Rocketman (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Excellent movie! I'm a huge Queen fan and liked BoRhap but the historical inaccuracies kept throwing me off. I knew Elton's basic story and am a fan of his music but felt this storytelling method worked better. Shall we start a pool to determine when a Broadway version hits the stage?

Definitely recommended.

Right, an excellent movie! I enjoyed BoRhap too, but this movie was better done.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Taron Egerton appeared at a recent Elton John concert to sing Your Song with him:

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Some may remember my criticisms of "Boh Rhap" and how much I disliked it.

I need to get some phone numbers, as I feel I should call each and every cast/crewmember on "BR" to apologize.

Everything wrong with "BR" is wrong with "Rocketman" multiplied by 10. Both start in a promising manner but go quickly off the rails, though "BR" looks like "Citizen Kane" compared to this trainwreck.

Massive disappointment - awful movie!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Oh well, I guess you can't please everyone.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I need to get some phone numbers, as I feel I should call each and every cast/crewmember on "BR" to apologize.

Let us know how that works out when you talk to Dexter Fletcher, since he worked on both.

Massive disappointment - awful movie!

Would you care to elaborate on where you thought it went off the rails? Your post doesn't actually offer much in the way of rationale for why you didn't like it, just that you didn't. I'm not criticizing you, but am curious.

 

[Malcolm R]

Let us know how that works out when you talk to Dexter Fletcher, since he worked on both.

Well, that probably explains it. BR was mostly Bryan Singer with just a finishing polish by Fletcher. RM is full-on Fletcher.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Let us know how that works out when you talk to Dexter Fletcher, since he worked on both.



Would you care to elaborate on where you thought it went off the rails? Your post doesn't actually offer much in the way of rationale for why you didn't like it, just that you didn't. I'm not criticizing you, but am curious.

Been busy this week - haven't had much time for posting!

Basically "RM" was all my problems with "BR" times 10. Maybe I just can't enjoy biopics when I know the facts behind the tale, but "RM" went so frickin' crazy with wrong information that it drove me nuts.

Yeah, it bugged me in "BR" as well, but in that case, it was mostly the idiotic way they depicted the Live Aid finale. I didn't like the other "fake news" but it was Live Aid and the lies that surrounded it that drove me nuts.

With "RM", there are weird factual anomalies all over the place. Just bizarre changes in the truth.

Before anyone says it, I'm not complaining about the obvious fantasy scenes. I was fine with "Saturday Night's" showing up in the 60s because that was a fantasy musical number.

I also had no issue with stuff like the Troubadour crowd levitating - again, fantasy and depicted as such.

But much of the movie played as fact when it wasn't. I constantly couldn't figure out what year the movie was supposed to be in because it played so fast and loose with events.

The movie ends in 1983 - I guess - which is before Elton married Renata in real life. In the film, they marry - and split - years before 1983.

Even if I ignore all these eye-rolling moments, the movie's just a joyless slog. I get that it's a story of Elton's rise and fall, but it's way more about the fall and less about the rise.

It's an inspirational tale that lacks inspiration. It never does much to convey what made Elton special, and Egerton can't make him charismatic.

I liked Egerton's singing - he's not a vocal clone ala the guy who did Freddie's singing in "BR" but he's credible. The acting was less compelling, and he made Elton just seem dull.

Would I have liked the movie better without the 10 zillion factual liberties? Sure, but I still would've thought it was a dreary slog of a film...

 

[Jake Lipson]

Thanks for clarifying. I can't really argue with any of that except to say that I disagree with it, but that's fine. I thought the choices that the movie made worked for the movie. (That being said, I wasn't alive during the period depicted in the movie and therefore don't actually know much about Elton from that time, so any inaccuracies wouldn't stand out to me.) Sorry you didn't like it more.

 

[Wayne_j]

I think making the entire movie a musical fantasy helped make the historical inaccuracies easier to take.

At least I don't think they significantly sugar coated Elton's life.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I think making the entire movie a musical fantasy helped make the historical inaccuracies easier to take.

Agreed. Accuracy will presumably be the domain of Elton's autobiography being published later this year. That's not what this was trying to do.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Thanks for clarifying. I can't really argue with any of that except to say that I disagree with it, but that's fine. I thought the choices that the movie made worked for the movie. (That being said, I wasn't alive during the period depicted in the movie and therefore don't actually know much about Elton from that time, so any inaccuracies wouldn't stand out to me.) Sorry you didn't like it more.

As I mentioned, familiarity with a subject makes these leaps of accuracy tougher to take.

I'm no Elton scholar but I grew up in his heyday and was aware of the chronology. Seeing weird, nonsensical choices such as the scene where he records "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in 1972 (or so) just perplexed me.

Some of the choices came in the right order - such as Elton's marriage to Renate pre-rehab - but moved them up.

"RM" definitely did a "BR" in that it wanted to change the facts to give Elton a "big comeback". "BR" fabricated a Queen break-up/Live Aid reunion that never happened to give the movie a grand finale, whereas "RM" sends Elton to rehab years earlier than reality so he can team up with Bernie again after a long break and come back with the big hits from 1983 after years of flops.

Except the Elton/Bernie break was 1977-79, so there was no big reunion in 1983.

And Elton had hits in his "fallow years" anyway. The common perception is that Elton fell off the earth as a hitmaker between 1976 and 1983, but that's not accurate.

