Elvis Presley

Elvis is finally streaming on HBO Max as fans pour into the service to see Baz Luhrmann's interesting biopic. Warner Bros. Discovery announced the news on ...

"The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley's rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. It's really about, for me, America in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s," Luhrmann shared. "And if you want to talk about America in the 50s and 60s and the 70s at the center of culture, for the good, the bad, and the ugly, is a figure [like] Elvis Presley." In the earlier moments of the summer, Elvis [managed to hold off](https://comicbook.com/movies/news/elvis-beats-top-gun-maverick-top-spot-at-weekend-box-office/) Top Gun: Maverick for top spot at the box office during its debut. The reviews of the film on Rotten Tomatoes praise Butler's performance and with this director, you can [expect some beautifully composed shots](https://comicbook.com/movies/news/hugh-jackman-reviews-elvis/). [Elvis](/category/elvis-noncomicmovie/) [is finally streaming](https://comicbook.com/movies/news/elvis-streaming-premiere-date-hbo-max/) on [HBO Max](/category/hbo-max/) as fans pour into the service to see Baz Luhrmann's interesting biopic.

Roxana Hadadi is a TV critic who also writes about film and pop culture, with the closed captions on and motion smoothing off. Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

And the kiss-off Elvis is never able to give Parker is just as important to this redemptive effort as the kisses he’s forced to provide. As Presley punches his fist in the air to their tempo, it’s a rare moment in Elvis when he’s actually in control — and Luhrmann is swift in undercutting it with a reminder that this triumph will not last. Elvis doesn’t go all the way into that period of Presley’s life; it’s too enamored with its subject to consider the man’s mistakes and missteps or make space for the individual agency that caused them. That scene cuts back and forth between Satine and the Duke in a bedroom, Christian singing “Come What May,” and other Moulin Rouge performers singing and dancing a tango version of the Police’s “Roxanne” with a hard, sexualized edge. After Presley puts on that fantastic first show at the International — one in which both he and the performers he assembled are doing the absolute most and best — it’s not Priscilla who comes out to stand by his side. Elvis, meanwhile, stays in one location, the theater of the International Hotel, and one song soundtracks the sequence: Presley’s “That’s All Right.” Luhrmann divides his attention between Presley, who is unleashing that gigantic voice and strutting around; his wife, Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge), proudly watching him from the audience; and Parker, seated with the owners of the International and signing Presley, without his knowledge, to a five-year exclusivity contract with the hotel as a means of covering the Colonel’s gambling debts. Army stint, the dozens of films in which he starred, co-starred, or cameoed — Parker engineers it all, and it’s a thrill when Elvis finally allows the singer to strike back by advocating for his own music and his own preferences. The scene that follows in Elvis plays like a remix of another late-film confrontation Luhrmann staged: “El Tango de Roxanne,” from Moulin Rouge!, in which Kidman’s Satine is basically sold to the tempestuous Duke (Richard Roxburgh) for a night, and her lover, Christian (Ewan McGregor), stews in a mixture of anger and grief, knowing what she is being forced to do. and Elvis make a complementary pair; they argue that the greatest danger to an artist and their art is the loss of bodily autonomy and the sacrifice of self. Here, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) is the sole culprit behind Elvis’s financial instability, drug addiction, fracturing family, and increasing irrelevance in the 1970s, and the film’s boundaries around Parker as a villain and Elvis as a hero are rigid and unmovable. Butler adds an edge of sly cunning and a raw vulnerability as Presley refuses Parker’s demands to don a bright-red cardigan to sing “Here Comes Santa Claus,” instead performing the Martin Luther King Jr.–inspired “If I Can Dream” in a creamy-white suit. [Glitter](https://www.vulture.com/2021/09/the-never-ending-story-of-glitter-20-years-on.html) to [The Runaways](https://www.vulture.com/2010/01/kristin_stewart_runaways_sunda.html) have positioned this as a particularly female problem, locking women into a restricted identity and spiraling them into despair.

