Elvis movie centers on ambition, conflict of Interest

Baz Lurhmann‘s Elvis is well worth seeing in the theaters, but it’s worth remembering this is a Baz Lurhmann film. It carries his signature visual approach – flashy, well produced – and uses literary license to tell this story of a pop cultural icon.

My movie review of Elvis is now live at the Independent Institute. I thought this would be an entertaining movie, much like Rocketman or Bohemian Rhapsody, but it’s more.

Telling the story of Elvis’s rise and fall through the villain’s point of view was a bold, creative choice, that perhaps only acting by Tom Hanks could pull off. Austin Butler, who plays Elvis, does an awesome job as well. Yes, that’s his voice as the early Elvis. The old Elvis singing is dubbed over Butler’s performances.

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Author: SR Staley
SR Staley has one more than 11 literary awards for his fiction and nonfiction writing. He is on the full-time faculty of the College and Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University as well as a film critic and research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California. His award-winning Pirate of Panther Bay series (syppublishing.com) has won awards in historical fiction, mainstream & literary fiction, young adult fiction, and reached the finals in women's fiction. His most recent book is "The Beatles and Economics: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution" due out in April 2020 (Routledge).