Elvis (2022)

[luna1122]

I would consider myself a casual Elvis fan at best, but I grew up with the biggest Elvis fan alive:  my mom. So I'm pretty well versed in Elvis lore and his music. And there's nothing in this film that was new information for me (tho it sometimes plays a little fast and loose with actual facts), and tho of course the story of Elvis, ending with his much-too-young death, is an inherently sad one...still, I wasn’t prepared for how emotionally affecting, even devastating, this film would be for me.

It's loud and lurid, flashy and over the top, so:  not a conventional biopic, its definitely a Baz Luhrmann biopic, about the King, who also rarely met an excess he didn't like. It's both artistic and trashy. I happen to love Baz's stuff, but I know he's divisive. 

Austin Butler probably does looks more like a young John Travolta than Elvis, but he's astonishing here. His is no mere impersonation, this is a fully immersive, fully committed embodiment of the man and the myth.  He clearly really studied Elvis. He has his distinctive gestures and swaggery hip-shot walk and even his laugh down cold. It's genuinely a star making performance, an Oscar worthy one. 

Surprisingly the weakest link here, for me, is Tom Hanks, buried beneath a fat suit and jowly prosthetics and that seriously bizarre accent  sounds like a Hogan's Heroes Nazi villian. Parker was Dutch but passed himself off as being from West Virginia, and his real life accent sounded Southern, with maybe a slight lisp. Why Hanks and Luhrmann went this route is kind of baffling and off putting. Parker was a villian in Elvis' life,  to be sure, and Luhrman and Hanks definitely present him as cartoonishly monstrous,  without an ounce of subtlety or nuance. If he had a mustache, he'd be twirling it. He's like a bloated, liver colored, blood engorged tick, deeply unpleasant and grotesque, and we're clearly supposed to hate him. But the performance is so weird and hamfisted that I loathed every second he was onscreen, and he's onscreen far too much.

But that aside, the film is dazzling and emotional and poignant. We see Elvis from childhood (where he discovers the gospel and black roots music that influenced his entire career. Whether that's appropriation or appreciation or both is a matter of perspective.) thru his early days onstage alternately electrifying and horrifying audiences with his nice- southern-boy-turns-feral-sex-god. There's no surprising or new information, and yet somehow Luhrman and Butler make it fresh and intimate and near-Shakespearean levels of tragedy. 
(By the end, my friend said "if I was watching this home alone, I'd be bawling my eyes out" at the same time I was saying "This is the saddest movie I've ever seen.")

The music is great, imo, with Butler singing most of the songs,  his voice sometimes blended with Elvis. and there's an especially pretty, melancholy version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" from Kasey Musgraves. 

The scene near the end, where he's so bloated and bleary and sick and drugged out, but nonetheless sits at a piano and pounds out Unchained Melody...that was so poignant and sad.  Despite everything, his voice was still rich and strong and beautiful, and his proud smile when he finishes was heartbreaking. And the footage of real Elvis, throughout the years....no matter how  beautiful Austin Butler is, there was maybe no one more beautiful than Elvis Presley at the height of his powers. 

I don't think you'd have to be an Elvis fan, or even all that familiar with him and his music, to be moved and entertained by this movie. 

[Shannon L.]

On 6/29/2022 at 10:41 AM, StatisticalOutlier said:

I saw the trailer many times in theaters and nothing about it made me want to see the movie, including the fact that in the scenes in the trailer, he looked like John Travolta and not Elvis.  But things lined up and I went anyway, and I'm glad I did.  I was distracted periodically throughout the movie by his eye makeup, but would push it aside because Butler's performance was so good.

I originally wanted to see this in spite of how I felt about his looks, but then I lost a bit of interest, but decided to go see it this morning and I'm so glad I did.  What a ride!

First off, I went into it expecting it to be more about the sleazy manager, and that worked for me, personally, because as much as I hated him, I didn't mind his character being such a big part of it.  Second, I'm not familiar with Baz Luhrmann films.  I saw The Great Gatsby and Romeo + Juliet both just once when they were first released and thought were just ok.  I didn't like the look of Moulin Rouge, so I never saw it, even after all the praise. 

I think this movie needed to be crazy, especially in the beginning. Someone earlier (forgive me-I forget who) mentioned that it was a good way to show the meteoric rise of his career.  There were many times during the movie that I had to remind myself to take a deep breath because I felt like was in a whirlwind-but in best possible way.  It was exciting.  And, a big part of that is from Austin Butler's performance.  It's like many of you have said--he didn't imitate Elvis, he became him.  I'm not familiar with his work, either, but wow, was he amazing in this. 

