Elvis (Baz Luhrmann)

speedboatchase · 17-02-2022 6:36pm #1

I can see this doing big box office. Elvis fans in the comments seem happy with the casting too. You may remember Austin Butler as one of Charlie Manson's hippie crew in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBDLRvjHVOY

Slydice · 18-02-2022 12:24am

Voice sounds decent. Story looks compelling.

Haven't seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood so I checked his wiki for what else he's been in... and well.. this seems like of his big breaks!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Butler

Mr Crispy · 18-02-2022 1:59am

Butler looks and sounds the part but as much as I love Tom Hanks, I'm not sure about his Parker.

18-02-2022 8:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118650688#Comment_118650688

Tom Hanks can do no wrong, you'll see!

Nice to see Elvis getting serious treatment, looks like an epic Biography

santana75 · 18-02-2022 4:58pm

Genuinely exited about this. Not an Elvis fanatic or anything like that but I do find him to be a fascinating character. I've seen footage of him in concert from his final years and what really stands out is the power of his voice. Even in his very last concert when he was clearly in a bad state, his voice was a powerful as ever. I wonder if Austin Butler went all Bobby D in Raging Bull for the latter days of Elvis' life?

pixelburp · 18-02-2022 5:06pm

"~~Dewey Cox~~ Elvis has to think about his whole life before he plays"

silliussoddius · 18-02-2022 6:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118654443#Comment_118654443

And he never bought the drugs.

johnny_ultimate · 18-02-2022 6:50pm

It’s funny how definitively Walk Hard skewered the entire music biopic formula, and yet filmmakers have decided to just double down on the genre and its tropes ever since 🤷🏻‍♂️

pixelburp · 18-02-2022 6:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118654967#Comment_118654967

Presumably cos it flopped so hard it really only lives on within film enthusiasts' circles as a cult classic. It really should have killed the formula we all know and "love"

Arghus · 19-02-2022 4:45pm

I didn't know I wanted to see this until I watched the trailer.

Useless Lump · 19-02-2022 4:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651009#Comment_118651009

I normally avoid trailers and clips like the plague but I saw some of the trailer and it looks fantastic.

Thought it was going to be. A donkey when I heard it was the guy from Shannara Chronicles but he looks great. I know nothing about Parker.

They seem to be covering a lot of his life and a three movie can’t be enough for that.

breezy1985 · 19-02-2022 5:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118650688#Comment_118650688

It's not his fault but at times Butler looks an awful lot like Depp when young and Travolta older. It's because of Grease and Crybaby which both had an Elvis look but it was bugging me watching the trailer.

It looks like it's a very straight up biopic which is a surprise coming from Luhrmann but looks good all the same.

breezy1985 · 19-02-2022 5:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659008#Comment_118659008

Ha I was the very same.

I wonder who they are gonna get to play Joey "the lips" Fagan ?

JP Liz V1 · 23-02-2022 11:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651009#Comment_118651009

I think Ireland's own Jonathan Rhys Meyers was praised for his mini series and Kurt Russell did a decent job on film

Agent Coulson · 28-05-2022 3:34pm

Second trailer before it arrives next month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp2BNHwbwvI&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Pictures

Slydice · 28-05-2022 4:20pm

I can't see anything that screams it needs a big screen. I'm imagining the story and sound will be the big deal.

JP Liz V1 · 29-05-2022 12:19am

Loved at Cannes by all accounts

fryup · 31-05-2022 10:47pm

Austin Butler is a stunning looking man - but he's too pretty & boyish to play Elvis, Elvis was handsome and manly looking

trashcan · 31-05-2022 11:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119142229#Comment_119142229

Agree with this. Kurt Russell probably looked the part more than anyone else I’ve seen do it.

