Get On Up

[Beate]

Heineken showed this at Picturehouse Greenwich last night at 9pm, with guest list so I had to pretend to be elski. It was allocated seating and even though we weren't the first people to queue up, on account of having to hotfoot it from WIQ after the atrocious vampire film, we still got our preferred seats, with PXC and her OH next to us, and jojojoanne on her preferred seats on the other end of the last row. We also got a can of Heineken each and found some fancy, but sickly sweet popcorn on our seats, which I passed over to PXC after a few bites.

The film was better than the one before, but why did it have to be so long? I must admit that I have never cared much for James Brown before, and he came across as a bit of an arrogant arse here. Also, I didn't learn that much about his life. Ok, so he had a bit of a f**ked up childhood with an absent mother and a violent father, and then he somehow got famous and stayed famous for ages, but the finer details were lost to me. Was the woman he married his bandmate's sister? How many kids did he have and did one of them actually die? Did he hit his wife only the once or all the time? What was this tax-evasion thing and did his band get properly pa*d after asking for it? And what on earth was this incident with the shotgun about?

The most annoying thing was the jumping back and forth in time, from 1988 to 1968 to 1939, to 1964, to 1955 - it made no sense at all.

And did I say how long this film was? Over 2 hours so by the time it finished it was about 11.15pm and OH had started yawning and rubbing his eyes in earnest. I was glad to get home, though we made a quick stop at Macdonalds as we were so hungry. The beer went to the homeless guy in front, with a spare burger and fries.

6/10

[jojojoanne]

I thought this film was okay. I knew a fair bit about his life. I remember him dying on Christmas Day. My Daughter fell asleep towards the end! I'm surprised I lasted - I haven't been out that late in a long while!!!!

[nosila50]

Busy week with this being the third film chalked up since Monday. Not as good as The Imitation Game but slightly more my cup of tea than The Drop.

Always liked James Brown Music and I enjoyed the different periods of his life although took a wee bit to get used the hopping back and forwards. Although over two hours long it did not feel like it and I felt it passed quickly.

Annoying couple beside us who arrived 10 mins into the film and the the hubby gets back up and goes away for food. 10minutes later he is back withNachos and then the pair of them spend more time discussing them than watch the film..... Why bother coming!!!!!

Still overall glad we went and my daughter was quite tearful at the end.

8/10

[yogi]

I'm a huge fan of James Brown's music and was lucky enough to see 2 of his amazing live performances in his later years, so was swept along by the music and thoroughly enjoyed the film.

But as others have said non-linear doesn't even begin to describe the structure of the film, its like someone assembled it and then pressed shuffle. The juxtaposition of some scenes from the past with future events does sometimes help give them some perspective, but most of the time it seems a bit random, it certainly could have been dialled down a bit.

On the positive side the detail and the music was excellent and so were the performances especially the lead actor.

I'd have been happy to enjoy another couple of hours, but maybe chronologically and over the space of a couple of TV episodes. 8/10

[raj101]

Great soundtrack but ultimately underwhelming

[prettyxcool]

A bit too long, but Chadwick Boseman was James Brown, sings, sounds and dance like him. The concert scenes were good and was very entertaining though. Some great drama scenes with his mum and his aunt. However, did not get why he has to talk directly to the audience, and the jumping backwards and forwards is confusing to follow, especially at the beginning. He did not seem a very likeable person, especially the scene with the gun, and his best friend, although he did a great deal for music. A predictable rise and fall biopic. 7/10

Thanks beate for the popcorn. They were nice! I prefer sweet to salty so it was fine for me!

[biggins]

Busy week with this being the third film chalked up since Monday. Not as good as The Imitation Game but slightly more my cup of tea than The Drop.

Always liked James Brown Music and I enjoyed the different periods of his life although took a wee bit to get used the hopping back and forwards. Although over two hours long it did not feel like it and I felt it passed quickly.

Annoying couple beside us who arrived 10 mins into the film and the the hubby gets back up and goes away for food. 10minutes later he is back withNachos and then the pair of them spend more time discussing them than watch the film..... Why bother coming!!!!!

Still overall glad we went and my daughter was quite tearful at the end.

8/10

Sitting behnd you I could see how annoying the couple were beside you. We had an annoying couple of women behind us who talked almost non-stop during the film!! Why do these people bother to come to the cinema - just go and have a coffee and a chat elsewhere and leave us in peace!!!
As for the film enjoyed it more than expected but I had had a problem making out what he was saying at times. 7/10

[diawal]

I went to see this film in Cardiff last Thursday. Thanks for the tickets by the way! :)
I liked the film, however I agree with a lot of the critics above: the film was much longer than it needed to be, and even then it managed to miss many details that would have been interesting to know; all this going back and forth with time was a bit frustrating...
Nonetheless, i loved all the music and it was an interesting and moving story.

[Marcia Queen]

I also attended the screening at Greenwich Picture. My son and I are James Brown fans and enjoyed the film, did not think it was too long. Thanks for the beer and popcorn. I have recommended it to friends and will p*y to see it.


Preferred cinemas: West End, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Croydon, Islington, Wood Green

[RAZORBACK]

I thought this had a made for television vibe to it and despite not knowing all that much about Mr Brown's life story I didn't come way from this screening having learnt anything particularly significant.

I think I would have much preferred that they'd just made a documentary comprising of stock footage & interviews with people that knew him as that probably would have resulted in an enlightening viewing experience.

Overall I thought this was at best a pretty average biographical drama consequently it barely did enough to get a 6/10 from me...