Some language in Spanish, Russian and Hebrew with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1998, in New York City, the comedy action film “Caught Stealing” (based on the novel of the same title) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African American and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A bartender, who used to aspire to be a professional baseball player, becomes the target of deadly danger after unwittingly getting mixed up in a neighbor’s criminal activities.
Culture Audience: “Caught Stealing” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Darren Aronfosky and intense action thrillers that have acerbic comedic touches.
Matt Smith and Austin Butler in “Caught Stealing” (Photo by Niko Tavernise/Columbia Pictures)
“Caught Stealing” is a winning blend of high-octane action, crime thriller, and screwball comedy. The carnage is predictable and a bit repetitive, but the movie excels with unforgettable characters and a stylish presentation. The movie’s violence might be too much for some viewers, but for viewers who want to see a “Pulp Fiction”-type of film, then “Caught Stealing” is worth watching, even though it’s not as inventive as “Pulp Fiction.”
Directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Charlie Huston, “Caught Stealing” is based on Huston’s 2004 novel of the same name. The movie takes place in 1998, in New York City, where “Caught Stealing” was filmed on location. It has the look and feel of a classic crime caper that could’ve been made in the 1990s.
In “Caught Stealing,” Butler plays Henry “Hank” Thompson, a bartender who lives and works in a gritty neighborhood on the city’s Lower East Side. Hank (whose hometown is the fictional Patterson, California) is a passionate fan of the San Francisco Giants. Hank is a good-but-flawed guy who has broken dreams of being a professional baseball player in Major League Baseball.
He’s haunted by a car accident that he had about 15 years ago, when was in his late teens and on track to be recruited straight from high school (where he was a star player) into Major League Baseball. Hank was driving in this car accident, which resulted in a knee injury that ended his chances of playing professional baseball. Several scenes in the movie show Frank waking up from having a nightmare about this accident, and more details are revealed about why this accident was so traumatic.
Hank is a bachelor who lives alone in a small apartment. There are indications that he’s addicted to alcohol. (He likes to get drunk a lot, and there are more liquor bottles than food in his refrigerator.) Hank is having a casual “friends with benefits” relationship with a paramedic worker named Yvonne (played by Zoë Kravitz), who has a tough-but-tender personality.
Hank might be an underachiever in some areas of his life, but one thing he doesn’t slack off from is calling his mother (played by Laura Dern, in an uncredited cameo) on a regular basis. His mother, who lives in California, is also a hardcore fan of the San Francisco Giants. Hank ends his conversations with her by saying, “Go Giants.”
The lives of Hank and other people get turned upside down when Hank’s next-door neighbor Russ Minor (played by Matt Smith) suddenly asks Hank to take care of his cat Bud played by Tonic) because Russ has to go back to his native London to look after Russ’ dying father. Russ has a Mohawk and dresses like a punk who looks like he stepped out of a 1978 Sex Pistols concert.
Hank finds out soon enough that Russ is involved in criminal activities. And soon enough, several people come looking for Russ. Hank gets caught in the crossfire because these people think Hank has information that they need. The trailer for “Caught Stealing” already reveals that Russ stole $4 million in cash from some criminals.
“Caught Stealing” shows the madcap and brutal experiences that Hank goes through to stay alive—while also looking out for Russ’ cat Bud. Among the tough people who come into contact with Hank are New York Police Department investigator named Elise Roman (played by Regina King); a nightclub owner named Colorado (played by Benito Martínez Ocasio, also known as Bad Bunny); two Russian Mafia thugs named Pavel (played by Nikita Kukushkin) and Aleksei (played by Yuri Kolokolnikov); and two Orthodox Jewish rabbis named Lipa (played by Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (played by Vincent D’Onofrio), who have some of the best scenes in the movie.
Butler leads the cast in all the right ways. He’s skilled at handling scenes as an “everyman” action star, as well as scenes with droll comedy and poignant drama. The supporting cast members, except for Kravitz as complicated Yvonne, have characters with two-dimensional personalities. However, the movie’s dialogue is snappy enough where some of these stereotypes don’t really matter. “Caught Stealing” is a fairly wild ride that has some very familiar tropes, but it’s a brash and adrenaline-filled experience that’s a tribute to human resourcefulness and reinvention.
Columbia Pictures will release “Caught Stealing” in U.S. cinemas on August 29, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on August 23, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 2020 and 2021, in the fictional small town of Eddington, New Mexico, the dramatic film “Eddington” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people, African Americans and Native Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A politically conservative sheriff decides to run for mayor of Eddington against the politically liberal incumbent mayor, and it sets off a firestorm of controversies and deaths.
Culture Audience: “Eddington” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Ari Aster, COVID-19 movies and movies that are political satires.
Emma Stone and Deirdre O’Connell in “Eddington” (Photo by Richard Foreman/A24)
Although the movie’s last 15 minutes drag for too long, “Eddington” is a suspenseful and well-acted dark satire that provokes and skewers various political beliefs. The fictional small town of Eddington represents many real communities. And the movie astutely shows that the height of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and ignited discontent that already existed.
Written and directed by Ari Aster, “Eddington” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It’s a divisive movie where viewers will find something that will be entertaining or offensive. How much viewers will actually like or dislike “Eddington” will depend on how much they are entertained or offended. Many real-life controversies and people’s reactions to them are put on display in various portrayals that hold up a mirror to uncomfortable aspects of American society that some people might not want to see.
The fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico, is a suburb of Albuquerque and is a desert town in Savilla County. (“Eddington” was filmed in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.) In the spring and summer of 2020 (when most of the movie takes place), Eddington’s population is 2,345. “Eddington” begins in late May 2020, about two months after the world went into lockdowns of quarantines, social distancing and mask wearing that affected people in various ways.
Joe Cross (played by Joaquin Phoenix) is the sheriff of Savilla County. Joe thinks he’s an above-average good guy and believes that wearing masks should be optional and a “freedom of choice” issue during this pandemic. He doesn’t like institutional policies that require people to wear masks in public during a public health safety crisis. Joe doesn’t want to enforce these policies because, technically, these policies aren’t laws, as he points out in one of the movie’s many confrontational scenes.
In stark contrast to Joe is Ted Garcia (played by Pedro Pascal), Eddington’s incumbent mayor who is seeking re-election. Ted not only believes in the mask-wearing policies, he also believes that these policies should be supported by law enforcement officials. Ted is also a businessman (he owns an Eddington pub called Garcia’s Bar), who thinks he’s more intelligent than the average Eddington resident. Joe and Ted have multiple conflicts in the story about their opposite beliefs.
