Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Get on Up
Leslie - wrote on 08/18/2014
The Godfather of Soul gets the royal treatment in the Mick Jagger production “Get On Up.” The life of James Brown, who was also known as “the hardest working man in show business,” is grittily portrayed by Chadwick Boseman. The nonlinear film jumps in and out of the life and times of James Brown, opening with the humorous yet tragic incident that landed him in jail. Incensed by the neighboring business’ refusal to refrain from using his dry cleaning business’ bathroom, Brown interrupts their meeting with a diatribe for the ages-riffle in hand. We then are ushered back to Brown’s roots in rural Georgia. We see him as an innocent child who witnesses the complex abusive and sexual relationship of his father(Lennie James) and mother (Viola Davis).
Brown’s childhood is …
Rating of
2.5/4
Mediocre
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 08/08/2014
Get On Up is a mediocre movie highlighted by a fantastic performance from its leading man. The plot is so-so and it’s direction pretentious. It might have been nothing but an obnoxious bit of failed Oscar bate was it not for Chadwick Boseman. He really put’s his all in to this role.
The movie itself is sloppy. Its plot is basically the same as Citizen Kane, only the details have changed. It also has a ton of plot threads that don’t go anywhere, and tries to make up for the fact by using jarring unnecessary nonlinear storytelling in order to disguise the movies incompetence.
I don’t know very much about James Brown, but this movie doesn’t really paint him in a very good light. His character is also just like Citizen Kane, the main character from the movie of the same …
