ROCKETMAN (2019) – My rating: 9/10

Rocketman is a biographical musical based on the life of Elton John.  The film is  directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall. The movie follows Elton from his early days as a child prodigy to his slightly older years at the Royal Academy of Music to his musical partnership and success with Bernie Taupin. The film is titled after John’s 1972 song called “Rocketman”.  I wasn’t quite sure the film was going to be any good because the trailer appeared to show the movie a little on the silly side.  To my surprise, not only is it a serious movie, I also found it to be really good.

As a very young child, Reginald “Reggie” Dwight (Matthew Illesley) is raised by his cold hearted mother, Sheila (Bryce Dallas Howard) and more caring grandmother Ivy (Gemma Jones), while his father Stanley (Steven Mackintoch), is away serving in the Royal Air Force. Young Reggie (Kit Connor) shows interest in playing the piano, and soon begins studying at the Royal Academy of Music. Reggie’s father Stanley, who has never shown any love towards his son, eventually abandons his family after Sheila has an affair with another man. An older Reggie (Taron Egerton) takes up an interest in rock music artists like Elvis Presley and begins performing in local pubs, before joining a band called Bluesology.
As an adult, Reggie changes his name to Elton John and tries to find success with Dick James’ (Stephen Graham) publishing company under the management of Ray Williams (Charlie Rowe). Williams introduces Elton to songwriter Bernie Taupin (James Bell) and the two quickly form a friendship, with Bernie accepting both Elton and the fact that he is homosexual. The duo impress Dick with the song “Your Song” so he sets up a performance for them at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The audience loves Elton’s performance. At a party afterwards, Elton feels abandoned when Bernie leaves him to be with a woman. Elton is approached by a very attractive man named John Reid (Richard Madden), who is a music manager attracted to Elton. The two sleep together, being careful not to reunite until later, as Elton had not come out as gay yet.

Reid’s influence over Elton causes him to spiral into a life of debauchery as his career takes off and he becomes a successful musician, embracing a flamboyant stage persona.  After Elton appoints Reid as his new manager, Reid starts to manipulate him and insists that he come out to his mother and father as gay so they can help hide Reid and Elton’s sexual relationship from the press. Elton’s mother bluntly informs Elton that she was already aware of his sexuality and doesn’t care, telling him that he’s facing a life of being alone forever. Elton finds his father but doesn’t tell him that he’s gay, upset by his father’s happiness with his new family and ignorance of his old one. Struggling with his parental issues, as well as Reid’s increasing abuse, Elton becomes addicted to alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, and sex. Making matters worse, Elton witnesses Reid cheating on him with another man, and at a house party later that day, consumes a dangerous amount of drugs and alcohol. Elton attempts suicide by jumping into his pool while drugged to the nth degree. He is rushed to the hospital and not long after is forced back on stage to continue his performances.

Rocketman is an extremely entertaining movie.  It is well acted and Elton John’s music “rocks”. Elton John’s life was pretty complex and Rocketman revealed many aspects of his life.  All three actors who portrayed Elton were brilliant.  Between the very, very young Reggie and the oldest Elton, I can’t say who was the better actor.  Before Elton John started wearing such flamboyant outfits, I don’t think a large amount of the population knew he was gay.  I’m not sure his lousy upbringing and his depression was evident either.  Despite the omission of the Queen of England Knighting Elton, the movie was pretty accurate and definitely exciting as well as entertaining.  Rocketman sort of took on the flavor of “Bohemian Rhapsody”.   However, Rocketman was released at a most inopportune time, amidst “Godzilla” and “Ma”, which were two anticipated films and one week after Walt Disney’s Aladdin, as well as two weeks after the very hot John Wick: Chapter 3. This meant box office sales would be shared between all four of these movies. None the less, I highly recommend “Rocketman” — Check It Out!

THE UPSIDE (2017) – My rating: 7.5/10

The Upside is a comedy-drama directed by Neil Burger and written by Jon Hartmere. It is a remake of the French 2011 film, The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo.  The film follows a paralyzed billionaire who hires a recently paroled convict as a caregiver.  I was quite anxious to see The Upside but became waylaid by all the bad reviews.  I decided to see it anyway, before it left the theaters and I’m glad I did.  I felt the movie was well done and quite entertaining.

The Upside opens with Dell Scott (Kevin Hart) and Philip Lacasse (Bryan Cranston) speeding through New York City in a Ferrari. After they are pulled over by the police, Dell makes up a story that convinces the officers he is rushing Philip to the emergency room. Philip grudgingly plays along, and instead of being issued a ticket, the two are escorted to the hospital by the police.

Rewind six months earlier to where the recently paroled Dell is ordered to obtain three signatures to prove he is seeking a job. He appears to answer several ads pretending he wants employment but is only seeking the signatures he needs to keep from violating his parole.  When Dell visited the penthouse home of Philip, a wealthy quadriplegic, his search for a befitting job was finally over. Philip, along with his assistant Yvonne Pendleton (Nicole Kidman), is interviewing candidates for the position of his “life auxiliary” caregiver. After waiting behind a couple of other highly qualified applicants, Dell barges in and demands a signature for his parole officer. For unexplainable reasons, intrigued by Dell, Philip offers him the job, but he declines. After leaving such a lush residence, Dell visits his ex, Latrice (Aja Naomi King) and son Anthony (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) at their dilapidated apartment, but neither is interested in him rejoining their lives, so he gives his son a book he stole from Philip’s library and leaves. Desperate to turn his life around, Dell accepts the well-paying position of Philip’s live-in caregiver, for which Yvonne establishes a “three strikes and you’re out” rule. Dell is daunted by his new responsibilities, despite guidance from Philip’s physical therapist Maggie (Golshifteh Farahani) but forges on anyway.

The Upside shows life between the haves and the have nots.  Even though Philip is a quadriplegic, he had more money than JZ, which makes him a very, very rich individual.  Dell, having no caregiver experience, was dirt poor with an estranged baby mama and their son.  Because The Upside is based on a true story, I can’t say the likelihood of this scenario happening is one in a million or who knows, maybe I can, we’ve just not heard of any similar cases.  The movie was moving, funny and semi-quasi emotional.  The relationship between Philip and Dell was complicated, at best.  There were a lot of Kevin Hart dynamics displayed throughout the film and I think this was certainly one of Kevin’s better performances.  Speaking of being qualified for a job, I felt Nicol Kidman was over qualified for her role, which in my opinion, didn’t require such an experience actress.  It is interesting to see how the story develops and how relationships were mended and how a win, lose situation became a win, win for everyone.  I think The Upside is definitely worth seeing, Check It Out!

NOTE:  Although The Upside was filmed in 2017, it wasn’t released in the United States until January 11, 2019 because it was originally suppose to be distributed by The Weinstein Company in March 2018, however the film was shelved and sold off following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations.