Music Biopic Week: Rocketman (2019) — The Dream That Became Elton John

Rocketman

Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Written by: Lee Hall

Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden

Release Date: May 31, 2019

Rocketman is more than an Elton John biopic — it’s a dazzling, dreamlike musical about fame, addiction, and self-acceptance. Taron Egerton delivers a fearless, heartfelt performance in Dexter Fletcher’s visionary reimagining of a rock legend’s life.

A Biopic That Dares to Dream

Rocketman isn’t a typical music biopic. It’s not a linear walk through Elton John’s career milestones or a sanitized story of redemption. Instead, it’s a fever dream — a kaleidoscope of memory, regret, and melody.

From the first frame, Dexter Fletcher makes it clear this isn’t about cold facts. The film unfolds like Elton John recalling his life through the fog of stardom and substance abuse. The result is a surreal, confessional musical that blurs the line between performance and therapy.

Elton himself executive-produced the film, and it feels like we’re watching him narrate his own subconscious: moments of euphoria, loneliness, and creative combustion stitched together by the songs that defined him.

Taron Egerton Becomes Elton’s Reflection

Taron Egerton doesn’t mimic Elton John — he reimagines him. He doesn’t look or sound precisely like the real man, but that’s the point. This is Elton’s dream of Elton. A fantasy version who’s at once more handsome, more tortured, and somehow more fragile.

Egerton captures both Elton’s swagger and insecurity with extraordinary empathy. His performance brims with charisma and self-awareness, the kind that makes you believe he’s not just playing a role — he’s embodying a feeling. And crucially, he does his own singing, giving every musical number a raw, lived-in energy that no lip-sync could match.

After Rocketman, I was fully on board with the idea of Egerton as a bona fide movie star, history has yet to see him make that leap. In Rocketman however, he’s a superstar who sells emotion, humor, and heartbreak in equal measure.

The Complicated Friendship at the Heart of It All

Jamie Bell plays Bernie Taupin, Elton’s lifelong lyricist and creative soulmate. Their relationship forms the film’s emotional spine — two misfits who found in each other a way to express their pain and joy through art.

Many casual fans once assumed they were lovers; Rocketman clarifies that their bond was something deeper — a spiritual partnership that transcended romance. Bell’s quiet warmth and sensitivity ground the movie’s more extravagant sequences, and his musical chemistry with Egerton is as powerful as the real thing.

Villains, Lovers, and Parents Through Elton’s Eyes

Richard Madden plays John Reid, Elton’s lover and manipulative manager. Critics who call Madden’s performance too broad miss the point: Rocketmanis told through Elton’s distorted memory. Of course Reid comes across as a larger-than-life villain — that’s how Elton remembers him.

The same applies to Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh as Elton’s emotionally distant parents. They aren’t portraits of real people; they’re symbols — Freudian approximations of rejection and longing. In this dream logic, Fletcher turns biographical trauma into cinematic myth.

A Jukebox of Emotion

Rather than treat Elton’s songs as set dressing, Rocketman uses them as emotional architecture. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “I’m Still Standing,” and “Your Song” aren’t just performances; they’re expressions of who Elton is at each stage of his life.

Lee Hall’s screenplay and Fletcher’s direction let the music dictate the rhythm of Elton’s psyche. Every number feels like a confession disguised as a showstopper. This isn’t Bohemian Rhapsody’s cleaned-up timeline — this is the unfiltered interior life of a man who turned pain into poetry.

Final Thoughts

Rocketman is a biopic that sings from the soul. It’s bold, imaginative, heartbreaking, and triumphant — much like Elton John himself.

When I first saw it, I didn’t expect to be swept away. I’m a fan of Elton’s music, but not a superfan. And yet, by the time the credits rolled, I felt like I had lived inside his heart for two hours.

Rocketman is one of the finest musical biographies ever made.

Movie Review: Fantastic Four (2015) – A Superhero Reboot That Falls Apart

Fantastic Four is a 2015 superhero film directed by Josh Trank. It stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as the iconic Marvel team. A dark, serious-minded reboot of the comic book classic, the film reimagines the team's origin but struggles with tone, pacing, and cohesion.

Plot Summary

Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) invent a prototype matter transporter that opens a portal to a parallel dimension. After being recruited by scientist Franklin Storm, Reed joins forces with Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), Sue Storm (Kate Mara), and Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) to explore the other world. But a catastrophic accident mutates them all. Now imbued with unstable powers, the group must confront personal demons, military interests, and an old friend-turned-enemy threatening to destroy Earth.

