It’s been eight years since director Baz Luhrmann provided us with a feature film, his last being “The Great Gatsby” in 2013. This year, his new film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to a thunderous ovation and set the stage for high expectations. It’s time to find out if the audience was merely being excessively polite or if the movie deserves the hype. Did it leave us “all shook up” or “looking for trouble”?
James Wilson, Howard Casner and Amanda Kirkham join the podcast to poke at and prod the extravaganza that is “Elvis”. Along the way we get some history lessons, clashes over Elvis’s cultural impact and some admiration for the lead performance of Austin Butler. Chaos, historical fiction and archival footage is all in store for you as you listen to our assessment of the movie.
While there is no doubt that Colonel Parker could not arrange for Elvis to be drafted, there is some question about the choice of Tom Hanks to portray our unreliable narrator. Some of the guests get carried away looking for a way to fight back against the Colonel’s power, years after it makes no difference, and some of us were just intrigued by the odd accent that Hanks adopts in delivering this performance.
In addition to the historical accuracy or lack thereof, we also talk about the things concerning Elvis that the film leaves out. The guests were a bit surprised at the minimal screen time the marriage of Elvis and Pricilla received in this two hour and thirty-nine minute movie. Maybe the four hour version of the film that Luhrmann has hinted at will satisfy our curiosity.
There is no reason to be lonesome tonight, you can just download the podcast and spend the evening with us.
Introductions
General Discussion 3:00
Spoiler Territory [in case you don’t know] 39:00
Lambscores 1:01:40
Rants/Raves/Reviews 1:03:20
The Box Office is Right [Game] 1:16:40
Amanda Catching Up/Hollywood Consumer
Howard Pop Art
James Blogging By Cinema Light
Richard Strother Martin Film Project
The show can be found, of course, via iTunes – just do a search for “LAMBcast.” Also, I always post a link to the show on the LAMBcast’s Facebook page, and there’s a player there if you’d like to listen online. Find the show here:
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2022-06-27T11_36_27-07_00
If you’d ever like to catch up on back episodes, go there. If you’re interested, you too can be a LAMBcaster – we love new blood! For more information on the LAMBcast, check out the topic at the LAMB Forums. Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod’s Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. Closing song by Cake. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too – if you’d like yours read on a future show, leave it in the comments section at the LAMB. Please visit and like our Facebook page, and finally, we’re on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it’s a bad one. Thanks for listening!