Sure,he lost the chart dominance he had in the 1st half of the 70s, but he still got hits.

1977-78 were his worst years, as he only scored in the top 30 those years, but he hit the top 10 in 1979 and 1980's "Little Jeannie" made it to #3! 1981 had a top 30 single while 1982 had 2 top 20s.

1983 was a comeback of sorts, but not to the degree the film paints.

And 1983 Elton certainly wasn't the clean/sober/happy guy the movie wants us to believe he was!

I think making the entire movie a musical fantasy helped make the historical inaccuracies easier to take.

Honestly, I think the whole "musical fantasy" angle is a copout on the part of the filmmakers. It feels like they use that as a cudgel to dismiss the wild flights of inaccuracy, like saying "it's a fantasy!" excuses all the alterations of fact.

The film presents too much of the story as fact. Obviously some scenes are fantasy, but others come with no hint that they didn't really happen. Those are the problematic ones...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Oh well, at least the film worked for me.

 

[David Weicker]

I think the whole ‘historical inaccuracy’ argument is flawed. Obviously people are unhappy they aren’t watching a documentary, instead of the entertainment film they are viewing .

I was around during this time, and I don’t care a bit (or harsher word) whether Year A came before Year B.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I think the whole ‘historical inaccuracy’ argument is flawed. Obviously people are unhappy they aren’t watching a documentary, instead of the entertainment film they are viewing .

I was around during this time, and I don’t care a bit (or harsher word) whether Year A came before Year B.

Why is it a "flawed argument"? If a story intends to relate a true story, shouldn't it enjoy at least a decent connection to real events?

Anyway, even if "RM" were a complete work of fiction, I'd still find it to be a weak movie. It just lacks much to make it involving or memorable. We barely get a sense of what made Elton a massive star - all we find is a cliche tale of the sad boy who wanted love.

I suspect that if this movie wasn't connected to Elton- if it was about a fictional rock star - it'd be panned. It's the fact so many people justifiably love the music that makes it endearing- the drama itself is trite and predictable and one-dimensional...

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't know, I'm not really an Elton music fan and I thought the film was endearing.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I don't know, I'm not really an Elton music fan and I thought the film was endearing.

Of course, there are always exceptions, and I can't "prove" my belief.

But I think it's highly likely that "RM" and "BR" found audiences largely due to the strength of the music. Both Queen and Elton are beloved by millions, so the music is the calling card.

Not that I deny the movies - "BR" especially - struck a chord with audiences. There are biopics about beloved musicians that flop, so it's not like the simple appeal of the music brings in the big bucks.

Heck, "RM" hasn't really done all that well. With a fairly small budget, it's made a profit, but it's nowhere close to the smash success of "BR".

I have no idea what it is about these movies that endeared them to you or others, as I think they're clumsy "movie of the week" fare overall, but I don't deny their popularity.

I do argue that they wouldn't have done nearly as well if they'd been about fictional musicians. I also argue they're not well-made films overall, but that's much more subjective, of course...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, Rocketman was released during a period of the year with more film competition while Bohemian Rhapsody was released in early November so box office results are influenced by those factors. Anyhow, I'm not going to argue with you any further as the movie didn't work for you, but it did for me so I'm looking forward to buying it on 4K/UHD disc.

 

[David Weicker]

I enjoyed it a lot. I thought the way the musical sequences were filmed was fantastic

And I can only imagine that some of the posters here hate, hate, hate Yankee Doodle Dandy, Funny Girl, Pride Of The Yankees, Love Me Or Leave Me, 1776, etc.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Well, Rocketman was released during a period of the year with more film competition while Bohemian Rhapsody was released in early November so box office results are influenced by those factors. .

Somewhat, but that doesn't explain the vast difference in box office.

"Boh Rhap" made $216 million in the US and $903 million total worldwide.

"Rocketman" has made $80 million US and $158 million WW to date.

"Rocketman" isn't done yet, of course, but it's on the wane and it clearly won't come close to what "BR" did.

Right now it's made about 17% of "BR"'s WW gross. Maybe it ends up at 25% of that total.

That tremendous differential can't be explained by release date competition...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I enjoyed it a lot. I thought the way the musical sequences were filmed was fantastic

And I can only imagine that some of the posters here hate, hate, hate Yankee Doodle Dandy, Funny Girl, Pride Of The Yankees, Love Me Or Leave Me, 1776, etc.

Never saw "Funny" or "Leave Me".

I dislike "Pride" mostly because it's silly and superficial.

"1776" and "Doodle" are pretty entertaining.

Do those two distort facts as badly as "BR" and "RM"? Maybe - as I said, it's harder to accept facts you know from experience, and since I lived through the peak years of Queen and Elton, I know those dates/events better than I would the subjects of "1776" or "Doodle".

However, as an analogy, to be like "RM" or "BR", "1776" would need to do gymnastics like swearing in George Washington as president during the signing of the Declaration of Independence - or Benjamin Franklin would turn traitor and then return to the American cause at the end.

I don't think that movie warps reality to the degree of the rock biopics under discussion. I don't argue that every biopic must be 100% accurate.

I do argue that they need to be at least reasonably accurate and when they invent major events or move around chronology radically, that's a problem.

This seems to offend people and I don't know why!