Entertainment

Review: Egerton glitters in glossy, conventional ‘Rocketman’

Published

5 years ago

May 17, 2019

Whatever you say about Dexter Fletcher’s glossy, glittering Elton John blinged-out biopic ”Rocketman ,” a shiny sequin of a movie, it doesn’t lack for sparkle. Like its flamboyant subject, it’s a movie outfitted to the nines in dazzle and verve, even if it’s gotten all dressed up with nowhere to go but the most conventional places.

Almost slavishly sealed within the hermetic bubble of the rock biopic, “Rocketman” will, justifiably, draw plenty of comparisons to its opening act: last year’s Freddie Mercury tale “Bohemian Rhapsody.” They’re both about larger-than-life figures, each gay icons, with a preternatural talent for hooks and spectacle. Fletcher also helped steer “Bohemian Rhapsody,” subbing for the departed Bryan Singer. The two movies even share a villain in music manager John Reid (Aiden Gillen in “Bohemian,” Richard Madden here).

And Elton, like Freddie, churned out unassailable, everlasting earworms sung round the world. Favoring melody over meaning, the music of both comes big-screen ready. Their songs were themselves movies, in Technicolor. Just as “Bohemian Rhapsody” can glide over the origins of “Scaramouche,” we need no investigations into why that dancer was so tiny.

“Rocketman” deviates in its rating (R), its less hesitant depiction of its star’s homosexuality and, most dramatically, in casting John’s life across a fantastical musical tapestry. It’s also quite definitely a better movie — although one still stuffed to gills with clichés and heavily dependent on the sheer toe-tap-ability of its star’s extensive back catalog, and its lead performer.

Here, that’s Taron Egerton, who doesn’t especially look like John or sound like John, but he gives a star-making performance built on charisma and will. Egerton gives it his all, and if there’s one quality that’s most essential in an Elton John movie, it’s probably spiritedness.

On the whole, this is a more-or-less true, authorized account (John is an executive producer), but one that frequently breaks free of stubborn things like chronology and gravity. In one scene, John himself rockets from an arena stage into the night sky and explodes as a firework. The rock critic Robert Christgau once referred to John as “a one-man Zeitgeist.” ″Rocketman” has every fiber of its being committed to burnishing the myth of Sir Elton: literally an exploding star.

“Where there was darkness, there is now you, Elton John,” the devilish Reid tells him, shortly before John becomes an $87 million-a-year industry.

Working from a script by Lee Hall, Fletcher zooms through John’s life, finding trap doors in his past that fall into lavish song-and-dance routines. There’s some “Rocket Man” on a toy piano as a toddler and a “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” at a carnival, for a reason that eluded me. The next song is rarely more than a few minutes away. Frequently, “Rocketman” feels like an ad for a jukebox Broadway musical. This is a movie yearning for the stage.

The film works in flashbacks, jumping off from an addiction group meeting. “My name is Elton Hercules John,” he introduces himself before giving a laundry list of addictions: alcohol, cocaine, shopping. The story shifts back, naturally, to John’s childhood (Elton was then Reginald Dwight), where his withholding parents, and one of the snottier fathers you’ve seen, unwittingly mold their son into a desperate performer and a bit of a clothes horse.

The expected moments of breakthrough and excess follow in John’s meteoric rise. The main thread throughout, at least theoretically, is his undying friendship with lyricist Bernie Taupin, a relationship that outlasts all others. There’s not as much of Jamie Bell’s Bernie as there should be, but if anyone takes up the slack, it’s Madden, who sexily menaces the screen in every scene he’s in.

All of John’s stage theatrics and feathered costumes, “Rocketman” suggests, are a way for John to hide from himself, from “Reginald Dwight.” But any demons that John might be haunted by are given only lip service. Maybe Elton couldn’t cope with reality, but “Rocketman” certainly can’t. Instead, Fletcher’s movie is primarily one of metamorphosis, almost mythically drawn. Performing “Crocodile Rock” at Los Angeles’ Troubadour, his feet — and the audiences’ — achieve liftoff. “Rocketman” is happiest with its feet far off the ground in some dreamy, hollow, happy pop splendor.

“Rocketman,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language throughout, some drug use and sexual content. Running time: 121 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Entertainment

Dr. Phillips Center Brings Nashville Night in Orlando to Judson’s Live

Published

2 weeks ago

April 2, 2024

FNN NEWS

Orlando, Fla. – From the backs of napkins to the bright lights of Music City. Every song has a story– and country music’s top hit-makers are sharing theirs at Judson’s Live beginning April 20, 2024.

Nashville’s most celebrated songwriters who have worked with Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan and Darius Rucker, to name a few, will take the Judson’s Live stage as part of Nashville Night in Orlando.

“The series has packed venues across Central Florida and we are excited to bring the event and its audiences to Judson’s Live,” says Kathy Ramsberger, president & CEO of the Dr. Phillips Center.

