Just watched the 2005 Elvis 2 part movie

#364951

I must say that it wasn't too bad. I know a lot of people on this board totally trashed the film plus the actor who played Elvis.
I don't agree with a lot of the things that people complained about.

It was a well made and filmed movie. The acting was very good. How about Robert Patrick in 2005 playing both Elvis' dad and Johnny Cash's dad! I watched and watched witing to complain about a lot of things but it was enjoyable. Not great but enjoyable. Most things in the film were seen in many other movies so there wasn't much new. I do believe most circumstances were accurate. I did have to laugh at one point early in the film when Elvis runs from the church to see the black performers in the bar. He didn't have any sideburns in that brief scene and then when he entered the bar, they were back.

I am now glad that I saw the film. Going into it, I thought I'd hate it. The performance of If I Can Dream seemed to be the biggest complaint by viewers. I think someone here said that the actor looked spastic during this song. Well, if you remember, Elvis did a pretty strange job on that song to begin with with all his movements. I thought the actor had him down pretty good in most sequences. The lip-synching wasn't so great in some scenes but not that bad.

So, now let the criticisms fly!!

jeff R

#364966

I totally disagree with everything you have said.

It was the WORSE single most cheaply made production on the life of Elvis.

It was a total insult to Elvis.

#364973

JJ

Totally agree with You, and I posted on here about The Movie as soon as I had watched it. In fact apart from The Beatles Anthology Set it is the only thing I have enjoyed DVD wise for a long time.

The only bits of the Movie I didn't like were the Singing Performances, but as far as the Actor's Performance went I think He did a Pretty god job.

It did in fact answer My question as to why Nobody stopped Elvis doing what He was doing to Himself, they didn't dare.

#364980

Hi Bodie,

I'm sorry you feel that way. You must not have seen any other Elvis film except for the film that starred Kurt Russell. In my opinion, this is better than all the rest except for the Russell film and I've seen them all.
Elvis & The Beauty Queen. Yeah, that's a better one.

jeff R

#364999

Little Darlin wrote:
It did in fact answer My question as to why Nobody stopped Elvis doing what He was doing to Himself, they didn't dare.

Nobody could have stopped Elvis doing what he did to himself.

#365036

I always felt that after the great success of both Ray and Walk The Line...EPE thought they'd jump in the ring with their own story. My opinion of the "movie" was that I thought it was cheap and very cheesey. Upon hearing that it would be TV, instead of feature film---it was a dissapointment for me. The majority of biofilms on Elvis were all miniseries or made for tv movies.

Elvis' story is incredibly tragic and the darkness of the events unfolding, would have been great cinema. Unfortunately, they took TV as their route to share this story. As far as originality, the miniseries felt like the amalgamation of every Elvis biography book and documentary squeezed into 4 hours. The dialogue sounded unnatural and felt like they had to include as much information and trivia in the dialogue as they could.

Thumbs down.

#365067

I watched part 1, the early years

and feel absolutely NO need to watch part two...the later years I think it`s called, not sure, but I really don`t care because I`m not going to waste my time searching for it

#365156

It was sh*t

! Elvis - The Movie was sh*t, in fact all of them were sh*t! Freedom from constipation!

#365189

jeffreyjames wrote:I must say that it wasn't too bad. I know a lot of people on this board totally trashed the film plus the actor who played Elvis.
I don't agree with a lot of the things that people complained about.

It was a well made and filmed movie. The acting was very good. How about Robert Patrick in 2005 playing both Elvis' dad and Johnny Cash's dad! I watched and watched witing to complain about a lot of things but it was enjoyable. Not great but enjoyable. Most things in the film were seen in many other movies so there wasn't much new. I do believe most circumstances were accurate. I did have to laugh at one point early in the film when Elvis runs from the church to see the black performers in the bar. He didn't have any sideburns in that brief scene and then when he entered the bar, they were back.

I am now glad that I saw the film. Going into it, I thought I'd hate it. The performance of If I Can Dream seemed to be the biggest complaint by viewers. I think someone here said that the actor looked spastic during this song. Well, if you remember, Elvis did a pretty strange job on that song to begin with with all his movements. I thought the actor had him down pretty good in most sequences. The lip-synching wasn't so great in some scenes but not that bad.

So, now let the criticisms fly!!

jeff R

i like it too.

#365321

I think the problem with any biopic/TV special on Elvis is the fact that we, as Elvis fans, cannot really accept anyone who tried to portray Elvis. I am in that group, my wife can atest to my criticisms while watching it back in 2005.

I have yet to understand, in this age of sequels why Peter Guralnick's books have not been picked up to be 2 or even 3 movies. But again, who plays Elvis?

Maybe once the CGI gets to the point of being real life, we can have a real Elvis movie

#366017

jeffreyjames wrote:It was a well made and filmed movie...The acting was very good...Not great but enjoyable...The performance of If I Can Dream seemed to be the biggest complaint by viewers. I think someone here said that the actor looked spastic during this song. Well, if you remember, Elvis did a pretty strange job on that song to begin with with all his movements. I thought the actor had him down pretty good in most sequences. The lip-synching wasn't so great in some scenes but not that bad. jeff R

To each their own, but I caught this show on cable again last night, and remembered why I hated the movie in the first place. It was not a well-made movie, in my opinion. The acting was bad by most actors, but spearheading the way was JRM. I am not one of those Elvis fans who demands greatness in a portrayal of our hero, but he was horrible. There was very little to take away from his performance and say, "Yeah, he got that right." It looked to me like he spent maybe 6-7 days of studying Elvis before the cameras rolled. The '68 sit-down scenes and "If I Can Dream" were particularly difficult to watch. The lip-synching was horrific.

The whole production looked very hurriedly tossed together. Two thumbs down from me.

#366021

KHoots,

Yes, i agree, but 6-7 days?? More like 6-7 mins.

The guy didnt have a clue about Elvis at all.

Didnt he accuse Elvis of being gay afterwards??

Says it all.He didnt really care about putting on a good performance and it shows.

#366024

Bodie wrote:KHoots,
Yes, i agree, but 6-7 days?? More like 6-7 mins.

I was just trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Your answer works for me, too....

#366066

cdh72469 wrote:I think the problem with any biopic/TV special on Elvis is the fact that we, as Elvis fans, cannot really accept anyone who tried to portray Elvis. I am in that group,

Yes, I think this is it exactly, and I am also in this group. It's so hard to watch a movie about Elvis without Elvis. I just can't stand it; there's so much missing. There's only one Elvis.

Of course, you can say the same about Johnny Cash and whomever. Yet Elvis had something - some 'X-factor' or whatever you want to call it - that was just so ineffable that all others pale in comparison. Nobody I've ever seen has that quality like he did, and to watch someone without it try to fake it is almost painful. I inevitably have to stop watching.

Give me the real thing.

Making a major motion picture about his life would be fantastic - if done WELL. . . . but I have little faith it could be done well. And my non-Elvis Elvis hang-up would make me ambivalent at best.

JRM didn't even remotely pull Elvis off. I never once believed this twerp was Elvis. And the "If I Can Dream" part? Shoot-the-TV-out bad.

Juan Luis · #366067

[quote="jeffreyjames] Elvis did a pretty strange job on that song to begin with with all his movements. [/quote] You are very very correct! EP had an awkward arm movement! Which ultimately gives the effect (and honest) of being uncomfortable and like an animal caged...but come on folks..first time you saw it was almost embarrassing with the up and down arm thing! BTW..same problem* with standup shows while trying to pretend for show he was controlling the orchestra and they did not obey...he got even from 69-77!! *outtakes

#366070

I think people protest far too much about this Movie.

