Rocketman

SWITCH.

May 29, 2019

6/10

There’s so much that works about ‘Rocketman’, so the fact it never fully commits to its musical fantasy conceit is a bit of a disappointment. It ends up aligning most with Julie Taymor’s curious 2007 Beatles musical ‘Across the Universe’ - a really great idea and approach to the work of a musical artist that never finds its feet or the bravery to fully be itself. It’s still a moving and occasionally stirring portrait of Elton John, and while the lack of emotional or narrative detail in the scree…

Elton John has had a career that has spanned decades, millions of albums sold, packed venues, awards, and more than a few headlines. In the new film “Rocketman” audiences get a look behind the man thanks to the amazing and Oscar worthy portrayal by Taron Egerton. The film opens with a flamboyantly dressed John entering rehab in one of his stage costumes. As he opens up with his group, he shares the story of his childhood as a shy child who is desperate to have his father show him any signs of a…

Gimly

September 11, 2019

6/10

_Rocketman_ tries to walk a line between the paint-by-numbers musician biopic bog standard, and epic musical fantasy. A lot of the time when a movie tries to be a blend of two things, it ends up being neither. _Rocketman_, conversely, ends up being both, just never at the same time. It's basically two movies, and that epic musical fantasy movie I was talking about that's in there, that's a **great** movie. Unfortunately, the other one, is not so much. I'm still gonna come away giving it a recomm…

GenerationofSwine

January 12, 2023

1/10

I am honestly sort of split down the middle here. I mean, I THOUGHT it was going to be about Elton John... and it was... ...kind of... ... but it was also a lot more fantasy and fiction than it was a biopic, and had I known that I might not have bothered watching it. I might have braced myself for something that isn't really realistic and more dream-sequence than straight film. So it's not at all what I was hoping for and that did kill it for me. I just wanted to watch a movie about Elt…