I still like Rocketman a slightly better (imo, this is an 8 and RM is a 9), but I'm hoping that Austin is at least nominated for this role.  If not, I'll be as flabbergasted and livid as I was over Taron's snub (I know, I'm a broken record regarding that, but I don't think I'll ever get over it. Sorry). 

[AngieBee1]

Available on VOD now.

[athousandclowns]

I really enjoyed the movie. Im impressed with everyone’s acting  I agree about the first half hour feeling the movie was going to be too long.   Now I came from this era living him loving him as a tween and later. I remember the fact of his girlfriend being 14 . Although I recall that his gyrating was something shockingly not seen at the time and the Ed Sullivan just showing him from waist up.  But I felt the portrayal of his gyrations were exaggerated.  In middle school at lunch we could eat lunch quickly and pay a nominal amount to see Jail House Rock , I was 13 at the time so it was in the midst of the era . Maybe my memory is fading  as I was shocked he was 42 not 52 at his death and at the time assumed the reports of his death  on the toilet I assumed he overdosed.  I’ll have to rewatch movies I haven’t seen in an eternity to refresh my memory.  
My daughter-in-law who is 50 was asking how I liked it and said a friend of hers couldn’t get her husband to go so her daughter agreed to and disliked it . 
Maybe todays young and old performers grabbing / holding their crotches and twerking and being practically nude and drugging is skewing my memory. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by athousandclowns

[LadyIrony]

I'm about an hour into it and had to take a break. I'm finding the film to be a mess, jumping all over the place in terms of timeline. The rap music is also disconcerting and seems like a desperate attempt to appeal to younger audiences.

The guy playing Elvis seems to be too small, like a soy boy. Elvis looked more masculine. I

My expectations were low as I'm not a fan of Baz.

[Libby]

I just watched this movie. It was heartbreaking to see how Elvis was exploited. I honestly believe that if his mother lived longer, it wouldn't have happened. She was savvy and would have pulled the plug on Parker's ineptitude much earlier in Elvis' career. Elvis' life was very sad.  He was so talented, but between the horrible business manager and drug addiction, his life was a total mess. That poor man...

Edited September 4, 2022 by Libby

[Sarah 103]

On 6/25/2022 at 5:59 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Yep, this was a Baz Luhrman film all right. I do agree with his choice to gloss over Elvis' movie 'career'. It was two and a half hours as it was.

I am okay with them glossing over Elvis' movie career, but they needed to do a better job of conveying that the movies were for the most part not that great and not the kinds of films that would allow Elvis to have the serious acting career he wanted. 

On 6/25/2022 at 7:13 PM, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Marrying young women was somewhat fashionable back in the late 50's. Didn't Errol Flynn also have a thing for young women? I always thought Jerry Lee Lewis was a bit off about marrying his teenage cousin back then. 

I think I remember reading somewhere that the average age for a woman's first marriage in 1959 was 19, so yes people did marry younger in that era. However, among the white middle class (which was the standard that people were supposed to emulate during that era), marrying at 14 was far from the norm and mostly unacceptable, hence the outrage that occured when Jerry Lee Lewis married his young teenage cousin. It ruined his career. 

On 7/3/2022 at 2:38 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I wonder if things would have been different had he gotten to do the international tour.

This was where the movie missed an opportunity to do a strong parallel. Elvis wanted to make serious movies, but Tom Parker kept telling him that if he made enough of the formula movies, eventually he'd get to star in the serious movies he wanted to, but that never happened. To me, the international tour was the same kind of thing. To me, the bigger what if question is "what if Elvis was able to star in the serious movies he wanted to." Of course, Hollywood being what it was, he still could have ended up on the all the uppers and downers that did him later in life. 

I wished the movie had done a better job of conveying the dual nature of the 1968 Comeback Special. It has these amazing performances of Elvis singing live to a crowd solo or as part of the rockabilly jam session with his old band.   (a version of MTV's unplugged almost 20 years before MTV's unplugged existed). It also had more conventional production numbers that would not have been terribly out of place on popular variety shows in the late 1960s. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Sarah 103

[DanaK]

I just finished watching this on HBO. It was entertaining but also overly hyperkinetic and jumping around that was a little hard to take at times. I guess that’s Baz’s style and it definitely wasn’t a standard biopic. I’m 59 so I remember very well Elvis dying but I don’t really recall much of his musical career as a lot of it happened before I was born or too young to pay attention or remember. Colonel Parker clearly did Elvis wrong and Elvis didn’t seem to want to push back until later. I thought Austin did pretty well as Elvis though I thought Tom Hanks was miscast or they made some wrong choices, especially with the choice of accent. I liked the musical numbers, especially the parts that showed Elvis’ earlier influences

