Early Reviews For "Get On Up" Are Good

[mr_june]

The wife and I saw this and both liked it. Some songs that I personally favored [[There Was Time, Licking Stick, Prisoner of Love) were not used but the songs used are excellent. I was relieved to see JB in the hands of an actor who could pull it off. I don't know how high and low they searched for an actor to play Brown but it would be hard to imagine someone else doing a better job. The same for Nelsan Ellis playing Bobby Byrd who's call and response on stage with JB along with the groove could leave you spellbound. I'd like to have seen a bit more of Byrd on stage. Unless I missed it, they left out Danny Ray as MC. Definitely lots of room for a couple more movies on Brown and maybe Spike will take the baton.

The only thing I was disappointed with is the box office results. Wow! The movie got good reviews but no support. My goodness, James Brown is an icon and I thought there'd be more of an outpouring than what last weekend showed. I'd like to know why the film didn't do better financially. I don't think it's an age gap thing as my soon to be 7 year old great granddaughter knew who James Brown was long before this movie was released. Isn't he also the most sampled artist in Rap & Hip Hop?

[rrussi]

I bought the GLOBE tabloid today while at the grocery store. James Garner is on the cover and it is dated Aug. 11, 2014. On page 40, the article is "New James Brown Movie is Web of Lies!". A woman who is shown in a small photo named Jacque Hollander says she is JB's former publicist and that he hated Mick Jagger. She claims he was murdered and also claims she was kidnapped and raped by JB at gunpoint in 1988. It also mentions the new book by Daryl Brown, My Father the Godfather.

[rrussi]

I did mean to include that she says he was under a drug influence when he supposedly kidnapped and raped her.

[splanky]

The wife and I saw this and both liked it. Some songs that I personally favored [[There Was Time, Licking Stick, Prisoner of Love) were not used but the songs used are excellent. I was relieved to see JB in the hands of an actor who could pull it off. I don't know how high and low they searched for an actor to play Brown but it would be hard to imagine someone else doing a better job. The same for Nelsan Ellis playing Bobby Byrd who's call and response on stage with JB along with the groove could leave you spellbound. I'd like to have seen a bit more of Byrd on stage. Unless I missed it, they left out Danny Ray as MC. Definitely lots of room for a couple more movies on Brown and maybe Spike will take the baton.

The only thing I was disappointed with is the box office results. Wow! The movie got good reviews but no support. My goodness, James Brown is an icon . Isn't he also the most sampled artist in Rap & Hip Hop?

He was for a long time but George Clinton's P funk output caught up and eventually surpassed even the great JB...I'm still fighting with myself over this movie. I mean it
is James Brown as a subject which I'd love to see on the big screen but the only good things
I hear about it is the lead is a great actor and the music is the star. I have a bunch of JB's
music I can listen to and I've read his own autobiography as well as at least 2 books others
have written about him. Most of the facts of his life I already know, good and bad. I'd just
like a better telling of at least half of his story than I'm hearing...

[mr_june]

I was at the Bud Billikin Parade Saturday and every where you went someone was selling bootleg copies of movies including "Get On Up" and doing so in the presence of hundreds of police officers. On a daily basis you can find these sellers at public transit stations boldly selling like it wasn't against the law. It's been a long time since I've heard of a bust for selling movies this way. Bootleg movies are popular in the hood and my wife and I laughed and said "Wow, this is how a lot of black folks are seeing the movie. The box office results segment by Dean Richards on WGN didn't even have "Get On Up" listed yesterday even though it registered 5 million dollars.

[milven]

I was at the Bud Billikin Parade Saturday and every where you went someone was selling bootleg copies of movies including "Get On Up" and doing so in the presence of hundreds of police officers. On a daily basis you can find these sellers at public transit stations boldly selling like it wasn't against the law. It's been a long time since I've heard of a bust for selling movies this way. Bootleg movies are popular in the hood and I said to my wife "Wow, this is how a lot of black folks are seeing the movie. They are not going to theaters to support it.".......

History repeating itself. Same thing happened to music industry and look at the sad state that it is in. But now even the bootleggers are having it tough. You can download illegal movies from the internet. Not something that I would do, but a lot of young people do it.

I see few movies, but when they are about music, I usually see them and enjoy them in a theatre, not at home on DVD. I saw Jersey Boys and Get On Up and enjoyed both of them. Yes, I did see some of the inaccuracies, and changing events around to suit the script, but in spite of that, I enjoyed both movies