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

Wow, it sounds like they are anticipating Elvis fever over there. Elvis's following in the UK has always been amazing and often more enthusiastic than here in the U.S.

Warner Bros’ Elvis is the headline act in 742 cinemas across the UK and Ireland this weekend – the latest post-pandemic title to break the 700-location barrier.

It usurps Top Gun: Maverick’s 737 screens from May as the fifth-widest opening of all time in the territory. Maverick took a sizeable £11.2m three-day opening, with £15.9m including preview days. It was up to £57.4m as of last weekend – the latest signifier of a successful post-pandemic box office recovery for blockbusters.

Edit:

Art beat me to the punch, Lol.

 

No, but my mother-in-law did, and my wife grew up in Tupelo, and I know and have known more than a few people in Tupelo and Memphis who remember Elvis not as an icon or abstraction, but as a flesh-and-blood person they went to school with or knew through their cousin, in what is, to this day, the tiny, interconnected world of North Mississippi and Memphis. For whatever his opinion is worth, Peter Guralnick’s biography notes that, “in many ways, Lauderdale Courts [the housing project where the Presleys lived in Memphis] mirrored the comfortable small-town environment of Tupelo. It was just the kind of thing that a wide-eyed boy from the country … needed.”

You can spout all of the population statistics you want, but I’ve spent many days and nights in Memphis, and it’s a small town writ large, and neighborhoods like the one the Presleys lived in are, to this day, little worlds of their own.

 

Another great review from Rotten Tomatoes top critic Sarah Michelle Fetters with MovieFreak.com.

But where some will find Hanks awful as parker and others will undoubtedly call what he’s doing positively brilliant, I do not think there will be any such debate as it comes to youngster Austin Butler. He is superb as Presley. So terrific I almost can’t put into words just how spectacular he is. In all the noise, with all of the manic activity Luhrmann orchestrates with malevolent gusto that surrounds him, the actor still towers above the fray with overpoweringly charismatic gusto. This is a soulful portrait of a determined artist being ripped into a myriad of pieces by forces far beyond his control, Butler commanding the screen from the second Elvis walks upon the stage to the last moment this singer and showman makes his tragic farewell.

 

I feel the same way about Fort Worth. To me Dallas is the "big city" and Fort Worth is "Cowtown". But, it has exploded over the last 20 years.

 

Reviews like this convey why I think Luhrmann's style fits perfectly to tell Elvis' story. From the manic forces at work against Elvis at the start of his career, butting against Elvis' own force of nature, all the way to the forces at work near his end of everyone wanting a piece of him, there is no way to do it effectively other than in Luhrmann's style.

 

He was a fundamentally shy man who felt most alive when on stage and singing. Only then did he fully come to life. There are many people who are excellent at their professions but not particularly articulate when it comes to discussing their work. For them the work speaks for itself.

That said, Elvis's onstage monologues in 1969--where he told audiences about where he came from, how his career had progressed (and regressed), and why he wanted to appear live again--are his real testament. They show his wild sense of humor and demonstrate that he was an intelligent man with a sense of perspective. He was the first to recognize how incredible and absurd his life was and he communicated this on his own terms.

 

"He's a squirrel...get him!"

 

Your going to love the film.

 

Elvis comes alive with Austin Butler’s uncanny performance.

 

Had no problem with Hank‘s dutch-English accent. Ok at first it was a little laudable, sorta Goldmember smelting. But.. thankfully that soon passed. Definitely for acting chops Tom Hanks has still got it.

 

To me, I didn't feel like I was watching Butler as Elvis. I felt like I was watching Elvis. I never felt that before in any Elvis biopic.

 

Not just the physicality of Butler’s stage performance, but he seemed to embody Elvis spiritually, presence wise ... again uncanny.

 

It's what I said further up in the thread, that Butler has what Elvis had in abundance: charisma. That's what will make or break someone playing Elvis.

Also, in listening to the soundtrack now, it reminded me that I would be remiss in not mentioning the people who played B.B. King and Little Richard. Again, it felt like I was seeing them in their younger years.

Yola did a great job singing as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, but I would have wanted to see a little more of her. Maybe in Luhrmann's 4-hour cut there is more of that. There is more of the '68 Comeback, since the latest trailer has something that is the "in the round" portion that I don't remember in the movie, where he talks about moving his pinky.

Going to see it again tomorrow afternoon at my local art house theatre, and taking my mom next week. Yes, I loved it that much!

 

My only complaint it was sometimes hard to understand what he was saying. My wife, who's not a fan, didn't like it either for that reason.

 

Every copy of every past Elvis movie should be destroyed. This is the only performance worth seeing, imo.

 

The real EP ending was welcome/ appreciated, but that’s not to diminish AB steller performance.

 

Wow, just wow. I just got back from seeing it and it was incredible. Man, that movie moved fast. Even my wife , who isn't a fan loved it and didn't mind the running time. Stating the now obvious, Austin Butler is fantastic. Hanks is, meh fine but nothing incredible imo. The accent was a bit hard to understand at times at felt a bit creepy which I suppose what he was going for.
The rumor that I might have teared up at times are just that, unsubstantiated rumors.

 

And the term ‘squirrel’ is used in the movie, no doubt because Elvis himself used that term in those monologues.

 

Yeah, I found my allergies were acting up at some points during the movie, too. Dang theatre air conditioning!

 

Rotton Tomatoes has finally revealed an audience score for the Elvis movie. With over 100 reviews, but only around 50 verified, the Elvis movie is averaging a very stellar 95% score.

 

And mine is one of them! I wasn’t able to find a way to ‘verify’ my score though. Hopefully others in this thread can enter their rating too!

 

I have already signed up as a member. I just have to wait until I actually see the movie next week, Lol.

 

Haha

Be sure to mention to your daughter and son-in-law to rate it - the more positive votes to help spread the good word about this movie the better!

 

Even Rolling Stone gives it good marks:

'Elvis' Is Ecstatic, Jittery, Horny, Tireless, and Tragic. Just Like the King

 

This might be one of my top three Elvis reviews by Oli Welsh, Senior Editor at Polygon in the UK.

Elvis Is the Top Gun: Marverick of music biopics

These knockout sequences — half a dozen of them at least — are as audiovisually thrilling as anything else you can see in the cinema in 2022. They’re up there with the dizzying aerial ballet of Top Gun: Maverick. Every one is a feat of staging, editing, sound design, and musicological daring. A flashback to the Black slums where Presley grew up mashes up the sexual heat of the blues juke joints with the fervor of a gospel tent to stunning effect. Luhrmann is unafraid to crash contemporary hip-hop or wailing guitar solos into the sound mix to bring the raw excitement of Presley’s performances home. (And those of his Black contemporaries and heroes as well: One breathless sequence on Memphis’ Beale Street sees performances by Little Richard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and B.B. King meld and overlap.)

Elvis review: Baz Luhrmann proves he’s still the king of musical spectacle