The movie begins by showing a mentally ill, disheveled and barefoot vagrant named Lodge (played by unrecognizable Clifton Collins Jr.), who is trudging along in the hills above Eddington, as he rants out loud to himself. Lodge is a familiar sight in Eddington, but he’s mostly ignored by the residents, unless people think he’s causing trouble. In the movie’s opening scene, Lodge passes by a large sign announcing a “proposed hyperscale data development center” called Solidgoldmagikarp.
It’s later revealed that Solidgoldmagikarp is a mysterious technology company that wants to set up an office in Eddington to do projects for artificial intelligence. Ted and other Eddington officials want this business because they think it will significantly boost the town’s economy. Other town officials and several other Eddington residents don’t trust what Solidgoldmagikarp is about and don’t want this company in Eddington.
Joe and his homemaker wife Louise Cross (played by Emma Stone), who do not have chilren, live in a modest house with a guest who’s staying longer than expected: Louise’s widowed mother Dawn (played Deirdre O’Connell), whose deceased husband used to be the sheriff of Eddington. Dawn (who seems to have bouts of depression and talks out loud to herself) was originally going to leave in April, but the pandemic has prolonged her stay. Joe and Louise aren’t thrilled about this arrangement, because it’s apparently affected their marital intimacy, but Louise convinces Joe that Dawn will leave when things get safer during the pandemic.
Louise makes unusual-looking stuffed toys as a hobby. And through conversations in the movie, it’s hinted that she has mental health issues, including a nervous breakdown in her past. Louise has been using the Internet to semi-secretly follow a conspiracy theorist named Vernon Jefferson Peak (played by Austin Butler), who has a cult-like group of supporters. Dawn is also a believer in conspiracy theories.
The word “QAnon” is not mentioned in the movie, but the group led by Vernon has beliefs that are a lot like QAnon. Louise is a survivor of sexual abuse that happened when she was 16 years old. It’s also hinted that she could have experienced sexual abuse at a younger age. And so, she’s triggered when Vernon preaches about pedophiles who are in positions of power, especially government officials.
In contrast to Joe’s personal life, Ted is a divorcé whose ex-wife left him and their son Eric Garcia an untold number of years ago. Eric (played by Matt Gomez Hidaka) is now about 17 years old. Eric is at an age when he wants to be independent, but he’s legally a child who’s under the responsibility of Ted, who is a somewhat strict and very image-conscious parent.
There’s a scene where Ted and Eric argue about Eric wanting to borrow Ted’s car to visit Eric’s best friend Brian Frazee (played by Cameron Mann) at the house where Brian lives, but Ted is concerned about Eric possibly getting COVID-19. Ted also tells Eric that if the mayor’s son is seen flaunting the town’s social-distancing policies, it could reflect badly on Ted’s campaign. After some back-and-forth arguing, Ted reluctantly lets Eric borrow the car for this social visit on the condition that Eric only meets up with Brian.
Of course, Eric isn’t just meeting up with Brian alone in Brian’s house. Eric and Brian go to a bonfire party attended by other teenagers. It’s at this party where Brian and Eric meet 19-year-old Sarah (played by Amélie Hoeferle), who is every stereotype of a left-wing social justice warrior. For example, she constantly feels the need to point out her “white privilege,” and she thinks that most white people are racist oppressors.
Brian is immediately attracted to Sarah and pretends to have the same political beliefs as Sarah, in order to impress her. (For example, when Brian sees Sarah with an Angela Davis book, he uses his phone to look up who left-wing political activist Angela Davis is before Brian approaches Sarah for a conversation.) Despite Brian’s best efforts to date Sarah, she ends up being more attracted to Eric, who is smarter and more confident than Brian.
Meanwhile, after Joe has two separate public incidents where Ted scolds Joe for not wearing a mask in public, Joe decides to run for mayor against Ted. (A subtle joke in the movie is one of Joe’s negative campaign slogans against Ted is misspelled as “Your being manipulated” instead of the correct spelling of “You’re being manipulated.”) For his mayoral campaign, Joe enlists the help of his two subordinates, who are as woefully inexperienced as Joe when it comes to running a political campaign: Guy Tooley (played by Luke Grimes) is Joe’s deputy. Michael Cooke (played by Micheal Ward) is a police officer whom Joe promotes to sergeant.
Guy and Michael are competitive with each other when it comes to which one will get the most approval and perks from Joe. This rivalry will play a crucial role in something disturbing that happens later in the story. Guy is very much a Blue Lives Matter type of law enforcement official who is likely to automatically side with cops in police brutality cases. Michael tries to remain neutral and uses the excuse that racist hate crimes happen in other places, not in Eddington. Michael doesn’t say anything in protest when Joe and Guy make racially ignorant comments to Michael.
However, Michael’s racial identity as an African American (and the only African American in Eddington’s small police force) becomes a big issue for some people, especially during the confrontational Black Lives Matter protests that happen in Eddington after the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Michael can no longer use the excuse that Eddington isn’t affected by racist police brutality that happens in other cities. Joe, Guy and Michael all have to respond as law enforcement officers when these protests look like they could erupt into violence.
Michael is a supporting character who is sure to inspire many questions and discussions from “Eddington” viewers: Does someone like Michael need to “pick a side” in the racial social justice wars? And what about the idea that black people don’t all think alike and have the right to individual opinions? As just because Michael is a police officer, does that automatically make him a “traitor” to his race in a job that’s frequently accused of racial profiling against black and brown people?
“Eddington” goes further down a rabbit hole of complications when it’s revealed that social justice activist Sarah has been telling people that Michael is her boyfriend. What does that mean for best friends Eric and Brian, who both seem to be vying for Sarah’s affections and have joined her in Black Lives Matter protests? The movie shows how this love quadrangle is handled.
Meanwhile, personal grudges are stirred up because of a disputed incident that happened several years ago between Louise and Ted, long before Louise and Joe got involved with each other. According to what Ted has told people, he and Louise went out on a few platonic dates, but he distanced himself from her because she was acting obsessive toward him. Ted also disliked the way Louise’s mother Dawn treated him. Other people have a different version of what happened.