[ChicksDigScars]

On 9/5/2022 at 5:36 PM, DanaK said:

I just finished watching this on HBO. It was entertaining but also overly hyperkinetic and jumping around that was a little hard to take at times. I guess that’s Baz’s style and it definitely wasn’t a standard biopic. I’m 59 so I remember very well Elvis dying but I don’t really recall much of his musical career as a lot of it happened before I was born or too young to pay attention or remember. Colonel Parker clearly did Elvis wrong and Elvis didn’t seem to want to push back until later. I thought Austin did pretty well as Elvis though I thought Tom Hanks was miscast or they made some wrong choices, especially with the choice of accent. I liked the musical numbers, especially the parts that showed Elvis’ earlier influences

Same. We're the same age so I also remember his death but not so much of his career. My mother was obviously a fan, although she cried when John Lennon died, not Elvis, but she saved the main section of the Milwaukee Journal newspaper the days after each man passed away. 

Austin Butler was amazing, but I knew he would be after watching him as Tex Watson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, the movie itself was too "busy." The jumping around, the flashiness. Just made it impossible to get into the story, for me. And yeah, as much as I hate to say it, Tom Hanks was the weak point. His voice and accent were nails on a chalkboard, which had nothing to do with his portrayal of a despicable human being. He was just plain annoying. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by ChicksDigScars

[Ottis]

Never thought I would say this, but this movie made me think of similarities between Elvis and Mile Tyson. Both were talented rubes who were used and taken advantage of by oily promoters (Parker and Don King). They both created cheesy homes they viewed as their sanctuaries, and both had hangers on. I struggled getting through Elvis, stopped about 30 minutes in and picked it up again a few days later. Then I fast forwarded through some of the relationship stuff. In the end, I didn’t care for the choice of having the movie told by Parker, both because he was an unreliable narrator and because he was just weird. I can’t believe no one questioned his background at the time. The actor portraying Elvis was pretty good overall. I would have liked a more joyful movie.

[Soapy Goddess]

On 8/14/2022 at 12:36 PM, LadyIrony said:

The rap music is also disconcerting and seems like a desperate attempt to appeal to younger audiences.

Agree that was totally misplaced...and had nothing to do with the actual telling of the story.

Loved Austin's portrayal and hope he wins an award for his performance.

As for Parker, if you didn't already hate him for the way he treated Elvis, you will now. 

[methodwriter85]

On 9/10/2022 at 4:16 PM, Ottis said:

Then I fast forwarded through some of the relationship stuff. In the end, I didn’t care for the choice of having the movie told by Parker, both because he was an unreliable narrator and because he was just weird. I can’t believe no one questioned his background at the time. The actor portraying Elvis was pretty good overall. I would have liked a more joyful movie.

Again, someone really, really, really needed to take a look at Tom Hanks and the accent he was doing and have him...not. I get that it's Baz and that he wasn't trying to do a straightforward biopic, but Tom Hanks brought the movie to a grinding halt. The guy was from Holland yet Tom Hanks seemed to be attempting a Franco-German accent? The hell?

I did really enjoy Austin Butler and he clearly gave it his all.

Edited September 11, 2022 by methodwriter85

[EtheltoTillie]

Tom Hanks’s accent?  Oof. He’s two for two with his new Pinocchio portrayal. I don’t see a thread for that movie yet, so I’m throwing it in here as a comparison. Tom Hanks needs to give it a rest for a while.  

[Blergh]

I've often wondered why Gladys seemed to consider Elvis's tour of duty in West Germany to have been when she seemed to have given up on living. He wasn't in a combat zone and he frequently interacted with her while there but she seemed to think that this was to be his doom and that totally petrified her. While I know Elvis definitely had quite a few issues even had the one called Col. Parker not come into his life, I can't help but think that he WOULD have more likely had an M.O. to have thrown off the alleged Colonel had Gladys lived longer. However, with her death, he also seemed to give up trying to fight for himself instead of appeasing the Colonel and his own exploitative clan.

[Sarah 103]

Austin Butler was amazing as Elvis. He has better than the movie. He very clearly studied the way Elvis moved and spoke. There were small gestures that seriously impressed me in terms of attention to detail. 

[Shannon L.]

1 hour ago, Sarah 103 said:

Austin Butler was amazing as Elvis. He has better than the movie. He very clearly studied the way Elvis moved and spoke. There were small gestures that seriously impressed me in terms of attention to detail. 