What Works

• Performance: The cast—especially Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell—show promise, even if the script underuses them.
• Direction: Josh Trank brings an initially intriguing, grounded approach to the material, aiming for a sci-fi tone reminiscent of *Chronicle*.
• Potential: The film hints at compelling character dynamics, especially Ben’s tragic transformation and Reed’s guilt.

What Doesn't Work

• Pacing: The origin story drags on for too long, with the team only coming together in the final minutes.
• Visuals: Action sequences are muddled by flat, dark cinematography that undermines excitement.
• Script & Structure: The film feels disjointed, with last-minute reshoots (and Kate Mara’s wig) emblematic of behind-the-scenes turmoil.
• Tone: Grim and joyless, the film forgets the fun and family dynamic that made the Fantastic Four beloved in the first place.

Final Thoughts

Fantastic Four (2015) is a cautionary tale of studio interference, creative clashes, and missed potential. Despite a talented cast and a unique approach, it collapses under the weight of competing visions and an incoherent final act. This one is best remembered as a franchise misfire rather than a faithful adaptation.

Rating

⭐ Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

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What did you think of Fantastic Four (2015)? Leave a comment below or share your thoughts on what went wrong with this reboot!

If you enjoyed this review, check out my takes on other superhero movies here.

Movie Review Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four (2015) 

Directed by Josh Trank

Written by Josh Trank, Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater

Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell

Release Date August 7th, 2015 

Fantastic 4 is far from fantastic. (Yes, I know how cheesy that line is) This attempt to reboot the franchise following the disaster that was The Silver Surfer, assembled a terrific cast, a rising young director and arguably Hollywood's hottest screenwriter and somehow managed to make a movie that disappoints every audience, fanboys and casual moviegoers. This is a dull-witted origin story that fails that while successfully explaining the origins of the supposed heroes, waits until the final 10 minutes of the movie to make them heroic.

In many ways I feel bad for the team behind the new Fantastic Four. Director Josh Trank has stepped out and actually trashed the movie as it was being released. Trank claims that this isn't the movie that he made and that the movie he made was pretty good as opposed to the movie that we are getting in theaters this weekend. Trank's version of Fantastic Four is a movie we will never get to see. Indeed, Trank isn't wrong, this isn't a very good movie. That said, I wish there had been a slightly more diplomatic approach. 

It's a shame that this has gone the way it has because this Fantastic Four movie features some of the best actors of young Hollywood. The film stars Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Jamie Bell as his best friend Ben Grimm, Kate Mara as Reed's future wife, Sue Storm and the brilliant Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, Sue's adopted brother. The film follows Reed as he and Ben invent a prototype for a matter transporter. The successful invention leads to them being recruited by Franklin Storm, the father of Johnny and Sue, and the head of a scientific firm. 

What Reed and Ben don't know about their invention is that it is actually a portal to a parallel dimension. When they find out they are disappointed to learn that Franklin intends to send a group of NASA astronauts into this dimension rather than allowing Ben and Reed the chance to go themselves. Being hotshot kids, they recruit Sue and Johnny along with another friend and scientist, named Victor (Toby Kebbell) to join them as they sneak into the lab and make use of their invention. 

The trip goes horribly wrong and results in all five of the young scientists to be mutated. Reed becomes elastic, his body able to stretch to a remarkable degree. Sue becomes invisible, capable of appearing and disappearing at will. Johnny takes on the ability to become fire. He can fly and throw fireballs and it's as cool as it sounds except that he can't yet control his abilities. Poor Ben gets the worst of it all. Ben has been turned to stone. He can still move and breathe, and speak, but he's covered in rock. It does give him superhuman strength but at the expense of his basic humanity. 

The plot then becomes about Reed's guilt over seemingly dooming himself and his closest friends to a life of mutations that they cannot control. After making it back from the other dimension, losing Victor in the process, Reed manages to escape from a military holding facility and runs off to South America. Located a year later, he's taken into custody by Ben who is seemingly Reed's sworn enemy. Sue and Johnny also aid in Reed's capture having had suits developed for them that enable them to control their powers. 

A return to the parallel dimension reveals that Victor not only survived, but he's also built himself a kingdom. His return to this dimension finds him looking to destroy the Earth as he sees it as a threat to his new home. Thus begins an all-out war between the newly teamed Fantastic Four and Victor on Victor's turf as he launches an all-out assault to destroy the planet. And all of it is shot with a muddy, gross, dark aesthetic that renders the action unpleasant to look at. It's also tonally all over the place as the team isn't fully established as a team and only starts to develop chemistry just as the movie is ending. 

