A number of you have mentioned on Comments that you were interested in what I thought of ELVIS starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. Well, I watched it yesterday, and I was impressed big time. There have been a number of actors portraying Elvis in movies over the last 40 years, but Austin Butler was the best. He was totally believable as Elvis.
And Tom Hanks did a masterful job as Col. Parker. I loved the glitz, the dazzling energy, and just the grand theatrically of it all. The music was outstanding.
Movie reviews have never been my thing, but I did check out some on the internet. The worst was from RogerEbert.com who gave it 1-1/2 stars out of five. Audience ratings were quite a different thing. One site reported 4.6 out of 5, and another had it at 9.4 out of 10. Put me in the latter camp.
Here are some random thoughts on the movie:
I never knew Elvis went through such turmoil in 1956. But I guess a movie needs conflict to be successful.
I had never heard of the New Elvis stuff. They probably took a little theatrical license on that.
I noticed liberal use of the affectionate nickname Satnin. Elvis to Gladys, Elvis to Priscilla, Priscilla to Elvis.
There was no mention of Bob Neal who was Elvis’ manager before Col. Parker came into the picture. There was precious little about Scotty, Bill, and DJ.
I thought the guy doing Little Richard was great.
Did you notice that during one of the transitional scenes the background music was rap?
One thing I like to do when watching a movie about Elvis is to look for little things they have wrong. There were a few, but after the fact, I can remember only three. They showed Vernon with a mustache right from the start in the 50s. He didn’t have one until the later years.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t remember seeing anything about Milton Berle. After all, it was Elvis’ second appearance on his show that caused all the ruckus about Elvis being such a bad influence on teenagers.
The film chronicled Elvis’ multi-year performances at the International Hotel. However, even though it changed ownership and became the Las Vegas Hilton in 1971, they still continued to show exterior shots with the International name. I don’t know why they did that.
A couple of you sent me your review of ELVIS. I’d like to share one with you.
I had the privilege of seeing the Elvis movie last night, and I am now Austin Butler’s #1 fan. I did not see any acting; however, I did witness a spiritual take over. Kudos to all responsible for this extraordinary film. Simply put, Austin drove his performance in a LAMBORGHINI on a smooth rode faster than the speed of light with E. P. as his copilot. Thank you Austin for your hard work in your transformation, and thank you for your massive generosity, you gave Elvis fans and movie lovers around the world THE best gift!