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Sbbruin

By Sbbruin
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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21912

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I didn’t see a topic on this, but am I really the only one really looking forward to this?  Elton is one of the greatest musicians of my lifetime, if not the greatest.  Yeah, Bernie wrote a lot of his shit, by t he wrote it right next to Elton who gave the words and music life. I can’t wait.

Forgive me for being retarded on the iPad, but I can’t link the trailer.  But I think that s May be better than Bohemian Rhapsody.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31688

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This is weird.  I never got into EJ much as a young'un.  He was pretty popular when I was in elementary and middle school and I  . . .just  . . . didn't. . . . care for his music much.  Later, the whole stage persona thing was kind of off-putting, but see below.  Just the whole Liberace-esque thing.

Now, I can appreciate his talent and even kind of like, but only kind of, some of his songs.

Through The People's Book of Lists (which I spent a strange amount of time perusing and then finding context for some of the lists), I learned that he was gay.  This was before I was old enough to attach any prejudice to that fact, it was just strange and "other."  I do know that I wasn't into Elton John before I discovered that fact.

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tantric superman

tantric superman 4668

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Although I would see a long bloated film on the Allman Bros.  Netflix could probably do three seasons on those guys.   Gregg and Duane growing up, and ending with Gregg dying.  Young in the South, Hourglass in LA, Sky Dog discovering the slide, Muscle Shoals, Dickey Betts, etc.  An actor's dream for the two main characters and a hundred other great parts.

This flick would rock with just the background music, let alone the concert recreations...

 

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oSuJeff97

oSuJeff97 3435

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2 hours ago, Bama Chick said:

According to the reviews I’ve read this isn’t a traditional biopic but more a musical fantasy take on EJ’s life.

One reviewer in particular described it as the anti Bohemian Rhapsody.

Yeah I think it's supposed to be more like a musical and yeah it has some fantasy elements and what not.  Not Bohemian Rhapsody at all... which is interesting because it's directed by Dexter Fletcher, who stepped in and finished Bohemian Rhapsody when Bryan Singer quit/was fired.

P.S. Trivia: Dexter Fletcher played Sgt. Martin in Band of Brothers.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54883

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Saw it last night.  It was definitely worth seeing.  Really interesting.  It was kind of annoying that the songs weren't in chronological order -- the one that really annoyed me was "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was basically put in the exact opposite place that it should have been.  

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Augustus

Augustus 3061

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On 5/17/2019 at 9:02 PM, Sbbruin said:

I didn’t see a topic on this, but am I really the only one really looking forward to this?  Elton is one of the greatest musicians of my lifetime, if not the greatest.  Yeah, Bernie wrote a lot of his shit, by t he wrote it right next to Elton who gave the words and music life. I can’t wait.

Forgive me for being retarded on the iPad, but I can’t link the trailer.  But I think that s May be better than Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bernie was his lyricist.  Elton wrote the music.

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CurlyDumps

CurlyDumps 4558

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10 hours ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

 A mile wide and an inch deep IMO.

I felt similarly.  The characters, their emotional stories, etc. felt very surfacey to me.  Whole plot feels very Dewey Cox-ey.

makes me wanna go back and rewatch Walk Hard

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GhostOfTomJoad

GhostOfTomJoad 9436

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I think one of the biggest disadvantages to the rock star/musician biopic is that the story itself is common to the point of being a cliche. Take the last 4 big biopics about legendary stars: Ray Charles (Ray), Johnny Cash (Walk the Line), Freddy Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody), & now Elton John (Rocketman). All dealt with isolation/tragedy/disapproving parents. Their talent eventually astonishes and changes the minds of professional skeptics. They reach stardom, but their past demons & insecurities eat away at them. They fall into a pool of self doubt & seek the numbing effects of drugs/alcohol. They hit rock bottom/OD/get arrested. They get clean & experience a triumphant final act. Final frame is a transition for the actor portraying the character to the actual star, with graphic overlay telling the audience their final successes. 

I'm a sucker for most of them because I'm fascinated by the creative process of artists. But in most cases the biopics aren't necessary. They're not shedding any new light on the subject. True fans will know the backstory far better than the director in most cases, & usually end up disappointed in the creative license taken in order to make the story fit on the big screen. It's really more about finding the actor who can portray the star.