Fantastic Four is a gigantic mess and whether that is the fault of a meddling studio or an insecure director deflecting blame is something we can't know for sure. What we can know for sure is the movie makes little sense, appears to have been cobbled together from disparate pieces and is a general embarrassment for all involved. Poor Kate Mara is perhaps taking the brunt of the bad press as the reshoots and her abhorrent wig have become emblematic of the many, many problems plaguing this doomed adaptation. 

But she's not alone, no one gets out of Fantast Four (2015) unscathed. For poor Miles Teller this was a first shot at super-stardom and it has fallen completely to pieces. For Jamie Bell, the chance to have a regular big paycheck from a popular franchise is lost, though being so thoroughly talented and easily employable on the indie film scene is likely a strong comfort for him. As for Michael B. Jordan, he'll probably be fine. Chris Evans survived a disastrous turn as Johnny Storm in this relatively young century, I'm sure Jordan will as well. 

As for director Josh Trank, none of this reflects well on him. While he valiantly proclaims himself the victim and the artist, he's also coming off as petulant, ungrateful, egotistical. He will likely be a hero in parts of the online world for his supposed integrity but that is unlikely to translate into regular work as a director, especially within a studio system eager to weed out the rebels and troublemakers. Having so openly made enemies while making a major franchise film, it seems unlikely we will see him back behind the camera any time soon. 

This review is becoming an autopsy so I will leave it here. This isn't a very good movie. I feel bad for all involved. 

Movie Review Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017) 

Directed by Paul McGuigan

Written by Matt Greenhalgh

Starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Walters, Stephen Graham

Release Date November 16th, 2017

I fell in love with Gloria Grahame, as so many movie fans did, in her pitch perfect performance in In a Lonely Place, one of my all-time favorite films. Grahame plays one of those self-possessed, take-no-crap dames that always seemed to play opposite Bogart. He loved strong women, breaking down their defenses was what made him a screen icon, and them the envy of women everywhere. Grahame stood out, however, as she allowed herself just a little more vulnerability than the others, a note of extra sadness to go with the sass.

Gloria Grahame was rushed out of Hollywood before we truly got to know her. Her crime? Growing older and refusing to play along with Hollywood executives eager to capitalize on her beauty without respecting her talent. Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce recalled in a piece he wrote about the movie Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, how Grahame lost the iconic role of a gangster’s moll turned lady in Born Yesterday when she refused to ride alone in a limo with producer Howard Hughes. That’s Gloria Grahame in a nutshell, beautiful and uncompromising.

Annette Bening stars as Gloria Grahame in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool and she nails the beautiful and uncompromising parts of Gloria Grahame while also exploring that vulnerability and sadness that marked the Grahame I remember from In a Lonely Place. Jamie Bell co-stars in the film as Peter Turner, an aspiring Liverpool stage actor who lived in the same rundown tenement building as Grahame while she starred in one of the few stage productions in the world that would have her.

The two met and forged a relationship that might seem icky from the outside, a May-December romance that one might assume was about an older woman’s desire and a young man’s egotistical notion of ladder climbing. That’s not this story. That’s not this couple. In the hands of director Paul McGuigan and writer Matt Greenhalgh, there appears to be little age difference at all, but rather a meeting of twin spirits, genuinely excited to find one another.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review All of Us Strangers

All of Us Strangers (2023) 

Directed by Andrew Haigh

Written by Andrew Haigh 

Starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, Claire Foy 

Release Date August 31st, 2023 

Published December 4th, 2023 

Imagine returning to your childhood home as an adult and finding members of your family who have long since died, living there. They see the adult you that they never knew but they still recognize you and welcome you inside. You share laughter and memories and tears and promises are made about more visits. That's where the movie, All of Us Strangers from writer-director Andrew Haigh, begins. Adam, played by Andrew Scott, lost his parents when he was quite young. The harm from this traumatic loss has lingered through his entire life. When he returns to his childhood home and is greeted by his parents as he remembered them from youth, the confusion, heartache, and catharsis are bubbling over. 

If that's where the story of All of Us Strangers begins, you can't begin to imagine how it ends but I won't spoil that here. Adam is a deeply sheltered and broken man. As an adult he lives in an eerily empty apartment building in London. The lonely hallways are underlined by a scene where a fire alarm goes off and Adam retreats from the building surrounded by no one else. As he glances up to the building, there are so few people around that he is able to lock eyes with a neighbor who blew off the alarm and remained in the building. Adam knows he and his neighbor are communicating because no one else is around. 

