As much as I hate to generalise about anyone or anything, the infamous Dutch tendency towards thrift has its roots in the Protestant Reformation and Calvinism in particular - an austere form of protestantism that promoted frugality, hard work etc. Nothing to do with Judaism. Capitalism was born in the Netherlands. Our Dutch friend who posts occasionally may want to comment here. I'm only going on my limited knowledge of the history.
I think this tweet says it all (referring to the negative review's author): https://twitter.com/Fray_dee/status/1529546603333357570 Apparently the guy has a reputation.
My mother has told me that her mother wouldn’t let her watch Elvis on TV in 1956 because he was deemed too “trashy” or something to that effect. But, yeah, after decades of everything from Mick Jagger riding a giant inflatable ***** on stage to Robert Plant singing “gonna give you every inch of my love” to KISS to Alice Cooper to Marilyn Manson and all of the shock rock/schlock rock that has followed, it’s difficult for many, I think, to grasp how shocking and revolutionary Elvis was in the context of 1950s middle class American culture.
My mother yelled for my father when Elvis appeared on the Dorsey Brothers show in 1956. "Jimmy, you have got to come in here right now and see Elvis. He's absolutely hysterical," or something close to those words. My Mom became a lifelong fan and once had a great debate about Elvis with her sister-in-law, who thought Elvis was just going to be "A flash in the pan," Lol. My mother would later help pick out the Elvis singles for my father to play on his top 40 radio station in Southern California, The Mighty 690. It drove my father nuts as he could never figure out which side of the 45 was going to be the bigger hit, but my mother could usually predict which song would be the stronger hit, Lol.
This review is probably the worst out there (with Peter Bradshaw's Guardian piece). The majority of the reviews are positive or pretty good. Luhrmann has always been derided by some critics. They like to over-analyse everything he does. I take it with a huge dose of salt. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie in a few weeks.
From the sound of reviews Butler did as good a job as possible playing Elvis. He will almost certainly get an Oscar nomination.
Your grandpa was obviously a very astute judge of talent. This reminds me of another quote about Elvis that I heard Bing Crosby say by way of comedian Shecky Greene. The comedian was part of that early Las Vegas performance with Elvis and the Freddy Martin orchestra in 1956 when Elvis more or less bombed in Las Vegas (It was a very old crowd that had no use for the young rock 'n' roller). Shecky was backstage at some point later talking to Bing Crosby about it and said something like, "It's too bad about the kid bombing," and Bing quickly shot back to him," Oh, I would not be too worried about Elvis, one day he's going to be the biggest star on the planet." Bing was also apparently a pretty good judge of talent himself.
Here is another really good review of the film and particularly notes Austin Butler's effort to nail the live performance footage as Elvis in the film. 'Elvis' review: Austin Butler hip-shakes his way to Oscars 2023 contention
That was lovely! I just read it to my wife who pointed out that the reviewer forgot to mention the contribution of Baz's wife Catherine Martin, the production and costume designer of all of his films.
Since I've been criticizing Hanks' gratuitous use of an accent, I have to say that by contrast, Butler has done a really excellent job of replicating Elvis' speaking voice.
Oh my she really is amazingly gifted. I cannot imagine Catherine Martin not being nominated in several categories for her amazing costumes and production design. As a huge fan of Elvis's for well over 50 years, she really nailed those Elvis clothes and jumpsuits. The details in the staging and costuming is stupendous. She has to win an Oscar or two!
I agree with you 100 percent regarding Austin's Elvis's voice, especially the speaking voice. I love the way Austin looked up to the sky and pointed upwards when the 12 minute standing ovation occurred as well. He said he spent three years on Elvis and you could see some tears in his eyes. As Denzel Washington told the director, the young man has one hell of a work ethic. I also have to acknowledge that you are not the only one who didn't love Tom Hanks' dutch accent, Lol. Several critics have pointed out that it's a bit of strange mix. I think Tom Hank's version of Parker is going to be a bit creepy, but I am okay with that as long as it does not turn into a complete parody of the manager.
I think part of the credit has to go to the folks at Graceland, who welcomed Baz and Catherine and presumably opened their archives including much of Elvis's real stage clothing.
This video compares scenes from the trailers to photos of the actual events. As you’ll see, the attention to recreating scenes accurately is astounding: And if you find ‘reaction’ videos entertaining, there’s a huge amount of trailer reaction videos on YouTube - they’re a lot of fun to watch.
They are. The best ones are for Jailhouse Rock. All super fun to watch people realize Elvis was more than who they thought he was.
Looks like Butler has Elvis' original hair color yet in the movie they have early Elvis with the jet black hair? Seems a little odd with all the other attention to detail?
Thanks so much for posting that press conference without the intrusive French interpreter, Lol. There are three things that really stand out to me without even seeing the movie yet: 1) Producer/Director Baz Luhrmann loves Elvis a whole lot. 2) Austin Butler loves Elvis even more than Baz loves Elvis. 3) Tom Parker is not going to get a sympathetic treatment in this film, but it will give his some credit where credit is due. (Still guessing about this last point, but the first two are based on seeing or reading actual interviews with Baz and Austin). Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Is an Exhilarating, Maddening Spectacle—But One Made With Love
