Review of Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown (2014) by Lee Anne W — 31 Dec 2014

Just when I thought this movie couldn't get any better, up pops Bootsy Collins.

If you mostly think of James Brown in recent years, the bullfrog-bellied "Living in America" red, white, and blue suit, or the crazy-haired mug shot, then this movie will dazzle you. It's not a total whitewash, either: you can see in many examples how he was a tough sonofabitch, especially with his band. But I could have used another full hour on his ignominious fall--the guns, the violence, the jail time. Instead, it ends too abruptly in the mid-seventies (or, as Questlove calls them, "the mustache years") and then with a montage of all the modern people whom Brown influenced. More, please!