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
  10. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Yep. The soundtrack album is a marketing move, likely intended to take advantage of any new interest in Elvis that they hope will be generated by the film. It seems unlikely to me that much (if any) of the new recordings by modern artists will be used in the film, because that would make no sense. Will they have Austin Butler lip-syncing to Måneskin's version of If I Can Dream at the pivotal moment in the film when they cover the 68 Comeback? Pretty unlikely.
     
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  11. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    I think this new trailer suggests that it won't. But also that some performances of songs that Elvis performed, that might be by contemporary artists but not in a contemporary style (see: Hound Dog), will definitely be in the film.
     
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  12. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    This Variety article has more detail:
    "It’s not yet been revealed how many of these songs will be heard in the movie, over end credits or elsewhere, or if it’s more of a “companion album” project. But the artists list does include a fair amount of cast members as well, whose contributions are likely to be both seen and heard on screen, including Austin Butler (who plays the title role), Yola (playing Sister Rosetta Tharpe), Gary Clark Jr. (Arthur “Bigboy” Crudup), Shonka Dukereh (Big Mama Thornton), Alton Mason (Little Richard) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Jimmie Rodgers)."

    So it sounds like some of the film will include cast members re-creating the songs originally done by their characters. But I'm guessing 95% of the Elvis songs in the film will be either original recordings or sung by Butler.
     
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  13. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Who's Enimem playing? ;)
     
  14. GillyT

    GillyT Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wellies, N.Z
    Probably all three.
    :laugh: There is a brief clip doing the rounds of Elvis arriving at Russwood Park, with Eminem on the soundtrack. Gave me goosebumps.

    Is there a discussion about the soundtrack in the 'Music' section yet?
     
  15. sixtiesstereo

    sixtiesstereo Senior Member

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    You obviously have never seen "Coal Miner's Daughter", which is completely accurate. And I see no reason
    calling a film garbage before it's EVEN RELEASED.
     
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  16. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Sounds like his mind's made up
     
  17. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    [​IMG]

    Happens all the time.
     
  18. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    I think it's going to be a bit like The Great Gatsby, where the character playing Elvis (at least in the early scenes) will be singing Elvis songs. But the incidental music will be contemporary.

    If this sounds weird, remember that that's true of almost every movie. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured the song Raindrops Are Falling On My Head, which hadn't been written in 1899. The musical Singing In The Rain was set in the early 1920s, at the the transition from silent films, and it definitely didn't feature 1920s music.
     
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  19. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    Both trailers so far have made a point to blend modern covers in modern styles, modern covers in traditional styles, original Elvis recordings, and Austin Butler's performances in a way that I think will be represented in the movie.

    And yet still some genrebending is to be expected considering, well, literally every other Baz Luhrmann film...
     
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  20. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    This, exactly. He's trying to take Elvis out of the wax museum and present him as a living, breathing man; a vitally important artist who has influenced so many other artists, and was in turn influenced by other musical artists. Present him in full color, ultra high definition, Dolby Cinema.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2022
  21. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    The only interview with Colonel Tom Parker that's been posted is fairly late in his career. I'd be curious to see one from the 1950s. It's very hard to completely lose an accent if you didn't grow up speaking English (witness a former governor of California.) I suspect he worked very hard to up the "good old boy" aspect while cameras were rolling.

    Let's be honest, there's only about 30 seconds of Tom Hanks speaking in either of the trailers posted so far. Let's wait till the film is released to judge.
     
  22. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Pat Boone.
     
  23. adam_777

    adam_777 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Duncan BC, Canada
    And this is what is absolutely neccessary for a film like this to accomplish if Elvis and his legacy are going to remain living history as opposed to ancient history. As a millenial I sought out Elvis' music because i felt like I could still feel the shockwaves his energy and originality had created reverberating through modern music and pop culture. Musically it felt to me like the equivalent of astrophysicists detecting the after effects of the big bang. It was something I never experienced and yet I felt surrounded by its ramifications.

    But I was also aware I was largely alone in that in my age group. For the vast majority of my peers Elvis was almost like a fictional character. Everyone had heard of him sure, but he functioned in a role in their lives similar to Santa Clause or Mickey Mouse sort of like a mascot for an image or a product, someone to be painted in a mural inside Dairy Queen aped by an endless stream of lame impersonators. To them he was anything but revolutionary, exciting or cutting edge.

    Watching these trailers it seems to me like those themes are going to be explored in this movie while also humanizing the man himself all the while focusing on the incredible music he gave us and where it came from. I think this will do an exceptional job of wiping away much of the cultural memory of cheesy jokey fat Elvis that has been so pervasive in the mainstream portrayal of Elvis for so long and focus more on what made him such an icon and target of such spoofs in the first place.

    Im very excited for this film. Im no major Baz fan. But i'm feeling he very well may be the best man for the job. I'll reserve judgement until I see the movie, but im far more optimistic than I was when I first heard of this project.
     
  24. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    :laugh: Imagine?
     

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