Rocketman Reviews

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian:

3 stars out of 5

exter Fletcher’s rousingly good natured Rocketman is the authorised-version movie about the legendary singer-songwriter Elton John: written by Lee Hall, produced by David Furnish and exec produced by the man himself. It’s had to follow the John Lewis Christmas TV ad that everyone loved, which delivered a very similar narrative in a miniaturised version; in fact there’s a moment here with Elton musingly picking out a single-finger tune that even appears to allude to that small-screen gem. Rocketman has also, in a way, had the burden of following or living up to Elton John’s sensational songs, the masterpieces which each seem like mini-movies in themselves – or at the very least the euphoric accompaniment to the most moving final montage you’ve ever seen.

Rocketman is a sucrose-enriched biopic-slash-jukebox-musical hybrid which sometimes feels like it should be on the Broadway or London West End stage – and very possibly will. Sometimes the songs are woven realistically into the action, with Elton performing one of his nuclear-payload belters live on stage, or sometimes musingly trying out a song on the keyboard, giving us all goosebumps as we recognise a prototype of Candle in the Wind. But sometimes the songs are part of a fantasy sequence, choreographed in such a way as takes us close to Lloyd Webber territory.

As Elton John, Taron Egerton gamely does a middleweight impersonation, more comfortable with the lighter side: better at the tiaras than the tantrums. The story takes us from the world of Reg Dwight, a bright, shy kid in Pinner, living with his mum (Bryce Dallas Howard) and emotionally stilted dad (Steven Mackintosh) who without knowing it is sowing the seeds of creative pain and rage. There’s also his adoring gran (Gemma Jones) who encourages his music.

Then there’s the miraculous meeting with lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell), the gruff philistine-yet-shrewd promoter Dick James (Stephen Graham) – inventor of the “old grey whistle test” for determining a hit – and finally his devastatingly handsome lover and manager John Reid (a toxically sexy Richard Madden) with whom he falls out horribly. It skates us through the glory days of the 70s, the astronomic record-sales, the coke and booze, the misjudged straight marriage and perhaps equally misjudged purchase of Watford FC, concluding with rehab and a 12-step meeting from which the movie is recounted in piously conceived flashback.

The movie disconcertingly ends before he meets the true love of his life David Furnish; there’s no mention of Princess Di, and nothing about his mum’s legendary 90th birthday when they weren’t speaking and she hired an Elton John impersonator to come to her party instead.

Egerton looks the part and carries off the costumes and glasses, the sequinned baseball costumes and jaunty bowlers well enough, but I felt he never quite delivers John’s woundedness when those he loved let him down; he couldn’t quite do the lower-lip-trembling humiliation and hurt which fed into the rage and the fear. I found myself wondering what Bell would have been like in the role.

Of course, this Rocketman resembles the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody in a dozen different ways, although these are arguably genetic music-biopic standards: the poor upbringing, the manager, the scene in the record studio, the fateful first encounter with drugs and the joyful montage as the first hit climbs up the charts. Rocketman is candid enough about John’s identity as a gay man.

The PR shills are out in force tonight.

Robbie Collin in The Telegraph:

5 stars out of 5

Like many of us here at the Cannes Film Festival, the cast and crew of Rocketman must wish that Bohemian Rhapsody didn’t exist.

Dexter Fletcher’s fabulous Elton John musical is a heart-racing, toe-tapping, all-glitter-cannons-blazing triumph on its own terms – but because of its subject matter and crowd-pleasing approach, the early reviews will almost certainly compare it to Bryan Singer’s Freddie Mercury wiki-biopic. (Fletcher was the director drafted in to finish that film, without credit, after Singer was fired by 20th Century Fox for repeatedly failing to show up to the set.)

Well, allow me to reassure you there is no comparison. Putting the two side by side would be like conducting a taste test between a porterhouse steak smothered in tomato ketchup and a smouldering old shoe someone pulled off a bonfire. After the self-effacing salvage job, Fletcher has stormed back with the real, electrifying deal.

Lee Hall’s screenplay ingeniously frames Elton’s life story with a 1990 rehab confessional, as the star, played by Taron Egerton, reflects on the various ingenious and disastrous life choices that brought him to this rock-bottom point.

This allows the film to get away with the most outrageous biopic manoeuvrings on the grounds that, well, it’s how Elton himself would probably tell it. It also allows Fletcher to bring on Egerton cranked up to Maximum Elton at the very start, and within seconds of the actor appearing on screen, you find yourself groaning with relief.

Not only does Egerton have Elton’s look and mannerisms down to an uncanny degree, he also musters up enough of his subject’s signature showmanship to give a performance that’s joyously at peace with its own preposterousness.

The film’s remove from reality also allows Fletcher to deploy a swathe of Elton’s best-known songs however he likes, from montage background tracks to live performances, full-blooded musical numbers, and flights of pure pop fantasy that skate thrillingly between the two.

When Elton first performs Crocodile Rock at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles it induces a mass levitation among those who hear it, and I swear I could feel myself rising an inch or two out of my cinema seat. Tiny Dancer is brilliantly transformed into a heartbreaking torch song. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting induces a contact high as it careers down suburban streets at closing time and through fairgrounds in turbo-charged long takes.

Halina Watts in The Mirror:

3 stars out of 5

Rocketman is one of Elton John’s most iconic songs, a melody of epic proportions that launched him into the stratosphere of global music domination when he penned it in 1972.

Now it is the title for his fantasy biopic - a work of blurred reality which could cement his prolific star in Hollywood for many years to come.

But, after all the Oscar winning success of Bohemian Rhapsody....is it as good? In a word, almost.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s phenomenally successful musical film, about the life of legendary frontman Freddie Mercury, was never going to be easy.

Thankfully, executive producer Elton had Bohemian Rhapsody director Dexter Fletcher on hand to help create an incredible feast for the eyes.

But by taking it through the realms of fantasy, and this really is a fantasy drama, it makes the viewer question what really went on, what is truth and fiction.

One thing we do know is that this is Elton’s fantasy.

The film traces his life from the age of six until he enters rehab in his early 40s.

What sets it apart from the Queen biopic, is Elton’s ability to expose the uglier side of his character.

We all know that there would be no Elton without his Tantrums and Tiaras, but it takes a thick skin to dramatise the warts of one’s personality.

And, as the film plays out, it attributes much of his emotional difficulties to growing up with cold hearted parents, in particular his stony father Stanley Dwight.

It feels like an epitaph to a man ferociously haunted by his childhood. And then one to a man who learns to forgive.

In a rehab session Elton says: “Real love is hard to come by so you learn to cope without it.”

When Taron Egerton, who plays Elton, comes into the story, it’s 1960 and Elton is 17.

He arrives for Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, a big musical number that goes from a pub to a fairground with dozens of colourful extras and dancers.

Taron has perfected the portrayal of Elton, and his onscreen chemistry with Jamie Bell, who plays songwriting partner Bernie Taupin is heart breaking and infectious.

Some of the songs were reimagined for the movie by producer Giles Martin, son of George Martin who famously produced The Beatles. They are definitely the film’s main appeal.

It also explores Elton’s sexuality with a highly charged scene between Elton and his first manager John Reid, played by Richard Madden.

It would be foolish not to claim that as one of the highlights.

Taron is an incredible screen force with endless charisma and charm, it’s no wonder Elton was adamant he should take on the role.

Dan Wootton in The Sun:

5 stars out of 5

IF Bohemian Rhapsody were the cheeseburger of music icon biopics, then Rocketman is the sirloin steak - with lobster on the side.

This film is a soul baring musical exploration of the most traumatic period of Elton’s life - loveless parents, drug addiction, a painful struggle over his sexuality, physical abuse, bulimia and a suicide attempt.

Any fears the storyline would be toned down because of Elton’s involvement are dispelled within minutes.

Taron Eggerton excels as Elton to the point he seems to become him.

While Rami Malek achieved the same feat as Freddie Mercury, the fundamental difference here is that this leading man sings all Elton’s songs himself, bringing new life to classics like Your Song and I’m Still Standing.

The film opens with Elton finally admitting he’s an addict in a group therapy session before he’s taken back to his unhappy childhood, with kudos to the two young Eltons played Kit Connor and Matthew Illesley, who are both young talents.

Director Dexter Fletcher’s movie gives an unflinching betrayal of Elton’s selfish mother Shelia - played as a mega b***h by the compelling Bryce Dallas Howard - and absent cruel father Stanley Dwight, who died still having refused to see Elton live.

They are, the film argues, the real reason for Elton’s near-death descent.

The hero of the piece is his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin - portrayed with an honest sensitivity that should see Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell win awards.

After rejecting Elton’s romantic advances, they form a connection based on real love - something absent in Elton’s young life.

The same cannot be said for the film’s villain John Reid - played by Bodyguard’s Richard Madden with sexy Scottish aggression.

Rightly a much talked about gay sex scene has not been cut, despite discussion about how it would go down with US audiences.

Rocketman’s fantasy elements elevate it further - the underwater sequence during the title song following Elton’s desperate suicide attempt somehow becomes beautiful, with astounding choreography.

Rocketman is an old fashioned musical with superb songs and goosebump-inducing acting.

It’s little wonder the main man has cancelled a gig that clashes with next year’s Oscars. This has best picture nominee written all over it.

Variety

Dexter Fletcher has fashioned an ebullient monument to pop superstar Elton John — featuring a likable turn from Taron Egerton in the lead role — that’s clichéd in the telling, but gets by on the strength of his early catalog.

IndieWire: Cheesy

Geoffrey McNab in The Independent:

3 stars out of 5

Dexter Fletcher’s musical biopic of Elton John, a world premiere out of competition in the Cannes festival, is a rousing and emotional affair with an operatic sweep. This is a story of one of pop culture’s most extraordinary metamorphoses: Reg Dwight, the “fat kid from nowhere”, leaves his Pinner roots far behind as he blossoms forth as the flamboyant singer in the glitter and platform heels – but his success takes a huge toll.

You won’t learn here why Elton sold Luther Blissett when he was Watford FC’s chairman, but the film has plenty of other revelations and ventures into its subject’s darkest places. It was co-produced by Elton John’s company Rocket Pictures, but there is no sense that it is trying to airbrush his past.

In recent years, Taron Egerton has played roles as varied as hapless ski jumper Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards and Robin Hood. He excels here as “the introverted extrovert”, as Elton is characterised: the global superstar who, at the very peak of his fame, is insecure and miserable.

“You’ve got to kill the person you were born to be in order to become the person you want to be,” Reg is told early on. It is advice he so closely takes to heart, he risks losing his own identity altogether.

The film foregrounds the friendship between Reg and songwriter Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell), whose part in Elton’s story isn’t always acknowledged fully. They’re portrayed as being as close as brothers. They spark each other’s creativity. Bernie writes the words. Elton puts them to music.

Almost as important is the very complicated relationship with his beloved mum (Bryce Dallas Howard). Then, there is his heady but ultimately destructive affair with his manager, John Reid (Richard Madden).

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

Oh wow, the biopic that literally no one was asking for!

The critics hated Bohemian Rhapsody, just sayin

If these early reviews follow through, it looks like the critics will like this better than Bohemian Rhapsody, certainly it's forthright portrayal of homosexuality compared to BR.

Can’t believe this is getting such good reviews.

IMDB has it touted as a Biography, Drama, and [bold]Fantasy[/bold]. Wut?

I hope it's good. It doesn't have to be great -- just better, more honest, than that godawful dreck Bohemian Rhapsody. The fact that there's sex and kissing in it gives me some hope. There's a place for broad-appeal crowd-pleasing stuff like this -- we should be celebrating that there's a gay story being targeted towards the whole country. Shit like this does make a difference.