“Eddington” has subtle and not-so-subtle ways of showing how “being territorial” and the existence of borders can cause a sense of community pride for some people or toxic entitlement for other people. An early scene in the movie shows Joe getting into a tense argument when he drives into the city of Santa Lupe Pueblo, and the Santa Lupe Pueblo sheriff (played by David Midthunder) and his officer colleague in a patrol car order Joe to wear a mask now that he’s in Santa Lupe Pueblo. Joe puts on the mask so the conflict doesn’t escalate, but as soon as the other cops drive away, Joe angrily rips off the mask.
Later in the movie, Joe throws his own territorial weight around when a Native American tribal reservation officer named Butterfly Jimenez (played by William Belleau) offers to help Joe in an investigation of a crime that technically took place on tribal land in Santa Lupe Pueblo. Joe is very hostile and disrespectful to Butterfly and orders Butterfly to stay away from the investigation, for reasons that are shown in the movie. “Eddington” also has several of the liberal activists mention “stolen land,” in reference to indigenous people being the native inhabitants of what is now the United States of America.
Although “Eddington” has flaws in its screenplay and direction, the performances from the cast members consistently range from satisfactory to riveting. Phoenix, Stone, O’Connell, Butler and Ward make the most out of the scenes that they’re in, by giving their characters very intriguing non-verbal aspects to their personalities that will make viewers curious to know more that isn’t necessarily told in the movie. And although the movie’s subplots about the romantic rivalries veer a little into soap opera territory, nothing about these subplots is unrealistic.
“Eddington” is told mainly from Joe’s point of view, since he’s the character who gets the most screen time. The part of the movie that might turn people off the most is an extended shootout scene that is briefly shown in the trailers for “Eddington.” The gun violence and explosions that ensue look like a Quentin Tarantino wannabe movie. “Eddington” uses the frustrating trick of making it look like someone dies in an extremely violent scene, only to later reveal that the person survived.
“Eddington” is being described as a movie in the Western genre, but this film also wants to be an American political story that’s trying to be like a Greek tragedy—and it all results in tonal shifts that are sometimes clumsy. The movie’s epilogue would have been more effective as a quick-captioned montage instead of awkward, slow-moving scenes. Even with these flaws, “Eddington” has some sharply incisive and comedically acerbic scenes that hit their intended marks. People don’t have to like “Eddington,” but most people would agree that it’s a movie that’s not forgettable.
A24 released “Eddington” in U.S. cinemas on July 18, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the Chicago area, from 1963 to 1973, the dramatic film “The Bikeriders” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A woman struggles to keep her marriage intact as her husband gets more involved in a motorycle gang called the Vandals.
Culture Audience: “The Bikeriders” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and history-based stories about motorcycle gangs.
Mike Faist and Jodie Comer in “The Bikeriders” (Photo by Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features)
“The Bikeriders” could have been a typical macho movie about a gang, starring actors who are much better-looking than the average gang member. This gritty drama has a lot of predictability, but it avoids some clichés by having a female narrator for an otherwise very masculine film about a violent gang. Jodie Comer gives a standout performance in the role of the movie’s narrator/chief protagonist, who tells the story of this dangerous and dysfunctional American gang from her perspective. “The Bikeriders” had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, “The Bikeriders” is inspired by photojournalist Danny Lyon’s 1968 non-fiction book “The Bikeriders,” which chronicled Lyon’s four years as a member of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The movie takes place from 1963 to 1973, with the story told in non-chronological order. Some viewers might be confused or annoyed by this timeline jumping. The gang at the center of the story is the fictional Vandals, which began in Chicago and eventually expanded to other cities throughout the Midwest. (“The Bikeriders” was actually filmed in Cincinnati.)
“The Bikeriders” structures the narrative by having it in the context of former Vandals insider Kathy (played by Comer) telling the story of the gang to a journalist named Danny (played by Mike Faist) during a series of interviews in 1973. The movie then has several flashbacks to Kathy’s life as the girlfriend and then wife of Vandals member Benny Cross (played by Austin Butler), who becomes increasingly unstable and at risk of dying while he’s in the gang. Kathy is the only substantial female role in the movie. All the other women in with speaking roles in “The Bikeriders” get very little screen time and mostly portray friends or acquaintances of Kathy.
Benny is a typical brooding outlaw, who doesn’t talk much about his past. However, Benny is clear about one thing: He has a passion for motorcycle riding, even though he’s had too many motorcycle crashes by any standard. Benny also has an arrest record, for things such as disorderly conduct, driving without a license, and resisting arrest. After he joins the Vandals, Benny will get involved in more serious crimes.
Benny, who has spent much of his life as a loner, finds camaraderie in the Vandals. The leader of the Vandals is a menacing brute named Johnny (played by Tom Hardy), who expects unwavering loyalty to the gang at all costs. And Benny is a very loyal member. The opening scene in the “Bikeriders” shows Benny getting brutally beaten up by two men in a bar just because Benny refuses their demands to take off his Vandals motorcycle jacket.
There’s a scene in “The Bikeriders” were Johnny says he was inspired to create the Vandals motorcycle club after seeing Marlon Brando in “The Wild One,” the 1953 drama in which Brando has the role of Johnny Strabler, the troublemaking leader of a motorcycle gang. It’s no coincidence that Johnny has the same first name as this iconic movie character. Hardy’s performance in “The Bikeriders” is obviously influenced by Brando’s performance in “The Wild One.” Benny and Johnny form a close friendship, in which Johnny becomes a mentor to Benny.
The other core members of the Chicago chapter of the Vandals are practical-minded Brucie (played Damon Herriman), who is Johnny’s right-hand man; easygoing Cal (played by Boyd Holbrook), who’s originally from California; eccentric Zipco (played by Michael Shannon), who was rejected when he volunteered for military duty for the Vietnam War; fidgety Cockroach (played by Emory Cohen), who is a family man; raggedy Funny Sonny (played by Norman Reedus), who asks to join the Vandals; and best friends Corky (played Karl Glusman) and Wahoo (played by Beau Knapp), who are like the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of the Vandals. There’s also an ambitious younger gang member, who is just called The Kid (played by Toby Wallace), and he has a pivotal role in the story.
When Kathy tells the story of the Vandals from her perspective, she is at various times sassy, jaded, nostalgic or heartbroken. “The Bikeriders” follows her journey from being relatively straight-laced and naïve about gang life to becoming so involved in gang life, it becomes very difficult for her to leave, out of fear of getting assaulted or killed. Most of the conflicts in her marriage to Benny are about how she wants him to leave the Vandals, but he stubbornly refuses.