He had months worth of quarantine to study.  I hear that he immersed himself in everything he could find on Elvis.  His work definitely paid off.

I see I'm one of the few people who didn't mind the chaotic and flashy nature of the movie.  In fact, I loved it and thought it made it more exciting.  I think it was a choice to do that because it was a way of showing just how chaotic and exciting his life had become.  When I said I was breathless at times, I wasn't exaggerating.  There were a few times where I had to remind myself to breathe. 

[ShadowHunter]

Well someone read our posts because we are now getting the Priscilla movie. Sofia Coppola is adapting Elvis and Me into a movie.

[Spartan Girl]

3 hours ago, ShadowHunter said:

Well someone read our posts because we are now getting the Priscilla movie. Sofia Coppola is adapting Elvis and Me into a movie.

Wasn’t it already a TV movie way back?

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 hours ago, ShadowHunter said:

Well someone read our posts because we are now getting the Priscilla movie. Sofia Coppola is adapting Elvis and Me into a movie.

WHYYYYYYYY?!!

22 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Wasn’t it already a TV movie way back?

Yes. With Susan Walters as Priscilla and Dale Midkiff as Elvis. It was a mini-series, I think.

[methodwriter85]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

WHYYYYYYYY?!!

Yes. With Susan Walters as Priscilla and Dale Midkiff as Elvis. It was a mini-series, I think.

They cast Jacob Elordi, who is massively tall, with Cailee Spaeney, who is 25 but will easily look 14 next to him as she's literally a foot and a half shorter.

 

Jacob is really good at playing creepy and controlling so I think they're going with the creepy grooming angle.

I'm really interested in reading the book and seeing how Priscilla went about it- did it have the general soft focus approach of the 1988 mini-series or was it a bit gritter?

Anyway, reading the Wikipedia page on the book, apparently "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode was inspired by Elvis and Me? Interesting. I can totallllllyyyyyy see Sofia Coppola using this song, then. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed she does.

Edited September 13, 2022 by methodwriter85

[Cementhead]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Yes. With Susan Walters as Priscilla

To this day, I still think of her as Priscilla any time I see her pop up in something.  Google just informed me that I watched Elvis and Me back in 1988 when I was 15 yrs. old.  She must have made quite the impact on me to still see Priscilla when I see her 34 yrs. later.

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I'm really interested in reading the book and seeing how Priscilla went about it- did it have the general soft focus approach of the 1988 mini-series or was it a bit gritter?

I read it when it came out and Priscilla wrote it as a love story. I can't recall the details of when the marriage went sour, though, so I don't recall if that part got grittier or not.

6 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Jacob is really good at playing creepy and controlling so I think they're going with the creepy grooming angle.

Of course they are.

[Spartan Girl]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I read it when it came out and Priscilla wrote it as a love story. I can't recall the details of when the marriage went sour, though, so I don't recall if that part got grittier or not.

I do remember this one part from the TV movie that was really bad...but I don't know if that was in the book or not since I never got to read it.

[ShadowHunter]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I do remember this one part from the TV movie that was really bad...but I don't know if that was in the book or not since I never got to read it.

I believe I know what scene you are talking about. Priscilla doesn't actually care for that part either. She says towards the end when her marriage went bad and the last time her and Elvis had sex it felt like one of those "too little too late things" a last ditch effort.  The miniseries had it played out more like rape.

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, ShadowHunter said:

I believe I know what scene you are talking about. Priscilla doesn't actually care for that part either. She says towards the end when her marriage went bad and the last time her and Elvis had sex it felt like one of those "too little too late things" a last ditch effort.  The miniseries had it played out more like rape.

Oh thank God, I was hoping that part was inaccurate. Like I know Elvis had his dark side, but that? No. Just…no.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 9/12/2022 at 2:36 PM, Shannon L. said:

He had months worth of quarantine to study.  I hear that he immersed himself in everything he could find on Elvis.  His work definitely paid off.

I recorded the movie on HBO just so I could watch his performance of "Suspicious Minds" in Las Vegas again.  Then I watched it in the Elvis documentary about the Las Vegas shows and it's almost unbelievable how good Butler's re-enactment is.  In fact, I'd say his performance was actually maybe better than Elvis's original, but of course Elvis's was an actual live performance in a documentary, and not a scene filmed for a movie, with all the benefits that brings.  If I could watch only one or the other for the rest of my life, I'd pick Butler's.

The "Suspicious Minds" performance in the current movie is intercut with scenes of Parker negotiating the contract.  When I saw it a theater, I was somehow able to not be terribly annoyed by Hanks, but when I saw just this little bit out of context, he was unwatchable. 