They only seem like good reviews because the ones for BoRhap were so shit. Read the Rocketman reviews again and you'll find little enthusiasm for the actual storytelling but not enough of a train wreck to over-praise its star. I predict it will do so-so business, about $275M worldwide. Because it's not a complete fiasco, Egerton will get nothing like the reception Malek got for BoRhap.

It's clear now that Malek owes his Oscar to the music of Queen. BoRhap was such shit, Malek was able to extract some of the credit for its inexplicable success as being for his, erm, performance. Egerton will have no such luck here; he's already being described as "endearingly chubby" and a "cutie pie," expressions of relief that they didn't actually cast someone who resembled the troll that was. Or is. People listened to Elton John. They didn't masturbate to him. In BoRhap, Malek didn't have to deliver any drama because it was drawn from the VH1 Behind The Music template, he just swanned about and tossed off one-liners. But it sounds like Lee Hall's Rocketman script demanded more than its lead could deliver, leaving the material seeming corny and on-the-nose. BoRhap drew shamelessly on the real life fact of Freddie Mercury's untimely death whereas Rocketman has no underlying emotional pull from which to draw hence no Oscar for Egerton. Unfortunately for Rocketman, anything less than Marvel-like box office will leave it looking like a failure.

I will only go see this if it features Someone Saved My Life Tonight but I haven't heard any mention of that.

Here are the songs on the soundtrack:

1.The Bitch Is Back (Introduction)

2. I Want Love

3. Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)

4. Thank You For All Your Loving

5. Border Song

6. Rock & Roll Madonna - Interlude

7. Your Song

8. Amoreena

9. Crocodile Rock

10. Tiny Dancer

11. Take Me To The Pilot

12. Hercules

13. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

14. Honky Cat

15. Pinball Wizard – Interlude

16. Rocket Man

17. Bennie and the Jets

18. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down – Interlude

19. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

20. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

21. I’m Still Standing

22. (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again

No Daniel?!

Rex Reed had a cameo in the Superman 1978 movie and a fun exchange with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder); she said something like seen anything good today; he quips back: not till you came along.

Being a critic always seemed like a fun, glamorous job as portrayed in movies. Addison DeWitt wielded a lot of power.

Today, he'd be obsolete because EVERYONE is a critic now. Everyone has a twitter account. Everyone has an opinion and instead of OP ed pages or responses in letters columns, people can now respond to people's posts instantly.

Reviews don't matter. I love all kinds of things that critics hate and vice versa. Newspapers are dying. Websites don't pay.

Critics are bitter people who've failed in their profession. Fail as a writer, become a literary critic, fail as a musician, become a music critic, etc. I forget who the quote is attributed to but ' a statue was never erected in memory of a critic' or something to that effect.

Whatever happened to Justin Timberlake playing Elton?

After the This Train Don't Stop video (where JT played a young EJ), I thought it was a done deal...???

R20, yet insecure artists hate them with the passion of a thousand burning suns.

Do we hate this movie because it’s about Elton John? Or is there some other reason?

R23, we hate because we hate.

R16 Now that you've mentioned that, I just realized Long John Baldry isn't listed as a character. Are they going to ignore this incident from Elton's life: "In 1968, Elton John tried to commit suicide after relationship problems with a woman, Linda Woodrow. His lyricist Bernie Taupin and Baldry[11] found him, and Baldry talked him out of marrying her, helping make Elton John comfortable with his sexuality. The song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy was about the experience.[12][13] The name "Sugar Bear" in the song is a reference to Baldry."

Hmm, I'm not surprised they cut it out, I guess... but... okay.

When I was a film writer almost no one I worked with was a failed filmmaker. You get the occasional David Cairns who makes films and works as a critic too, mostly just so he can bash movies he's jealous of (which is ironic because he's gone on at length multiple times about how critics should be literally punished for bad reviews) but it's rare. Or a Glenn Kenny who thinks his bad acting gives him street cred, or his friend Farran Smith Nehme who writes shitty mystery novels, but they're the exception.

They're trying to be Roger Ebert or Rex Reed. They're not, and they forget that Ebert's screenwriting and Reed's acting were outliers in the field even then.

The real problem with criticism is not the wannabes but the for-sale suck-ups, who are unfortunately usually dazzled by a fantasy hagiography like this. Some of the quoted reviews here are openly contradictory in a way that looks like they were struggling to give it a better rating than they thought it deserved.

R20 Actually...

Edgerton can't sing "Daniel" and he sure as hell can't sing "Someone Saved My Life Tonight."

Besides, they have to save something for the inevitable Broadway show.

So, did the keep the naked gay sex scene in? That's what we want to know. It's rated R, so there's no excuse to not.

Yes, r29:

What’s with the wounded fan gurls hijacking this thread talking about critics? Fuck off bitches we’re here to torch this thing to the ground!

^^^hates successful gay men

the biggest complaint seems to be taron's tepid performance....bad casting will sink this ship....sad.

He kind of looks like Elton did back in the late 60s but poor Taron just isn't a very good actor. And it's tough capturing a vacuous, sour jackass of a pop music genius.

I'm such a huge fan of Elton. I'll see it even if it's mediocre.

ease up on the uh stimulants taron, theyr tearing up ur looks and career.

Looks like this will do wonders for Richard Madden’s career: mentioning how his sexy “Scottish aggression” sure makes this a must-see for me.

Taron looks nothing like Elton did, luckily - why do you think Elton camouflaged with the big glasses, costumes and feather boas?

Though Taron’s face looks really beat for 29.

@APEntertainment

SINGING DOUBLE: @EltonOfficial and @TaronEgerton – who plays him in biopic #Rocketman – duet at the @Festival_Cannes #Cannes2019

yea, he looks a hard 35, so jittery on chat shows. simmer down dude

Are they going to cover Elton and George's love affair?

he mus have big cock, and Elton or his mary wife, enjoyed slobberin on it. why else pick such an amateur?

more likely eltons lover did the uh....audition wwith taron to seal the deal..

It screams flop, people aren't gonna pay to see fugly Taron, sad but true, he not hot like rami was....

Plenty of hotter young actors would have loved to play that part, why was that guy chosen?

Will not be watching.

oppp

I have tickets to the advanced screening Saturday and looking forward to comparing it to the dreadful BR. P.S. Rami looks like a fucking bug-eyed beetle.

how is the sex scene?

Have Valerie Bertinelli or Mackenzie Phillips commented on it yet?

R43, If you mean David Furnish, he is Elton's lawful husband. A DL poster ought not make such an error.

Why should this biopic show gay affairs when the movie of a man who died of AIDS did not so show? (Did "BR" show how Brian left his then-wife for his current wife?)

I already bought my ticket for a local June 2 showing. I have been an EJ fan since the beginning. We're still standing!

It's obvious that Rocketman will eventually be repackaged as a Broadway musical, right? The Theatre must be anxious to get its hands on all those songs. All they need is for the movie to be successful.

90% currently on Rotten Tomatoes. All the reviews aren't in and it'll probably drop a little before it settles, but BR didn't get stellar reviews either. I haven't seen BR yet, I'm more likely to see this because I have more of a connection with Elton, Yellow Brick Road was my first favorite album as a child. He didn't remain on of my favorite singers long, but he was my first favorite in late elementary school, during his early-mid 70s heyday.

how could Elton have entrusted his bio movie to his 'lover' ? he needed a real pro not an amateur for this project. this explains the catastrophic choice of Egerton as mr john.

I'm really surprised that Someone Saved My Life Tonight is not in the movie or on the soundtrack. It's Elton's most personal and autobiographical song by far.

[quote]? he needed a real pro not an amateur for this project. this explains the catastrophic choice of Egerton as mr john

He wanted Tom Hardy previously who cannot sing and looks even less like Elton than Taron. Egerton is by far the better choice.

several wer in line for the role before taron, but they passed on it....

taron was 5th choice to play it.

word is he screwed it all up.....

R46 Elton looks like Piggy from Lord of the Flies.

R57, who were the first 4 choices?

jared leto colin ferrel Justin beiber aaron carter Kelly clarkson

Rocketman is tanking in its long holiday weekend opening in the UK.

Earlier in the week, my local multiplex had screenings scheduled as if it were Avengers Endgame, from morning until 10PM at night. But by the weekend, a number of scheduled screenings were cancelled. I booked for the Saturday night screening on the day - in central London - and there were about about 7 other seats booked in the auditorium.

People do not care about Elton John the way they did Queen (no Wayne’s World crowd or cred) and Taron Egerton does not have a “Mr. Robot” fan base to open the film.

I’m sure it will do about the same in the US next weekend.

I went and saw it last night with a group of gays. Most people liked it.But the cinema was half empty which is a shame. Taron doesn’t nail it unfortunately. I didn’t once believe I was watching Elton John. Totally worth seeing though.

i thought Taron doing his own singing was a terrible idea. I assume I'm dead wrong. Looks good all we bitches need to worry about now is will it be a hit and then will it be nominated for Oscars. I still can't believe BR won so many Oscars besides Best Actor...

taron is the reason its fopping, he aint no leading man, even a gay one, HE CANNOT SING

R64, but he sure thinks he can.

man that movie is a stinker....

Just back. Wow. That was terrible. That's not going to do anything near what BoRhap did - it's gonna be a proper flop! It makes you realise Dexter Fletcher didn't have much to do with BoRhap's success. It's so tedious and boring. And the music! Taron does some truly awful singing in this. It tries so hard to be theatrical, as if it doesn't know it's a film. It's just a whiney "woe is me" whinge from Elton John - there really aren't any other and/or real characters in the film. The actors all feel like stand-ins for characters. For some reason, Bryce Dallas Howard is in it, trying to talk like Adele. The music is terribly presented - it's all re-arranged and abridged with the actors vocals, not presented chronologically, it's like it's a book musical. Instead of Live Aid, they try to pretend the video for I'm Still Standing was some kind of event, with a quick slide show of the real Elton trumpeting all of his accomplishments that they don't show - it's like something you'd put together for a surprise party. Just terrible.

Elton John is apparently a very introverted character so there's nothing really to play. The period seems so put on because Taron looks more built than Elton John EVER did. He's so unattractive you don't really want to know anything about his sex life.

Terrible film. I cried at BoRhap and felt excited in parts. Rocketman will leave you completely cold. The cinema on a Sunday afternoon was about 1/8 full. Opening weekend. In London.

[quote]with a quick slide show of the real Elton trumpeting all of his accomplishments that they don't show - it's like something you'd put together for a surprise party.

Very true! Such an odd way to end the film.

So it looks like this is a dud? I won't be wasting my time next weekend then.

I really don’t think this will play in the U.S. I would expect poor word of mouth. At least with BoRhap you could hear all the original hits blasted out on a good sound system. Not so much here.

I don't think Elton is loved like Queen and their iconic music....

dint Elton's lover produce it? did he know anything bout film?

it was bad beyond belief.

taron horribly miscast.

another reason for Elton to have a temper tantrum......

[quote]People do not care about Elton John the way they did Queen (no Wayne’s World crowd or cred)

Ahem.

I think the casting of Taron (and having him sing all the songs) is a huge issue.

If they kept all the original songs (with young Elton’s voice) and cast and actor who “became” the lead character this movie would be getting better word of mouth from that alone.

And not having “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” in it? Messed up...

a talented unknown would have worked, who could sing,

taron carrys that baggage from them silly kingsmen movies.

on talk shows he seems adrift, has no personality, just lots of jittery goofs.

it is highly rated on RT right now. Seems like we have many Bryan Singer supporters posting....

