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The James Brown biography "Get on Up" is a very long movie. It stays slightly under 2.5 hours, but did like it needed to be shortened at any point at all. It's very entertaining and worth a watch from start to finish. The director Tate Taylor, originally an actor, you may not know too much about other than that he was also responsible for "The Help" not too long ago. You will find Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer in smaller roles here too. Davis plays Brown's mother and shines in her small screen time. Spencer is his aunt, but does not really have very much to work with. She is okay with what she is given.
It is yet to be determined if this film will go completely under the radar during awards season or possible be as successful as the likes of "Dreamgirls", "Ray" or "Chicago". Chadwick Boseman absolutely deserves lots of credit for his performance here. He makes the film from start to finish. Another highlight was Nelsan Ellis playing Brown's best friend. You may know him from "True Blood". Quality performance he delivers here.
The writing is pretty good too. Let me emphasize two scenes that depict Brwon's development as person very well: 1) When he slowly rises to stardom and gets a limousine from his record label, he says he won't need a chauffeur as he is gonna drive himself. Later on, we see he has one. The music industry quickly managed to devour him.
2) It seems he became almost exactly his father. When his mom and dad argue aggressively early on, they reunite right away afterward and have makeup sex without really talking about the problem. When James is grown up, there is a scene where he completely loses his temper and destroys a telephone. He and his wife don't get along so well, but they "solve" the issues just like his parents did. We also see several scenes where we witness him being as aggressive as his dad.
As a whole, it is a nothing truly great, but a film that makes certainly a good watch if you are interested in James Brown's life. Of course you get some grand music and interesting references (Rolling Stones, Martin Luther King...) and even if it is not a comedy, you will find occasionally some humor in here. I smiled a lot.
score 6/10
Horst_In_Translation 27 October 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3112447/ |
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22-11-2019 06:41:27