That neighbor is Harry (Paul Mescal) who took their unique meet-cute, Adam glancing up at the building, Harry smiling and waving to him, as an invitation to meet Adam at Adam's apartment. After Adam has returned to the building, Harry is at his apartment door. He has a special bottle of whiskey and offers to share it with his lonely neighbor. The implications here are not subtle, Harry is openly flirtatious and Adam reluctantly so. Despite Harry's charm, Adam sends him away. That's not the last we will see of Henry however, as eventually, Adam's interaction with his late parents, played by Jamie Bell and Claire Foy, to take a chance on his own potential happiness. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review The Eagle

The Eagle (2011) 

Directed by Kevin MacDonald 

Written by Jeremy Brock 

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong

Release Date February 11th, 2011 

Published February 11th, 2011

Could the wholly un-ironic hero be making a comeback? If the new action movie “The Eagle” is any indication the answer is a solid maybe. The box office is the real deciding factor on such a trend but “The Eagle” is a notable movie for bringing back the story of the unabashed hero, a flawless, stalwart do-gooder who does what he feels is right without pausing for reflection or most importantly without the armor of ironic distance from his quest.

Channing Tatum is the earnest star of “The Eagle” as Marcus Aquila the new commander of a decrepit English outpost of the Roman Empire. Marcus's father was the leader of the legendary 9th Legion, 5000 men who simply vanished in Northern England (Scotland) leading to the establishment of Hadrian's Wall, the edge of the earth for Romans.

Lost in the battle with the 9th Legion was their legendary symbol, a golden eagle that stands for Rome. Marcus aches to recover the Eagle to restore honor to his family name. After suffering an injury in battle Marcus's military career looks to have ended abruptly but after a painful recovery he is ready for a return and he has one quest in particular in mind.

With only the aid of his slave Esca (Jamie Bell), Marcus intends to cross into the unconquered territories and rescue the Eagle of the 9th.

”The Eagle” is a movie that doesn't mess around; director Kevin McDonald jumps into the fray and tells a well paced, well motivated story with an economy of dialogue and free of the kind of sardonic asides that modern action movies use as a buttress against seeming to care about the action around them.

The modern action movie began employing humor as a way of barricading itself from the criticism of the oftentimes goofy action, a way of saying 'we know how goofy this looks.' However, in becoming self aware, the action hero became self conscious and the act of heroism became a burden. “The Eagle” rejects the distance between hero and heroism and in doing so feels kind of fresh in comparison.

Channing Tatum is really the perfect star for this kind of movie. Tatum's stony visage seems incapable of winking at the audience, or of really knowing why he would be winking. Instead, Tatum bowls forward head first into the action with earnest relish and while you can make fun of his lack of depth his sturdy toughness fits the role and gives “The Eagle” some real juice.

While Tatum brings the toughness, Jamie Bell brings the acting chops. Bell steals scene after scene in “The Eagle” with his angry, determined performance. Bell gives life to Esca's back story, a slave captured from the North who may just as soon slit Marcus's throat as save his life, with his forceful words and a deathly stare.

The action in “The Eagle” is a little too much of the quick cut style that has plagued far too many modern action epics but director Kevin McDonald saves it with solid pacing and well motivated characters. His heroes have purpose and desire and while honor in battle is something that the modern action hero turns his nose up at, it's refreshing to see that type of hero make a comeback here.

”The Eagle” is a rugged, earnest action movie for audiences that have tired of the modern action hero and his ironic aside. I'm not saying that ironic self awareness is dead but occasionally it's nice to see a hero who says what he means and does what he says he's going to do without the armor of the one liner to keep anyone from taking him too seriously. There is something at stake in “The Eagle” and the hero doesn't hide from it behind a jokey insistence that nothing really matters.

Movie Review The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright

Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg

Release Date December 21st, 2011 

Published December 20th, 2011

The Adventures of Tintin is a remarkable technical achievement. Every moment of The Adventures of Tintin looks like a beautiful comic book come to life. There is no doubting the technical mastery involved in bringing 'Tintin' to the big screen; it does after all have the names Steven Speilberg and Peter Jackson over the title.

So, why am I not completely sold on 'Tintin?'

Who's Tintin?

Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a boyish newspaper reporter with a great nose for a story. Tintin stumbles on what may be the biggest scoop of his career when he buys a model ship at a flea market. The ship is highly coveted and Tintin is warned by one strange man while another man, Ivan Ivanovich (Daniel Craig) offers him a suspicious amount of money for the ship.