Taron Egerton looks like nothing more than a sad children’s party entertainer in this film, nothing like Elton John.

The Lion King is actually late career Elton John. This goes up to, I guess, 1983, but it’s not some finely tuned biography of him and his career. He meets Taupin immediately. His meteoric rise happens in about 10 seconds, right after the scene at the Troubadour. Because it’s a book musical there is very little concert footage - at least Rami got out in front of the band! (In master shots only, nothing like what Cooper did in ASIB.)

He meets an overly made-up Richard Madden at the Troubadour in August 1970, they gave a little tumble between the sheets (that, despite its coyness will Male American men feel very awkward) and then the next scene is Elton recording with Kiki Dee (in March 1976) and Madden walks in the studio, they reunite and we’re supposed to believe they’ve been carrying this white hot flame for one another all this time? Sure.

The majority of the film is just a muddle cutting back and forth from this fantasy twelve step film. None of this has an impact on Taron - not that he’s given much opportunity - we’re just told over and over again: ELTON JOHN DOES NOT FEEL LOVED. I don’t think this film is going to change that.

They introduce “Renata” - she takes his side about something in the studio - they are next seen exiting a chapel (with confetti - you know the scene) and then the next scene they’re at breakfast and Elton says, “This isn’t working.” It’s probably all on one page in the script. This is the kind of woeful storytelling you get throughout the entire film. They pretty much just stick I’m Still Standing on the end of it (GET IT??!) and it’s over.

Some reviewers were going on about “The Your Song sequence.” That’s a fucking larf! There’s not much to it. Really.

This thing of dressing up young actors, putting some prosthetics in their mouth and pretending they’re giving some amazing performance has got to stop. Coal Miner’s Daughter was an actual drama, as was What’s Love Got To Do With It and Walk The Line. These films gave their actors OPPORTUNITIES. Something to play. They presented their subjects as people - NOT OBJECTS. This trend hopefully ends here.

he looks like a tweeker crashin….needs long nap.

[quote]This goes up to, I guess, 1983,

Later. That's the problem with not having the year featured in the transition scenes. Taron said the film opens when Elton is 40 or in his forties.

[quote]Some reviewers were going on about “The Your Song sequence.” That’s a fucking larf! There’s not much to it. Really

That was the beauty of the scene for me. Bell and Egerton were able to convey love and admiration solely on the looks they exchanged.

Erm, R79. It was all right. It’s a scene not a sequence. It was certainly something this film needed more of, I’ll give you that.

Thank gawd David Furnish doesn’t appear as a character, lord knows who they would’ve cast - some male model, no doubt.

The Renata character makes that Lucy Boynton girl seem like she was doing Sophie’s Choice in BoRhap. The character is only in it so he can sing Sorry Seems To Be... as if we’re meant to feel something. They should’ve just done like a Mamma Mia! where his songs were featured in a high school or something. Would’ve been better than this dreariness.

I think Jamie Bell is really talented. I can't imagine Tom Hardy playing Elton John but would prefer to see him having sex than Taron.

So how was the UK box office, the only place where RM is currently in release?

Deadline.com:

[quote] Turning back to the UK, this was a crowded pre-holiday session that included the launch of Paramount’s Elton John musical/fantasy biopic Rocketman. Fresh off its powerful Cannes debut, the Dexter Fletcher-helmed story came in at No. 2 behind Aladdin with a (captain) fantastic $6.4M from 1,284 screens. That tops last year’s debut of A Star Is Born which similarly carries a 15-and-over age rating.

So rude of the National Review to make Taron guess reviews about his films and Elton's.

Yeah R82, we'll see if it makes 10x that in the next 20 weeks.

I despise Guardian drivel-spewer Peter Bradshaw -- an exceptionally pompous, lazy douchebag.

I hope it's good and that it does well. I'd hate for them to assume it flopped because of the gay sex scene. You know that's the first thing they'll go to. They won't blame the writing, acting, directing, etc. but the fucking gay sex scene.

I saw it last Friday, it really wasn’t good. The first 15-20 minutes are boring and bad. Some people in our theater walked out.

Jamie Bell is a highlight of this. He was quite lovely in EVERY SCENE he had. I was very impressed with him, I didn’t know he was a talent like that. The biggest issue is the back and forth between fantasy and reality, and Tarons overall weak performance. He’s not a good actor nor singer. He was good in the more flamboyant scenes but when he had to actually act, like break down or throw a fit he was AWFUL. Either way too over the top or just plain cartoonish.

Madden gives a strong performance. He’s a large presence and all eyes are on him in any scene he’s in. He has charm, charisma, talent, looks and a natural presence. Him and Jamie Bell were stand outs. They acted circles around Taron.

I’m so sick of the lies I see on here regarding Bohemian Rhapsody. It got a 62% rating on RT, so while not good, not bad and still FRESH. Also, most of the bad reviews it got still praised Malek.

I saw someone claim Malek was given an Oscar because of Queens music... in what world does this make sense?! Some of you are truly DUMB and wrapped in a bubble. The film is not hated, look at its audience scores all over the internet, they’re all high. The film is overall loved, hence its $900 million dollars plus more millions since being released on DVD/Blu Ray

Ru paul or some equally talented tranny shoullda played Elton, since he is soo pro drag, ya know....

I've always thought that the later stage Elton is much more popular with the media than with the general population. I can't see this being a hit.

Is Elton Johnn really that fascinating for a biopic? I mean...I get Mercury even though I thought BR was abysmal, but Queen had /has a huge fan base and Mercury's gone. But ELTON JOHN? BTW, I thought Malek's performance was very "Paint by numbers." It very much seemed like a straight guy pretending to be flamboyant for 2 hours in EVERY situation. ZERO nuance.

Plus, I don't think John was influential enough. I mean, I love George Michael, but I don't know how interesting his biopic would be on the big screen. Prince, MJ, Madonna...maybe Tina...maybe Boy George (like Netflix releases)-I can see because their influence is/was ubiquitous and shit. But some folks I just don't see going to a theater and paying to see it.

I saw a preview. twernt no standing ovations I can tell u that.

B O R I N G as shit.

the fuk who plays Elton is ridic and annoying.

Tina has already had a film, R91. It's called What's Love Got To Do With It, both Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne were Oscar-nominated for playing Tina and Ike. Check it out.

R91 never heard of What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Was a good one! Bassett was robbed.

But What's Love Got To Do With It is a proper film, with characters and prolonged dramatic scenes, etc. Not like this BoRhap crap where they just swan about and pose behind a piano.

Why would you compare WLGTDWI? To BoRhap? They’re nothing alike.

Freddie Mercury and Tina Turner had different battles.

RottenTomatoes.com:

Bohemian Rhapsody 61%

Rocketman 90%

R97 and? This won’t have as high an audience score as Bohemian Rhapsody and won’t pull in a third of its box office.

Please don't write "WLGTDWI."

It wounds.

I'm in London and saw it this afternoon. I was thoroughly entertained through the movie. It was an afternoon showing and there might have been 20 of us seated. All of the other lead actors were very strong and I think took the spotlight away from Taron's performance. The sex scene wasn't too explicit, but I watch a lot of porn and what I saw was fairly tame. I liked the movie for what it was and my test is how many times do I check the time while watching. I didn't look at the time once, so I guess I enjoyed what I saw.

The movie is fine. Not good. Not bad. Fine. Taron wasn’t good.

I'm seeing it early on June 2, so I'll let y'all know my opinion then! Fair warning: I love Elton John (and Bernie Taupin and the band)!

[quote]I'm seeing it early on June 2, so I'll let y'all know my opinion then! Fair warning: I love Elton John (and Bernie Taupin and the band)!

I hope you enjoy it. I've seen it twice. The first time I didn't know what to make of it because I didn't think it was cohesive and didn't feel like it was giving any great details about Elton's struggles. But upon watching I can now appreciate how the framing of the songs told his story perfectly. Egerton is no Elton John but I don't get people saying he can't sing. One may not like his singing style but he can sing.

I can’t wait r102! Breathlessly awaiting your thoughts.

I thought it was very entertaining and well done - it was far better than Bohemian Rhapsody. Loved it.

I saw it. It's a bore. And so cliched as to be unbearable. The musical numbers are quite good, though. It's basically the same movie as BR, though.

So much better than Bohemian Rhapsody.

The film was a mixed bag. Good scenes, not so good scenes, sort of a pastiche with musical numbers. Taron was actually pretty good, and his singing worked better in some songs than others. Jamie Bell was very good and had good onscreen chemistry with Taron, which helped the story.

I was going to go see it this weekend but maybe not now.

Taron was NOT GOOD.

Stop comparing it to BR. Jesus. They aren’t alike.

My review: It was bad

I just got back and honestly...I am whelmed.

It is a very hohum music star biopic. We have gotten a lot of them by now.

At the credits there was no clapping or any of the type of stuff I sometimes see at my local theater on opening night. It wasn't bad, it was just a very paint by numbers feeling movie.

BoRhap got applause at my theater in Times Square.

I will say, I still thought it was better than Bohemian Rhapsody. There was a little more creativity and pizzazz in Rocketman.

And yet BoRhap will destroy its box office numbers, audience reception and awards

Maybe, Transformers makes a lot of money and shit like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close get nominated for Best Picture. Shit happens.

Maybe you could take your obsession to another thread, and let people discuss Rocketman?

But did Incredibly Close WIN 4 Oscars? And make $900 million?

You can’t compare Transformers to BoRhap. Ones an action explosion movie.

You really aren't going to give it a rest are you? A quick glance at ignoredar shows the only thing you are interested in with this thread is obsessing over that Queen movie.

Hmm, you obviously must be that one troll who was countless threads Rami Malek here, suppose I should keep you on ignore, won't be missing anything.

R118 I haven’t made a Rami thread

I'll save my money for "Toy Story 4".

taron was the weak part of it, one wonders why Elton picked him......biggest cock?

bad casting honey, so many brilliant hot actors in town....wtf?

rotten tomatoes has been not an accurate unbiased site for a couple yrs.

its ratings mean nothin

Taron was bad.

he alwys seems to be rushing thru the scene, jus to get it over......tweeky lad

Any peen shown at all?

No peen

I just saw it and loved it.

we left mid way thru. we weren't the only ones. Elton not a very interesting guy in the first place, nor likeable....

Taron showing a bit of flesh.

R128 a few people walked out of my showing also

The real Elton talking about Eminem. More interesting than the film.

Rocketman gets a pretty nice A- cinemascore. Damn, Ma got a terrible cinemascore.

Nice Vanity Fair article about the real relationship between Elton John and John Reed

A very low quality look at the sex scene.

[quote] Nice Vanity Fair article about the real relationship between Elton John and John Reed

From the article it seem Madden didn't speak with Reid just based his performance on what Elton and others said about him. Aiden Gillen actually spoke to Reed when portraying him in Bohemian Rhaposdy and Gillen said Reid was more interested in what Maddwn was going to do. I guess it made no difference since in Rocketman Reid only existed to be a mustache twirling (sans mustache) villain.

It would have been nice to see more of Elton and Reid as a loving couple. Reid still cared about Elton enough to be the one to break the news of Gianni Versace's murder to him .

This was Elton's movie, he is an exec producer and it is very much his viewpoint on his life. All the relationships are portrayed as the way Elton remembers it. He sees Reid as someone who was a very negative force in his life, not as a loving relationship.

R134. The sex scene is not that controversial but boring.

