GRACE JONES: BLOODLIGHT AND BAMI

Liberating. Exhilarating. Honest. Fearless. Grace Jones’s status as one of the most important cultural artists of the 20^th and 21^st centuries is confirmed in every second of Sophie Fiennes’s exceptional filmic memoir. Grace Jones’s ironclad persona is revealed through hot performance clips contrasted with a visit to her homeland of Jamaica.

Grace Jones’s electrifying stage presence, dynamic vocal phrasing, and muscular physical style is contrasted with her multi-layered ability to seamlessly exist between and amid international cultures. Dynamic stage lighting and stage craft plays a part.

A singing gypsy cheetah with a heart of gold, Jones expresses her lava-like emotions without putting them on her sleeve. Far from the diva Jones is frequently perceived to be, she comes across as the most grounded and sincere individuals you’ll ever meet. This lady has more communication skills than you can imagine. 

As far as musicianship goes, Grace Jones is in a category unto herself. When Grace comes on stage in front of a packed house of adoring fans, and lifts a pair of marching band Zildjian cymbals to hit every accent in her dangerous version of the Punk classic “Warm Leatherette” (by The Normal”), the musical excitement and satisfaction comes in waves.

Green fluorescent light beams down on Grace during her staggering version of Roxy Music's "Love Is The Drug." The scene is so sci-fi cinematic cool that you can't help but fall under the wicked spell being cast by this ultimate goddess of all things both human and primal. 

Discover a world of humanity and earth-shattering songs delivered with primal passion by a woman whose skill and ability to transform reality is legendary for good reason. Until you’ve seen this film, you don’t know half as much as you think about the one and only Grace (Fucking) Jones. Not even Jagger, Bowie, Reed, or Iggy ever had an inch on Grace Jones.

Big love baby.

Rated PG. 115 mins. 

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ROCKETMAN

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Hindered by faulty construction and lax editing that tires out the audience long before its two-hour run time passes, “Rocketman” is nonetheless an energetic fantasy version of Elton John’s incredible career in music.

Inspired musical vignettes set to magnificent Elton John songs such as “The Bitch Is Back” or “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” arrive with dance sequences that put “La La Land” to shame. There are times when it feels like the scattershot story gets in the way of the music.

This film’s overall success derives directly from Taron Egerton’s infectious performance as Elton John. His facial expressions deserve their own chapter in the latest book on the craft of film acting. There is magic here.

This picture should serve as Egerton’s break-out feature film role given the vast gifts of physicality, emotional register, and dynamics on display here. You may not be familiar with Taron Egerton from his part in the forgettable “Kingsman” movie franchise, but Egerton’s Elton John blows Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury off the stage. Judging from Egerton’s work here, it seems as if there is nothing this fine British actor cannot, or will not, do.

Jamie Bell elevates his supporting role as Bernie Taupin, Elton’s songwriting partner, to something sublime. Bell matches Egerton note for note, beat for beat, in every scene they share. The effect is mesmerizing. Bryce Dallas Howard fulfills her role as Elton John’s cruel mother Sheila with laser-like precision. It makes you want to see Bryce Dallas Howard in more movies.

Rated R. 121 mins.

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IF IT AIN'T STIFF, IT AIN'T WORTH A FUCK

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Long before Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe became musical elder statesmen, they were at the tip of the Punk spear as part of a dirty little British record company called Stiff Records.

The company was run by two scrappy pub-rock-band managers, Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. In 1976 Stiff released the first Punk single “New Rose” from The Damned.

During the following year the company put together a bus tour for five of its acts that didn’t stray too far from their London home.

The resulting documentary of that magical musical episode captures the likes of Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Dave Edmunds, Larry Wallis, along with Elvis and Nick honing their musical chops with considerable help from all available band members. Check out Ian Dury keeping perfect time playing drums for Wreckless Eric on “Reconnez Cherie,” or Pete Thomas and Billy Bremner playing dual drumkits on “Watching the Detectives” for an angst-spewing Elvis Costello. Mesmerizing.

The sold-out concerts led to the release of a live record “Live Stiffs,” but there’s a big difference in being able to hear or witness such brilliant musical history in the making. This down and dirty doc has been favorably compared to The Rolling Stones’ “Cocksucker Blues,” but trust me this film is better.

For many years “If It Ain’t Stiff, It Ain’t Worth a Fuck” was an incredibly rare find available only on scratchy VHS copies. That it now shows up on Amazon Prime gives it fitting exposure for the masses. Witness a bunch of inspired, talented, and frequently drunk and stoned musicians laying down the jam harder than you knew they did. Elvis Costello might have thought he was better than the company he kept, but he was wrong. And as the record shows, Elvis Costello was also Punk as fuck at the time.

Not Rated. 51 mins.