Judson’s Live is the art center’s newest and most intimate music room offering a front row experience to celebrate songwriters, enjoy music and learn about the inspiration behind some of Nashville’s biggest hits.

Entertainment

Day 2: Grammy Nominee Jelly Roll closed out Riptide Music Festival 2023

Published

4 months ago

December 4, 2023

Matt Wolff

MAIMI, Fla. (FNN) – Day 2 offered big names in the alternative/rock world, but also had Audacy bringing back a touch of their Chili Cookoff roots with Jelly Roll headlining. The recent CMA New Artist of the Year, also nominated for 2 Grammy Awards, brought the fire…literally.

Local band Girlfriend Material opened the day with some fun songs including Adam’s Sandler’s “The Chanukkah Song”. Next, Barns Courtney had the fans jumping early as he joined them in the GA section to close our his set.

AWOLNATION showed why they get a lot of airtime on 104.3 The Shark and had the crowd clapping as they played their hit song “Sail”.

Sublime with Rome, one of the longest running bands at Riptide, played hit after hit as lead singer Rome Ramirez showed his appreciation for the road that Sublime paved. Multiple times he sang their praises as he shouted “Long Live Sublime.”

As the sun started to set on the day and festival, Lovely the Band showed why they were invited back to Riptide.

If you’ve never seen The Dirty Heads play, you might not know exactly what type of band they are. When asked on the red carpet, frontman Jared Watson said “That’s what I love about our band. I don’t think there is anyone else like us…I’m proud of that. You can call it alternative, you can call it reggae rock but it’s not really either of them…” Call it what you want (I say reggae/rap/alternative), they were obviously a crowd favorite.

Jelly Roll, who celebrated his 39^th birthday on Sunday, closed out the festival singing all of his hits “Need A Favor” “Son of a Sinner”. He dropped in some cover medleys of old school country “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and hip-hop “Boys in the Hood / Roughriders / Lose Yourself / Ms. Jackson / Just a Friend” as he shared stories of growing up being the youngest of 5. Jelly Roll is not your average man of god “I do not believe this is a concert. I believe this is family reunion of people that are human together…I believe that heaven has a smoking session and an open bar” he says right before he sang “Smoking Section”. He closed with his latest #1 Country Hit “Save Me” as sparkles rained down.

Entertainment

Day 1: Riptide offers good music and a whole lotta fun

Published

5 months ago

December 3, 2023

Matt Wolff

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (FNN) – Audacy’s Riptide Music Festival returned to Fort Lauderdale Beach yesterday with a solid lineup of bands you’d expect to see at a festival supported by 104.3 the Shark.

Photo by Matt Wolff / Florida National News

Jack Kays of Cincinnati, fresh off his tour, opened things on the Demesmin & Dover Stage. Little Image, a band from Austin, TX, who met in high school were first to play on the main Riptide Stage.

The Beaches (Canada) brought some girl power with their first US Billboard charted single “Blame Brett”. While LoveJoy didn’t rate their performance very high, the crowd was high energy and singing along to “Portrait of a Blank Slate”. Young the Giant (Irvine, CA) had the fans jumping up and down as they closed their set with “My Body”. Bleachers wasted no time as they jumped right in with “I Wanna Get Better”. Jack Antonoff, formerly of fun., was highly engaged with the crowded cracking NJ/Florida jokes, bouncing around, singing all their top songs including the live concert debut of “Modern Girl”. The Black Keys closed out a solid Day 1 of music with their hits “Gold on the Ceiling”, “Little Black Submarine” and “Lonely Boy.

Having been to dozens of music festivals with fans complaining about the crowds, it was a nice change of pace to not have to fight for every inch as the early sets weren’t as heavily attended as in the past. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. For the 2^nd time in a row, the main stage was set facing north instead of to the ocean. This gave a lot more room for GA/VIP to hang out.

Aside from a fun day of music, there were a ton of great activations lead by the Ford Beach House. Whether it was the cowboy hat giveaway, DJ/bands playing, a limbo contest for VIP upgrade or a dance contest to Wobble/Dougie/Gangnam Style, the fans were highly entertained during and in-between performances. Twin Peaks Sports Bar was next door showing todays big games and giving away food/drink coupons. Goya (cookies) and Jolly Time (popcorn) provided the snacks, while Celcius and El Bandido Yankee Tequilla offered free beverage samples. If you are a fan of cigars, Al Capone was giving away cigarillos wrapping paper and lighters.

There was no shortage of giveaways including hats, towels, bags, sunglasses, fly swatters/fans. If you like music, the beach and free stuff, Day 1 didn’t disappoint.

Day 1: See more event photos at Florida National News’ Facebook page.

Day 2 offers big names in the alternative rock world, but also has Audacy bringing back a touch of their Chili Cookoff roots with Jelly Roll headlining.

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Matt Wolff is a South Florida reporter for Florida National News. | info@floridanationalnews.com