Tom Hanks has never gone bad the way he does in Baz Luhrmann's 'Elvis.' He's also never delivered such a broad, silly performance.

What a shock and thrill it would be to see Hanks truly get in touch with his without the crutch of quotation marks or fat suits. The best that can be said for his performance in Elvis is that it’s in keeping with the big-top theatricality of the material — and with the conception of Parker as an ersatz cowboy, a fraud entrepreneur for the ages. To truly subvert it, he’d need to go full Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West, draining his heroic persona of all mercy and compassion. To that end, the past Hanks performance this new one most resembles is his over-the-top turn as a Southern dandy crook in the Coen brothers’ widely reviled remake of The Ladykillers. Is Hanks now so synonymous with virtue and integrity in the public eye that he has to be wholly caricatured — to be turned into a living cartoon — to convince as a scoundrel? In a sense, it’s the opposite tactic of the one It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood employs. There, director Marielle Heller did little to disguise the star because the idea of Hanks as Hollywood’s premier backbone of essential goodness is basically identical to the film’s conception of Mr. And when he’s cast as a real person, it’s usually for the way his own comforting qualities as an icon can evoke someone else’s, even serving as a proxy for — in the most pertinent example — the comparable wholesomeness of Fred Rogers. There’s a germ of a canny idea in putting Hanks in such a dastardly new context, in securing him to play such an unscrupulous man. What that ridiculous, Professor Klumpian getup suggests is that Luhrmann (or at least his financiers) refused to believe that audiences would accept Hanks as a bad guy without the visual aid of a total physical transformation. That the movie is narrated by Parker should, in theory, put uninformed viewers in the same position as the budding rock star — which is to say, invite them to mistake a music-biz Lucifer for an eccentric fairy godfather. To play Colonel Tom Parker, the infamously exploitative manager of Elvis Presley, Hanks dons mounds of prosthetic enhancements: a fake nose here, baggy glue-on jowls there, padding that lends him roughly the same bulbous shape as Jim Broadbent in Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.

Have you been needing a little shake, rattle, and roll to liven up your nights? If so, then you'll want to make sure your HBO Max subscription is up to date ...

[HBO Max](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming/hbo-max) [HBO Max](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming/hbo-max/buy)has two tiers, an ad-supported plan for $9.99 and ad-free plan for $14.99. It is The Streamable’s choice for [Best Streaming Service of 2022](https://thestreamable.com/news/ultimate-streaming-tournament-final-round-which-service-is-best-in-2022). Tom Parker and breakout star Austin Butler (“ [The Carrie Diaries](https://thestreamable.com/shows/the-carrie-diaries-2013)”) as Elvis Presley. [HBO Max](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming/hbo-max) subscription is up to date. After a 70-day run in theaters and video-on-demand, you’ll finally be able to watch “Elvis” from the comfort of your own home with a [Subscription to HBO Max](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming/hbo-max/buy). So if you’re a Hulu customer who’s been on the fence about HBO Max, try it free today! [video streaming service](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming)that gives access to the full [HBO](https://thestreamable.com/channels/hbo)library, along with exclusive Max Originals. His path led him into one of the poorest parts of Mississippi, where he met a young man named Elvis who was obsessed with the influences of Black musicians on the American music scene at the time. But what does that journey entail from a human perspective? [HBO Max](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming/hbo-max/buy) [Subscription to HBO Max](https://thestreamable.com/video-streaming/hbo-max/buy)

This week's slate of new movies to watch at home is led by Elvis, the audaciously over-the-top Elvis Presley biopic by none other than Baz Luhrmann.

Brown (Hotel Artemis) as Trinitie and Lee-Curtis Childs, the first lady and pastor of a Southern Baptist megachurch. This is an all-purpose spoof, with specific nods to older, American, mostly unrelated films like Schoenbrun suggests that within that range of collective expression, people can decide who and what they want to be. As she begins to notice inexplicable and sinister changes within herself, Casey is forced to confront the possibility of whether all of this is in her head. Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 musical biopic chronicles the life of American music icon Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) from his childhood singing in a small church choir to his stadium-packing performance as a rock legend. While you’re in the mood for that, why not consider

Baz Luhrmann's Elvis has been a huge hit with most audiences, but some fans have taken to Reddit to voice their unpopular opinion about the biopic.

