“Elvis” (Biography/Drama/Music: 2 hours, 39 minutes)

Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks and Olivia DeJonge

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Rated: R (Strong language, suggestive material, substance abuse)

Movie Review: “Elvis” is two movies. One disjointedly thrills with energetic visuals. The other impresses with the talents of Austin Butler as “The King.” Director Baz Luhrmann’s style is unique but changes for the better during the latter half of this photoplay.

Elvis Presley’s entry into music appears one of destiny as told from the perspective of Col. Tom Parker (Hanks). Elvis’ beginning as a boy in Tupelo, Mississippi, and then as a young man living in Memphis, Tennessee, are periods heavily influenced by African-American gospel and rhythm and blues. 

Parker sees a major performer with Elvis. Parker sees cash as Elvis’ manager and Elvis sees stardom. The two become a successful pairing that leads to Elvis becoming a rock and roll phenom.

Those early scenes are flashy quick bits that may cause motion sickness for some. Think of the first half of this movie as well-sung segments placed in choppy, quick-moving scenes that move back and forth between the late 1940s to 1997. The half of this screenplay is a cacophony of multiple concepts jumbled together. One could consider it as sections of an orchestra playing the same music in different rooms. As a musical, it is as artistic as it is disorienting. 

Such is Baz Luhrmann’s style and it gets all shook up for nearly an hour and it is intentional.

As director-writer, Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge!” 2001; “The Great Gatsby,” 2013) makes Elvis’ life as shiny and flashy as the legendary singer’s stage attire. The busy prior half merely sets the stage for a tamer latter half that becomes a solid drama. This is where Butler gets to show he is a major performer as an actor who can sing. He gains a certain swagger as he plays the artist.

The second half slows to show Elvis’ many interactions with people more dramatically. Audiences get a slower-paced portrayal detailing his encounters with family and others. The second is the pivotal part of the movie as it allows for more worthy drama, especially between Butler and Hanks. 

Butler is engaging as Elvis Presley. He sings. He acts. He dances. He charms as a charismatic gentleman with the handsome stature of someone made for a leading actor.

In a scene, Butler’s Elvis says he wants to be like actor James Dean and be a leading man in movies. Butler has a presence like Dean. He impresses, stealing scenes opposite seasoned Tom Hanks.

Hanks is always pleasing to observe on the big screen, although his accent is not always consistent playing Dutch-American musical entrepreneur Col. Thomas Parker. Here, Parker, whose rank was an honorary one bestowed upon him by the state of Louisiana, is the semi-antagonist of this story. 

Parker is also the narrator of this movie. He retells Elvis’ story as he pictured it. This leaves plenty of room for an artistic license with this adaptation of Elvis’ life. 

Luhrmann offers an artistic interpretation, examining his subject’s music roots by featuring prominent Black influences on Elvis’ style and presentation, notables such as B.B. King (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), Little Richard (Alton Mason), Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (Gary Clark Jr.), Big Mama Thornton (Shonka Dukureh). 

He creates an engaging biopic that shakes, rattles and rolls unto the very end, where audiences see the actual Elvis sing one of his most memorable songs, a 1977 performance of “Unchained Melody.”

Concluding scenes featuring the actual performer singing are a very common addition of biographical screenplays about legendary singers. Such works. The end is an emotive one. It reminds one of just how talented a performer Elvis was and remains still.

Grade: B (Elvis is still in the building.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“The Black Phone” (Horror: 1 hour, 43 minutes)

Starring: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw and Ethan Hawke

Director: Scott Derrickson

Rated: R (Violence, strong language, drug use, bloody images)

Movie Review: “Black Phone” feels like a movie version of television’s “Stranger Things.” It is an appealing horror that is not as scary as it could be but that is good. 

A certain sense of realism exists with characters, and cowriters Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill allow the movie to fall into stereotypical concepts as other flicks in the horror genre.

In 1978, “The Grabber,” a serial child abductor in a Denver suburb, captures Finney Shaw (Thames), a shy but clever 13-year-old. The Grabber places Finney in a soundproof basement. The sparse room contains a mattress and a black phone hanging on the wall.

The phone rings and Finney answers the phone to discover the voices of the sadistic, masked killer’s previous victims. The voices of the murdered offer to help Finney so he doesn’t meet the same fate as them. Meanwhile, Finney’s sister, Gwen (McGraw), also wants to help by giving law enforcement officials information from the visions during her psychic dreams.

The cast makes this movie alluring. It has a mystery to solve. And it has a few frights with dashes of perfectly timed comical bits that keep this feature entertaining.

Similar to numerous horror movies, “The Black Phone” does have some questionable moments. The big one is parents letting their children roam the streets with a serial killer kidnapping mostly teen and tween boys in the area.

Maybe, they think “The Grabber” could instill some needed discipline or they think at least the girls are safe. That digression was in jest, but one would think the suburb’s parents would be a little more concerned.

That aside, “The Black Phone” is an attractive movie. It entertains. It is based on the short story titled the same by Joe Hill, a.k.a. Joseph King. He is the son of famed writer Stephen King. If moviemakers are smart, they will find a number to Hill’s phone and see what other works he has.

Grade: B (Give it a call.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has reviewed movies for more than 20 years for The Valdosta Daily Times.