[LadyIrony]

On 9/5/2022 at 2:01 PM, Sarah 103 said:

I am okay with them glossing over Elvis' movie career, but they needed to do a better job of conveying that the movies were for the most part not that great and not the kinds of films that would allow Elvis to have the serious acting career he wanted.

I really doubt Elvis could have become a serious actor. I know he was manipulated into doing bad films but even in a bad film you can still act well. 

On 9/5/2022 at 2:01 PM, Sarah 103 said:

Marrying young women was somewhat fashionable back in the late 50's. Didn't Errol Flynn also have a thing for young women? I always thought Jerry Lee Lewis was a bit off about marrying his teenage cousin back then. 

I think if Priscilla was 16 it may have been a different story for the time. But 14 would be young for anyone surely? 

On 9/5/2022 at 2:01 PM, Sarah 103 said:

I wonder if things would have been different had he gotten to do the international tour.

He would have been free of Parker. But still had all his hangers on. I think Elvis had a loyalty to people and stuck with them even if they didn't deserve it. 

On 9/12/2022 at 8:57 AM, methodwriter85 said:

Again, someone really, really, really needed to take a look at Tom Hanks and the accent he was doing and have him...not. I get that it's Baz and that he wasn't trying to do a straightforward biopic, but Tom Hanks brought the movie to a grinding halt. The guy was from Holland yet Tom Hanks seemed to be attempting a Franco-German accent? The hell?

I did really enjoy Austin Butler and he clearly gave it his all.

I think it was to highlight that Parker was an illegal alien but it was jarring and I doubt someone trying to cover up their past would use their natural accent. 

On 9/13/2022 at 4:25 PM, methodwriter85 said:

They cast Jacob Elordi, who is massively tall, with Cailee Spaeney, who is 25 but will easily look 14 next to him as she's literally a foot and a half shorter.

 

Jacob is really good at playing creepy and controlling so I think they're going with the creepy grooming angle.

I'm really interested in reading the book and seeing how Priscilla went about it- did it have the general soft focus approach of the 1988 mini-series or was it a bit gritter?

Anyway, reading the Wikipedia page on the book, apparently "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode was inspired by Elvis and Me? Interesting. I can totallllllyyyyyy see Sofia Coppola using this song, then. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed she does.

I think even for the time a 24 year old dating a 14 year old would have been odd but in these times they would have to play on the creepy aspect! Jerry Lee Lewis got into trouble for marrying his under age cousin, so we know back then it was frowned upon. More so in England perhaps as that is where he shot his mouth off about it and his career died. 

On 9/12/2022 at 7:32 PM, Blergh said:

I've often wondered why Gladys seemed to consider Elvis's tour of duty in West Germany to have been when she seemed to have given up on living. He wasn't in a combat zone and he frequently interacted with her while there but she seemed to think that this was to be his doom and that totally petrified her. While I know Elvis definitely had quite a few issues even had the one called Col. Parker not come into his life, I can't help but think that he WOULD have more likely had an M.O. to have thrown off the alleged Colonel had Gladys lived longer. However, with her death, he also seemed to give up trying to fight for himself instead of appeasing the Colonel and his own exploitative clan.

Reading between the lines a little I always got the impression there was a pseudo romance going on. The way Elvis would talk about her saying things like there is only one woman for him and that's his mother etc. I think they enabled and were co dependent on each other and when one was not around the other (or both) suffered. She was probably controlling as well and so if she isn't around him, she can't control him. Common mother thing. 

[LadyIrony]

On 9/11/2022 at 6:16 AM, Ottis said:

Never thought I would say this, but this movie made me think of similarities between Elvis and Mile Tyson. Both were talented rubes who were used and taken advantage of by oily promoters (Parker and Don King). They both created cheesy homes they viewed as their sanctuaries, and both had hangers on. I struggled getting through Elvis, stopped about 30 minutes in and picked it up again a few days later. Then I fast forwarded through some of the relationship stuff. In the end, I didn’t care for the choice of having the movie told by Parker, both because he was an unreliable narrator and because he was just weird. I can’t believe no one questioned his background at the time. The actor portraying Elvis was pretty good overall. I would have liked a more joyful movie.

I would have liked to see more of the relationship stuff but done properly. Everything in this film felt so rushed and pushed through. It was like a very long music video clip. And no depth at all which I think is the film's overall weakness. 

In the film they do question Parker's background. If I remember correctly it was the record company before or after one of Elvis's hip gyrating controversies. The record company execs (or was it the Police?) make some comment to Parker that they can't find anything on him, no records, like he doesn't exist. 