The first time Kathy meets Benny, it’s 1963, and he’s playing pool at a bar that is a regular hangout for the Vandals. Kathy and Benny lock eyes in the way that people do in a movie that makes it obvious that they’re eventually going to get together. Benny and Kathy exchange the type of banter where they’re intensely attracted to each other but they want to play it cool.
And the next thing you know, Kathy is on the back of Benny’s motorcycle while they ride around town. Kathy says in a voiceover about the first time she rode on a motorcycle with Benny: “I have to admit, it took my breath away.” Benny is portrayed as a scruffy and tough James Dean type, who constantly has to prove to others that he’s more than just a pretty face.
At the time Kathy meets Benny, she already has a live-in boyfriend named David (played by Michael Abbott Jr.), who’s about 10 years older than Kathy. But Kathy’s relationship with David doesn’t stop Benny from pursuing Kathy. After Benny drops Kathy off at her house on the first night they meet (which is the first time an annoyed David sees Benny), Benny decides he’s going come back later and wait across the street for the entire night and part of the next day to see Kathy again.
This stalking would be a red flag for a lot of people, but Kathy is charmed and thinks it shows Benny must really be into her, even if she thinks Benny is a little unhinged and obsessive. These personality traits also apply to how Benny feels about the Vandals. Eventually, there comes a time when Kathy wants to choose between her and the Vandals.
Benny doesn’t have to say a word to David or get in a fight with David to literally drive David away. There’s a scene where David is very unnerved by seeing Benny waiting across the street, soon after Benny met Kathy. David storms into the house, has a brief but angry argument with Kathy, and then announces to Kathy: “We’re done!” David drives off in his truck with his possessions and is never seen in the movie again.
Kathy in 1973 is then seen smirking when she tells journalist Danny about what happened next between her and Benny: “Five weeks later, I married him.” The rest of “The Bikeriders” shows the ups and downs of the marriage of Kathy and Benny as he becomes involved in deadly crimes with the Vandals. The movie shows the expected fight scenes and gang rivalries.
The Vandals open up chapters in other cities (Milwaukee is mentioned the most), but Johnny has difficulty managing so many different chapters as the overall leader of the Vandals. Johnny doesn’t really want to admit he’s losing control of a rapidly expanding gang with various agendas, but other people see flaws in Johnny’s leadership, so there are inevitable power struggles. A few gang members occasionally challenge Johnny to replace him as the leader of the Vandals. Johnny gives these challengers a choice to fight him with their fists or with a knife.
“The Bikeriders” doesn’t have a lot of surprises but can maintain viewer interest because of the talented cast members’ performances. Comer and Hardy (who are both British in real life) have accents in this movie that will get different reactions. Comer’s Midwestern twang sounds very authentic and actually makes her plain-spoken, often-sarcastic storytelling have more resonance. Hardy (who’s doing yet another role as a mumbling tough guy) has an American accent that sounds a lot more contrived, although at this point Hardy has mastered the type of character who looks like he could hit someone and hug the same person within a span of seconds.
Butler’s depiction of Benny isn’t outstanding, but it’s not terrible either. Is he convincing as a gang member? The scenes where he’s on a motorcycle or being a “bad boy” lover to Kathy are better than his scenes where he’s in gang-related fights. Benny could have easily been the narrator of “The Bikeriders,” but writer/director Nichols wisely chose to avoid such a predictable perspective. Benny’s obsession with the Vandals is a hint that there’s a huge void in Benny’s life that isn’t fully explained.
It’s perhaps the biggest flaw of the movie: Benny is just too mysterious. He’s not exactly a gang member with a heart of gold, but the movie wants to keep people guessing until the very end: Is Kathy or the Vandals gang the one true love of Benny? The answer comes at the end of “The Bikeriders,” which isn’t a groundbreaking movie about motorcycle gangs but it’s satisfying enough for people who want to see a version of gang life with people who mostly look like Hollywood actors.
Focus Features will release “The Bikeriders” in U.S. cinemas on June 21, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on June 17, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in the year 10,191, on the fictional planets of Giedi Prime and Arrakis, the sci-fi action film “Dune” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people, Asians and Latinos) representing heroes, villains and people who are in between.
Culture Clash: House Atreides royal leaders Paul Atreides and his mother Jessica, who are refugees from their planet Caladan, get suspicion from and ultimately join forces with the native Fremen people of Arrakis, to battle against House Atreides rivals in House Harkonnen from the planet of Giedi Prime.
Culture Audience: “Dune: Part Two” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Dune” novel and to people who like epic sci-fi adventures with stunning visuals and good acting.
Austin Butler and Léa Seydoux in “Dune: Part Two” (Photo by Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Dune: Part Two” is a masterful technical achievement that surpasses its predecessor movie on a storytelling level. It’s less cluttered with characters than 2021’s “Dune” and has a more compelling villain and higher emotional stakes. Fans of the the “Dune” franchise will have their expectations met or surpassed with “Dune: Part Two,” a sci-fi epic worth seeing on the biggest screen possible with the best sound system possible.
Directed by Denis Villenueve, “Dune: Part Two” (co-written by Villenueve and Jon Spaihts) is the second part of Villenueve’s movie triology adaptation of Paul Herbert’s densely packed 1965 novel “Dune.” (Villenueve’s “Dune” adaptations are far superior to 1984’s disastrously awful “Dune” movie, directed by David Lynch.) The first part of Villenueve’s “Dune” movie, released in 2021, was an introduction to the main characters and had a lot to do with showing the combat training and the rise of main “Dune” hero Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet), a royal leader from House Atreides.
Is it necessary to know about the “Dune” book and/or know what happened 2021’s “Dune” to completely enjoy “Dune: Part Two”? Yes. There are many references to 2021’s “Dune” in “Dune: Part Two” that will be confusing to viewers who don’t know what happened in 2021’s “Dune.” Viewers who watch “Dune: Part Two” who don’t know anything about the “Dune” story can still enjoy “Dune: Part Two,” but they will feel like they’ve started reading a book from the middle, not from the beginning.
