Rocketman (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

Trailer looks good. I'm curious to see this.

 

[Mark-P]

As much as I enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, the main thing that really disappointed me was that Rami Malek's singing was (for the most part) dubbed. I'm happy to report that Taron Egerton does all his own singing in Rocketman.

 

[Wayne_j]

Taron Egerton and Elton John perform Tiny Dancer at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Rocketman is the latest movie to get sneak preview screenings via a Fandango promotion. These will happen on May 18 prior to the film's wide release on May 30, so that's a good while early. Naturally tickets for the sneaks are only available on Fandango, but you can get them now.

 

[Jake Lipson]

For those of you who normally use Fandango, how long does it take for you to get your email confirmation? I usually prefer to use Cinemark.com but I bought Rocketman tickets on Fandango for the sneak because it's their promotion and the tickets aren't available from other sources. I'm used to receiving email confirmation instantly from Cinemark, but it's been several minutes now and I haven't received anything from Fandango confirming my purchase. It is listed in my purchase history, so I know the transaction went completed, but I don't have the email saying it was. Is there typically a lag time between when you place an order and when you get your confirmation email? If so, how long is it typically? Thanks!

 

[Wayne_j]

Confirmations are usually instant from Fandango.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Thanks @Wayne_j. That's really weird I didn't get one then.

Complicating matters is that it's at a theater that is out of my way. If it was at my close one, I would just go over there this weekend and get the ticket early, but since it's a little farther, I was planning on taking the email in to pick up the tickets on the day of the show.. But I can't do that without the email. I'll call the theater tomorrow and ask what to do.

 

[Sam Favate]

For those of you who normally use Fandango, how long does it take for you to get your email confirmation?

I find that they are not always instantaneous, but can sometimes take up to an hour. If you have the app on your phone, you can always log in and "see" your tickets, with a code to be scanned.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I find that they are not always instantaneous, but can sometimes take up to an hour.

Well, it's been well over an hour now. I got an email from Fandango this morning promoting that I should see Endgame -- but nothing for my Rocketman purchase. Weird.

Anyway, here's a music video for Taron Egerton's version of the title song:



Edit: While this is purely anecdotal, the Fandango screening here seems to be doing pretty well. If I counted correctly, my theater showing it has 105 available seats (it's one of those with large luxury recliners.) Of those, 34 have been sold since tickets went on sale yesterday. It will probably be full, or close to it, by the time the screening happens.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Using Fandango for this purchase has been a weird experience. I am going to one of their sneak previews that you can't get into without buying the ticket from them, so I don't regret it, but it has not been smooth, so they're not doing much to encourage me to keep using them on screenings where I have a choice.

I never did get the confirmation email, even though I am on Fandango's mailing list and have received other emails from them promoting certain releases, including this one. Last Friday, May 3, I called Fandango to inquire why I didn't get the email and spent 45 minutes on hold before leaving a callback number. When the callback didn't come, I eventually found the order in my order history and printed confirmation of it that way, regardless of the lack of email. The return phone call came early Sunday morning, but it came from a number that was only listed as two digits, so I thought it was likely a junk call and didn't answer it.

Then, around the middle of last week, I noticed that the listing for the showtime I'm attending disappeared entirely from Fandango's website and they weren't selling tickets anymore. I did not receive an automatic refund, so decided to call the theater to verify whether they were still having the screening. The manager seemed flummoxed by my question and said that they were still having it, but if I had any questions I would have to contact Fandango since "Fandango invites the people." I don't think he understood that it was a public screening and that you just purchase your tickets through Fandango as a normal transaction; it seemed like he thought I was asking about some sort of press screening or something.

Then, yesterday, I noticed that the showtime had been re-listed on Fandango just as suddenly as it was taken off. My seats are still reserved so they didn't change anything; the temporary removal seems to have amounted to a glitch. It's selling very well too; as of now, there are 27 seats left in a room that seats 105, and most of the available seats are at the very front up close to the screen. I would not be surprised at all to see it sell out before the show happens next Saturday.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Variety has an interview with producer David Furnish, who also happens to be Elton John's husband. Today is the premiere at Cannes. I wonder when the reviews will start coming in.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/rocketman-elton-john-biopic-premieres-cannes-1203212483/

The first public screenings are Saturday through the Fandango promotion, so there really wouldn't be any point to embargoing the reviews past that.

Is anyone else seeing it on Saturday? I'm getting excited.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Deadline has video from the Cannes premiere of Taron Edgerton and Elton John singing live. Also, apparently the movie got a 5-minute standing ovation.

https://deadline.com/2019/05/rocket...gerton-cannes-premiere-duet-video-1202616726/

 

[Malcolm R]

The actual reviews seem a bit more reserved:

https://ew.com/film-festivals/2019/05/16/rocketman-reviews-cannes/

 

[Craig S]

I'm going to tomorrow's screening; interestingly, I was able to buy my ticket direct from Cinemark.com - it even automatically used my monthly Movie Club ticket. At this point only front row seats are still available in my screening.

