Get On Up [Blu-ray]

One Could be thrilled just at the amazing way this film covered the spectacular career of one of the all time best, and how brilliantly Chadwick Boseman got into the portrayal, both emotionally and also how he replicated those dance moves. BUT to me the heart and soul of this film, which I was eagerly awaiting, was how much that little boy never vanished from the film. A key example of that was when he drove his pick up truck attempting to elude a convey of police officers, and when they finally got him, the younger version of himself got out of the car to surrender. The two scenes that brought tears to my eyes, were first the scene where young James encounters his long lost Mother, played by Viola Davis, after they had been separated for a period of time, and he calls out to her, pleading for her to recognize him, but she is there with some soldier who she has befriended one presumes to sell her body to, and this is where you see the genius of Viola Davis and her acting. (Was glad she recently won the Emmy for "Getting Away with Murder"). The soldier callously says to Voila when her son desperately reaches out due to their chance encounter "Do you know this little N word?" You see Ms Davis in some of the best acting with barely any words writhing in agony over the fact she is embarrassed to admit this is her own flesh and blood, and it pains her far more than young James, at least to my eye. That scene had me in tears and I rarely find myself crying while watching films. Then many years later Viola reappears at James dressing room when he is a full fledged star of music. She sips at champagne and is far more embarrassed and ashamed than the scene years earlier at the bordello. He suddenly asks her what she is doing there, since basically she has been a no show for most of his life. She doesn't really answer but cries profusely and it instantly occurs to James Brown his "Mom" want to get paid, she is just a hanger on, looking for a score. He gives her $100 and shoes her away, and she walks, tears streaming down, out of the dressing room with the same despair a person on death row has headed for their execution. Then we see Mr. Boseman and his incredible range of acting, when after she leaves, he is bent over at a sink weeping when it hits him how tragically sad this encounter has been. This is after he lies to her and basically says, "James Brown doesn't need anyone!!" In some ways the grown James Brown is still that little boy. (The acting by the boy who portrayed him as a child was really magnificent) His closest friend in the band comes in and James is horrified to show this level of vulnerability. He then tells him to make sure his Mom gets a cab home to Brooklyn. ~~Yes a great film on the life of James Brown, with all the highs and lows. The wife beating is repeated that he witnesses as a child watching his Dad abuse his Mom. Go to this film to remember the great music of one of the funkiest of all time, but leave with all the revelations of a very painful life. Chadwick Boseman did a terrific job in the Jackie Robinson film, and got inside that character as well. This viewing, probably my second came in very handy since I was dealing with a sad event in my life regarding a recent estrangement with a friend, and I was able to sob and weep over especially those two Boseman Davis scenes. Viola Davis has a lot of amazing film and TV roles to her credit, but I am anxious to see what Chadwick Boseman does next. This film is really to my mind worth 10 stars or more !!!

Great movie 🍿

Extreme Bias Alert! As a youth I was a huge fan of James Brown, his music, the lyrics and especially his dance steps. I did not expect to like this movie because I felt no one could possibly do his life justice. I only saw Chadwick Boseman in "42" the life story of Jackie Robinson and I felt he did an excellent job in that film. But Jackie Robinson and James Brown were polar opposites in how they decided to cope with the public reaction to their talents. Chadwick is a fantastic actor who takes his craft extremely serious and he does a great job portraying James Brown in totality. There are several reasons to get this dvd, first is the music and dancing of James Brown. Second is the outstanding acting of all the central characters, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis, Jill Scott, just to name a few. Third, is the storyline that will hold everyone's attention from 8 to 80, as it covers so many aspects of the life of James Brown, from abandonment, to arrest, to music and more. Last but not least is the historical nature of this film, not only musically but socially and politically also. This film is an excellent teaching tool about numerous subjects, including but not limited to business, family, civil rights, etc. Truly this is an emotional and powerful film from start to finish, so sit back and enjoy yourself.

Excellent performance by Chadwick Boseman – absolutely mesmerizing! We’ve watched this film 3 times now, because his work is simply outstanding. If you know James Brown, then watching Mr. Boseman portray him is enthralling, moving & satisfying – he absolutely became ‘the James Brown’ - his talk, his walk, the way he carried himself and unbelievably, his dancing & musical genius. The montage of the Paris 1971 performance is stunning - one cannot sit still through it - and it accurately captures the heart & soul of James Brown’s musical genius. How Mr. Boseman didn’t win or even get an Oscar nomination for his performance is shameful – another example of how poorly Hollywood appreciates or recognizes African American actors and subject matter. The film is filled with top-notch supporting cast performances, too, notably Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd & Brandon Smith as Little Richard. We only wish the film was a few hours longer because the running time isn’t enough to explore the women in James Brown’s life in depth & didn’t allow enough screen time for the always excellent Viola Davis & Octavia Spencer.