Having been intrigued by the warning and the bidding war over the ship, Tintin gets into investigation mode. When he returns home he finds his flat ransacked and the ship missing. After another encounter with Mr. Ivanovich, Tintin stumbles over another important clue; one that Ivanovich will kill to get his hands on.

A Voyage to India

Tintin's clue leads to his kidnapping and a trip to India via ship during which Tintin makes a daring escape with the ship's former Captain, Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Haddock's connection to the model ships, there are more than one, is the key to a remarkable adventure that, of course, includes a fabulous treasure.

The Adventures of Tintin is a remarkable technical achievement that delivers fun with terrific visuals and some dazzling adventure scenes. Especially fun is a chase scene set in India involving a crumbling dam, a rocket launcher and an incredibly shrinking motorcycle and sidecar.

Motion Capture Animation

I am very resistant to motion capture animation; I have yet to see it rendered in truly spectacular fashion. Tintin is, in fact, the closest any filmmaker has come to making the form palatable, at least to me. The attempt to make animation look more and more realistic is a fool's errand. Speilberg and Jackson's 'Tintin' teeters on the brink of the 'uncanny valley' , the sweet spot between animated cute and animated creepy.

The adventure of "The Adventure of Tintin" helped me in getting over a little of my resistance to motion capture animation but not completely. 'Tintin' doesn't have that joyous, Pixar quality that inspires me to write love poems about the beauty of modern animation.

Nor does 'Tintin' have the ability to make me care for and worry for the characters; not in the way I might have for a live action character. Take Indiana Jones for instance; you know Indy is in no danger of death but you worry for him nevertheless. There is less worry for Tintin; the animation gives us distance from the characters that live action 'Indy' is able to bridge.

'Worth Seeing if'

That said, I still recommend "The Adventures of Tintin." Kids and parents alike will love the film's bright colors and colorful characters. Tintin as a character is a terrific role model and Captain Haddock's story of redemption from drunk to hero is a terrifically well played arc.

"The Adventures of Tintin" doesn't reach the heights of great animated movies and falls well short of the best live action movies. Instead, "The Adventures of Tintin" rates a 'worth seeing if' rating. It's worth seeing if you have already seen "We Bought a Zoo," "The Muppets," or "Hugo."

Movie Review Jumper

Jumper (2008) 

Directed by Doug Liman 

Written by David S. Goyer, Simon Kinberg, Jim Uhls 

Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Kristen Stewart, Michael Rooker, Anna Sophia Robb, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson 

Release Date February 14th, 2008

Published February 13th, 2008

David Rice (Hayden Christensen) can be anywhere he imagines in a moment's notice. Surfing in Hawaii, lunching atop the sphinx, or across his apartment without having to step around the coffee table, David has the ability "Jump" anywhere. It's a cool talent to have. David uses this unique talent to rob banks. Don't fret, he leaves IOU's. That is the premise of Jumper the latest from director Doug Liman starring the perpetually quivery Hayden Christenson.

As a teenager David Rice fell through the thin ice of a lake and was nearly killed. At the last moment he imagined the local library and was transported there. Slowly coming to grips with this new ability to go anywhere he wants with a single thought, David starts by using his new ability to escape his angry bitter father (Michael Rooker). Needing a getaway location, David takes off for New York and is soon robbing banks to finance a comfortable lifestyle. It is then that he meets Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson) who is some kind of supernatural cop. Roland explains the plot, David is a Jumper and Roland is a Paladin. Paladin's hunt Jumpers and kill them.

Narrowly escaping his paladin encounter, David meets a fellow Jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell) and is warned that Paladins will kill everyone he has ever known in their attempt to find him. This leads David back home and to the girl who he left behind, Millie (Rachel Bilson). While David watches out for the Paladins, he and Millie rekindle their childhood romance. Once the Paladins arrive however, it kicks off a worldwide war between Jumpers and Paladins. 

It's not a bad comic book premise really. The problem is it's underdeveloped as a movie. The rules for Jumpers and Paladins are vague and are sloppily made up as the movie goes. along. Rules then are disregarded when the plot requires them to be. The idea is merely a hanger on which director Doug Liman and his effects team can hang a number of huge special effects shots and a travelogue of worldwide locations from Tokyo to London to Rome to whatever other touristy location a majority of the audience might recognize. The effects aren't bad, for the most part, but who cares. If I wanted to watch the world go by I would watch the Travel Channel.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media