Review of Get On Up (2014) by Jack G — 26 Aug 2014

You can start to pick it apart soon after leaving the theater - how some parts, like the beginning and ending, were parodied years ago in Walk Hard as far as music bios go - but while watching it, it's really electrifying acting and performing from Boseman and Lafayette from True Blood (the former has the showier role, for the most part, the latter a little more subtle and having to balance friendship and ego); there's is really the emotional backbone of the movie and there's a lot of good, complicated feeling going with the characters.

I also appreciated hos Taylor jumped around the chronology, at least in the first act if not all throughout (at a certain point it settles into more linear territory). Brown is like a rock star crossed with a blaxsploitation (anti)hero. he can be bad and mean, and yet there's a sense that he does deserve the riches he gets. If it has some pop-psychology going on (mommy left, so on) It's still executed with a tight grasp on getting those emotional beats true and right.

It also helps the music still kicks ass up and down the block, and that Taylor shoots and edits with energy, flair and some experimentation with making these numbers into visceral highs.