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ROCKETMAN (2019) - Elton John Biopic

Started by DukeDeMondo, May 26, 2019, 10:24:12 PM

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Timothy

The whole movie was a joy. Brilliant, inventive, great acting. All brought as Eltons narrative in AA so you never know if you are getting the truth. The blend from scenes to song was rally well done. That pool scene into Rocketman was sublime. Loved this. This is how you make a film about the life of a musician.

Absolutely loved this.

And bizarre to think that the main actor sang the songs. He sounds similar to Elton. His performance with Elton together from a few months ago is on YT and a great watch.

kidsick5000

Loved it. Utterly loved it and Dexter Fletcher lets loose with the musical setpieces.
If anything, you'll just see what a missed opportunity Bohemian Rhapsody was.

Richard Madden is very good as Satan

kidsick5000

Quote from: SteveDave on May 31, 2019, 10:29:50 PM
I've remembered something else that tickled me in this- towards the end, when he's in the recovery group, he begins to speak like Garth Marenghi.

YES! He does. And what that leads to felt Marenghi too.

Rev+

To add to the answers to a previous question - I'm not an Elton John fan, in the sense that I wouldn't deliberately listen to his stuff, but wouldn't change the radio station in annoyance if it came on.  I've no interest in him as a person either, as he has always just come across as a gratingly rich person.  The type who has bought access to his friends.

So I was very surprised to like the film as much as I did.  It's the tits, and it's to Elton's credit that he was involved in this when he is portrayed as an arsehole for much of it.  As a musical it's very strange, though.  There are maybe four songs that get aired in full, the rest are a verse, chorus, and done because you know what that song sounds like so let's move on.  As I'm not particularly keen on his music that didn't bother me, but it's got to be a bit disappointing for fans turning up for a proper jukebox musical.

His final realisation of his problem since 1975 was absolute gold.  Worth avoiding the PG certificate just for that.

kidsick5000

The Empire Podcast has a Rocketman special and Dexter Fletcher mentions this documentary where you can see Elton formulating Tiny Dancer using a crumpled sheet of lyrics.
Young Bernie talks up the speed of Elton bringing it all together. It is bloody interesting seeing his process. And it's still a work-in-progress. The inflection on Tiny Dancer diverts from the one ingrained in our mind.
https://youtu.be/VDY2w-8S2Ng?t=573

the science eel

I thought the first half was great. I was thrilled.

The rest was so-so, and the last 20 minutes was drawn-out and dull. I suppose I should have expected this, what with EJ himself giving it the nod. They felt they had to show the journey to redemption, so the last 40 years were pushed in there, all ends tied up before the finale, the aggrandisement.

Great central performance, some fabulous fantasy sequences, but this was no great shakes overall - just a well-made two-hour distraction, exactly what you'd expect 'film released in 2019 to celebrate the life of Elton John' to be like. And it definitely IS similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in terms of tone, style. Some scenes were just Elt in place of Freddie.




Was Dick James really such a prick, by the way? Didn't he do the Beatles' publishing?

Dr Sanchez

If Elton wasn't sulky and miserable for 80% of the film it would have been great instead I thought it was just very good.


Cold Meat Platter

Thought this v. disappointing, stunts and action pared back and no cameo from Timothy Dalton?

kidsick5000

Quote from: the science eel on June 20, 2019, 07:38:44 PM
Was Dick James really such a prick, by the way? Didn't he do the Beatles' publishing?

He's not that much of a git in this. He's more gruff yet he pushes the songwriting team to make more music beyond the nice stuff. He does get them the US gig, the three album deal, the outfits...

A number of people - including his son - have an issue with this sweary version. And that he uses a gay slur on Elton when satan John Reid takes over management.

The portrayal does bury his music knowledge. His surface could be taken as  music-ignorant and exploitative.

It does require a bit of knowledge of the era to know that £10 a week on top of board and rent would have been a bloody good deal in the late 60s. Dick James was very supportive

Dropshadow

Just watched it. I was quite confused at first, as I couldn't understand why they'd chosen someone who looks an awful lot like Bono from U2 to play Elton, but I eventually got used to it and, by the end, was finding it to be (unintentionally) hilarious. The film? Tons better than the Queen effort but still a by-the-numbers rock biopic; the sort of thing that I couldn't wait to finish. Four out of ten.

Dr Rock

Enjoyed it. The singing was pretty bad though.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: the science eel on June 20, 2019, 07:38:44 PM
I thought the first half was great. I was thrilled.

The rest was so-so, and the last 20 minutes was drawn-out and dull. I suppose I should have expected this, what with EJ himself giving it the nod. They felt they had to show the journey to redemption, so the last 40 years were pushed in there, all ends tied up before the finale, the aggrandisement.

Great central performance, some fabulous fantasy sequences, but this was no great shakes overall - just a well-made two-hour distraction, exactly what you'd expect 'film released in 2019 to celebrate the life of Elton John' to be like. And it definitely IS similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in terms of tone, style. Some scenes were just Elt in place of Freddie.

This is pretty much how I felt, really enjoyed the first hour, found myself increasingly losing interest in the second half.

Quote from: rue the polywhirl on May 29, 2019, 09:24:55 PM
Another thing in the film that rankled - Elton says to his mum over dinner towards the end that he's taken every drug and has shagged everything that moves. Throughout the movie you see him snorting and drinking which is about 2 different types drugs. And you see him sleep on screen with about 2 blokes tops, flash of orgy and not that much else. Definitely could have done with far more onscreen debauchery.

And this, absolutely this, it felt far too PG rated for a film about a man who boasts about all the sex and drugs he's taken.

Dewt


Schnapple

Halfway through Elton's autobiography, 'Me', co-written with Alexis Petridis. Enjoyed the film, and had heard good things about the book, but it's better than I'd anticipated. If it's not the best musical autobio of all time, it's almost certainly the funniest. Highlights include Elton's drag-queen rivalry with Rod Stewart and his coked-up offer to buy a lifesize fibreglass T-Rex from John Lennon.

famethrowa

Total pedantry here, but I was looking at the film again, and in the scene where Bluesology are backing the soul revue, there's a banner above the stage that says something like "British Soul Tour 1969". Elt left that band in 1967, and by '69 he was well into his piano-touching songwriter job. So why put the wrong date on? It's a multi-million dollar movie, multiple people set up that scene, someone had to design and print the banner, did no-one even think about it? Why even put the date on it at all?

Hand Solo

Quote from: famethrowa on May 06, 2020, 04:10:35 PM
Total pedantry here, but I was looking at the film again, and in the scene where Bluesology are backing the soul revue, there's a banner above the stage that says something like "British Soul Tour 1969". Elt left that band in 1967, and by '69 he was well into his piano-touching songwriter job. So why put the wrong date on? It's a multi-million dollar movie, multiple people set up that scene, someone had to design and print the banner, did no-one even think about it? Why even put the date on it at all?

Because as everyone knows that in the 60s Elto was a jobbing session muso and didn't get any personal success until the 70s, hence the 1969 banner to mark this meridian point of transition from anonymity to fame, don't you even know that??? We're so good at biopics.

phantom_power

I watched this film and obviously it is pretty shit but the one thing that kept shouting out to me was "he didn't write the lyrics. Any relevance about his life are purely coincidental". I know that means fuck all and the songs weren't chronological anyway but my brain couldn't get past it