Biopic

Rocketman

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Rocketman
  • IMDb: link

Rocketman Blu-ray reviewA biopic of Elton John, Rocketman is a serviceable but forgettable film noteworthy only for Taron Egerton performance in the title role. Other than admitting to the fact that Elton John was gay, came from bad parents, and struggled with drugs and alchol, the film doesn’t offer much insight to his life. Oddly, the most memorable moments involving John’s songwriting seem taken directly out of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. I honestly don’t know if writer Lee Hall and director Dexter Fletcher wanted us to laugh with or at the film (I did plenty of both). Although there are certainly comparisons one can make in terms of story and style, Rocketman is less successful than Bohemian Rhapsody whose big musical numbers far outshine even the best moments here.

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Harriet

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Harriet
  • IMDb: link

Harriet movie reviewWhile watching director Kasi Lemmons‘ take on the story of Harriet Tubman (played by Cynthia Erivo) I was constantly reminded of Walt Disney’s old tall tale cartoons exploring characters such as Paul Bunyan. While Erivo is terrific in the leading role, Harriet‘s main struggle is the director and screenwriters (Gregory Allen Howard and Kasi Lemmons) stalwart refusal to simply tell the fascinating life of a slave turned abolitionist in favor of building up Tubman’s legacy to mythic proportions by spending so much time focusing on her visions from God and refusing to acknowledge (even after showing on-screen) those who helped Harriet escape the South be immediately rewriting events in favor of a single-handed narrative.

Lemmons’ style of filmmaking also adds very little to the film’s production leading to a rather bland cinematic experience any moment where the camera isn’t on Erivo. The choice of visually representing Harriet’s “spells” comes off rather amateurish as well. Because the legend of Harriet Tumban smothers every frame of film, it leaves little air for any of the actors who come across mostly as cliched slave owners or unremarkable side notes to history.

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Fighting with My Family

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Fighting with My Family
  • IMDb: link

Fighting with My Family movie reviewFlorence Pugh stars as the unconventional Saraya-Jade Bevis in this biopic of a real-life underdog making good. At the time when the WWE was stocking its women’s division with models, the goth indie wrestler from an oddball wrestling family in Norwich, England would seem like a long shot to not only make the WWE roster but excel.

Knowing and trusting his source material, and putting his faith in his young stars, Stephen Merchant allows the stories of both Saraya and her brother Zak (Jack Lowden), who is passed over by the WWE, to unfold. For Zak it’s the struggle of watching his dreams turn to ash while his sister is handed the golden opportunity he’s sought his entire life. And for Saraya it’s struggling to find her place in a larger ring, the one place she has always felt at home but is now full of more obstacles than she ever imagined.

Fighting with My Family is a crowd-pleaser featuring some great supporting performances from the likes of Nick Frost and Lena Headey as Sayara’s parents and Vince Vaughn as the trainer who offers Sayara her chance and pushes her to succeed.

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On the Basis of Sex

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: On the Basis of Sex
  • IMDb: link

On the Basis of Sex movie reviewOn the Basis of Sex examines Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s (Felicity Jones) road from one of only a handful of women granted entry into Harvard to arguing a landmark decision in front of the US Court of Appeals, while fighting sexual discrimination in some form or another every step of the way.

Broken into two parts, the film examines the discrimination and struggles Ruth went through both in college and as a graduate unable to find any firm interested in hiring a female litigator. While there’s plenty about the woman’s life left untold, such as the span and scope of her career following these events, the film spends quite a bit of time on Ginsburg’s family life and personal struggles which dovetails into the larger themes of the script allowing for the plot to climax in Ginsbrug’s argument before the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in the first case of her career. Jones proves to be the movie’s greatest strength, handling a complex range of emotions over the course of the film leading to Ginsburg’s big moment and, as the film frames it, finding her purpose.

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Bohemian Rhapsody

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Bohemian Rhapsody
  • IMDb: link

Bohemian Rhapsody movie reviewWhile Bohemian Rhapsody had a troubled road to make its way to the big screen (including firing director Bryan Singer halfway through production), the biopic centered around the lead singer of British rock band Queen satisfies largely due to a terrific lead performance from Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury and the band’s extensive discography that fills the film with music without needing to repeat itself.

One of the most interesting choices of the film is using the music of Queen not just to underline specific events and themes but foreshadow, and even explore, them. Staying true to the biopic formula, Singer and his cast deliver a film that builds slowly, focused primarily on Mercury (to the detriment of the other band members) and climaxes in Queen’s performance at Live Aid which provides true movie magic.

While not as inventive as the Queen themselves, the film is a fitting tribute to the band’s legacy, a humorous response to those who wrote the band off early on, and a nod to the band working to include the audience in their music, particularly the live performance. It also proves to be an intriguing character study of Mercury himself.

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