Elvis

In a world where there are literally dozens of Elvis impersonation festivals held around the world, meaning thousands upon thousands of people, every year, dress up and sing like the King of Rock and Roll, Austin Butler, the young man who plays Elvis Presley in the new movie "Elvis" had a giant rhinestone jumpsuit to fill. Let me tell you, Austin Butler will no doubt be nominated for an Oscar, I also believe he will win. The kid knocked it out of the park - I was looking at Elvis Presley for close to three hours. As my friend Edward told me, (and I'm paraphrasing) "You can't capture somebody's life story in two or three hours." I agree. However "Elvis" does a great job of giving us a history lesson of the black culture Elvis grew up in, the gritty dirty blues and the gospel church singing - gyrating to the point of enraptured ecstasy. This music so powerfully influenced him, the result was it gave 'Black' music to white conservative audiences. The music in the film occasionally transitioned to contemporary rap - felt almost "Moulin Rouge!" at times - bringing that musical history some weight (some people might not like it but I loved it). The movie has a breakneck pace and holds its foot on the pink Cadillac gas pedal to the floor. Tom Hanks (with an accent that might be the movie's only flaw) plays Elvis's manager, the Colonel. He helped bring Elvis to super stardom but also prevented him from becoming something potentially even greater. The Colonel exploited Elvis and was the cause of the great singer's demise. Catch this likely to be Oscar nominated film in theatres before it leaves the building.