Oh man! I forgot the Paisley! I was going to mention it as well.
I thought it was a little early for a Paisley but did some research and found that James Burton did indeed have a Paisley in '69.
Elvis Movie review (saw it today)
- Thread starter burntfrijoles
- Start date
I thought it was a little early for a Paisley but did some research and found that James Burton did indeed have a Paisley in '69.
burntfrijoles
Poster Extraordinaire
Don’t forget Scottie’s Gibson. It looked like an ES-295 or similar but period correct. Plus, there were some nice amps, including a tweed Fender. As stated in the OP, nice guitar porn. I really loved the J-200. I think the leather covered Martin was in there too.
Dennis Railey
NEW MEMBER!
JD Simo played guitar for that movie i hear.
Seriously, not to take anything away from the reviewers or even the movie, I just went and watched the tailer for Elvis 2022, and I reckon nothing is changed I have no interest in seeing it. I've said before, I lived through the entire Elvis experience, and that isn't it. The young man playing Elvis is a fine looking even handsome man, but Elvis was beautiful, and certainly in his own way. Like Orchids not taken care of properly, Elvis's beauty soon faded, but like the Cherry blossoms of Japan who have no equal, for a short time, there simply was no other to compare to him.
Even though Tom Hanks is a great actor, not even he can convey the smarminess of character that belonged to Colone Parker. If I were younger, maybe I could get into it, but as I say having been there, nothing can compare to the real Elvis experience, and I don't even want to try.
Even though Tom Hanks is a great actor, not even he can convey the smarminess of character that belonged to Colone Parker. If I were younger, maybe I could get into it, but as I say having been there, nothing can compare to the real Elvis experience, and I don't even want to try.
burntfrijoles
Poster Extraordinaire
So, you saw a trailer and you base your whole input on that trailer? I was young but I lived through much it as well. I even had an Elvis Presley guitar. The movie did a fine job of portraying a portion of his life and was true to the spirit of the man And the excitement he created. As far as Elvis beauty fading, the movie doesn‘t really touch on that except to play actual footage of Elvis last concert in his fat, bloated state singing unchained melody.
Lef T
Tele-Afflicted
Lef T
Tele-Afflicted
Ha ha. Yeah. I only watched the parts where he plays the Scotty licks to be honest.
I was happy to see the film was generally well received here. I received tickets as a father's day present and put up a review on the Gretsch site. It's quite long but there you go:
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My family kindly bought me tickets for Father's Day to opening night. It helped that I went in expecting something that was more designed to engage young people who've never or barely heard of Elvis than someone jaded like me.
I felt that a lot of the movie never got past being two dimensional. I didn't like rap in there, but see my first comment above re younger people.
Every instrument was spot on but there was never a mention of Scotty, Bill and DJ and that kind of made me sad. The emphasis instead was where Elvis got his music culturally.
Still, the modern recordings had great guitar sounds and some really good covers. To create a protagonist and antagonist there was a lot of time dedicated to the Tom Parker relationship some of which could have been to the Scotty relationship! At least Elvis did address James (Burton) by name in the Vegas part of the movie!
I thought the movie's greatest success was showing people who didn't know, and reminding those of us who did know, just how great a performer Elvis was. Simply without peer.
I couldn't believe how long the movie was but it wasn't something I thought about till I walked out of the theater and looked at my watch. I wish I had just one of those Cadillacs in the movie.
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[Then later I followed up with this:]
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I would reiterate that the visual and audio medium are very distinct. I would venture that the overwhelming majority of those on sites like this one and who play instruments do so because of the audio aspect of the music medium--it's what's on the vinyl that matters: We are who we are because of what we heard records and in the case of Elvis, it was Scotty and James that spoke to us.
But to a far more vast group, Elvis in particular was more about the visual. Next to none of those screaming girls bought guitars. They were there because of the charisma and the performer.
In my view, today the import of the visual controls the music medium which is why people of negligible musical worth, from Madonna on down, are the most successful. To me this really started with Milli Vanilli, where powers that be saw that music could be entirely packaged--that day ended the chance of some geek like Brian Wilson ever doing well in this business. (Of course I'm overstating things a bit but I firmly believe that the overwhelming emphasis on the visual is one reason why things are what they are today.)
In such an environment it stands to reason that a movie about Elvis would focus on the visual: If you expect the innocent magic and sounds of the Sun Sessions, you will be disappointed. (The Sun part was over after a few minutes in the film.) This movie was made to appeal to the visual and as a result it can lack a lot of depth of the real Elvis. But as I said in my initial post in this thread, I think the film did a decent job at getting that performance magic.
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There have been six others before this one, the only one I watched was the one with
You pose a fair question. For one thing, in the brief amount of time I watched the trailer, the movie did not coincide whatsoever with my vision of what Elvis was like. For another, I've seen bits and pieces of lots of Elvis movies, I saw nothing here that would make me want to watch yet another Elvis movie. I think this one makes the 7th edition. I liked watching the patriots play when Brady was there, but I don't want to watch the same game over, and over.
I hope this doesn't offend you, I just don't find anything worth my investing the time and money to watch it. I hope you enjoy it immensely. I offer no one offense, I'm just not interested personally in seeing it.
chris m.
Doctor of Teleocity
You can glean a lot from a trailer. Have you ever noticed that a lot of trailers basically give you the whole story? I was listening to a podcast about that. The studio marketers did a lot of tests and data analysis and found that when a trailer telegraphs exactly what's going to be in the movie, more people go to see it. People think they like to be surprised, but in fact they want to know just what they're getting into before they lay down cold, hard cash on a ticket.
burntfrijoles
Poster Extraordinaire
I think that’s fair. I am not surprised it didn’t focus on the Sun sessions. It wouldn’t have much mass appeal. Elvis the man and performer was “visual”, from his look and dress to his moves. I also thought it was good at showing the societal repression he had to hurdle, which to me was very important. Elvis was white but there was fear that he would further “black” cultural assimilation. I remember that vividly from discussions I overheard. Elvis the “rebel”, set the stage for future rebels.
Few, if any, biopics get everything right, include dramatizations of of what might have been said or felt, and have omissions.
You have to take it for what it gives the audience.
Skully
Doctor of Teleocity
To me, "Elvis" director Baz Luhrmann's aesthetic is the equivalent of a clapping monkey toy inside a '70s oil rain lamp against a red velvet wallpaper background, lit by a flashing strobe.
fretbuzzard
Tele-Meister
Hey, it's summer here and I live near the beach. I think it's time for a...
burntfrijoles
Poster Extraordinaire
Clambake... possibly the worst of the Elvis movies (although there is no shortage of films that would qualify.
I understand the sentiment but this movie is pretty good and was entertaining.
jumpnblues
Friend of Leo's
Going to see it this afternoon.
I figure when a movie production company makes a trailer, they figure they've got one shot to get you in the mood to see it. Most of the trailers I've seen for movies, are usually better than the movie! If the trailer doesn't hook me, I know the movie won't!
Skully
Doctor of Teleocity
Wow! You put a lot thought into this didn't you?
I posted an earlier version of the metaphor as a comment on friend's Facebook post about the movie. I added the clapping monkey toy for the TDPRI.