To the eyes of a gay man r137, for your straight audience who is not used to seeing such things that is enough to "push the envelope". Forget how Rhapsody wouldn't show more than a kiss, even CMBYM cut to a window.

I enjoyed the movie but it suffers for letting Elton be the only rounded character. Egorton is phenomenal, he will get an Oscar nomination.

Ultimately the big problem is that Elton in the film is portrayed as someone whom stuff happens to; rather than as this force of nature whom may be responsible for some of his demons.

R139 tell me you’re joking. Taron was terrible.

The triple whammy rejections of Elton by those closest to him was devastating.

All the hoopla over the sex scene and that's it.

Taron was not good. He was laughable in some scenes.

Even some people that like the film are criticizing him.

Unless Rocketman grosses over $900M, Taron will certainly not be getting an Oscar nomination. Last year was a very weak year for Best Actors and BR was very much of the moment. It's still quite sad to think that Rami Malek has an Oscar. That won't age well.

Rocketman is on course to gross about $22M in its opening weekend in the States, likely a lot of Elton fans are going, hence the A- CinemaScore. But all of the reviews are so qualified ("at least they tried to do something different with a musical bio pic...."), it's uncertain whether word of mouth will continue to drive box office. BR fell about 40% in it's second week - but broke $100M by the end of its 2nd week. It really made its money (about $690M) internationally. Not sure Rocketman will have the same effect, though they will probably bow to pressure to cut the gay sex scene to boost box office. I think its U.S. total will be about $79M, if that.

I hope we get more gay singer biopics, I nominate Boy George for the next one.

Elton John is a singer of his time. His music doesn’t connect with today’s youth the way Queens does.

Also, Ramis win is a celebrated one that will age fine. He was phenomenal and the best of that batch.

R145, the parts of the film that depict Elton's sexuality (the sex scene and parts of the montage at the end) have already been censored in Russia. Several people connected to the film reacted publicly to that yesterday. I think it's going to do better than you're predicting, simply because it's likely to stay in theatres long enough to do so in the US. I also think that they all understand it's not going to do BR numbers--the rating alone would make that impossible, showing the full range of Elton's sexuality would keep a number of people away, and Elton doesn't have the same pull as Queen, even though he's been an amazing artist over the years. BR numbers and awards aren't their bellwether, because that's almost impossible for them to achieve.

R135, Madden said previously that he wasn't allowed to contact John Reid directly. I'm sure that directive came from Elton/David. The issue of Reid remained a sticking point between Elton and his mother, so it's not surprising.

I thought Rocketman was better than Bohemian Rhapsody.

Taron was great, I don't get all the criticism.

Taron wasn’t great. He was good in moments and bad in others and full on cartoon character at others.

R151’s opinion is the only one whose counts, didn’t you girls get them memo?

Seriously r151 suck my cunt.

If Rami won for BoRap then Taron has to win for this. He’s so much better than rami in this. Nice nuanced moments. Actual feelings. Taron sings the songs which is great and he’s a decent singer. They sing some of them from an emotional stand point which means they aren’t meant to be perfect, they’re meant to show emotion.

I have a feeling the guy trashing Taron is also the obsessive that fawns over rami. Very strange.

Rocketman will undoubtedly do well with GG nominations in the musical categories - though the HFPA did award Madonna over Elton for Best Song several years back which he bitched about loudly. Who knows?

Maybe Taron was chosen because he has the jawline of cartoon Elton on "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy."

The movie also might have been titled "Captain Fantastic."

R138. Some straight people might complain about the so called gay sex scenes even though, the scenes are censored and tamed. If this movie wants to make more money the gay sex scenes can't be the selling point because some people will prefer to see other movies.

Comparing the box office of this to BR is apples and oranges. One was PG13, one was R.

R rated movies are a risk in general not to mention the one with supposed gay sex scene.

Loved the movie and cried during the final rehab scene (I know...MARY!)

One thing puzzled me. In the final musical sequence, I’m Still Standing, the picture quality deteriorated. It looked like video enlarged. I get that it was mostly a recreation of the video that was shown on MTV back in the day, but why the fuzzy image?

I almost saw it today. Maybe next week.

Many R rated movies make tons of money. This debuting with only $22 million has nothing to do with its rating, its cause no one cares about Elton John.

Taron was not better than Rami. Malek can act circles around Egerton, who isnt a real actor.

There’s no Someone Saved My Life Tonight or I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues? No Sacrifice or Blue Eyes? I hate how they don’t use any of his 80s songs besides I’m Still Standing .

Dexter Fletcher wants to do a Madonna movie next. Hopefully the disappointing numbers for Rocketman stop that from happening. A Madonna movie would make like 10 million opening weekend LOL.

Many R rated films make hundreds of millions. Whats stopping this? Oh wait...

Taron is actually getting better reviews than Rami did for BR, as is the picture.

The fuzziness was the added footage. They used some real clips of the video of the dancers and background in France including that cute guy that’s host on one of the UK singing shows.

r165 Taron is not. Rami was universally praised, Egerton is not. Stop lying. Its all on the internet.

Even most that hated BR praised Malek.

Taron is definitely getting nominated for an Oscar. Wait and see.

It was pure shit.

R134 I can't believe people are losing their shit over that tame as hell scene. Doesn't seem in any way explicit at all.

r168 he isn't even getting an MTV award nomination

I enjoyed it, sorry haters. Admittedly, it gets repetitive in the final act, but everything before that is rather dazzlingly produced: I was particularly impressed by the “Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting” and “Honkey Cat” numbers. Info, I think they made a mistake with pasting Taron into “I’m Still Standing” video for the climax - that song should have been used for a big final production number.

Egerton is ok - his singing is terrific and so is his dancing - but I never believed he was Elton - he might do better playing a fictional character in a musical in the future. Jamie Bell and Richard Madden were very good.

I actually would like to see it again on the big screen, at least for the first two thirds of the film.

Info = indeed. Damn autocorrect!

Here's my two cents. As a young person, I wasn't even alive when EJ was popular, so I'm not at all familiar with his music. I tried listening to some of his songs, but it's all camp 70s disco. And I don't like musicals, so I had my reservations before seeing this.

I'll be honest, I didn't like the movie. I thought Taron was bad in this. Not for a second did I believe I was watching EJ. It was Taron doing Taron the whole time. On the other hand, Jamie Bell was outstanding. I don't know if he portrayed BT accurately, because I don't know anything about that man. I hope Jamie Bell gets some recognition for this role. Richard Madden was good too, even though that ridiculous hair was fucking distracting.

As for BR comparisons, Rocketman won't get the same numbers as the BR, because EJ is not interesting or relevant the way Queen still is. You can't expect young people to be interested in him. He might as well be Liberace to the under 30 generation.

I loved the recent Motley Crue biopic 'The Dirt'. Now THAT is how you cast people who can act and have actual chemistry on screen. I hope they make more biopics like that about other bands. Bonjovi, U2, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Aerosmith. Hell, a Nirvana biopic would be amazing! Except they would probably cast some Hemsworth brother who can't act. But no Madonna biopic, please.

Taron was awful as EJ. He was playing the same character he plays in every movie, himself.

Jamie Bell was wonderful. I have been praising him and Madden to no end! The issue with Madden though is the wig and the lack of growth or background. He is very two dimensional. Jamie Bell was very sweet and sympathetic.

[quote] As a young person, I wasn't even alive when EJ was popular, so I'm not at all familiar with his music.

I'm guessing you were singing to the Lion King soundtrack as a kid which was all composed by Elton John, heard him singing "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"

Just saying.

r176 but most young people didn't know that was Elton John. That was also a Disney soundtrack, not his classics.

If this were about The Lion King it would be a hit and people would care cause its about TLK, not EJ.

Elton has a lot of younger fans 16 year old Jojo Siwa is a super fan of both Elton and Queen. She s also performing "Crocodile Rock" on her tour.

R176 Nope, never seen the Lion King and didn't know he did the soundtrack. The other two song titles don't sound familiar. Where would I have heard them?

I just remembered that Blue did the cover of Sorry seems to be. Didn't know it was originally EJ's song.

Thats JoJo Siwa that is involved with music. The average young person doesn't. I am 28 and never heard a bunch of the songs played in this dreadful "film"

[quote]Nope, never seen the Lion King

Well that's on you, clearly you are pop culture illiterate and not a good barometer for what people know.

R146 There is already a great biopic about Boy George with the devastatingly handsome Richard Madden and Douglas Booth.

Elton is the #1 male artist of all time according to Billboard magazine.

R181 LOL! I'm pop culture illiterate because I haven't seen 1 Disney cartoon? I've seen the Little Mermaid. Does that make it better?

I personally blame the decision to have the actor in the film singing the songs. They should have just used the original Elton recordings. Traditional musicals just are not very popular at the moment.

r184, Ho old are you? I'm 24 and I'v never met someone my age that has not seen the Lion king/ We watched it several times in school.

R186 I'm 28. Never got around to watching the LK. I loved Stuart Little though! Great soundtracks too.

R155, I still can't believe they make no reference to Captain Fantastic at all in the film. My point of interest was that they would use Someone Saved My Life Tonight, which would've provided Taron with the dramatic opportunity that eludes him throughout the rest of the film, limiting his, erm, characterisation. He excels at the more shallow aspects of John's character, especially in the tight, lycra outfits that show off rounded, muscled shoulders that completely eluded John in real life. It's been a week since I saw this film and the only bit that intrigues me is the Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting sequence - which was just SO jarring in my initial viewing, I don't think I could take it all in. They were trying to be all Baz Luhrman about it, like they were going for a Moulin Roughe-type staging, and really overstuffed it and Taron's performance could NOT bring it into focus. Dexter Fletcher really could've done better by him in that number - or even, the film - but thought himself the real star of the film. That's the difference in BR: everything surrounding Rami Malek is so awful, you're grateful for what little he is doing.

But I can't believe they ignored Captain Fantastic and INCLUDED Pinball Wizard! Aside from unflattering allusions to Ken Russell's Tommy - the worst bits - it just wasn't that big of a deal in the scale of John's career. He got a hit single out of it, and the imagery of him on stilts was probably had more stature in the moment than but hasn't remained some sort of lasting iconic status in his story. (I don't think Tina Turner's film included a scene of her as The Acid Queen, though Angela Basset probably would've been great.) They should've ditched Pinball Wizard for Captain Fantastic. And if they were going to allude to Tommy, the could've made his stepdad more like Oliver Reed.

The I'm Still Standing thing was NASTY bad. With all the Instahoes now available, I was actually looking forward to the re-staging of this number but I didn't want to see '80s Bruno Tonioli dancing behind 2018's Taron Egerton. Gross! All I could think was how Bruno is now as bloody old as Elton! That's the amazing thing that Rocketman managed to achieve that were actually worse than BR: 1) They made the band members in BR seem like they should've been considered as Best Supporting Actors, 2) They made Lucy Boynton seem like an actual character, delivering a performance along the lines of Meryl Streep in Kramer v Kramer, and 3) They actually managed to create a more awful technical rendering of a real event or artefact with their crap matting of Taron Egerton into the old video footage.

And, most importantly, they screwed up the music, which was BR's biggest draw. So as I may have said before, Rocketman proves Dexter Fletcher really didn't contribute much to BR's success.

R163, I would love a Madonna movie. I look forward to her further humiliation. They'll have to make the actress sing really flat. And any actress will want to do their own singing because they can all sing better than Madonna herself. I think they should bring on the Lady Gaga movie, maybe have her direct it. She can get all Bob Fosse on us.

