Rocketman (2019)

Fans will relish the chance to rediscover Elton John's music in this new form with clips of his songs strung together Mamma Mia-style into a kind of motion picture photo album, while others will hopefully find something to be interested in over the  course of the singer's very familiar trajectory to worldwide celebrity, although like Elton John himself, they will find it hard to find anything in the singer's adopted persona to emotionally connect with - an abandoned childhood identity, for instance.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Purple Rain (1984)

You don't watch Purple Rain for Prince's debut as an actor or for the movie's wet variation of the "Who's on second?" routine, nor for its maudlin story, apparently almost Prince's own, of a Minneapolis musician, Kid, who uses music as an escape from an abusive father, and you certainly don't watch for its depiction of women who fellate guitars and are dismissed as "bitches" whose "periods are messed up", but you watch it because you are a fan of and/or want to marvel at the big-headed queer bird that is Prince in his Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, and for his musical performances, especially 'Purple Rain,' one of the best songs ever written.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS