Elvis (2022)

Jack and I enjoyed this spectacle about the famed performer, despite its length of 2:39. It focuses mostly on the relationship between Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) and his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks in a fat suit and five hours of makeup a day). The enormous cast includes Shonka Dukureh, who died at age 44 right after the movie was released, in her feature debut and finale acting and singing as Big Mama Thornton.

Director/co-writer Baz Luhrmann's co-writers are Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner. Apparently there's a four hour cut somewhere. We'd like a two hour cut, please.

You will not remember the original score by Elliott Wheeler nor find it online, but the soundtrack on Apple Music and elsewhere includes Presley classics, covers by Butler, and other songs.

Contributing to the glorious images are cinematographer Mandy Walker, production designers Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy, and Martin doing double duty as costume designer.

This movie is said to be the second highest grossing music biopic after Bohemian Rhapsody, and in both films, the stars' drug use was barely mentioned. But, I suppose, delving into that would have made them both even longer.

I've mentioned but a few of the many trivia items on imdb and here's another: Presley dyed his naturally light hair black and so did Butler for this role.

Hanks was last blogged for News of the World; Luhrmann, Pearce, and Martin for The Great Gatsby; Doner for Heartbreaker; and Walker for Tracks. Butler has a number of credits, including playing a member of the Manson family in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. This is the feature debut for Bromell. Wheeler scored the hip-hop series The Get Down, and Murphy, who was an associate production designer on Gatsby, designed The Get Down, A Star Is Born, Queen & Slim, and more.

Some of Rotten Tomatoes's critics, averaging 77%, have left the building but its audiences, thank you very much, are at 94%.

We streamed it September 6 on HBO Max and I see that it is airing this week on regular HBO as well.

Official competition (Competencia oficial - 2021)

I loved this farce about movie making in Spain, with Penelope Cruz as an intense director and Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez as egotistical stars, with magnificent cinematography, sets, and locations. Jose Luis Gomez plays the egotistical financier who appears first in the movie, but, contrary to what I learned in film school, it is not that character's story. 

Co-directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat wrote the script with Gastón's brother Andrés Duprat. They and Martinez are Argentinian and there's a joke about an Argentinian accent late in the movie.

Cruz' brother Eduardo Cruz's soundtrack doesn't seem to be available to stream online and, in the two weeks since I watched this I've forgotten specifics.

But I remember distinctly (okay, I made a note while I watched--one of the advantages of streaming at home) the gorgeous photography by Arnau Valls Colomer, with beautifully composed wide shots, mirrors, and more. And a shout out to the hair department (too many to name) for Cruz' massive tangle of pumpkin colored tresses.

Penelope Cruz was last blogged for Parallel Mothers and Banderas for Pain & Glory, I may not have written about Martinez yet but I saw him in Wild Tales and he is an accomplished actor. Gomez was in, among many, Broken Embraces and The Skin I Live In, but also not blogged until today. Cohn and the Duprats are new to me but have a number of movie and TV credits, mostly together. This is Eduardo Cruz' third of four features and Colomer is a much-nominated and award-winning cinematographer with dozens of projects in his resume.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics officially sanction this movie, averaging 96% and its audiences are close behind at 83. I rented it on September 3 on Apple TV.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (2022)

Despite the prodigious talents of Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall as a narcissistic pastor and his tightly wound wife trying to resurrect their Black Evangelical church after a scandal, this mockumentary's pacing is wildly uneven. There are plenty of laughs and the wardrobe is spectacular, however. Maybe the long pauses are meant to underscore the cringe (and Jack and I usually love cringe) or to reflect the documentary style, but the story seems to come to a crashing halt from time to time. Nicole Beharie and Conphidance play the attractive, younger heads of a competing church.

Director/screenwriter Adamma Ebo fleshed out her 2018 short of the same name to make this feature with the aid of the Sundance Institute and producers Daniel Kaluuya, Jordan Peele, and Ebo's twin sister Adanne Ebo, among others.

The soundtrack album, composed by Marcus Norris and featuring the Southside Symphony, is available to stream on Apple Music and likely elsewhere.

Another interesting production value, besides the costumes designed by Lorraine Coppin, is that different aspect ratios are used to demonstrate which scenes are from the documentary within the movie, "archive" footage, and "real life."

Brown was last blogged for Black Panther, Hall for Shaft, and Beharie for Miss Juneteenth. Conphidance may be new to me but is no stranger to stage, screen, and music studio. This is Adamma Ebo's feature directorial debut and her sister was associate producer on one other feature, besides shorts for both. Norris also makes his feature debut and Coppin has dozens of previous credits.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics aren't exactly honking at 72%, while its audiences took a detour, averaging 26%. Jack's and my opinion falls somewhere in between. We streamed it with our Peacock+ subscription on September 2.