In “Dune: Part Two” (which takes place in the year 10,191), Paul and his mother Jessica (played by Rebecca Ferguson), who is pregnant with a daughter, are refugees from their home planet Caladan, which has been devastated by a genocidal attack from House Harkonnen. The attack killed Paul’s father/Jessica’s live-in partner Leto Atreides (played by Oscar Isaac), a duke who passed on his legacy to Paul before Leto died. Leto was ordered to be the fief ruler of Arrakis, a desert planet with harsh terrain that is the only place to find a priceless treasure: melange, also known as spice, a dusty substance that can enhance and extend human life.
Because spice is the most sought-after substance in the universe and can make people wealthy, people will go to extremes to get it and to be in charge of Arrakis, whose native people are called Fremen. Prolonged exposure to spice can turn humans’ eyes blue in the iris. Harvesting spice can be a deadly activity because gigantic sandworms ferociously guard the spice. “Dune: Part Two” begins with this caption: “Power over spice is power over all.”
House Atreides and House Harkonnen have been in a bitter rivalry over getting control of spice. House Harkonnen was behind the attack that killed Leto and several of his people. The evil leader of House Harkonnen is a baron named Vladimir Harkonnen (played by Stellan Skarsgård), an obese and ruthless tyrant, who likes to spending time in saunas filled with a tar-like substance. Vladimir’s closest henchman is his sadistic nephew Glossu Rabban (played by Dave Bautista), who doesn’t hestitate to kill anyone for any reason.
The person who orderd Leto to rule over Arrakis was his adoptive cousin: Padishah Emperor of House Carrino named Shaddam Corrino IV (played by Christopher Walken), who was not seen in 2021’s “Dune,” but he has a prominent role in “Dune: Part Two.” In the beginning of “Dune: Part Two,” Shaddam’s daughter Princess Irulan (played by Florence Pugh) can be heard in a voiceover commenting on the night of the House Atreides massacre: “Since that night, my father hasn’t been the same.”
Why? It’s because Shaddam set up Leto as ruler of Arrakis, knowing that House Harkonnen wold respond with a brutal attack on House Atreides. This betrayal (which isn’t spoliler information) becomes a layer in the conficts that exist in “Dune: Part Two.” There is also a big family secret that is revealed that has to do with House Atreides and House Harkonnen.
Meanwhile, Paul and Jessica have made their way to Arrakis, with the help of Stilgar (played by Javier Bardem), the leader of the Fremen tribe called Sietch Tabr. Stilgar is the translator, and negotiator when the Fremens become suspicious of the arrival of Paul and Jessica, who ar ebelieved by many Fremens to be spies. Stilgar, who is convinced that Paul is the messiah from a prophecy, is often the movie’s comic relief in how he how tries to convince his skeptical Fremen people to trust Paul and Jessica and to believe that Paul is the messiah.
In 2021’s “Dune,” Paul met an independent and outspoken young Freman woman named Chani (played by Zendaya), who kept appearing in his dreams before he met her. In “Dune: Part Two,” Paul and Chani develop a romance that heats up quickly, as Chani teaches Paul how he can better navigate avoiding sand worms while walking in the desert. (“You sand walk like a drunk lizard,” she chastises Paul.) Before the movie is half over, Paul and Chani are kissing each other, and he declares his love for her. None of this is spoiler informaton, since this love affair is part of the marketing of “Dune: Part Two.”
However, the relationship between Paul and Chani doesn’t happen without problems. There’s the difference in their social classes: Chani is more uncomfortable with Paul is about the fact that he’s a royal and she’s a commoner. Chani also has to spend a lot of time defending Paul to Fremen skeptics, such as her close friend Shishakli (played by Souheila Yacoub), who is a perceptive and brave fighter. All of the female supporting characters in “Dune” are capable but obviously not meant to outshine Chani.
Meanwhile, House Harkonnen has heard stories that Paul and Jessica are still alive. And you know what that means: There’s going to be another big showdown. And guess who conveniently shows up? Paul’s no-nonsense mentor Gurney Halleck (played by Josh Brolin), who was one of the teahcers in Paul’s fight training. Gurney is still loyal and mostly stoic. He doesn’t really become a father figure to Paul, but Gurney the closest male connection that Paul has to Leto, since Gurney and Leto knew and respected each other.
For the big showdown in “Dune: Part Two,” House Harkonnen has enlisted the help of a vicious killer named Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (played by Austin Butler), Vladimir’s nephew whose weapon of choice is a massive knife. A seductive psychic spy named Lady Margot Fenring (played by Léa Seydoux) has a plan to seduce and get pregnant by Feyd-Rautha, for reasons that are explained in the movie. She also does this seduction to find out what Feyd-Rautha’s weaknesses are.
The 2021 version of “Dune” was nominated for 10 Oscars and won six Oscars: Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Production Design, Best Sound, Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects. Without question, “Dune: Part Two” is also award-worthy in these categories as well. Everything in “Dune: Part Two” is done on a grand, immersive scale that are stellar examples of excellence in cinematic world building of a fictional universe. “Dune: Part Two” (which was filmed in Hungary, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan) has scenes taking place in the sand that are truly unforgettable.
As for the relationships between the characters, Paul sees a more vulnerable side to his mother Jessica, when she is pressured into becoming a reverend mother, which is a responsibility with physical and emotional burdens that Jessica is reluctant to have. In the first half of the movie, Jessica shows her powerful fight skills, but after she transforms into a reverend mother, Jessica ctually becomes passive, as she sits by and watches other people fight. Reverend Mother Mohiam (played by Charlotte Rampling), who was in 2021’s “Dune,” has a more scheming side that is revealed in “Dune: Part Two.”
“Dune: Part Two” might have more appeal than 2021’s “Dune” for people who want to see the romance of Paul and Chani that didn’t exist in 2021’s “Dune.” This romance is very chaste, with a “first love” tone to it. The “Dune” trailers already revealed much of the dynamics in this romance, where Paul respects Chani and wants to treat her as his equal. However, will Paul’s royal lineage and duties get in the way of this budding romance?
Chalamet and Zendaya are quite good in their roles as Paul and Chani, but nothing about their performances is worthy of prestigious awards. Paul is depicted as a sensitive and somewhat tortured hero. He tells Chan that he keeps having nightmares of thousands of people dying of starvation because of him. Chani is kind of a stereotypical “tough woman in an action film” who wants to act like she doesn’t fall in love easily, but of course she does just that with Paul.
