Popular reviews

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  Review by Sean Baker 6

  Finally watched it after decades of wondering if I should. Well, I should have a long time ago. Even though there is a TV aesthetic that we know has more to do with the network than Carpenter's ability, it's an absorbing TV movie that has an incredible performance by Russell. Honestly, I can't think of a better Elvis performance. Up to now, I've always felt like I was watching caricatures when an actor takes on Elvis but in this case, I 100% forgot I was watching Russell. This performance should be remembered.

  Watched the Shout Selects Blu-ray. Wish there were modern interviews with Carpenter and Russell but still good extras.

  - "Bringing A Legend To Life" Featurette With Archival Interviews Of Kurt Russell And John Carpenter (1979)
  - Commentary By "The Voice Of Elvis" Ronnie McDowell And Author Edie Hand
  - Rare Clips From American Bandstand
  - Photo Gallery

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  Review by Sam ★★★

  Pretty good film about how much Elvis wanted to bang his mother

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  Review by ♠ Benja ♠ ★★★½

  Made for tv biopic running at almost three hours of one of the most iconic musicians to ever grace the field, with Carpenter in charge of the direction and Kurt Russell brilliantly portraying Elvis.

  Aside from some clunky lip-sync and the omission of his tragic descent due to the proximity in date with the release of the film and tv film limitations, the film is pretty solid throughout, and the almost 3 hours keep things engaging and insightful.

  There's a crazy Elvisception parallel revolving around Kurt and Elvis. In this film, a 27 yo Russell plays Elvis. In "It Happened at the World's Fair", a young debutant Russell runs on screen and kicks a 27 yo Elvis in the shin, and in "3000 Miles to Graceland", Russell plays an Elvis impersonator, and a young boy runs on screen and kicks him in the shin. Pretty damn wild if you ask me.

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  Review by Bruno Andrade ★★★★ 6

  O entusiasmo, para não dizer a imensa boa vontade geral dos cinéfilos para com essas supermáquinas hollywoodianas de 2022, The Fabelmans, Maverick, The Way of Water, The Batman, me faz perceber que hoje, e talvez já há um tempo, a maior parte dos cinéfilos gosta de ou faz um esforço para aceitar indiscriminadamente o que vem de Hollywood. (Apesar de ser outra dessas supermáquinas, o entusiasmo motivado por Nope é de outra ordem.)

  As razões para isso não me interessam; eu acredito, no entanto, que elas têm muito pouco a ver com os méritos reais, com a qualidade real desses produtos.

  Avaliando meu próprio interesse pela produção hollywoodiana, percebo que desde pelo menos 1998 ou 1999 ele passa a ser…

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  Review by Kylo ★★★½

  This was great. Wow, Kurt Russell gives a stellar performance as Elvis. He’s also such a young stud here. I see this earned him a nomination for a Golden Globe and Emmy. Well deserved. The movie was good if a little dated. It did feel long but that is due to it being a television movie which I’m assuming in those days were longer. However, it kept me entertained throughout with plenty of songs.

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  Review by B E R T ★★★½

  Time to prepare for Elvis next month with a handful of previous Elvis biopics, first up is this venture from 1979, directed by John Carpenter. Not bad, a bit long overall, felt more like a miniseries than a movie, but still a good watch that covers pretty much everything. Kurt Russell was surprisingly really good, I thought he was an odd choice at first but in the end he did very well in the role. I also loved Shelley Winters, in a much more demure role from this era of her career when she was mostly playing in campy horror flicks. It’s a product of the time, extremely aged and dated but that’s kinda what’s good about it.

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  Review by Daryl ★★★★

  Elvis is a biographical film directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley in their first film collaboration. An interesting insight into the life of one the most iconic musicians, with a story that reads true and is really entertaining. Kurt Russell is absolutely fantastic and pulls off a great Elvis and Shelly Winters was brilliant playing Elvis' mother. The direction was strong from Carpenter, and although I didn't necessarily have any issues with the pacing of the film, the editing could have been much tighter in places. Overall Elvis is a film I loved, and the music was fantastic.

  'Completing Carpenter'

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  Review by Hayden Welch

  "Listen to them. Man, they love him. He's gonna go on forever".

  Time for a quiz! Am I giving Elvis the benefit of the doubt because:

  a) The current landscape of bio-pics has been horrendously dry, formulaic, and frankly disrespectful to the legends they’re tackling. So this was a breath of fresh air.

  b) This is by the far the best made-for-television film I’ve ever seen, and could *almost* pass as a film deserving of a theatrical run; with the ridiculously small budget it’s so impressive. 

  c) My perpetual love for John Carpenter — especially his collaborations with Kurt Russel — is clouding the nerves in my brain that typically process films. 

  d) All of the above.

  Answer Key: with…

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  Review by Jessica ★★★½ 5

  A made-for-TV, nearly 3-hour spectacle from 1979 directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell, there is something unmistakably created-for-network-television about the way this looks. Whether because of budget and/or censorship, or because it was made specifically to be viewed on 1970s television sets as opposed to in a theater, this is not a critique about how this movie looks; as a fan of afterschool specials, I quite enjoyed the throwback production look of this. As movies and series have more of less abandoned traditional TV movies hallmarks in the last decade-and-a-half, it was cool to see something that registered so distinctly as a time capsule, while still being watchable and enjoyable.

  The focus of the story was interesting to…

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  Review by 𝚣𝚎𝚞𝚜 ★★★½ 2

  When presented with the age old question: “are you a Beatles guy or an Elvis guy?” I usually go with the former, but John Carpenter’s Elvis biopic at least swayed me in the other direction. This definitely felt very tame in comparison to some of the other popular music biopics that delve into the artist’s heavy drug use, but I understand why it wouldn’t go down that route. Enjoyable overall, but coulda used a little trim.

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  Review by emilyrugburn ★★ 8

  THE WRONG KID* DIED**!!!

  *movie called Elvis

  **got nominated for best picture 

  
  
  

  
  Just kidding, both suck lol 

  Loooooong sit, this. I’ve avoided it for ages and I just could no longer clown about this earthly plane claiming John Carpenter is my favorite director, when there’s still one feature length film of his I hadn’t seen. 

  So, ok. I’ve seen it. Kurt Russell’s accent is funny and the choice of singing voice he lip-syncs to is even funnier. But yeah…bad. 

  Also - it’s absolutely wild how powerful and effective media is at convincing people that they like bad movies they don’t actually like deep down and if you want a good recent example of this, consider that Elvis Presley’s daughter died, to literally 0.0% of a news cycle - like, literally no one talking about her death, whatsoever - the same month that an Elvis Presley movie was nominated for best picture.

  Like…what??????

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  Review by Cinema_Strikes ★★½

  Carpenter’s Elvis is almost worth watching for the performance and impression by a very young, very handsome Kurt Russell, but mostly it’s a bloated, by the numbers biopic that meanders from event to event. At least it’s leavened by a fun Shelley Winters turn as Elvis’s momma, the world’s oldest high schoolers, and some great period clothing and detail.

  I did have an issue with the casting of Season Hubley as Priscilla - she was the same age as Russell and looks it, which doesn’t capture the creepiness of the actual romance. Kind of reminded me of The Story, where Laura Dern in media res replaces the young actress playing her with a much younger actress.

  John Carpenter movies ranked here. Just two left.