R174 doesn’t know anything about 70s music:

[quote] I tried listening to some of his songs, but it's all camp 70s disco.

Elton didn’t try disco until 1979’s “Mama Can’t Buy Me Love”; everything before and after is rock/soft rock and ballads.

R190 Sounds all the same to me. Dancey piano tunes with a strong 70s vibe. Maybe it's rock-n-roll, but it's not rock in the same way as Bonjovi is rock, you know? Just not my thing.

Eltons music doesn't hold well, minus a few songs. Most would never get radio play in 2019.

I don't remember Rhapsody that well, was there any mention of John Reid being gay?

If you watched the two movies back to back, I don't think you would realize it is the same character.

John Reids sexuality had nothing to do with the Queen movie, why would it be mentioned? It was shown in EJ movie cause they were fucking.

Yes, how could it possibly be relevant in a movie about a queer artist trying to come to terms with his sexuality and navigating his public image.

But anyway, that's what I remembered, it isn't referenced.

What does FM being gay have to do with John Reid being gay? They have no relation.

I’m a millenial too, R274, and have no idea what you are talking about. The idea that Queen was universally considered more relevant than Elton, say, two years ago, which has been repeated multiple times on these threads, is nonsense. Bohemian Rhapsody is itself what made a HUGE difference in Queen’s reputation and sales, which is why so many other legacy acts are trying to get in on the game.

I’m far from a huge Elton fan (though I do think his work is generally better and more consistent, over more albums, than Queen’s was), but reducing his work to 70s disco (??) is absurd.

Er, make that R174 above. Sorry.

Queen has been more relevant than Elton for a long time

BoRhap, I Want To Break Free, Under Pressure, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You etc. have been consistent in pop culture and radio play for decades now.

How many Elton songs do you hear getting played regularly still? Like 2 or 3 max.

[quote]They'll have to make the actress sing really flat.

I’m available! And they won’t have to do a thing to make me sound flat!

For what it’s worth, “Tiny Dancer” is the most downloaded/streamed song of 1973.

R197 as a person born after both FM and EJ were popular, I would say I was more aware of FM growing up. The songs like We Will Rock You and We are the Champions were still well-known hits in the 2000s. I could maybe name 5 of Queen's songs before the release of the BR and I'm not even a fan. I'd be hard pressed to name a single EJ song. I was only aware of him in connection with Lady Diana, but I never heard his songs growing up and I know nothing about him as a person. Whatever you want to call his musical style, it hasn't aged well. It's not the catchy ballad pop of George Michael and it's not the rock hits produced by the likes of Scorpions. To me his songs sound like The Jackson 5. Very soul and disco. Very 70s.

R202 I agree with you up until you said The Jackson 5, who were pure bubblegum pop. Their songs sound NOTHING like his, so now I think you're trolling.

R203 Why would I be trolling? I was born in the 90s. All 60's and 70's music sounds the same to me.

I was born in the 90s also and dont say stupid shit like that

[quote]All 60's and 70's music sounds the same to me.

I hope you’re joking.

R206 Why does it sound strange to you? Maybe because you grew up in the 60s and that kind of music is familiar to you? I don't know much about music from that period because I never heard it growing up. I just know EJ, The Beatles, Bee Gees, ABBA, some Jackson 5 song I heard on the radio. That cluster of artists from the 60s and 70s all sound very similar to me. Obviously, certain European artists like Joe Dassin sound slightly different, but still unmistakably 70s. I don't know how to describe their style of music (pop, soul, rock-n-roll), but it does all sound the same to me. The 70s artists who don't sound 70s to me are bands like Aerosmith, Scorpions, Sex Pistols, Eagles, Deep Purple etc.

peee uuuuuu ! what a stinker of movie omg.

eltons nasty personality will out live his songs....

I saw it last night, and found it enjoyable enough.

Did have a revelation, though. I was a teenager in the 70s and never really got into Elton's songs, despite how ubiquitous they were. Now I see the reason: I could never understand the words, to me he sort of garbled them.

To this day, I hear "Rocket mannnnnnn.....burnin up the piece of veh the fom." The verses to "Saturday Night" - no idea.

lol....his coke fueled voice was odd

"Ultimately the big problem is that Elton in the film is portrayed as someone whom stuff happens to; rather than as this force of nature whom may be responsible for some of his demons."

Out of all the ridiculous threads here, this one bothers me the most.

Allow me to reproduce it in the proper grammatical style:

"Ultimately, the big problem is that Elton, in the film, is portrayed as someone to whom stuff happens rather than as this force of nature who may be responsible for some of his demons."

There. Now I have solace.

Loved it- a great artist and talent(s)- Bernie included)- a true story of learning to accept yourself and find love- and a lot of his fantastic music fashion in a great pastiche. Soooo much better than Hollywood boom boom special effect BS assaulting us. Elton is truly a Rocketman of talent, energy, piss and vinegar and honesty. The bromance between him and Bernie is what many gay men think impossible- but it is. There really are straight men who can love gay men-

“...but it is possible”

I think nowadays people accept a gay man and a straight man can be very close friends, but what makes Elton and Bernie special is they had that type of bond back in the 60s.

R212 that's a fine way to lose a man!

R197 I agree. It's a recent myth that Queen were still relevant when the movie came out. Rather, the movie's success made them relevant again. At least in the US. It was the same in 1992. Queen was passe by then. Though Freddy ha died the previous year that became a big to-do in the UK, to most young Americans, WAYNE'S WORLD was their introduction to Queen.

Queens music was still used in commercials, films and radio before BR

R218 but it wasn't like how it became AFTER 'Bohemian Rhapsody" became a smash.

R219 but it was still more than any Elton song.

Under-performed at the box office. This is no Bohemian Rhapsody, there will be no blockbuster nor any Oscars.

Some movies had good word of mouth like Greatest Showman and others.

I'm starting to feel bad for Taron Egerton. His previous film ROBIN HOOD was also a major flop. Even with its combined domestic/foreign gross, it still didn't recoup its investment.

R222 but on the internet most people aren’t raving. Some say it was good or fine but nothing like BoRhap, that had the majority of audiences loving it and other hating it, and the haters got some people curious to see it even. This one isn’t having that impact.

A film about one of the greatest singers of all-time shouldn't need good word of mouth to succeed. People just don't care about Elton John like they do Freddie Mercury. Maybe if Elton were dead?

R225 Elton’s music doesn’t resonate with today’s youth the way Queens does.

Correct r219. Queens music was still really well known, it wasn't the movie that made their music popular. It was that their music was well known that made the movie popular.

Obviously meant to refer to *r218

R227 no, it didn't. Queen acquired many more new fans after the film's release.

Queen’s music got better with age. The title song is the perhaps the greatest rock song of all time or least tied with Stairway to Heaven.

Taron Egerton needs a proper dramatic non-gimmicky role. No franchises, no super-heroes, no musicals. But he keeps picking roles like Robin Hood for some reason. He should have used the first Kingsmen to his advantage.

He won’t even be in the next Kingsmen. DL’s highest level of Fave Aaron Taylor Johnson will be starring.

Elton John is not cool, edgy, sexy or hip. He never has been, and this biopic won't change that. He doesn't have 'it' , and that's what it comes down to. His life doesn't have a compelling storyline to draw people in ( see Freddie Mercury/Tina Turner). Basically its just fat Reg from Pinner, who happened to write some lovely music and played piano and was gay and ... well thats all really.

And Freddie's life was more compelling, why? Because he had bigger coke and sex parties? Because his group sang "anthems" now played on the sound systems of sports stadia filled with fat White guys? Because he died of AIDS, while Sir Elton is "still standing"?

He was always, as Elton was "fat Reg from Pinner," buck-toothed Farrokh from Zanzibar.

And yet---and yet---both current incarnations of Elton John and Queen are playing to sold-out large venues on world tours.

That is the final word to anyone who thinks one is more "relevant" than the other.

[Quote]Because his group sang "anthems" now played on the sound systems of sports stadia filled with fat White guys

Yes, that makes a big difference in getting people to go see a movie about the artist.

R24 you don't really get it. No one sees 'buck toothed Farrokh from Zanzibar' when they watch Queen.

They're both beloved artists with legendary careers. Elton sold a lot more records and made 10x more money than Freddie, but I think Freddie was, and still is, more likable.

To each his own, but I don’t see how anyone can prefer the music of Queen to Elton John’s. Queen had a bunch of bombastic rock anthems. Elton’s songs had a lot more variety.

[quote] He won’t even be in the next Kingsmen. DL’s highest level of Fave Aaron Taylor Johnson will be starring.

He will be in the 3rd Kingsman sequel. Matthew Vaughn said he is currently writing it. The Kingsman prequel features Aaron Taylor-Johnson but the leads are Ralph Fiennes and Harris Dickinson who got his kit off in Beach Rats.

Freddie Mercury had that “IT” factor that Elton doesn’t. Elton just wrote good songs that people bought but Freddie’s presence made him enormous.

Also, Queens tours made hella money.

I doubt the third Kingsmen happens now that Disney owns Fox. They have to green light since it wasn’t in production before the merger.

R240, EJ was the highest selling artist in the 70s. He’s had more hits than anyone other than Elvis and the Beatles. Of course he had the “IT” factor.

I'm pretty sure Madonna and Mariah have had more hits than EJ. The're like in the Top 5.

R243, 54 top 40s? Possibly Madonna but I seriously doubt Mariah achieved that.

Oh, I was thinking #1's. Never mind.

Selling records doesn’t mean you have the IT factor. IT factor has to do with natural presence and eyes naturally drawn to you. Elton was never that. FM was.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote]'That's not the Dad I remember,' says Geoff,

But it is the Dad Elton remembers, I mean I said this before but this movie is Elton's story as told by himself. It is the way he saw things.

Freddie and Elton in the 70s and early 80s both had that IT factor. Both in concert could mesmerize an audience. The whole levitation metaphor in Rocketman at the Troubador show was based on what Linda Ronstadt and other early 70s musical hot shots said about the show. Elton may have developed into my generation's Liberace over the past 20 years but that's partly because he lived long enough to do so. It's easy to rank Freddie in his prime as superior to Elton on his farewell tour. Elton also melted down while Freddie was terminally ill and stepped out of the public eye. Personally I preferred Freddie's voice and Queen's style but Elton John was a force on stage and the charts. His shows were electrifying in his heyday and are still pretty damn enjoyable in an oldies kind of way.

R247 honestly the movie shows is how the father treated his younger sons compared to Elton.

Elton John needed gimmicks to stand out. That’s not an “IT” factor. That’s gimmicks.

Freddie just needed a stage and microphone.

When was the last time Elton John was relevant?

Probably The Lion King era of 1994?

His 1997 corny, sugary Candle in the Wind smash was just an updated version of his 1972 "ode to Norma Jean" version

I remember when Keith Richards got REALLY bitchy dissing Elton in the late 90s after Elton said the Rolling Stones "should retire", Richards shot back that "he should stick to singing songs about dead blondes, that's where HIS career is at".

That was 1997!

Oh no! It bombed at the box office

It did respectable business but it’s all about word of mouth now. It’s hard to tell if it’s opening was front-loaded by fans or if it will have legs.

R253 told you. This wasnt good despite the critics claiming it was amazing and my theater even had walk outs.

Well r253 is just spouting bullshit, it didn't bomb at all.

[quote]While the weekend’s frosh event title incurred rust, counter-programming for the first time in an Avengers: Endgame dominant summer thrived, with Paramount’s Rocketman ($25M) and Universal/Blumhouse’s Ma ($18.2M off $5M production cost). Both, per our finance sources, are bound to be profitable.