A characteristic of an above-average sci-fi/fantasy film is the portrayal of the chief villain or villains. Skarsgård as Vladimir Harkonnen and Bautista as Glossu Rabban have less screen time in “Dune: Part Two” than they did in 2021’s “Dune” and don’t really do anything new with their performances. Butler as Feyd-Rautha is the “Dune: Part Two” villain who is the obvious standout, since it’s already been revealed in the movie’s trailers that the climactic battle scene includes a one-on-one fight with Paul. “Dune: Part Two” lacks susbtance by not telling more about Feyd-Rautha’s background. He’s an enigma for the entire movie.
“Dune: Part Two” will no doubt have multiple viewings from fans of the franchise. As for winning over new fans, the movie has a tone that seems to be saying, “You either understand what you’re watching , or you dont. And we don’t have time to explain it all to you.” If you’re unfamiliar with the “Dune” franchise, and you’re the type of person who doesn’t like the idea of dong homework-like research before seeing a sc-fi movie that has a complex story, then “Dune: Part Two” probably isn’t for you. For everyone else, “Dune: Part Two” will fill up your senses with an absorbing story whose cliffhanger ending hints at how this excellent cinematic adaptation continues.
Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Dune: Part Two” in outside the U.S. on February 28, 2024, and in U.S. cinemas on March 1, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place from 1946 to 1977, in various parts of the United States and briefly in Germany, the dramatic film “Elvis” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy in this biopic of superstar entertainer Elvis Presley.
Culture Clash: Presley had many personal battles in his life, including those related to racial segregation, his drug addiction, his doomed marriage to Priscilla Presley and his troubled relationship with manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of Elvis Presley fans, “Elvis” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and music biopics that go big on spectacle-like filmmaking.
Austin Butler, Helen Thomson, Tom Hanks and Richard Roxburgh in “Elvis” (Photo by Hugh Stewart/Warner Bros. Pictures)
The vibrant biopic “Elvis” continues filmmaker Baz Luhrmann’s pattern of making a protagonist’s life story look like a manic-energy carnival. The musical numbers are fantastic, but viewers should expect a very glossy version of Elvis Presley’s life. Luhrmann directed and co-wrote “Elvis,” and he is one of the movie’s producers. People who are familiar with Luhrmann’s previous movies (including 2001’s “Moulin Rouge!” and 2013’s “The Great Gatsby”) will already know that he isn’t a filmmaker known for being miniminalist or showing restraint.
Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” just like Elvis Presley, is a mass of contradictions but can be counted on to deliver spectacular performances on stage. Even with a total running time of 159 minutes, “Elvis” leaves out or fast-forwards through many important aspects of Presley’s life. But other parts of the movie drag with repetition and linger too long in scenes where the story should have already moved on to something else. Luhrmann co-wrote the “Elvis” screenplay with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner. The movie was filmed in Luhrmann’s native Australia.
At times, this “Elvis” movie looks like a lengthy music video, with enough quick cuts to give some viewers the cinematic version of whiplash. Other times, “Elvis” attempts to get into the more serious and emotionally complex areas of Presley’s life before zipping off into one of several whirling-dervish montages that fill up this movie. It’s a change of pace and tone that might be off-putting to some viewers who are looking for a more conventional way of telling the story.
For example, the courtship and marriage of Elvis and Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (played by Olivia DeJonge) are very rushed into the story and aren’t given a lot of depth. The movie leaves out the fact that in real life, when Elvis began dating Priscilla in 1959, she was 14 and he was 24. They met when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany, where Priscilla’s U.S. Air Force stepfather was also stationed at the time.
In real life, Elvis also convinced Priscilla’s parents to let her move in with him when she was still an underage teen. It’s probably not a coincidence that Priscilla is portrayed by an actress who never looks underage. That’s because bringing up possible stautory rape in connection to Elvis would ruin the movie’s intention to make him look like a superstar who was exploited by a greedy and corrupt manager.
Sometimes, the actors give performances that look like impersonations, while in other scenes, the actors seem to truly embody their characters. This dictonomy is especially true for Austin Butler (who portrays the adult Elvis Presley) and Tom Hanks (who plays manager Colonel Tom Parker), whose love/hate business partnership is the movie’s central conflict. Their best scenes are those where they look the most natural and don’t try to overdo the “larger than life” aspects of their respective characters’ personalities.
Butler’s performance is much better in the scenes depicting Elvis in the last 10 years of his life, when Elvis’ health was on a steady decline due to his drug addiction. (Elvis died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of 42.) In the scenes of Elvis’ adult years before he became famous and during his fame from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, Butler just looks like he’s doing a competent Elvis impersonation. The movie starts to improve considerably when Butler shows more emotional depth as the sweaty, “hooked on drugs” version of Elvis, because it’s a portrayal of man who’s on a downward spiral but still desperately trying to stay on top.
Elvis’ controlling manager Parker, whose real name was Andreas Cornelis (Dries) van Kuijk, was born in the Netherlands, but he pretended for years that he was born and raised in the United States. In real life, Parker (who died in 1997, at the age of 87) hid his true identity and undocumented immigrant status. This deception is in the movie, but as a plot twist reveal that will not surprise anyone who knows about Parker, or anyone who notices Hanks’ very over-the-top European accent in the movie. There are parts of the movie where Hanks’ prosthetic makeup and his Dutch-like accent are very distracting. Hanks’ accent also sometimes sounds German and sometimes sounds like a Western European trying to sound American.
In real life, when Parker was Elvis’ manager, Parker did not have a heavy European accent, as portrayed in this movie. Parker had a very believable American accent in real life. How else would he have been able to fool so many people into thinking that he was a born-and-raised American if he had a European accent? This quasi-European accent is one of the characteristics of Parker that this “Elvis” movie gets wrong.
Because so much of Elvis’ life has already been dissected and depicted in many other ways (including Elvis impersonators becoming both a cottage industry and the butt of a lot of jokes), Luhrmann’s “Elvis” at least takes a unique approach of telling this story with narration from Parker. The movie’s opening scene shows Parker collapsing from a heart attack and taken to a hospital. During this narration, Parker repeatedly says versions of this statement: “Without me, there would be no Elvis Presley. And yet, there are some who would make me the villain of this here story.”
Elvis’ childhood gets a comic-book panel treatment (literally) in this “Elvis” movie, as the movie uses comic book panels and comic-book-type illustrations to show chapter transitions in Elvis’ youth. Born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Aaron Presley is portrayed as someone who was influenced from an early age by music, particularly R&B and gospel music. Elvis had a twin brother named Jessie Garon Presley, who was stillborn. The film briefly mentions the death of Elvis’ twin brother, but the movie does not explore (as other biographies have done) how Elvis was haunted by this death.