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lemonlime

lemonlime 5503

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53 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

I think one of the biggest disadvantages to the rock star/musician biopic is that the story itself is common to the point of being a cliche. Take the last 4 big biopics about legendary stars: Ray Charles (Ray), Johnny Cash (Walk the Line), Freddy Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody), & now Elton John (Rocketman). All dealt with isolation/tragedy/disapproving parents. Their talent eventually astonishes and changes the minds of professional skeptics. They reach stardom, but their past demons & insecurities eat away at them. They fall into a pool of self doubt & seek the numbing effects of drugs/alcohol. They hit rock bottom/OD/get arrested. They get clean & experience a triumphant final act. Final frame is a transition for the actor portraying the character to the actual star, with graphic overlay telling the audience their final successes. 

I'm a sucker for most of them because I'm fascinated by the creative process of artists. But in most cases the biopics aren't necessary. They're not shedding any new light on the subject. True fans will know the backstory far better than the director in most cases, & usually end up disappointed in the creative license taken in order to make the story fit on the big screen. It's really more about finding the actor who can portray the star.

Yup.  I liked Rocketman more.  I think because it was a musical and there was a lot of focus on the music, rather than a cliched, inch deep bio.  But they did a great job with the music here and it was fun to watch, as opposed to many of the others which were depressing stories of tragedy/addiction, etc.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31688

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7 hours ago, JohnnyRage said:

I thought it was pretty great. It was everything Bohemian Rhapsody didn't have the balls to be.

@TwiceHorn, I had no idea that I was walking into a sober journey movie.

I'm not a fan of the classic remake, but The Lion King preview looked legit.

That is interesting.  The Book of Lists had famous alcoholics, too, but I don't think it had that piece of info on ol Reg.

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satyanash

satyanash 14782

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On 6/6/2019 at 12:28 AM, JohnnyRage said:

I thought it was pretty great. It was everything Bohemian Rhapsody didn't have the balls to be.

@TwiceHorn, I had no idea that I was walking into a sober journey movie.

I'm not a fan of the classic remake, but The Lion King preview looked legit.

Agreed. The movie was great and Taron Egerton was terrific, both his acting and singing. He fits Elton to a T.

It actually subverts a lot of cliches. Bernie and Elton's relationship for one, there's never a backstabbing or a I'M THE ONE THEY LOVE-type fight. They remain firm friends for the entire movie. Another one is the opening, you always see these movies start with the "big concert", but this time he dramatically opens the door in costume... and goes to rehab.

His relationship with his parents is really well depicted. How he grew up thinking his father couldn't love anyone... only to find that he just couldn't love him. Seeing him watch his father hug his new sons in a way he never got to experience was heartbreaking.

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Carl Spackler

Carl Spackler 3536

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I liked the fact that the filmmakers didn't do a straight music biopic.  Integrating the subject matter and lyrics of certain songs with various aspects of EJ's life was very interesting.  At times, though, the movie felt a bit too much like a musical.

Egerton did a terrific job acting.  As for his vocals, I felt he gave it his best shot and he did justice to the songs.  However, there were times when I wanted to hear something closer to EJ's actual vocals.  In contrast, the vocals in Bohemian Rhapsody (a blending of Rami Malek with a Freddie Mercury impersonator) never left me wanting something different. 

Was disappointed that there was virtually no mention of EJ's classic backing band (Johnstone, Murray, and Olsson), and very short shrift was given to how he came to work with them.

All in all, I enjoyed it and it was worth seeing.  It had some great moments as well as some flaws.  

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pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4839

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I liked it.   Still got all that vinyl.  Always thought he was bi.  Remember some story about him being found passed out on a beach and having his stomach pumped.  Nothing but drugs and semen.  But that could have been a myth built from his real suicide attempt at his home.  

He certainly was flamboyant, that's for sure.  A bit like Liberace. 

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Asithappens

Asithappens 974

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Really, really liked the movie. At times, imo, it was brilliant. Especially the part where they were dancing at the carnival then went back to the bar. 

That was some A-one cinematography. 

The rest of movie didn't have that snap to it, but it was very good, imo.

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Patrick Bateman

Patrick Bateman 3942

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I liked it but they really struggled in the third act, it ended very abruptly and sort of anti-climatically.  If felt like they didn't have a climatic moment to give us like BR had with Live Aid.   The timeline didn't make much sense so it sort of confused some in my party although it didn't bother me much, as I understood they took it in more of a musical direction than straight biopic.  Egerton has a good voice and I thought most of the performances were pretty strong.  It was solid.  The big Elton John fan in my party was sort of indifferent by it.  Shrugs.

 

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