*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The recent Baz Luhrmann Elvis biopic succeeds more than it fails. First and foremost, Austin Butler is very good, and he will likely get a Best Actor Oscar nomination. His only sin is not being Elvis, but nobody is or was. He does an excellent job of emulating him.
By contrast, Tom Hanks (or Luhrmann) made some choices that end up leaving Hanks as perhaps the weakest part of the movie. Believe it or not. Tom Hanks is a fantastic actor, and, like most people who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I’m a huge fan. But this felt like a bit of a misfire. More on that in a moment.
There are some other minor criticisms. In a movie about Elvis, you certainly don’t need to incorporate modern musical “takes” on his work. But, of course, that’s Luhrmann. Speaking of which, Luhrmann’s flashy, comic-book-esque visual style seems overused early on.
On the other hand, that style is used in part to summarize or abridge details, which makes sense. In watching this film, I realized that this is the first time in a long while that I’ve watched a movie and thought, “This really could have been a good, big-budget streaming series rather than a film.”
Imagine someone comes to you and says, “I just ate the best hot dog I’ve ever had.”
First, the good part: The first two-thirds or so of Men is a fantastic slow burn, up to and including a near-real-time tour of the English country house that the main character, Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley), will be occupying for two weeks. In the early portion of the film, the only harrowing portions are those that relate to flashbacks of the events around Harper’s abusive husband James’ (Paapa Essiedu) suicide—a trauma that weighs on Harper and will ultimately be the focal point of the film.
I see a lot of movies. Only rarely do I feel the need to write a review about a film I’ve just seen in a theater. And it usually isn’t the case that I write a review because I thought a movie was very good. I thought Dune and The Batman were very good, for example, but I didn’t write a review about either one.
The Departed (2006): There is so much to like about this movie. It’s easy to write it off as just another Scorsese crime picture, but the distinctive hook of two entangled sides with opposing spies in their ranks makes for a riveting, tight film. With a lot of movies like this one, even good versions, there’s a sense of inevitability about what will ultimately happen. Heat (which is quite good) is a little like that. This one keeps dropping pieces of the proverbial puzzle into place, taking some unexpected turns right through the final scene. I’m not even bothered by Nicholson’s on-again / off-again accent. Great movie, and a well-deserving Best Picture winner. 
Curiously, the 
As I move forward through the 
Continuing my strong stretch run through the 
Untimely Movie Review – Inception (OR: At Long Last, The End)
That was when I purchased the Warner Bros. 50 Film Collection, vowing to review every single movie in the set. I arrogantly assumed I would knock it out in a couple of years. Maybe even under a year! After all, that’s only one movie every week or two.
As it turned out, a rapid start gave way to a much more leisurely pace, thanks to a career / job change and a move up to northern Virginia from my lifelong home of Richmond. Weeks became months became years, and the promise to review every one of these films became slightly more of a burden than a pleasure.
The biggest speed bumps were those epic-length features in the 1960s, like Doctor Zhivago. The prospect of losing the better part of an afternoon to watch a film about which I wasn’t enthusiastic made it all-too-easy to find an excuse to avoid it. That ease of rejection prevented me from resuming my journey when I always had the option of watching a tight, hour-forty-five movie from outside the confines of the collection.
Eventually, I became more intentional about finishing, which led to the more recent rededication to the project.
Now, finally—finally—I am done.
Continue reading →
Share this: