ELVIS — CANNES 2022

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This soup-to-nuts musical biopic about Elvis Presley is a stunner.

Wow!

Sit back and enjoy.

Best if you're watching "Elvis" on a big screen; this is 100% a BIG SCREEN movie.

No holding back.

Tom Hanks delivers the most superb performance of his legendary career as con-man/music agent Colonel Tom Parker.

Hanks delivers the goods in spades. This is the work of a dedicated creator of character.

Tom Hanks is truly an actor's actor.

Likewise, “Elvis” proves to be director/co-screenwriter Baz Luhrmann’s best film by far.

As for the film’s lead actor, Austin Butler is phenomenal in his deeply executed portrayal of Elvis Presley.

Butler’s performance is much more than an impersonation. You feel in touch with the real Elvis Presley through Austin Butler’s dynamic use of acting craft.

Fire, baby.

Talk about range. 

This young man has range to spare.

And yes, that's Butler singing every Elvis song with his own vocal cords and skill.

Insane in the membrane.

Shut the front door, and listen to unadorned perfection.

Let’s just give Austin Butler his Best Actor Oscar now.

Credit goes to co-screenwriters: Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner for authoring a truly masterful script.

Film courses will focus on this movie.

Mandy Walker's cinematography is strictly superb.

On fleek bitches.

 

Elvis Presley’s personal and public story is a cautionary tale connected to the turbulent American decades that witnessed political assassinations, rampant racism, puritanical assaults on freedom, and the best voice that you could possibly imagine, namely that of one Elvis Aaron Presley.

Baz Luhrmann and his truly gifted team of dedicated actors and filmmakers do Elvis Presley’s rich musical legacy proud.  

If you only see one movie from 2022, "Elvis" is the one to choose.

Rated PG. 159 mins.

PERSONALITY CRISIS: ONE NIGHT ONLY — NYFF 2022

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David Johansen's swan song (70th birthday) performance of tunes from his rich musical history serves as the centerpiece for this loving documentary.

Co-directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, the film seamlessly draws from Johansen's two performances at the storied uptown Café Carlyle in January of 2020, before Covid pulled the plug on the World.

Johansen's tight-knit four piece "Boys in the Band Band" plays every note for keeps.

Taste baby, you've got taste.

Johansen's flawless phrasing is worth the price of admission alone.

This bad cat is a singer's singer.

Especially entertaining is Johansen's Gene Krupa-inspired drummer stealing scenes like a cat daddy on the prowl. Wild hair flying with plenty of school boy mugging. 

Between songs, Johansen tells hilarious tales out of school, about such pivotable life experiences as befriending director Milos Foreman at the Chelsea Hotel while angling for a role in Foreman's then upcoming film musical "Hair."

Blondie's Debbie Harry soaks up the limelight from her place in the audience.

The overall effect is enthralling, if bittersweet.

Classic and rare footage of The New York Dolls veer into clips of Johansen's solo career, that gave way to his lounge lizard alter ego Buster Poindexter — think "Hot Hot Hot," or better yet, "Frenchette."

"I been to France, so let's just dance."

You'd be hard pressed to find a musician with more personal integrity than David Johansen. 

You can't help but feel some sorrow at the prospect of losing the last New York Doll standing.

"Personality Crisis: One Night Only" is indeed, as Johansen put it at the New York Film Festival post screening Q&A, "a beautiful object."

Ovations are in order. 

Not Rated. 127 mins.

THE GO-GO'S

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The world needs more all-girl bands!

"We Got The Beat," "Our Lips Are Sealed," and "Vacation" are power pop standards that still get crowds dancing.

Documentarian Alison Ellwood gives The Go-Go's a soup-to-nuts treatment with full access to the band members (and former band members), and a treasure trove of photos and live performance clips.

Cool stuff.

Key band members Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, Belinda Carlisle, Kathy Valentine, and Gina Shock, dish the dirt about band infighting over drugs, money, betrayal, and making music together.

Oh, the mistakes.

The Go-Go's are the most successful all-girl group of all time.

See, and hear, how they did it.

Not Rated. 98 mins.