Elvis was famously a “mama’s boy” who worshipped his mother Gladys (played by Helen Thomson), who was a strong-willed and dominant force in his life. Elvis’ father Vernon (played by Richard Roxburgh) is portrayed as someone who was often overshadowed by Gladys in Elvis’ eyes. However, Vernon still had a huge influence on Elvis, especially after Parker decided that Vernon should be Elvis’ business manager.
It was a ultimately not a good decision, considering that Vernon had trouble keeping a steady job up until that point, Vernon had no experience as a successful businessperson, and Elvis experienced major financial problems in the years leading up to his death. It also didn’t help that Parker was a gambling addict. The movie portrays Parker’s gambling addiction as one of the reasons why he was so money-hungry and willing to do unscrupulous things to get access to Elvis’ fortune.
When Elvis was 13 years old, he and his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, the city that is most closely associated with Elvis’ childhood and young adulthood. (Chaydon Jay has the role of the adolescent Elvis in the movie.) Vernon got into trouble with the law in 1938, when he was imprisoned for eight months for check forgery. As a result of these legal problems, the family lost their home and had to move to a lower-income area that was populated by mostly African Americans.
The movie makes it look like Elvis was the only white kid in his area who was allowed or interested in going to the African American religious church revivals that were held in tents, where he would watch the passionate gospel performances in awe. Elvis was also a fan of R&B music at a time when it was concered “race music” that was only supposed to be performed and enjoyed by black people. Sometimes, Elvis would get teased or harassed for liking this music, but his decision to perform his version of this music ultimately set him on the road to stardom. Elvis was also a fan of country music, which he incorporated into many of his songs.
While an underage Elvis was sneaking into church revivals in tents, the movie shows Parker spending a lot of his time in another type of event that uses tents: carnivals. Parker is portrayed in flashback scenes as a carnival huckster skilled at selling and at coming up with con games. It’s a skill set that Parker brought with him when he decided to go into the music business. The movie takes a little too much time with scenes of Parker managing country artists such as Hank Snow (played by David Wenham) and his son Jimmie Rodgers Snow (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee), a musician who would eventually befriend Elvis.
Later, when Elvis and Parker meet in person, the movie stylishly stages this meeting in a carnival hall of mirrors. It’s an example of how this “Elvis” movie has fantastical elements. In real life, the first time Elvis met Parker was probably in a much more non-descript setting. Catherine Martin (Luhrmann’s wife and filmmaking partner) is a producer of “Elvis” and the leader of the movie’s top-notch costume design and production design.
Elvis’ imitation of African American R&B and early rock and roll (rock pioneers Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino were big influences on Elvis) could be considered cultural appropriation or an extreme form of flattery, depending on your perspective. But what most people can agree on is that Elvis’ performance of this music is what caught the attention of Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, who is widely considered the person who gave Elvis his first big music break.
Elvis’ early recordings on Sun Records were then brought to the attention of Parker, who is portrayed as someone who couldn’t believe that the singer on the recordings was white, not black. And when Parker sees Elvis perform for the first time, Parker says in a narration voiceover what his first impression of Elvis was: “Greasy hair, girlie makeup. I cannot overstate how strange he looked.”
But what really convinced Parker to want to represent Elvis as his personal manager was seeing the audience reaction (especially from females) that Elvis got when Elvis performed on stage and thrust, shook and swiveled his hips and legs in a sexually suggestive manner. The movie makes a point of showing how these stage moves had a primal effect on women and teenage girls in the audience, as Elvis often got them into a frenzy. Expect to see several scenes of Elvis being branded as “lewd and lascivious” for these stage moves in various scenarios, with the controversy fueling his popularity.
One of the odd things about this “Elvis” movie is that there’s a scene where Elvis is on stage early in his career and his band members are the ones to tell him to wiggle his hips more. If you believe this scenario, Elvis wasn’t the one to come up with these sex symbol moves. He had to be talked into it by his band members. Parker says in his ever-present voiceover narration when commenting on women’s lusty reactions to Elvis: “He was a taste of forbidden fruit.”
The movie correctly shows that it was Parker who convinced Elvis to ditch Sun Records for a more lucrative offer from RCA Records, which had the type of national distribution and radio clout that Sun Records did not. Sun Records released some singles from Elvis in 1954 (including his first single “That’s All Right”), but they weren’t hits. Elvis’ first RCA Records single was 1955’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” which was a smash hit and became his first No. 1 single.
In a flashback voiceover, Parker brags about how he was the first person to create a merchandising bonanza around a pop star. In a very over-the-top scene, Parker shows off a huge stockpile of Elvis-branded merchandise that is cluttered all over a room in a Presley family home. It looks like an Elvis product hoarder decorated the room.
As Elvis became more famous and was spending more time away from home, it started to bother Gladys. The movie has a scene that’s a little on the Oedipal creepy side, where Gladys tells Elvis that she’s worried about the way that his female fans look at him. Gladys acts more like a jealous girlfriend than a mother. And then, Elvis tells his mother, “You’re my girl.”
Elvis’ experiences with groupies are very toned-down in the movie, which has no explicit sex scenes or even explicit sex talk. Priscilla is sidelined for most of the movie. After Priscilla and Elvis get married in 1967, she’s just shown as someone who’s part of his entourage and becomes an increasingly unhappy bystander when he kisses and flirts with female fans at concerts.
For a while, Elvis and Priscilla lived in Los Angeles, but Elvis’ world-famous Graceland estate in Memphis was always considered to be his main home. After Elvis’ death, Elvis Presley Enterprises (which approved this movie) turned Graceland into a tourist attraction. The movie shows some of Elvis’ indulgences, including his lavish spending habits and his tendency to carry around a lot of guns. As expected, there’s a scene of a drug-addled Elvis destroying a TV set by shooting it up with a gun—something that he was known to do in real life from time to time.
Lisa Marie Presley (Elvis and Priscilla’s daughter, who was born in 1968) appears briefly in a few scenes. Priscilla’s breakup scene with Elvis is predictably melodramatic. She screams at him that she’s leaving him not because of his infidelities but because of his addiction to pills. Priscilla throws pills at Elvis before walking out the door. Priscilla and Elvis divorced in 1973, but their legal battles are never shown in the movie. Near the end of the film, there’s a tearjerking scene that’s the final word on their ill-fated romance.
