BEFORE: If I'm late posting tonight, it's because I had to work at a premiere of the new "Smurfs" movie - and you know how much I love working at movies with a bunch of kids attending. Also I was working outside and it was like 85 degrees so I probably got my arms sunburned, because I never think to wear sunblock, most summer days like this I just stay home and I only go out if we need half-and-half or want bagels. The kids were pretty well-behaved (too hot to act up, I guess) so the biggest problems were an injured seagull that decided to take up residence in the theater's foliage (of course, RIGHT behind where the guests were going to check in) and the fact that they handed out not just popcorn and candy, but also (for some reason) cannolis with a blue filling - it took two hours for the porters to clean JUST the theater, and then they could focus on the lobby, bathrooms and the sidewalk outside, which was stained in blue goo. I know it was from the cannoli filling, but with costumed Smurfs characters walking around I suppose other answers were possible. Try not to think about that too much.
I realize I covered Elton John in last year's Doc Block, but then this film got released on Disney+, late last year, and also I feel I have to make up for including "Becoming Rocketman", which was just a thrown-together doc that aired on AXS. This one's an authorized doc that actually saw fit to interview Elton himself.
John Lennon carries over from "Travelin' Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall".
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium" (Movie #4,781)
THE PLOT: Showcases never-before-seen concert footage of Elton John over the past 50 years, as well as hand-written journals and present-day footage of him and his family.
AFTER: The idea here was to land this doc somewhere right in-between the two Elton John films I watched last year, the schlockumentary that contained some information about Elton (but not much) and the concert film, which was all music and no info. BUT since this was an inside job (co-produced and co-directed by Elton's life partner) they had access to the man himself, so we finally get to hear Elton's side of things, PLUS a bunch of his music, so that should have been a win-win. As a bonus, yesterday's film about CCR was set in London in April 1970, and that's kind of around where this one starts.
BUT, the timeline, or timelines are all a bit crazy. There are two concurrent timelines, which should be a contradiction in terms. One details Elton's career, from about 1970 to sort of mid-1975, a most creative period during he released eleventy or so albums (JK, it was 15) and the other timeline showcases his Farewell Tour (well, sort of, it's lean on concert footage from most of the cities). So by toggling between the two timelines, it's impossible to keep track - we're in London in 1970, then we're in Detroit in July 2022. Back to Colorado in 1972, and then jump forward again to Toronto in September 2022. This is not how time works - although I guess it does progress forward in both time periods more or less similarly randomly - but the end result if kind of like watching "Slaughterhouse Five" with Elton John in the central role.
To make things more confusing, both time periods end with a large concert at Dodger Stadium - the first one he did in fall 1975 and the last concerts he did in the U.S. in November 2022. This doc claims that the 1975 show was the FIRST time that a solo act played a large stadium show, and I don't know, that just can't be correct. Sinatra never played a big stadium? What about Elvis? I just want to see the paperwork on this point.
The other problem here is that I've seen many of these key moments in Elton John's life re-enacted in other movies, like "Rocketman" and those other docs. The footage of Elton actually retiring and saying he wants to spend more time with his family was also seen in the "Farewell from Dodger Stadium" film. Even the interactions with John Lennon and Elton guest-singing on "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" and betting John it would be a number one record, I've seen that in a couple John Lennon docs, this is just the same story told from the other P.O.V. We already know that the record was a hit, Lennon lost the bet and then he had to perform with Elton at MSG on Thanksgiving and this is when they sang that song, plus "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There" together, and that was Lennon's last major live concert appearance.
This is probably the first doc where Elton addresses not just his sexuality but his lack of it in the early days, that he was a virgin when he became a record star, and his first experiences were with his producer, John Reid - we kind of know all this already, but it's at least novel to hear John's side of this relationship in his own words. There's no mention of his short marriage to a woman, this apparently is still a taboo subject. They were married for three years, but the "Rocketman" movie would have you believe it was more like three days. Any details beyond that are just not available, it seems.
But OK, this is how the world works now, two men can get married and they can have children via surrogate and we're not allowed to ask which man is biologically the father, it's really none of our business, which is why everyone wants to know. The truth is, they may not even know, and it doesn't matter. And if Daddy's a superstar, he can make whatever he wants happen, and he can retire at age 75 if he wants to spend more time with his sons. It's all fine, let's move on.
We also got to see how Elton put his band together over time, so it's kind of like watching Batman put the Justice League together, only in rock music form. And a lot of those same band members played BOTH shows at Dodger Stadium, the 1975 one and the 2023 one, they have side-by-side footage so you can see how they all aged. Well, it's going to happen to us all, if we're lucky - may we all live long enough to have our songs sampled by much, much younger artists with zero talent. You know who I'm talking about.
Directed by R.J. Cutler (director/producer of "Belushi") & David Furnish (producer of "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium")
Also starring Elton John (last seen in "Tom Hanks: The Nomad"), David Furnish (last seen in "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman"), Bernie Taupin (ditto), Dua Lipa (last seen in "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium")
with archive footage of Winifred Atwell, Joe Biden (last seen in "Join or Die"), Jill Biden, Steve Brown, Paul Buckmaster, Ray Cooper, Gus Dudgeon, Pete Fornatale, Cliff Jahr, Davey Johnstone, Billie Jean King (last seen in "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"), Tony King, Jerry Lee Lewis (also carrying over from "Travelin' Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall"), Little Richard (last seen in "Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple"), Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Yoko Ono, Alexis Petridis, John Reid,
RATING: 5 out of 10 animated sequences (used when footage of Elton doing cocaine or trying to drown himself in a swimming pool was unavailable)
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