Two very different films made up my weekend in movies; one was fantastical, while the other was profoundly confusing. I’ll let you guess which was which.
It feels like I’ve been waiting a year for Rocketman to come to theaters and this weekend it finally arrived! This biopic about Elton John, starring Taron Egerton was more of a musical than I was expecting, but it encapsulated everything Elton John exudes. That being said, I’m less familiar with Elton’s music than I am with Queen’s, so I was a little less invested in this film from the start, and as I stated before, it was more of a musical…and I don’t really like musicals all that much. With that being said, a musical makes sense for the life Elton has led: lonely and in excess.
A flair for the dramatics, the start of the film shows Egerton as John in a bedazzled devil costume headed to rehab. The film then flashes back to pivotal moments in his life, like being able to recite songs on the piano from the age of four, being in a backing band, to meeting his life-long writing partner, Bernie Taupin. We also see him in his first relationship which become overshadowed by his drug and alcohol abuse. It’s insane how John managed to make it out of this destructive period in his life alive, but he did, and we’re all the more lucky for it. Hit after hit are performed in this film, like “Crocodile Rock, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, and my personal favorite, “Bennie & the Jets.” While the film dazzles you with the glitz and glamour of John’s life, it also centralizes on what drove his abuse, loneliness.
For me, this was no Bohemian Rhapsody, but goodness gracious was this well done! I also loved all the supporting turns from Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Jamie Bell. If you want to sing all night long, then go watch Rocketman.
Saturday night, a friend and I went with my sister for her pick, which was Ma, starring Octavia Spencer. I’ll give Spencer this, she committed to the role, but I wasn’t totally sure what I was supposed to get out of this film other than a killer (no pun intended) soundtrack. The film follows a group of seriously irresponsible teens who ask Ma to get some booze for them, then she invites them to party in her basement….um HELL NO! Their decision to say yes is enough for me to say that they had it coming! We learn in a series of flashbacks that Ma used to go to school with all of these teens’ parents. And their parents were bullies, so Ma is out to seek revenge.
There were some very strange scene choices, and clearly sketchy behavior that most of these kids were too oblivious to notice, so it’s no surprise to me when they all get mutilated in a way as a retaliation to Ma’s high school torture. Juliette Lewis plays a pretty trashy mom to lead, Maggie (Diana Silvers), but she ends up saving the day, although not before a pretty disturbing death scene featuring a very naked Luke Evans takes place. I understand Octavia had the time of her life filming this, but the film was all over the place. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend a watch in the theater, but if you want some light scares at home, go for it.