Having been an Elton fan since I first heard his songs playing on the radio in our family car back in the early 70s, I am very much looking forward to it. Even the most "meh" reviews I've read acknowledge that it's entertaining, and Egerton is getting universal praise. Sounds like they've gone full-on movie musical with big production numbers, which is completely appropriate for the subject.

 

[Craig S]

90% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.

Tonight's screening at the local Cinemark is completely sold out. Only 3 hours to go!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Tonight's screening at the local Cinemark is completely sold out. Only 3 hours to go!

Mine is almost, but not quite. Mostly the front row is left

One person who was planning to go with me had something else come up, so I had the unique issue of trying to refund one ticket on Fandango but not both. Turns out they won't let you do that; there's only a link to refund your entire purchase, not individual tickets from a larger purchase. So I had to refund the entire order. Fortunately, that released both seats instantly, so then I went over to Cinemark.com and bought back just my seat from them. I'm happy Cinemark listed it as I find their interface easier to use than Fandango, their service fee is less, and they actually sent me a confirmation email, which never came through with Fandango.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Here's a YouTube embed of the Cannes performance of the movie's title song by Elton John and Taron Egerton.

 

[Jake Lipson]

My thoughts...non-spoiler....

There are two ways you can go when you're making a movie featuring a famous pop star's songs. One is a standard biopic like Ray or Walk the Line where the songs are performance numbers and it's a straightforward movie about the artist's career and they only sing within their capacity as the artist. The other option is to make a original musical out of the artist's song catalog, like Mamma Mia! or Across the Universe where the songs are musical numbers for the sake of being musical numbers and the characters sing for no reason.

Amazingly, Rocketman does both of these at the same time.

The structure and trajectory of the plot is fairly standard for a musician biopic -- it tells the story of Elton's early life and rise to popularity, followed by the drugs and the depression and all that stuff -- but it upends the format by making many/most of its songs fantasy sequences sung by the cast (Taron Egerton and others, as well) as fully staged musical numbers for their own sake. There are also concert numbers as well as more standard scenes where he's writing music. It moves seamlessly between the reality and the fantasy, sometimes within the course of a single number. There are also scenes where Elton interacts with his younger self and other people participate in his fantasies.

So, obviously, you're either going to go with this conceit or you're not. I thought it was brilliant, but people who go in expecting it to be fully straightforward aren't going to get that. Personally, I think the unconventional approach to telling this story works, and makes it stand out among the biopic genre in a way that a completely realistic telling would not. But it's not going to work for everybody.

I've liked Taron Egerton very much in the Kingsman films, but this role allows him to demonstrate a whole range of new talent, both in terms of his singing and because Elton's life has much more dramatic weight than the hyper action violence of the Kingsman world. He's wonderful here, and if the Oscars were being handed out tomorrow, I would certainly put him in as a Best Actor contender. Whether he will actually make it there or not remains to be seen and likely depends on how many other great performances come our way before the end of the year. But he's great in it for sure. The rest of the cast is very good too. Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) is Elton's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Probably not coincidentally, Lee Hall, who wrote this, also wrote Billy Elliot, and Elton John musicalized it.

In addition to the hit parade you'd expect to have, there is also a new song specifically for the film over the credits, which is a duet between himself and Taron Egerton called "I'm Gonna Love Me Again." This is great and stands alongside his previous hits with distinction. I think it is a shoo-in for a Best Original Song nomination and could potentially give Elton two nominees in that category this year for two different movies (The Lion King being the other, since I'm sure there's going to be something new in there too.)

The theater was basically full. However, response was very muted. I couldn't tell if this was because people didn't like it or if they were just trying to be polite. At the end, I clapped, and so did one other person, but that's it. I'm VERY curious to see how it will do commercially -- I think it deserves to be a huge hit, but I could also see some people being turned off by the fantasy sequences.

What did you think, @Craig S? And, did anyone else go tonight?

The only downside to seeing the sneak preview is that I can't immediately go get the soundtrack, which comes out next Friday. But I'm going to get it for sure. For anybody else interested in getting it, be aware that Target has an exclusive edition with two extra tracks that aren't on the regular edition sold elsewhere: https://www.target.com/p/cast-of-ro...-picture-deluxe-target-exclusive/-/A-54606830.

 

[Malcolm R]

I'm always amazed when people talk about audiences' reaction at the end of films. Must be a local phenomenon. I've never had any significant reaction by the audience at any film I've seen. Around here, the credits roll and people get up and leave. They don't sit there and applaud.

 

[Joe Wong]

My wife and I loved it as well!