Elvis’ movie star career is rushed through in a series of scenes that culminate with the media reporting that Elvis was in talks to be Barbra Streisand’s co-star in a 1976 remake of “A Star Is Born,” in which he would be playing a drug-addicted, has-been rock star. A radio announcer is heard commenting in a voiceover that Elvis wouldn’t have to do much acting for this role. Elvis, who had been trying with no success to become a serious dramatic actor, never did this remake of “A Star Is Born.” Kris Kristofferson ended up in the role.
With his movie career going nowhere, Elvis continues as a Las Vegas attraction at the International Hotel (which is now the Las Vegas Hilton) and as an artist doing several successful U.S. tours. Elvis wants to tour outside the U.S., but Parker keeps coming up with excuses for Elvis not to do these international tours. When the truth is exposed about why Parker is holding back on working outside the U.S., it leads to a turning point in the relationship between Elvis and Parker.
One of the more curious aspects of “Elvis” is that it doesn’t spend a lot of time showing Elvis in the recording studio. He was not a songwriter for almost all of his hits (an exception was his co-songwriting credit for “Heartbreak Hotel”), but this biopic doesn’t provide much insight into how he worked in a recording studio setting. And this “Elvis” movie doesn’t have any significant scenes of actors portraying the major songwriters (including Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) who were responsible for writing Elvis’ biggest hits.
However, the movie has several scenes acknowledging the artists who inspired Elvis. Big Mama Thornton (played by Shonka Dukureh) is seen belting out “Hound Dog,” a song that was famously covered by Elvis. Little Richard (played by Alton Mason) appears briefly in a performance clip. During a media event, Elvis points to Fats Domino and says that Domino is the real King of Rock and Roll.
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (played by Gary Clark Jr.), Sister Rosetta Tharpe (played by Yola) and Mahalia Jackson (played by Cle Morgan) have small roles in the movie. B.B. King (played by Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Elvis became mutual admirers of each other, and the movie briefly shows that friendship. If these influential African American artists are shown performing in the movie, it’s for a very limited amount of screen time.
The movie shows glimpses of Elvis being a concerned citizen who wanted to get involved in the civil rights movement, but he was ordered by Parker never to talk about politics in public. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy (both in 1968) and the civil unrest in the U.S. in the late 1960s are all portrayed as media news backdrops to Elvis’ personal problems, while Parker gripes about how America is going downhill because of the hippie counterculture movement. Just like many other Elvis biographies, the movie depicts Elvis as becoming more isolated the older he got and the deeper he got into drug addiction.
Elvis’ entourage, which was famously called the Memphis Mafia, is portrayed as not much more than being a bunch of “yes men” in the movie. The one who gets the most screen time is Jerry Schiller (played by Luke Bracey), who’s mostly seen acting like a personal assistant/security employee. A few of the other Memphis Mafia members portrayed in the movie are Steve Binder (played by Dacre Montgomery), Bones Howe (played by Gareth Davies) and Scotty Moore (played by Xavier Samuel), who don’t do or say anything noteworthy.
Because Elvis was a drug addict, the movie shows that he had his own Dr. Feelgood on the payroll to give injections and pills of whatever drugs were requested. In the movie, this enabling doctor is called Dr. Nick (played by Tony Nixon), and he’s based on the real-life Dr. George Nichopoulos, whose nickname was Dr. Nick. Just like in the movie, the real-life Dr. Nick had a reputation for being a drug supplier to many celebrities, including Elvis. The movie shows that Elvis was mostly addicted to amphetamines and opioids.
A harrowing scene in the movie shows Elvis collapsing in a hallway shortly before he’s scheduled to do a concert. Members of his entourage frantically try to revive him, but to no avail. The decision must be made to take Elvis to a hospital, or summon Dr. Nick to give Elvis an injection so that Elvis can do the show. You can easily guess what decision was made in a world where people live by the rule “The show must go on.” The movie makes a point of implying that this scenario happened too many times behind the scenes, and it led to Elvis’ downward spiral.
None of this is really shocking because there have already been so many exposés of Elvis’ private life, there’s really almost no new information to uncover. Elvis’ bizarre 1970 visit with then-U.S. president Richard Nixon is neither mentioned nor shown in this movie, probably because there was an entire movie made about it: director Liza Johnson’s 2016 comedy/drama “Elvis & Nixon,” starring Michael Shannon as Elvis and Kevin Spacey as Nixon. Luhrmann’s “Elvis” movie isn’t concerned about being a celebrity “tell all” biopic as much as it is concerned about presenting Elvis’ life in ways that are served up like it’s on a conveyor belt and in other ways like it’s part of a splashy musical.
In other words, “Elvis” is a very mixed bag, but it shines the best and brightest in the area that matters the most: showing Elvis as a music artist. The movie has performances of Elvis hits such as “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “That’s All Right,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” “Suspicious Minds” and “Heartbreak Hotel.” Butler does very good renditions of some these classics, with standout show-stoppers depicting Elvis’ 1968 “comeback” TV special (“Elvis” on NBC) and some of his performances in Las Vegas.
The movie’s soundtrack also has some contemporary, hip-hop-infused remakes of classic songs, such as Doja Cat’s version of “Vegas” and Swae Lee and Diplo’s version of Crudup’s “Tupelo Shuffle,” a song that Elvis also recorded. Eminem’s original song “The King and I”(featuring CeeLo Green) is also part of the movie’s soundtrack. These songs don’t sound completely out of place in the movie, but the contemporary music does take viewers out of the 1950s to 1970s, the decades when Elvis made his music. However, “Elvis” is definitely a crowd pleaser in being a feast of Elvis music, as it should be.
“Suspicious Minds” is the most prominently used Elvis song in the movie. Even though the lyrics are about lovers who’ve lost trust in each other, “Suspicious Minds” could also be a theme song about the growing mistrust in the deteriorating relationship between Elvis and Parker. How much did Parker really play a role in causing Elvis’ downfall? The movie leaves it up to viewers to decide. Even with all of Elvis’ pitfalls and self-destructive excesses, “Elvis” has a clear message that any problems he had in his life were always surpassed by his love of performing and connecting with his fans.
Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Elvis” in U.S. cinemas on June 24, 2022. The movie was released in other countries on June 22, 2022.