Chadwick Boseman did an incredible job! You can tell he really studied James Brown's mannerism, speech, style and body language. The wigs, outfits and original music in the film were great. When Boseman portrayed an older James Brown, he really did look like him too. I like that actual real footage was shown during some of the performance scenes. Overall, the cast was great. I like the actor who did Little Richard too. The visual quality and flash back sequences were great. I like the scenes were Boseman would look into the camera and talk when going through the timeline of James Bond's life. The only one negative is that it went over the top in some scenes that tried to paint James Brown into like a messianic Christ figure. His Aunt Honey in the movie was like "I always knew you were going to be special. The spirit inside you told me that you were going to be rich" and the scene near the end when mini-flashback child James says "I paid the cost to be the boss" after random clips of "I'm James Brown" repeated over and over. It was like ohhhhhh he's supernatural destiny glow. Lol Overall I'm glad I paid for this and can see myself watching this again.

Un superbe boitier steelbook. Avec ce micro embouti dans le métal pour qu'il resorte bien en volume, ça donne un bel effet 3D en mettant l'accent sur le sujet principal. Bel objet et belle édition pour un film qui rend un hommage sans complaisance à ce monument du funk qu'était James Brown. Image et son sont à la hauteur tout comme l'acteur (futur Black Panther) VF, sous-titres, etc... Tout y est! La question est: Pourquoi est-ce une édition italienne puisque tout est en français?

Steelbook reino Unido con castellano, Steelbook muy bonito!

La Storia della musica è vastissima, troppo grande, non si può imparare o sapere tutto, ma la storia di quei pilastri che ne hanno cambiato i linguaggi e gli stili, arrivando a toccare le masse, cambiando i tempi, è doveroso far vedere questo film alle generazioni future. Come fu per il film sulla vita di Ray Charles (più fortunato e meglio composto di questo su Brown) anche questo film sul padrino del soul è si ben realizzato, per quanto ha delle carenze narrative vista la scelta da parte del regista di montare i periodi temporali in ordine non cronologico, ma saltellando da un decennio all'altro per aprire finestre sugli episodi più significativi della vita di Brown, l'attore Chadwick Boseman che ne interpreta il ruolo per quanto abbia fatto un gran bel lavoro fisico per emulare le movenze, i passi, la camminata e la voce (nelle sole scene recitate, i brani sono registrazioni originali con l'originale Brown) purtroppo non si è dimostrato del tutto convincente, poichè privo dell'energia esplosiva dell'originale Brown, che sul palcoscenico era un nervosissimo umano fatto di pura energia, ognuno di noi è unico dopotutto. Veniamo al prodotto in formato DVD: Pacchetto scarno, disco singolo senza alcun extra incluso, nessun contenuto speciale, solo il film, audio solo in 5.1 nessun booklet all'interno, plastica del cofanetto di bassa qualità, Insomma mi sarei aspettato che la Universal avesse puntato di più su questo film, sia in termini di proiezione che sull'Home Video. In Italia il film fù proiettato soltanto per un paio di giorni in alcune sale italiane, e non in tutti i cinema. Peccato davvero, resta il fatto che un film su James Brown non era mai stato realizzato per via delle poche informazioni sulla parte adolescenziale dello stesso, quindi un film da avere sulla vostra cineteca per i posteri, e da far vedere ai vostri figli.

Parece que cada vez más va siendo habitual que en las presentaciones ON LINE o en las carpetas de blueray o dvds, en lo que respecta a la banda sonora se indica "español" cuando en realidad se refieren a "español hispanoamericano". Si quieres la banda sonora en el idioma oficial de España hay que buscar "castellano". Y esto está induciendo a muchos errores, como el mío, ya que NO TODOS los distribuidores lo están haciendo así y ahí viene el error de pedido. Tuve que devolver el producto por esa razón y no otra. ¿Tan difícil resulta que, por ejemplo y visto cómo están los distribuidores que no encajan, el que AMAZON indique si es doblaje sudamericano o español (vale, me conformo con castellano)? Sería muy de agradecer para evitarnos molestias como el devolver el producto cuando lo recibes, porque no llega como esperas. Muchas gracias.

Good film, although it played down the bad side of James Brown somewhat. Good acting and I loved the music - the only real criticism I have is the sound as it was very difficult to understand what the main character was saying in parts.