Baz Luhrmann

Elvis lives anew (on HBO)

“Elvis,” the movie, is back with us. Elvis, the memory, never went away.
Baz Luhrman’s film (shown here) has a few flaws, plus lots of strengths. It was praised by the majority of critics (including me) and has topped $277 million worldwide at the box office.
Now it reaches HBO, starting at 8 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 3). With that in mind, I’m rerunning my review; here it is: Read more…

“Elvis”: a story worth re-re-re-re-telling

Every person, we’re told, has a story. Every life would make a good movie.
Perhaps, but TV and movies keep telling one life-story over and over. That’s Elvis Presley.
The latest example is Baz Luhrmann’s glittery, jittery “Elvis”(shown here) now in theaters. Some critics found it too frenetic, but most approved; with a few reservations, I liked it a lot. Read more…