JP Liz V1 · 21-06-2022 12:40am

Anyone know the running time on this? I've seen 3 hours and 4 hours mentioned

speedboatchase · 21-06-2022 9:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119229172#Comment_119229172

2 hours, 40 mins

santana75 · 22-06-2022 1:37pm

Gonna go Saturday, looking forward to seeing this. By all accounts it's very good, will report back after Saturday.

santana75 · 25-06-2022 7:10pm

Overall its decent enough but not amazing or anything. I think they lingered way too long in the 1950s era. Personally I'm more interested in Elvis's life near the end, in the 1970s. I wanted to see more about his relationship with the beatles and how he felt threatened by their success. Or even the stuff with Richard nixon and a late night visit to the White House to get himself deputised so he could apprehend drug addicts and dealers. It glossed over his final days very quickly and they are arguably the most fascinating of his life. Austin butler is very good, I can't fault him he gives it absolutely everything. Tom hanks is good too even if his accent Is mostly Hollywood oirish.

speedboatchase · 25-06-2022 9:50pm

The first 20 minutes are horrendous and had me very worried. Baz Luhrmann had his hands too much in too choices (sometimes things are 'conventional' for a reason - the audience can understand) and you end up with a disorientating, endless montage of what should be extremely impactful moments. In Variety's review they pointed out that Baz doesn't give us an idea of a pre-Elvis world because his style is so bombastic, so Vegas.

From there, however, it really picks up. Baz wrests control away and the music and Austin Butler's insane performance start to take over. The Vegas scenes are truly stunning - you feel like you're in the room. By the end, and the mixing of real footage from Elvis's life, I was truly moved.

Overall, it's a 7/10 for me, but it isn't a 7/10 movie, if that makes sense? It has true greatness in there, and it has moments that are the equivalent of a child running into the house excitedly trying to tell a story. Watch in the cinema for the comeback special and Vegas performances though and you'll still get your money's worth.

Shank Williams · 26-06-2022 10:29am

Really enjoyed this and I would not be a Baz Luhrman fan at all (still haven’t gotten over how badly he massacred Gatsby)

I guess it would be hard to make a truly uninteresting film about this subject matter, really enjoyed Hanks and Butlers performances, Luhrman definitely takes liberties and glosses over /airbrushes some of the edges but worth a watch

Hyzepher · 27-06-2022 2:03pm

I feel that the movie won't resonate with some of the younger audience as I think it requires a little pre-knowledge to understand some of the more iconic parts of his life - the importance of the comeback special, the early parts of the 1960s were glossed over and the final years weren't addressed at all. The period between his initial Vegas residency and his final year was rushed and for me this was an important period to understand how he morphed into "fat Elvis" and had drug issues etc. For those of us that remember, Elvis was very anti-drugs and the movie was a little conflicted on this.

santana75 · 27-06-2022 10:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119256923#Comment_119256923

Yeah I had the same thoughts. If you watch footage from the concert in Honolulu Elvis is in fantastic shape, he's lean and athletic and his voice is perfect. But even just two years later, in 1975, he's become "Fat Elvis", slurring his words and in general looking terrible. And then just two years after that he was dead. This period, from 1973-1977 really needed to be given a lot more time in the movie, but it was very much glossed over.

Shelga · 28-06-2022 12:08am

Myself and my boyfriend went to see this tonight. I thought it was a solid 3 star movie- he thought it was the worst film he’s ever seen in the cinema 😅

It really didn’t cover much in any depth, and Colonel Parker was just so unlikeable and one-dimensional. I still enjoyed some of the set pieces though, and Austin Butler was fantastic.

gmisk · 03-07-2022 3:25pm

Saw this morning. Would agree with other posts the first 20 minutes are a bit too whirl windy!

Really enjoyed it, overly long but a lot to pack in. Austin Butler is a total revelation (Oscar nom surely), Hanks does well even under the prosthetics.

It is certainly a step up from Bohemian Rhapsody as a film... Christ that was a mess. It is glossy and surface level to a degree...but as you would expect with Baz Luhrmann it does look wonderful. Some set pieces are genuinely brilliant like the comeback special and the performances in Vegas.

7/10

Graceland · 04-07-2022 12:55am

I'm a big Elvis fan but I wasn't sure if I was going to like this movie as the first 15/20 minutes seemed all over the place to me. However I'm glad to say the more it went on, the more I liked it. I thought Austin Bulter was fantastic in the role. I would have liked more coverage of Elvis' life in later years, and I'm hoping the 4 hour version that I've heard about will have more of this.

Dial Hard · 10-07-2022 6:19pm

I saw this today for the second time. I'm not sure I've ever gone to the cinema to see a film twice. It has its flaws but honestly, Austin Butler is just *that* good. Give him the Oscar and be done with it.

Elvis (Baz Luhrmann)

Comments