Get On Up
Before last night, I knew nothing about James Brown other than that he was an entertaining entertainer who screamed a lot, did splits on the stage in outrageous funky outfits, was a bit of a lunatic, had gone on a wild car chase from the cops sometime in 1988 when I was living in Nashville, TN and married to a musicologist (me, not him) and was called The Godfather of Soul. Now I know from the wonderful, rollicking biopic that he was an incredibly complex man whose mother abandoned him to an abusive father who then abandoned him to an aunt who was the kind madam of a whorehouse, where he became greatly influenced by gospel music and morphed into the James Brown that we think we know. It's hard not to smile throughout this movie while you're nodding your head, wiggling your hips and tapping your feet, thankful that a man with so much talent can emerge from so much hardship and sorrow and make his complex mark, for better or worse, on a world that essentially remained oblivious to how he got there.
More 3-Line Movie Reviews
Begin Again
Chef
The Immigrant
Cesar Chavez
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gloria
Labor Day
Philomena
Elizabeth, you really have something here with these three-line movie reviews. This is just brilliant and incisive and now I know so much more and want to see this movie. All this from your three lines. Somebody give this woman a contract!
ReplyDeleteAnd Mick Jagger was a producer! I cannot wait to see this movie. I never saw Mr. Brown live in performance and I am sorry for that. His story, BB King's story- these are what should be taught in American history.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the movie.
Sounds promising! I'll try to see it! I first took notice of James Brown back in high school, in the early '80s, when Eddie Murphy used to do that hilarious imitation of him.
ReplyDeleteHow'd you do that? You got three lines in and not a one of them feels like a run on sentence.
ReplyDeleteI love these movie reviews you do ...