R236, Maybe, maybe not, but on this very site I've read many a post criticizing Rami's use of prosthetic teeth, so the movie men must have noticed the original.

Rami was playing FM who had those teeth. Rami doesn’t. So he had to wear fake teeth to look like FM.

It’s common sense. Anyone bitching about that needs a life.

It was fairly good, not great to me. Taron is a good actor, and singer, but it was hard to overcome the fact he doesn’t look nor sound much like Elton. Madden plays Reed as very detached and chilly. I didn’t see much chemistry between him and Taron.

The movie only cost $40 million to make, so it will be profitable, but it won't be the phenomenon that Bohemian Rhapasody. They shouldn't have released it so close to BR. Reminds me of when CAPOTE and INFAMOUS were released just several months apart but different years, too. However, CAPOTE came first and got all the raves/awards.

They released it close to BR to capitalize on that films success.

This wasn’t gonna make a lot no matter what. You can play in denial but Elton isn’t a big deal to today youth. He’s an act whose music will not get ANY airplay in 15-20 years while Queen still will.

The director, who also directed parts of Bohemian Rhapsody, wants to do a Madonna biopic next

He said it's his "dream"

R261 which is odd considering Elton had a million more hits than Queen

Queen only had FIVE top 10 Singles on the main BILLBOARD Hot 100

Goes to show, sales mean shit in the long run.

R263 the number of hits doesn't matter. Who do you think young people would rather listen to these days? Barbra Streisand or Beyonce? The one whose music is more relevant will win overall. Elton could have been the biggest artist on the planet in 1970, but his music is irrelevant in 2019.

Although Taron is not in ultraripped Kingsman shape in this movie, he still looks way more fit and athletic than Elton ever did

R265, he has 4 songs with over 200 million streams on Spotify alone. His music isn’t completely irrelevant like Barbra’s is. That’s A bit of an exaggeration. Here’s a closer analysis of his Spotify numbers courtesy of the company themselves.

Even with a muted Physique, the disparity between Elton and Taron’s bodies is distracting

R266 and Elton wanted Tom Hardy for the role! Can you imagine the level of delusion?

Taron is so thick r266. That ample thighs and ass, I love that body type. Cavill being a prime example of it.

But yes, you can't help but think Elton never had a body like Taron does.

Perhaps they should have gone with an American.

The funny thing is Taron was trying his hardest to tone down his physique, yet his body screams out through the screen “I’m not Elton!”

Taron looked his hottest in his King Arthur trash movie

R267 Depends on the demographic, I suppose. I just cannot imagine a straight person in their 20s listening to Elton John. It's not Led Zeppelin or Uriah Heep, you know? Their music is still hip and cool now, unlike Elton's.

Elton has a few songs that today’s youth will like but most nope.

I know Your Eyes is liked by young people.

R274 You're delusional if you think Led Zepplin (and whoever 'Uriah Heep' is) are 'hip and cool' now.

R276 But Elton "Broadway tune" John is very hip with the young and STRAIGHT crowd, right? Got it.

R276 who made you the arbiter of all things hip/cool?

According to the infographic at r267, Elton's songs are most streamed by males age 18-24, which is interesting.

I have to suspect that most of the respondents here listen only to the current top 40, where Elton (along with anybody over 40) is persona non grata. But on oldies stations and adult contemporary, Elton is still in heavy rotation. I hear his songs all the time.

I recall reading that Elton had a song on Billboard's Hot 100 every year from 1970 to 1998. That's incredible.

Elton certainly is still a huge legendary actor whose music is still timeless. I see people of all races and ages still bob their heads to CrocodileRock, Bennie and the Jets, and I guess that’s why they call it the blues. Your Song is still one of the most beautiful songs in Pop music history and does not sound dated.

Young folks today still revere Can you feel the love tonight

To me his most iconic song is the one that titled the movie. It has stood the test of time and will continue to do so.

No one is saying no one listens to him. He’s just not the star he was and people aren’t into it like that.

Most of his songs are ballads or piano bops. That’s not loved now. Bennie and the Jets at least has a smooth beat

Elton is a legend like Aretha, Mariah, Janet, Michael, and Celine. They don’t have to prove anything anymore.

Here's a civilian (Non-Datalounger) review I got from 3 people who saw the movie, one man and two women in their early 60's, Elton John aware, but not fanatical fans.

* Didn't know any of the actors. But it will surely be nominated for Oscars (they think.)

* Great movie.

* Unexpected part- how sad it was. One of the reviewers was crying on the way out of the theater. "The Dad was so mean and unloving to EJ, but wonderful to his second family."

* They learned from the movie about Bernie Taupin and how important he was to Elton and to his success.

These people may not represent the majority of the audience that goes to see the movie, but I was surprised that they thought it was one of the better movies they've seen recently.

Obviously, not a DL consensus opinion.

R279 are those males age 18-24 straight? I'd be surprised. I've never heard any of my straight friends ever mention listening to Elton John. But they won't shut up about the Guns N' Roses and the Scorpions tour.

It much closer to a true musical than BH. Much more artsy

R274, most Spotify users are under the age of 30. He’s had 2 billion streams on the format. Just saying..

But didn't you hear, that one poster is the arbitrar of pop culture and what people like r288. Somehow their personal opinions is law.

This is the official certified list of the best-selling artists of all-time. Barbra Streisand has outsold Elton John, and she's outsold Queen by a 2-to-1 margin.

I saw the movie today it was like watching a rock opera, EJ early music holds up and still sounds great. Thoroughly enjoyed it and will see the Broadway show when it comes to Broadway.

But who today could play Barbra in a movie (and please I beg you don't say Lea Michele)?

R290 yes, best artist of ALL time, not 2019. Let's face it, Streisand, EJ and Frank Sinatra are not very relevant these days. Their music is dated. OTOH, ABBA doesn't sound dated. Even pedo Jackson is still getting airplay and he's been dead for 10 years.

R292 Thirsty Lady Gaga will find a way to insert herself in that biopic.

ABBA doesnt sound dated? I like them but that statement is hilarious.

[quote] ....will see the Broadway show when it comes to Broadway.

I know who would be a shoo-in for the lead Elton role if only he hadn't sworn off taking gay roles away from gay actors. (Dammit.)

R291 - I was thinking the same thing after watching it. I loved this movie; I'd see it again.

People are so picky! I enjoyed it, thought the lead actor was excellent at evoking Elton (who was, btw, absolutely the soundtrack to our lives in the early-mid 70s, much more so than Queen). Fun movie.

Queen---and I love Adam Lambert---is a great Oldies act, if the brutal truth be faced.

John/Taupin are still delivering new music.

I just got back. Loved it!

R292 Whew. I don't think we've met the person yet who can play Barbra. But we will! She may not yet have been born.

Hello r301! I’m right here! Remember me?!

[quote] I don't think we've met the person yet who can play Barbra. But we will! She may not yet have been born.

Oh, [italic]Mary![/itaalic]

Could there truly one day be a Second Coming??

Circle of Life

I BELIEVE!

I just saw Rocketman over the weekend. Taron has a lot of shirtless scenes where he’s obviously more ripped than pudgy homely Elton.

My bad...I completely forgot about "What's Love....." That performance of "Proud Mary" was expertly choreographed.

ANNIE MAE!

Nah R138. Even for straight people, that was tame AF. HBO has more explicit gay sex scenes.

That CAN'T be all of it?

What HBO shows have explicit gay sex scenes?

Elton is still being played a lot here in NYC. More than Queen I think.

R310 you’re full of shit lmao.

I was just in a store playing “You’re My Best Friend”

When did this become a contest and success about the business the film is doing as the test of its merits? EJ’s catalogue is vast and his “hits” are the least of it if you know his music. (The film was unique in my opinion and in time will be regarded as a great film. It’s not at all what you expect.) There are gems all over the place. He is a genius. And I’m a huge Queen fan. You can love both.

It’s a shame Bryan Singer didn’t direct this. He was the asteroid behind The Queen movie.

It probably is a better film technically than BR, but as an experience, I enjoyed BR more because it was like an exhilarating rock concert with a little story mixed in. I am not a big fan of the fantastical, musicals, or artsiness, so I am apt to find Rocketman less enjoyable.

*asteroid? Okay mautocorrect is playing games with me!

Saw it yesterday and it was enjoyable enough, though clunky and awkward at times. I think it would make a better stage show than a movie, though Taron’s performance was moving. A lot of sniffles from the audience in several scenes, especially the one towards the end in the rehab center. Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin was understated yet very sweet, I actually think he’s the true heart of the movie. John Reid is depicted as a straight up cunt, but Richard Madden somehow transcended his bad wig and dye jobs and came across as very sexy imo. I thought he and Taron had great chemistry in their first scene leading up to the sex, and after that became cold because it was when the relationship turned to shit. And as tame as the sex and kissing scenes were, at least they were THERE instead of ignored as BR did. I’m in my 20s and enjoy Queen’s music, but skipped on seeing BR because of reports that it had practically stripped Freddie of his gayness and gave more time to his straight relationship. My perception is that Freddie had more of the typical rockstar swagger and persona while Elton was more about kitschy extravagance. That said, I hadn’t realized just how many Elton John songs I knew and enjoyed until I saw the film. Queen has some iconic songs of course, but for sheer volume of recognizable oldies, I think Elton has the edge.

If the director is set on doing more musical biopics in the style of “Rocketman”, I’d much rather see a David Bowie film than a Madonna one.

too many people know Elton was a mean ole queen, this tired movie cant do a thing to dismiss that view..

poor taron, why did he do this turkey?? boy needs a hit.

maybe it be ok on tv or Netflix, maybe.....

Taron is an ill fit. Elton's pick no doubt.

only mega gay sex scenes would have saved it.

For me, the sexier scenes weren't between Reid and John but between Reggie and the black backup singer and the Bennie and the Jets scene with the Male dancers kissing John's neck as he has one kneeling before him.

Taron was laughable at the dramatic moments

Well, Taron must have been Auto-Tuned to shit on the soundtrack because he clearly can't sing on-key:

Sometimes he was really good, r320.

But I feel like he was too hammy / animated in many scenes. Like his Romance Fail with Jamie Bell and the seduction from business to pleasure with Richard Madden. I get that this is a musical and needs to be big and broad sometimes.

But he needed more restraint in some of the dramatic scenes because it's still cinema.

[Quote]I think it would make a better stage show than a movie

I had the same thought.

Who was the backup singer who Kissed Elton? He is hot

who wants to see a pic bout a mean old drunk druggie????

in 3 weeks it wont be in the top 25 movies...

Here's an extended clip from Youtube which shows the writing/performing of "Your Song."

who is this eltan john?

[quote]I'm starting to feel bad for Taron Egerton.

Why on earth would you feel bad for him? He’s the star of a film that just opened to great reviews and 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Every review has mentioned him for strong Oscar consideration.

I blocked one person and a ton of posts disappeared. I think it’s the poster with the BR/FM obsession and this thread is much more pro rocketman without his posts.

well aint u little miss sunshine....

R329 You know, I rarely put people on ignore, but I did recently on one of those Madden and Sam Smith's ex threads--for shits and giggles--because I figured it was filled with crazy people--and boy, I was right. One poster had a good...30 posts.

I mean...that's A LOT of crazy in one thread from one source. Jaw-dropping shit.

ANYWAY...I bet this movie would be better received if it had been released via a streaming service. Also, Egerton will be fine once he realizes that he's not the next Bates or McKellan.