I think Parker started doing shady stuff after that to keep himself in America. Elvis getting drafted, no overseas tours, dodgy films etc. Parker's own gambling addiction added to it all. 

[chediavolo]

On 8/13/2022 at 4:48 PM, athousandclowns said:

I really enjoyed the movie. Im impressed with everyone’s acting  I agree about the first half hour feeling the movie was going to be too long.   Now I came from this era living him loving him as a tween and later. I remember the fact of his girlfriend being 14 . Although I recall that his gyrating was something shockingly not seen at the time and the Ed Sullivan just showing him from waist up.  But I felt the portrayal of his gyrations were exaggerated.  In middle school at lunch we could eat lunch quickly and pay a nominal amount to see Jail House Rock , I was 13 at the time so it was in the midst of the era . Maybe my memory is fading  as I was shocked he was 42 not 52 at his death and at the time assumed the reports of his death  on the toilet I assumed he overdosed.  I’ll have to rewatch movies I haven’t seen in an eternity to refresh my memory.  
My daughter-in-law who is 50 was asking how I liked it and said a friend of hers couldn’t get her husband to go so her daughter agreed to and disliked it . 
Maybe todays young and old performers grabbing / holding their crotches and twerking and being practically nude and drugging is skewing my memory. 

I think you’re right I think they over exaggerated the gyrating. I watched plenty a concert movie biography etc. and I also saw him in person and he wasn’t doing it constantly. 

I think someone mentioned this already but how in the hell has there not been a 10 part miniseries on the life of Elvis Presley? A really good factual one? I mean this guy had one of the greatest voices of  all time and such a tortured life. This movie made me so sad he brought back all the memories of how unhappy he was (and how beautiful he was ).

[LadyIrony]

12 hours ago, chediavolo said:

I think you’re right I think they over exaggerated the gyrating. I watched plenty a concert movie biography etc. and I also saw him in person and he wasn’t doing it constantly. 

I think someone mentioned this already but how in the hell has there not been a 10 part miniseries on the life of Elvis Presley? A really good factual one? I mean this guy had one of the greatest voices of  all time and such a tortured life. This movie made me so sad he brought back all the memories of how unhappy he was (and how beautiful he was ).

And if they ever do a mini series please make it a linear storyline and no jarring rap music! 

I also thoughts gyrating was exaggerated.

Edited September 18, 2022 by LadyIrony

[oliviabenson]

I am surprised Elvis didn’t have a dozen out of wedlock kids running around.

[oliviabenson]

I enjoyed the movie very much. I am not really familiar with Elvis so it was a nice movie for me.

Didnt realize he died at 42. Guess if it wasn’t for drugs he might have lived longer 

[methodwriter85]

7 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

I am surprised Elvis didn’t have a dozen out of wedlock kids running around.

I mean, his parents only had him and his stillborn twin in an era when birth control was considered a sin. think he probably just wasn't very fertile and Lisa Marie was his exceptional miracle baby.

[BetterButter]

[LadyIrony]

21 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I mean, his parents only had him and his stillborn twin in an era when birth control was considered a sin. think he probably just wasn't very fertile and Lisa Marie was his exceptional miracle baby.

I guess a few extremes are possible, he wasn't very fertile or he did get many women pregnant and due to the cultural mores of the time and lack of DNA testing he was able to get away with it. Or he was more careful than we assume. 

11 hours ago, BetterButter said:

I love Honest Trailers, I would have liked some mention of the rap music though! So out of place and jarring. 

[methodwriter85]

On 9/17/2022 at 8:21 PM, chediavolo said:

I think someone mentioned this already but how in the hell has there not been a 10 part miniseries on the life of Elvis Presley? A really good factual one?

There was a 1979 t.v. movie Kurt Russell did while he was transitioning out of his Disney teen idol days, but it was on the lower budget.

I don't think he's gotten that level of treatment you're talking about because he's 1.) an icon for Baby Boomers and 50's/60's nostalgia isn't as big as it was back in the 80's/90's 2.) there are really uncomfortable conversations to have about Elvis in regards to his relationship with Priscilla and 3.) from a practical standpoint, recreating his life on a believable level would take a lot of money especially in terms of music licensing. 

The closest he got to that was the two-part Elvis and Me movie in 1988.

[chediavolo]

8 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

There was a 1979 t.v. movie Kurt Russell did while he was transitioning out of his Disney teen idol days, but it was on the lower budget.

