Elvis [DVD] [2022]

Austin Butler became Elvis for me. Wether Tom Hanks became Colonel Tom Parker I dont know as I had no impression of what he was like or, for that matter, what he looked like.
Its a Baz Luhrmann film with all that entails, and to start with I found the split screen and constat camera movement exhausting but as I warmed to the characters that seemed less annoying.
I was never a Elvis fan and Im not now but I felt Elvis came out of this story with his reputation enhanced and the Colonels in the toilet.

Being of an age where I was a teenager when Elvis began his amazing career I remember him so well and the film did not live up to my expectations of it having said that people younger than me will love it.As I said I too love i

is a 2022 biographical drama film directed by Baz Luhrmann and written by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner. It follows the life of the American rock and roll singer and actor Elvis Presley, told from the perspective of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It stars Austin Butler as Presley with Tom Hanks as Parker, while Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Luke Bracey co-star.

Elvis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2022, and was released in Australia on June 23, 2022, and in the United States on June 24, 2022, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was a commercial success, grossing $287.3 million worldwide on an $85 million budget, and it is the second-highest-grossing music biopic of all time behind Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and the fourth-highest-grossing Australian-produced film. It received generally positive reviews, with Butler’s performance garnering widespread acclaim. Luhrmann’s direction, cinematography, editing, sound design, costume design, production design, and musical sequences also received praise, though the script, Hanks’ performance, and the runtime drew polarized responses.

The American Film Institute named Elvis one of the ten best films of 2022. At the 95th Academy Awards, it received eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Butler. The film thus becomes the second-most nominated music biopic in the history of the Academy Awards, a distinction shared with the 1942 Michael Curtiz directed Yankee Doodle Dandy, both of which fall only behind Milo Forman’s Amadeus which garnered 11. It also received three nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture — Drama, and received seven nominations at the 28th Critics’ Choice Awards, including Best Picture, and winning the Best Makeup Award. It was nominated amongst the five best-edited feature films (Drama, Theatrical) by the Eddie Awards, as well as in nine categories by the British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film, Leading Actor and Cinematography, and nominated for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures by the Producers Guild of America Awards. Butler received numerous accolades, including nominations for Best Actor from the London and US/Canada Critics’ Choice Awards, as well as winning the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

As with Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis does play fast and loose with history but you will still feel what Elvis went through at the hands of Tom Parker, whether you believe the story or not and will find yourself tapping along to the songs of the King, played to perfection by Austin Butler.

Elvis looks at the life and rise to fame of Elvis Presley, told through the eyes of his manager Colonel Tom Parker. All of which is told against the backdrop of incredible social change in America during the time of Presley’s life.
I thought it was interesting to have this story told from the perspective of Colonel Parker considering that he is essentially the villain of the piece. The man was instrumental in the rise to fame of Elvis but he was also the cause of a stalemate in Elvis’ career which he profited massively from, unbeknownst to Elvis until some years later. I thought Tom Hanks did a great job as Parker, a man swimming with sharks, sinking in debt, using his new found star to maintain his lifestyle. However it is Austin Butler as the man himself who gave the stand out performance. I felt that he took on the persona, mannerisms and energy of Elvis perfectly.
The story itself plays out in an interesting style. With this being a Baz Luhrmann film I was expecting a lot of interesting visuals, music and filming styles. I would say this was true of perhaps the first half of the movie. The film mixes modern and old music together, the visuals show an eccentric mix of filming styles and it is all tinged with the colours and style you would expect from one of Luhrmann’s films. The second half of the movie, this seemed to have been toned down somewhat. The style and colours will still very obvious but the general filming techniques seemed to revert back to your standard biopic.
Overall I thought this was a brilliant biopic, I really enjoyed the music, I thought the cast was spot on and the life of Elvis was a very entertaining one.

Simply, if you love and remember the music this part biopic tale is told by
Elvis’s former manager Colonel Tom Parker from his deathbed in 1997.
The film starts way back when Elvis was a child living with his parents who
lived in the poor part of Mississippi largely populated by African/Americans.
Which is where the young Elvis became inspired by the Gospel and Soul, he
often heard,
When still young Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) offered the young Elvis (
Austin Butler ) his skills in management, the bright-eyed Elvis longing for a better
future accepts…..his career would take-off.
Though the gambling-addicted Colonel would abuse his power, taking every dollar
he could from his project.
The story which I felt often rushed, did bring back many fond memories of the music,
the choreography that went into Austin Butler’s performance especially on-stage was
very accurately depicted by the actor.
At the end of the film archive footage of Elvis were shown including how he struggled
physically on stage toward the last…great memories great vocalist.
Of course Elvis could turn his hand to almost any styles of vocals, from Rock to Gospel
to Love Songs and ballads.
Though maybe not what one might have expected, and at times a bit rushed, the music
alone will bring the memories flooding back.