Is it going to have the same amount of threads as in dare I say it Elvis in Concert

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19890&highlight=jrm

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16643&highlight=jrm

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17009&highlight=jrm

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20515&highlight=jrm

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23032&highlight=jrm

Believe me there is more I just don't want to waste the Bandwidth.

There is never going to be Anyone big enough, good enough or even stupid enough to take on the role of playing Elvis after all the maulings the biopics so far have produced.

The Guy won a Golden Globe for his Performance and wether we as Elvis fans like it or not we can't change that now. We just have to face it, there will never be a portrayal of Elvis that will suit us full stop.

#366775

Little darling wrote:
We just have to face it, there will never be a portrayal of Elvis that will suit us full stop.

Well, This is Elvis came pretty close...in my opinion

In scenes where we do have the real thing on film, I`d prefere that they use that when telling the story.

#366798

I believe that a big part of this problem with films that are unacceptable is the fact that fans are not prepared to see a "warts and all" portrayal of Elvis. You first have to wrap your mind around the fact that as Elvis himself once said- the image is one thing, the man is another.
When "This is Elvis" premiered in theaters audiences gasped when they heard the language Elvis used in some of the scenes. This was Elvis, just a regular person- albeit an extremely charismatic, talented and well known person, still just a person.
Fans have created their own idea of what was right and what was wrong in his life and career. Blame has been put on many people around him. Sometimes justified. But a lot of what went right and what went wrong in his life falls on his shoulders. That will be a harsh image for fans to accept.

I don't believe that fanatical fans can accept that portrayal of their idol.
We seem to pick apart any actors version of him. There have been acceptable ones. There have also been the bad. The non Elvis fanatic public can accept them. Sometimes you need to suspend your expectations of who portrays Elvis and accept an actor in a role.
JRM, whether you like his portrayal or not, does not need to be an Elvis fan. He is hired as an actor to play a role. Garnering a Golden Globe says that the press thought he did a good job. Perhaps time restrictions that come with TV productions schedules prevented him from deeper research in his role. Not everyone knows Elvis inside and out as we do.

I did not like J Phoenix' performance as Cash in I Walk The Line. Personal preferance. He wasn't bad assed enough for me

A good theatrical film may be what the public needs to understand him a bit more. But is it marketable? I wonder.

#366800

"Nobody does Elvis, like Elvis," so true!

#366816

cdh72469 wrote:
I think the problem with any biopic/TV special on Elvis is the fact that we, as Elvis fans, cannot really accept anyone who tried to portray Elvis. I am in that group,

I know I'm in that group too.

MattC · #366839

I admit I recorded this movie the other night off of Showtime, just to have in my collection. It is by far the worse portrayal of Elvis I have ever seen. Rob Youngblood in "Elvis And The Colonel" did a much better job playing the role than what JRM did. And most of us know how bad that movie was. Any of the other films are better than this one. My favorite one is the 13 episode mini-series "Elvis The Early Years" starring Michael St. Gerard. Even though that just takes the viewer through the early days at SUN. After that, Elvis" starring Kurt Russell is the next best imo. They are all better than the 2005 release. Just my opinion though

#366848

Does anyone still have the link to the side-by-side comparison of JRM and Elvis doing "If I Can Dream"? Something deep inside compels me to watch that again, and I don't know why.

As Elvis portrayals go, most fans are very harsh on the actors who play our hero. I really am not like that. I have no problem separating Elvis from impersonators or actors. I found Michael St. Gerard quite passable, Kurt Russell was OK, and a few others I found acceptable. JRM, however, was just plain stinko. He came off as a guy who didn't study his character at all, and it showed. It was a miserable performance on all levels.

#366902

KHoots,

Here are two youtube clips:

One of just JRM singing it:

Here is a "duet" between the two of them????

DJL

#366903

BTW, was this movie ever released on DVD in the USA?

DJL

#366974

DJL wrote:BTW, was this movie ever released on DVD in the USA?
DJL

I hope not, but I don't know for sure. I haven't seen it around. Thanks for the links!

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