I don't think he's gotten that level of treatment you're talking about because he's 1.) an icon for Baby Boomers and 50's/60's nostalgia isn't as big as it was back in the 80's/90's 2.) there are really uncomfortable conversations to have about Elvis in regards to his relationship with Priscilla and 3.) from a practical standpoint, recreating his life on a believable level would take a lot of money especially in terms of music licensing. 

The closest he got to that was the two-part Elvis and Me movie in 1988.

I don’t know. A proper documentary would have no problem with discussing his relationship with the young Priscilla. Also there are plenty of docs on subjects that are not timely. Not to mention having   the younger people see the roots of music. 

[Hanahope]

for someone who only knew the highlights of Elvis' career, i thought the movie filled in a lot of information i didn't know.  I thought Austin Butler was incredible in the role, he really brought life and soul to Elvis on the screen.  Tom Hanks played an almost cartoonish villain, which didn't quite seem to bring the control Tom Parker had over Elvis.  Its almost hard to believe no one was able to get Elvis away from him.  times were different I guess.

Really, Butler is the one who makes the movie worth seeing.  

[stonehaven]

Just saw this tonight and I mainly wanted to see this because I love Tom Hanks. So, it breaks my heart to say, this was the WORST performance of his career. Accent was weird....the make up and everything was just so over the top. I always got a sense that Hanks wanted to seriously HAM it up for this. The movie was a lot better when he was not on screen.

I loved the nod to his gospel roots...loved the nod to the black community that he loved...and adored a Sister Rosetta mention and scene.

The problem I had with this was it seemed all flash and no real substance. When it tried, it seemed a bit cliched but visually, it was delightful. Butler captured Elvis in certain moments but I never quite believed him to be The King....

I will probably be the only person to say this but I loved the Eminem song over the end credits. Considering Em gave Elvis a shout out in "Without Me", I thought it was perfect.

I am glad I saw it but don't need to see it again and glad I only rented it for $5....

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just watched this and GOOD GOD. Who told Tom Hanks to use such a horrific, NON-EXISTENT accent to play Parker?!

The movie was okay. Too self-serving (is that the right word?) to “explaaaaain” justify Parker’s using Elvis’s talent to his own profit.

What I loved? All the clips of the real Elvis during the movie. And I remember when he died; I was wee, but I remember watching his concert on television and seeing all the women crying during his funeral. I also remember that last concert the movie ended on-there was a special on network television years ago, hosted by Priscilla. When she did the voiceover, explaining how he had to be helped to the piano-her voice cracked with pain and tears. That performance of “Unchained Melody” always gives me goosebumps and seeing the real Elvia at the end? Goosebumps and tears.

I could have done without the image of Parker dying or whatever that was supposed to be.

 

[Trini]

'‘Elvis’ To Screen Free In 10 Cities On King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Birthday'

Quote

Warner Bros along with Elvis Presley’s estate Graceland is pulling out all the stops in celebration of the King of Rock n’ Roll’s birthday on Jan. 8.

The Baz Luhrmann directed movie, which is the highest grossing original movie of 2022 at $286M WW, will screen for free in ten cities as part of various festivities. Those markets includes Atlanta (AMC Phipps Plaza), Chicago (AMC River East), Dallas (AMC NorthPark), Kansas City, KS (AMC Town Center), Los Angeles (AMC Burbank), NYC (Loews 34th Street), San Francisco (AMC Metreon), Toronto (Cineplex Scotiabank) and Vancouver (Cineplex Odeon International Village). All screenings will take place at 5 pm, except for LA which starts at 4 PM. Luhrmann and star Austin Butler will provide an introduction before the screening. At Graceland in Memphis, there will be a 2PM screening. 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/31/2022 at 5:43 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Just watched this and GOOD GOD. Who told Tom Hanks to use such a horrific, NON-EXISTENT accent to play Parker?!

I could have done without the image of Parker dying or whatever that was supposed to be.

 

Unpopular opinion. I don’t really like Tom Hanks since he morphed into a self important elder statesman. So I couldn’t stand this performance, and I agree with you on that. There must be recordings of the real Parker, though, so I suppose it was modeled on that. He was Dutch, apparently.  This was supposed to be Dutch overlaid with Southern?  I didn’t know any of that info about Parker till I started watching this movie and paused to look up why Tom Hanks had that accent. 
I ended up pausing this movie in the middle (months ago) and haven’t gone back to finish it. Just meh. I don’t really see Elvis in the Butler performance either. 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by EtheltoTillie

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

There must be recordings of the real Parker, though, so I suppose it was modeled on that.

It's been years, but I remember hearing the real Parker speak and he had no Southern, Dutch or any kind of accent that would make someone think he was an immigrant OR from the South.