Its a good drive in movie. we still have one in Waco, texas…..little speakers u put in the window of the car, tarons voice will sound so pretty then, yea..

David Furnish pushed Fletcher to keep the Bennie and the Jets sequence.

The moment finds a shirtless Taron Egerton crowdsurfing across a sea of dancers, some half dressed, others in Elton John-inspired costumes, and all writhing around on the floor and on each other’s bodies. The choreography creates a quasi-orgy as the crowd brings Egerton’s Elton John to a bed. Fletcher almost axed the number entirely but was encouraged to keep it in by Furnish. The director agreed, but the number ended up being trimmed down.

The full “Bennie and the Jets” sequence Fletcher shot included Egerton’s John getting to the bed and being drenched in popping bottles of champagne, a not-so-subtle visual climax to the music number’s orgy vibe.

“It was really beautiful and kind of balletic what went on there, but it didn’t communicate what I wanted it to,” Fletcher said. “It became really good to look at, but what’s it really saying?”

Fletcher deleted the ending and kept the length of the scene by cutting in to the existing footage fleeting moments from John’s childhood. The goal was to create the hedonistic sensation of any orgy without being particularly graphic or over-the-top ridiculous.

jus saw it, the music scenes are good, but the dramatic stuff is off, we don't care bout the rich singer who became a lush and druggie, best to jus fast forward to the music stuff.

first half kinda fun, 2nd half not,

need tighter script and direction. Elton/furniss prob had final cut thus its mess.

I enjoyed it. But I had no idea the mother was played by Ron Howard's daughter.

That's one benefit of being old, I guess. You don't know who any of the young actors are, so you're not distracted by familiarity.

I have been reading reviews but have not seen ANY Oscar buzz for Taron.

R328 is just talking shit, as usual.

I wish there were more sex scenes with John Reid (Richard Madden).

A lot of the positive reviews aren’t even that positive. They’re no better than some of the reviews considered negative for BoRhap. Just shows favoritism or being paid off once again.

And there’s been NO OSCAR BUZZ for Taron. Many are saying he’s the weak link. Lmao

Was John Reid meant to be so....what's the word.....saturnine?

[quote]Was John Reid meant to be so....what's the word.....saturnine?

It was the hair dye. Was it really THAT important to get John Reid's hair color so aggressively black?

Odd movie, all those great songs, but it just does not come together.

shitty direction.

I found it enjoyable. Didn't go for the plot points/storytelling. The music was plenty. Would I have liked more nitty-gritty between Elton and Bernie, then Elton and Jack? Sure. But the musical spectacular is the movie they made, and it was enough.

I wish I could have bought taron in the role, I tried, but could not....

Taron wasn’t good. Most say he’s the weak link, unlike the poster lying claiming he has tons of Oscar buzz Lmaooo

I did not mind Taron at all.

He seemed uncomfortable and was racing thru the mess as fast as he could...

Yikes. Rocketman had a 54% drop at the UK box office last weekend, down to like £3.1M.

R347 cause it sucked. The critics get it wrong ONCE AGAIN.

Plus his music doesn’t resonate with today’s youth.

His music is great but his story isnt that interesting is it? He was just an odd kid that became a music star and then abused drugs.

His music is meh. His main hits are good but dated.

Your Song is a lot better than most of the music on the charts today.

r351 So are "Border Song," "First Episode at Hienton," and "Fifty Years On."

R352 they’re boring. Your Song is one of the few that resonates

No, they're not.

Yes. They are. Most are not good. His music is DATED.

Well, cuntessa. I think I'll just go burn my record collection. Is there anything else you think is boring? Or DATED?

R356 he has a few songs that are fine but none stand out greatly or have much energy.

In my store they added Rocketman to the Playlist now but not even the original, a remixed dance version for today’s youth.

Elton John's songs are great but not the versions used in the movie.

I faked a relationship with Brandon Flynn for this??!!!1

A 54% drop from week one to week two is normal, if not somewhat better than normal. People without knowledge should stay silent

R360 it’s normal when a film makes a shit ton opening weekend. This didn’t.

It’s flopping hard.

THR or Variety said the film received a standing ovation last weekend when it screened for Academy members but pointed out it doesn't mean anything as Michael Caine's YOUTH received the same response and it didn't translate into votes.

Paramount should just worry about the Globes. If the studio was really pushing it for awards it would not have been released so far ahead of awards season.

Lmfaooooooooo I doubt this. They want this to be considered a great movie so bad they’re paying off bullshit stories the way the competition did to try and derail BoRhap during Oscars season

[quote]BoRhap

When did this turd of an expression happen?

When a turd of a movie called Bohemian Rhapsody was released.

Fangirls on twitter and tumblr call it that. Blech.

BoRhap SuDick.

pity all them great songs were squandered on such a fuckd movie... after 30 min u want to jus go suk dik in the restroom....I DID.

Bummer, I grew up on those wonderful songs, they got me thru a lot of shitty nights, I was hopin for a movie equal to that music. Wish it had been more fun...and real.

Elton is freaked out that its bombing so bad...

R316, I don’t think Iman, Duncan or Alexandra (Bowie) Jones would approve a bio pic sadly. Fletcher would do a nice job of it but there is allegedly a Bowie biopic in the works with Johnny Flynn ( brother of Jerome, for GOT fans) and Duncan Jones has already said it’s not approved from the family and they don’t have permission to use the music.

…….they want speilberg.

R370 has he commented?

Hugh Jackman invited Taron to perform during his show last night. And by perform I mean sing, not fellatio.

To those criticizing the choice of TE to portray "pudgy" Elton, picky, picky.

Elizabeth Taylor looked nothing like the homely Cleopatra VII, as evidenced by the latter's coinage.

Cleopatra was not white

When you work from your home And johns call on the phone, You're a call girl. When you walk till you're limp And give a cut to a pimp, You're a street whore. When they're begging ya "please," To get down on your knees, Near their groinage, 'Scusa me, But ya see, Don't ya touch where they pee, Without coinage.

The Bohemian Rhapasody obsessive defender got red-tagged. Heh.

R375 She wasn't black or even Egyptian. She was born in Egypt but was of Macedonian Greek descent. The Ptolemaic Dynasty (of which she was the last ruler) had ruled Egypt for a few hundred years, after being conquered by Alexander the Great.

r379 Greek? So she still wasn't white

[quote]The Ptolemaic Dynasty (of which she was the last ruler) had ruled Egypt for a few hundred years, after being conquered by Alexander the Great.

I worded that wrong. I meant Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and one of his generals Ptolemy I Soter became the first ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty which lasted nearly hundred years. Cleopatra was descended from this and was its last ruler.

R380 she would have been white or olive skinned.

She would have been brown

Here's a clip of Crocodile Rock from the movie. (The first 50 seconds is in German, and then the song is performed in English.)

It gives you a sense of the fantasy element in the movie.

R383 No, she wouldn't.

Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek woman, she was not "brown".

I don't know what the obsession is with trying to make Cleopatra less white, you know there were actual Nubian pharaohs of Egypt who were black.

Yes, she would be brown.

I love how little so many of you know about Greek and Italian History

If that makes you happy, keep believing that r387.

This is way off topic.

Honky Cat clip.

the music numbers are kinda fun.

the drama parts are....painful.

I keep visualizing Richard madden as Elton....HOT

Wild, but at least Madden can act, might have worked.

Bennie and the Jets clip.

Rocketman's soundtrack producer, Giles Martin, talks about how he broke it to Richard Madden that he would be singing in the film:

[quote] "Richard Madden said to me, 'I'm not singing,'" soundtrack producer Giles Martin tells UCR. "I went, 'What?' He said, 'I'm not singing.' It was the first thing he said to me. I went, 'You are singing.' He said, 'I'm not.' I said, 'You'll be fine.' He goes, 'I don't sing.' I said, 'You'll be fine.'"

Admittedly, Rocketman is kind of a hit on its own terms. So far it’s done about $60M in the US and UK. It has yet to open in many foreign markets but there’s no reason to believe it won’t find its target audiences there. It will never reach BR box office levels but it will be a modest hit, probably tapping out below $200M worldwide.

It will probably figure a bit at the GGs because of the musical element - Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, Best Actor, Musical or Comedy. It might end up on the bottom end of some Top 10 lists. It is kind of a landmark if you consider it a “gay” movie.

But it won’t have the legs to figure into the Oscars much, other than a few technical categories.

And it will probably put the Boy George film in turnaround. Executives will realise that BR’s popularity was about the universal popularity of Queen and the provisions it made for fans in centring on the original music and the Live Aid performance.

The problem with Rocketman is that it didn’t make Elton’s music fun. Despite the turbulent to sad story around Queen, BR showcased Queen’s music as exhilarating, fun, and cool.

Hugh Jackson has an incredible butt. Taron Looks like he is back in Kingsman shape.

Jackman

Elton should kick his lovers ass for producing such a piece of ……..well u know.

whenever taron was not on screen, the movie SOARED. his nervous energy polluted the film.

It was released in May cause they knew it had zero chance at Oscars.

The films been getting screened to the Press and others for months prior to being released. It generated zero Oscar buzz. The opposite of BoRhap, which was supposed to come out last summer but was pushed to November cause of the Oscar reception Ramis performance was getting.

[quote] whenever taron was not on screen, the movie SOARED.

From the clips posted above, it appears that the movie soars when they play Elton's music. And Taron is on the screen for all of that, so I'm not understanding your analysis.

I watched him in the scene where he composes and records "Your Song" and I thought he was great. Anyone trying to build the case that he's inept or miscast needs to leave that scene out.

Most of his haters even say he was good AT MOMENTS but as a whole it wasn’t good. He sucked at dramatic scenes.

Agree with r395. SPOILERS (if anyone cares to avoid them) but the only really fun numbers were for “Saturday Night” and “Crocodile Rock.” The sequences for “Rocketman,” “Pinball Wizard” and “Bennie and the Jets” were total bummers because the story had Elton either drugged up, unhappy, or forced to perform. It added a dark element to what have always been fun tunes and it just came off as forced imo.

cant put my finger on it, but it was all a bit off, yes his music is awesome, some of the numbers were fun, somthin seems not right with taron, , maybe he has personal problems and challenges that made his performance.....weird.

Box Office Mojo, Week ending June 9th.

Rocketman Worldwide Box office - $101,798,756 after 2 weeks in release.

Forbes.com says: "The Elton John biopic has now earned a decent-enough $102 million worldwide on a $41 million budget. Dexter Fletcher’s R-rated musical melodrama is no breakout mega-smash, but it’s doing alright on its own relative terms."

The UK really don't care about that bitch, so they?

Paramount's ROCKETMAN grossed $13M overseas in 50 markets this weekend, $51M total. UK leads all territories with $20.5M.

Fake news....show me the statistics.

I did not like at all. Walked out and saw Dark Phoenix which I also didn't like at all.

I thought Taron was really good, the costumes were excellent, the music fine, but it didn't come together for me.

I hated the rehab framing of the story. Felt too self indulgent for me. Too many of the supporting characters were one-dimensional.

I went to see it recently. There was a decent crowd there. I thought it was entertaining, and I think the rest of the audience thought so too. I wanted to see this because I was a huge fan of Elton John's during the seventies. I eventually lost interest, but during the seventies he was at his peak musically. I never saw "Bohemian Rhapsody." I was never a big fan of Queen's although I liked a few of their songs. I wasn't inclined to see it, having read reviews for it that weren't very good. I think "Rocketman" comes off much better, even though it has some glaring factual errors, like Elton singing "Crocodile Rock" three years before it was written.

