it already looks very glitzy. it s a long film. is it like that all the way through? it is kind of like that all the way through. it doesn t let up. the lizardly gaze of tom hanks looking at his prey, there, almost, elvis played by newcomer, relative newcomer austin butler, who s got a difficultjob on his hand, given that everyone s impersonated elvis over the days. can he do more than an elvis impersonation? and not really. sure. not really. he doesn t really build this character. i didn t really understand what it was i was supposed to be watching. the film goes on and on to the purchase of graceland, having number one hit singles and becoming the biggest star in the world and then going to germany and meeting priscilla and then having this glitzy las vegas residency and the movie is in hollywood. all puppeteered by colonel tom parker, played by tom hanks. the film never stops for breath, as you would expect from baz luhrmann. that s what we like about
he is taking on the myth, the legend, the king of rock and roll, elvis, and the man who discovered him played by tom hanks, colonel tom parker. let s have a look as we go back right to the beginning of the story where elvis was a country boy around country fairs with gospel and country at his heart. and then colonel parker discovers him at the fairground and realises he might have a hit act on his hands. what are you thinking, jimmy? i don t know what i m thinking. please lord, don t let him hurt my baby. hurt him? looks like they wanna. now, i don t know nothing - about music, but i could see in that girl s eyes he was a taste of forbidden fruit. - she could have eaten him alive. he was my destiny.
about greed and fame and how that bloats you and how that is dangerous. and it s sort of all there. ijust thought it needed to have a little break at some point and make us think and sort of put ourselves in this. and if you re from the generation who don t know elvis, and i m presuming that quite a lot of people don t know him any more, you want to find out. there are some brilliant reconstructions, as you can see there, of the tv special and the vegas special, but those are actually available to view on dvd, so you might almost be better off watching those bits, brilliantly restaged as they are. it reminded me a little bit of the end of bohemian rhapsody when freddie mercury does the live aid, it s brilliantly staged and it is here, but what does it mean is what i couldn t find out. 0k. 0h, interesting. it s going to look lovely. but, yeah, there s clearly some question marks. a lot of music. a lot of talking and some silences in your second choice. yeah. we ll go to france for the b
i m jane hill. and taking us through this week s cinema releases is jason solomons. good to see you, jason. what have you been watching? well, this week we ve got everything elvis, we ve got beckett, we ve got wham! talk about absurd. we ll start with baz luhrmann s long awaited biopic of the king elvis and the man who discovered him, colonel tom parker, played by tom hanks. and then we go to france for, literally, a prison drama a drama being made in a prison where inmates put on samuel beckett s waiting for godot. they do have time on their hands, after all. and then i will not let you down it s george michael freedom uncut. will it be any good? you ve got to have faith, jane. excellent. plenty more puns where they came from. let s start with elvis. i mean, i love a lot of baz luhrmann s work. so tell me, what s it like? yeah, this is the man who made strictly ballroom, moulin rouge, the great gatsby. he s got this typically frenetic style, and here
the film never stops for breath, as you would expect from baz luhrmann. that s what we like about his signature style. this is the can, can, can frenetic atmosphere. but here it needs a bit of drama. it needs to work out why elvis is caught up in this act, caught in the trap, as it continually says, from suspicious minds. why is he in this trap? why can t he get out? what s his problem? what s he thinking? and i don t think i ever really got to know. huh. beautiful as it was, itjust is a series of people going, oh, oh, reaction shots about, 0h, we re about to hear a hit number. 0h, isn t he sexy? and, his hips are about to shake. isn t he naughty? because there s an interesting tale about the tom hanks character. by all accounts, not a nice character and took a huge percentage of all elvis s earnings. 50%. and i mean, you could get a lot of drama out of that, a lot of real tension out of that fact. yeah, elvis seems to be quite happy with the relationship. he seems to sort of say