[More_Acanthisitta_73](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/vjuunq/comment/ifedh6d/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) thinks it was too long and "poorly orchestrated. [Huntday4](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/wsoq9k/elvis_movie_is_just_too_weird/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) was made very "uncomfortable" by the behavior of the young women from the very first performance scene. [Paultheschmoop](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/vjd54g/comment/idv19h0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) "could’ve done without the 2 or 3 random Elvis remixes with rap verses that completely took me out of the movie." [ soundtrack features a lot of Elvis songs](https://screenrant.com/elvis-movie-best-songs-ranked/), but it also showcases new talent with original songs as well as remixes and collaborations with The King's material. Elvis was as fallible as any one of his fans, and by no means a perfect person. While there can be no doubt Hanks prepared for his role with all the diligence of previous performances, he didn't completely disappear into the role and was seen as more of a distraction than anything else. Most fans feel that with his heavy makeup and prosthetics, as well as his accent of dubious Eastern European origin, Tom Hanks was the weakest part of Elvis. [Typical_Ranger_1684](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/w0tm3w/the_elvis_film_is_awful/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) thinks that aside from being "inaccurate it tries to present Elvis as someone that did stuff about social issues like civil rights when he never did which is just disrespectful." [Darkobscurities](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/w0tm3w/comment/ilj739b/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) thought the movie "took inaccuracy and creative liberties to an extreme. [things about Elvis's life the movie didn't show](https://screenrant.com/things-about-elvis-presleys-life-movie-not-shown-baz-luhrmann/), such as his meeting with President Nixon, would have pulled attention away from more important aspects that serviced the plot. Also, it should be noted that [many details of Elvis's life](https://screenrant.com/elvis-details-hardcore-fans-noticed/) were well-researched, and even if the movie's aesthetic wasn't universally liked, Austin Butler's powerful central performance across three decades can also be attributed for the movie's overall higher score. Audiences have praised the musical biopic for its depiction of Elvis Presley's fame, from his early Memphis days on Beale Street to his troubled residency in Las Vegas, anchored by an intense and authentic performance by Austin Butler and a hypnotic attention to detail.

The best of what's new on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and more. Morfydd ...

Listing any of them in a capsule-sized review is a fool’s errand, so you’ll have to trust us that “The Rings of Power” is worth a look. Taking place 3,000 years before the events of the Peter Jackson films, “The Rings of Power” will tell the story of how Sauron rose to dominate Middle Earth, while following a number of other storylines along the way. While the Bezos-built platform may lack the sheer breadth of original programming of Netflix, it has committed to a gargantuan swing for the fences with “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” the most expensive TV series ever made. Save Your Soul” tells you exactly what type of movie you’re going to get from first-time director Adamma Ebo: A biting satire of the capitalism-infected version of Christianity endemic to America. Instead, viewers are treated to every indignity the couple faces on their bumpy road back. Exactly 25 years before the release of “Superbad,” another landmark teen comedy, 1982’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” did the same thing for early members of Generation X. [weekly streaming guide](https://www.boston.com/tag/streaming/). The title of “Honk for Jesus. [recent oral history](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/superbad-oral-history) commemorating the 15-year anniversary of beloved teen comedy “Superbad” noted its ability to realistically portray the unglamorous, awkward way in which millennial high schoolers talked about, thought about, and sloppily engaged in sexual relations. Throw in a prosthetics-laden Tom Hanks as Presley’s leech-like manager Colonel Tom Parker, and you’ll be hard-pressed not to have a blast watching “Elvis.” Elvis Presley remains one of the most fascinating figures in American pop culture. Check out previous editions of our [must-see list here](https://www.boston.com/tag/streaming/).

Baz Luhrmann's Elvis is an outstanding biopic of singer Elvis Presley. Here's why you should catch it now that it's on HBO Max.