I bought all of Elton John's albums before GBYBR. I barely knew Queen existed. I never bought any of their albums until a greatest hits download sometime in the '10s (before BR).

When did a song in BR I was enthralled when Elton sang I was like I'll go to the bathroom.

Also going in I didn't know Rocketman was a standard musical. As far as I could see only Gemma Jones and Jamie Bell gave real performances.

Also young Elton was good

They needed to outdo Ewan McGregor's Your Song. They did not.

Child Elton annoyed me.

I roll my eyes just thinking about “when are you going to hug me?”

Please.

Even if he wanted a hug he would just try to give one at his age or ask can I have a hug? It wouldn’t be this sad, deep moment. Please.

ELTON JOHN DOES NOT FEEL LOVED, PEOPLE!

I think y'all need to give up on the idea that this movie will beat out BR in revenue.

As of June 14, it's at $112 million and its popularity is falling.

It's nowhere near BR's $903 million.

Lmao it’s a shit film and no one cares about EJ anymore, opposite of Queen.

"Lmao it’s a shit film and no one cares about EJ anymore, opposite of Queen."

You're an idiot. Elton John has millions of fans. And he's still HERE, still performing, unlike Freddy Mercury, who kicked the bucket long ago. I'd say EJ comes out the winner.

EJ has old fans. Queen has fans of all ages.

"EJ has old fans. Queen has fans of all ages."

You're a clod. EJ has a fanbase of all ages. You're a dumb Queen fan. That's what Queen fans tend to be; dumb.

That’s why Queens film made over $900 million and this one won’t even make $200 million 😂😂😂

"That’s why Queens film made over $900 million and this one won’t even make $200 million."

A lot of rotten movies do well at the box office. Rotten movies appeal to certain people. Dumb people, like you.

Rocketman was shit. The critics were tipped off

I saw the movie today in NYC (W. 66 and Broadway). I LOVED IT. It was strange that the 10:05am showing had 3 people there. Hopefully more show up in the afternoon/evening.

R424 bwahahahaha

Queen/BR/Rami diehards are so interesting. It’s not a competition between them. Queen music is good and so is Elton music. Of course you liked the queen music better in BR because you’re a bigger queen fan and it wasn’t sung by rami malek, it was the original songs. Rocketman decided to use Tarons versions because they used the songs to tell part of the story and changed them up a bit to some extent which isn’t something they did in BR. Just a stylistic choice.

I wouldn't call BR a bad film but one that overcome its many flaws and somehow turns out good despite what internet trolls say bad films don't win 4 Oscars.

Rocket man lost me at the first scene with Elton comes to AA wearing his most silly costume was supposed to be funny but wasn't to me.

So much for Rocketman, only $127 million as of June 16th.

Anyway, why hasn't he released an updated or new CD box set?

"To Be Continued" is from 1990 and covered roughly 20 years. It's been 30 years since TBC.

He needs a new box set collection.

poor Elton and taron, the movie bombed.....bad

they shoulda gone with some young new edgy guy for eltons role. I saw taron in that robin hood movie on tv, omg, laffable. the lad cannot act. its ok for adventur nonsense movies, but realllly….

Yeah, cause Taron was the films issues....

R430 - the real problem wasn’t Taron. The script was written like a West End/Broadway musical. I think that’s the next stop. It will probably do good there. Facts and timelines don’t matter. No band members were included. I’m assuming that would require royalty payments. It is impossible to tell the Elton story without talking about Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson. Elton firing the band in the mid 70s was huge news and not mentioned.

I liked the movie. It's like a live musical theater performance that's been reformatted for cinema.

However, here are my complaints.

It was too long, probably to accommodate all the song performances. If someone is not a fan of EJ's music, then they will be annoyed. (Well, actually, probably only fans will attend this movie anyway.)

The idea of adult Elton giving his younger self a hug was good symbolism about learning to love yourself...but I already saw that exact same scene in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 (of all places!), more than 20 years ago, performed by Luke Perry / Dylan McKay.

A couple of years ago, Elton wrote an article about his friend Ryan White, and about how the young man's bravery finally inspired him to finally get sober. (He was at Ryan's bedside in the hospital at the end.) I was expecting to see a mention of Ryan in the movie. I guess the feathered devil hailing a taxi makes a more dramatic image for cinema.

Saw it a week ago, and I agree with R433's first statement. I enjoyed the movie, even though I was never a big fan of EJ, especially after the Rush Limpballs gig.

I also liked it because it gives props to Bernie Taupin. In movies like this, the second banana often gets lost. But to the producers and Elton's credit, BT is given his due, unlike Motown productions, where Barry Gordy and Diana Ross are the sole reasons for Motown's success.

Diana Ross is a HUGE reason Motown became what it did. Her voice translated well to mainstream pop stations, unlike most of Motowns other groups and artists. She got white people to buy their albums and singles.

[quote]The script was written like a West End/Broadway musical. I think that’s the next stop

So do I, after all the writer, Lee Hall, wrote both the film Billy Elliot and its musical.

Throughout the press tour Taron said this film was more like Moulin Rouge I was still surprised how much of a true musical it is. I know if people didn't like it upon their first watch they won't be inclined to see it again. I wasn't impressed the first time I saw it, but friends wanted me to see it with them so I saw it again and enjoyed it much more that time to the extent that I have seen it for a third time.

What also is not helping the box office is it being rated R. BR was PG-13. And this movie should have been a fall release.

The movie being R means nothing. R rated movies make hundreds of millions these days. Look at IT.

They didn’t release it in Fall cause it has zero Oscar chances.

Saw it last night and loved it, as did the rest of the audience. I hope they make it into a proper musical on Broadway/West End. I will go see it.

R248, His most recent box set is “Diamonds” and was released two years ago. Before that his most recent was “The Best Of Elton John 1970-2002”.

"So much for Rocketman, only $127 million as of June 16th."

So far it has grossed a worldwide total of $133.1 million, against a production budget of $40 million. Not bad at all.

But not that good either.

indeed, they spent a 100 million on promotion.....maybe more worldwide.

super flop

inept producers

The movie has legs. It only dropped 32% this weekend. Looks like it will end up w around 90 million by the end of its theater run

It's interesting that apparently they spent 100m on promotion. I only knew this was coming out because of DL. I don't think I ever once saw a commercial on TV or a trailer in theaters. and I go to the movies often.

BoRhap was advertised everywhere.

Saw a ton of advertising myself, including was flashing overy video monitor I passed in LAX's Terminal 1

There was a shit ton of advertising in NYC and LA

"But not that good either."

Shut up, Freddy. My movie is a hit. And I'm still alive and kicking and you've been worm chow for years. So fucking there!

Your movie is making a 1/9th of mine, darling. You may still be alive physically but I am MORE ALIVE AND RELEVANT career wise than you’ve been in two decades.

"Your movie is making a 1/9th of mine, darling. You may still be alive physically but I am MORE ALIVE AND RELEVANT career wise than you’ve been in two decades."

You're still the delusional egomaniac, Freddie. I still play to sold out crowds, my movie is a hit, and I'm happily married with children. You, on the other hand, are a rotting pile of bones. I win. Tough luck, Freddy old boy.

Oh darling, sweet delusional darling. You sell out shows now because they’re smaller venues. Queen is selling out larger buildings, dear, in 2019, without me. So imagine if it was with me? Oh dear! Taylor Swift would be so jealous of those numbers.

It got terrible reviews here in Norway.

R445 How do you know? I think R443 is talking out of his ass. No way a movie with a budget of 40 million would spend 100 on promotion.

I guess Elton didn’t feel like paying off the reviews in Norway like he did the states.

Another big difference I bet Freddie would never ever play for that Rush creep.

Newly out Dan Howell approves.

it wont even recoup the cost of advertising alone.....

tho its a penny in the bucket to Elton and his hubby, the producer, poor attempt mr furnisch….

It’s at $159 million worldwide. What a flop. Poor, dear.

And I remember people saying this would bring in BoRhap money and awards attention. Lmaooooo.

"And I remember people saying this would bring in BoRhap money and awards attention. Lmaooooo."

So far it's made a worldwide total of $159 million, against a production budget of $40 million. A hit by any standard, you dipshit. You're really stupid about movies, Lmaooooo!

By the way, no one really expected "Rocketman" to do the same kind of business as "Bohemian Rhapsody." Elton John has a great many fans, but they're not rabid retards, like Queen fans tend to be. My guess is that the crazed, low IQ Queen fans went to see the movie over and over, hence uping the box office receipts. The movie wasn't even that good, didn't even get very good reviews, but like I said Queen fans aren't that bright, so they loved it.

This flopped lmao

R459, if they were actually a Queen fan, they'd know well that there was never any competition between Elton John and Queen in reality. Aside from having a similar career trajectory, Freddie Mercury and Elton John were good friends, and the surviving members played together for the last time at an Elton John concert in 1997.

*Played together live, I should say.

Fun movie - like a cross between Beyond the Sea and Bohemian Rhapsody. But what's weird is while watching it and liking it more than Rhapsody, I kept thinking 'How did Malek win Best Actor and that film get a best pic nomination?"

Rocketman has a better performance and is a better over all film, but I still don't think it should receive any nominations (except maybe in the technical categories). I wonder if Academy voters and nominators of BH have buyer's remose?

IMHO Bohemian Rhapsody was far superior. I found Rocketman very corny and tiresome. I couldn't even get through all of it.

I am watching this right now and it's really bizarre - not the movie but my reaction to it. all I can think of is Robert Patterson should have put on 25 pounds and played Elton. which is weird because I have only seen patterson in the Harry Potter movie and have no opinion on him as an actor and no idea if he can sing.

The giy who is playing him, I also don't know him and can only see Neil Patrick Harris when he played an ersatz Jeffrey Dalmer on an episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent.

Lastly, it's interesting that they played Rocketman during his suicide attempt scene. Until I read this thread I had no idea that the song Rocketman wasn't about suicide. I can't listen to it without tearing up. I thought it was about a guy killing himself.

no real thoughts on the movie. I don't hate it with a red hot fury like I did BR.

ROCKETMAN was my favorite movie of last year. If you like Elton John music and want to see gay dudes getting it on in a Hollywood musical, it is a must see.

Ignore R443, who claims they spent over $100 million promoting ROCKETMAN. R443 also blames that on "inept producers", not realizing producers have nothing do to with promoting the movie. That is the job of the studio. They set the marketing budget, do the ads, buy the billboards, and decide how much to invest in each city. And I'm too lazy to look up how this was financed, but Paramount (which owns it in the US) might not even own it overseas. So if other distributors in international territories spent $75 million promoting the film, that's up to them. There are some films that do well in North America and then don't sell tickets overseas. And vice versa. Sometimes that results in one distributor making lots of money while others lose big -- on the same exact movie.

There is a possibility that international distributors overspent on marketing because Bohemian Rhapsody did crazy international business and they were hoping for the same result.

Just watched Rocketman on Amazon Prime. Felt like I was watching "Glee." Not saying that Elton John songs are edgy, but the renditions removed whatever edginess the songs did contain.

Taron Egerton, IMO, did a good job and there was real sadness on his face at times.

IMO, the group therapy narrative device was cheesy & lazy story-telling. I think it even included a "Magical Negro."

The movie did remind me of the great songs that EJ had in his early career ("Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), before "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." Seems like they mixed things up, chronologically. Would have been nice to have one scene of EJ & Taupin actually writing a song together.

Finally, at the end of the movie, EJ admits, in group therapy, that he had been cunty his whole life. Yet, the movie never portrayed him being cunty or diva-ish.