 

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I don’t really see Elvis in the Butler performance either. 

Neither did I. Did they actually put eyeliner on Butler? The only time I could "see" Elvis was in the long shots, where he was dancing in Vegas--at the end when he was singing. I think twice, they intercut the real Elvis, but I'm not sure, it was so rat-a-tat-tat.

Then again, I've never seen Elvis in any of  the biopics/mini-series' that have been made about him, from Kurt Russell, to Dale Midkiff (this was based on Priscilla's book), and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

[EtheltoTillie]

5 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

It's been years, but I remember hearing the real Parker speak and he had no Southern, Dutch or any kind of accent that would make someone think he was an immigrant OR from the South.

 

Neither did I. Did they actually put eyeliner on Butler? The only time I could "see" Elvis was in the long shots, where he was dancing in Vegas--at the end when he was singing. I think twice, they intercut the real Elvis, but I'm not sure, it was so rat-a-tat-tat.

Then again, I've never seen Elvis in any of  the biopics/mini-series' that have been made about him, from Kurt Russell, to Dale Midkiff (this was based on Priscilla's book), and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

here's an interview with Ted Koppel.  Boy, Ted Koppel is a bit too trusting? Calling him Colonel in a respectful way.   I detect a faint something in the accent that he is covering up.  So Hanks must have chosen to do it more broadly. 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=col+tom+parker+speaking#cobssid=s&fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fa4c0464,vid:mfsDx4IsQe0

[GHScorpiosRule]

47 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

here's an interview with Ted Koppel.  Boy, Ted Koppel is a bit too trusting? Calling him Colonel in a respectful way.   I detect a faint something in the accent that he is covering up.  So Hanks must have chosen to do it more broadly. 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=col+tom+parker+speaking#cobssid=s&fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fa4c0464,vid:mfsDx4IsQe0

Eh. I don't hear any accent. And of course he's still going to milk it. The movie stated that several years after Elvis' death, his estate sued and got back the millions that Parker had taken from Elvis, or something like that.

What annoyed me about the movie was that it was hearing Elvis sing--which was so different and marketing him for his style of singing and dancing. THAT'S what drove the girls and women crazy. But then he tried and succeeded (in this movie; we'll never know the truth) in making Elvis stop being...well, Elvis. And decided to "make him" join the Army until the politicians calmed down. Really? Really???? I was expecting the movie to show Elvis and Nixon meeting. But nope. Nor did we see Wayne Newton. I remember some documentary I'd seen when I was going through an Elvis Phase in my 20s, that Newton and Elvis had been good friends. 

I recall watching that 1968 special and loved it. That last song just gave me chills and made me cry.

Parker essentially was trying to rid Elvis of the exact thing that made him a star and popular. From what I could see here. And Baz , I guess, decided not to include how Elvis was brought back to the Ed Sullivan show, this time standing behind a table so the audience couldn't see him moving his pelvis? And that he was singing to a real live hound dog? It wasn't just on Allen's show.

And now I was also wondering if the real Elvis, high, really did fire Parker in front of everyone.

The only thing I learned was that I didn't know Elvis only ever performed at the one hotel.

 

[Spartan Girl]

9 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

Then again, I've never seen Elvis in any of  the biopics/mini-series' that have been made about him, from Kurt Russell, to Dale Midkiff (this was based on Priscilla's book), and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

There was only one Elvis. A lot of stars that are gone are like that: so unique and distinctive that not even the most skilled actor can truly bring them to life.

[PRgal]

I saw it over the holidays.  Elvis died two years before I was born but his music was heard on and off while I was growing up.  My parents apparently even saw him shortly before he died.  I saw the real clip of the final scene (of him singing Unchained Melody) after I saw the movie and it was just sad and heartbreaking.  I’m now a year older than he was when he died and I would never have guessed he was 42 when the tv special (?) was filmed. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by PRgal

[DanaMB]

I literally just finished watching the movie when I found out Lisa Marie has died. Too young (54)  like her father (42). I didn’t realize Elvis was so young when he died; I was shocked when I saw it on the screen. 

[ProudMary]

On 1/10/2023 at 7:16 AM, PRgal said:

I’m now a year older than he was when he died and I would never have guessed he was 42 when the tv special (?) was filmed. 

The TV special was from 1968. Elvis was 33 at that time.

[PRgal]

5 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

The TV special was from 1968. Elvis was 33 at that time.

Not that one.  The performance where he sang Unchained Melody at the very end of the film (which was a recreation of a real clip...it's on YouTube if you want to find it), which occurred in 1977, shortly before his death.