Get on Up, James Brown: une épopée américaine

"You can't make everybody happy and still stay on top." What do you get when you take a young black man growing up in the segregated south abandoned by his mother and raised by his grandmother in a brothel add in a desire to succeed at all costs and toss in more soul and funk than you can handle. The answer…you get the Godfather of Soul…James Brown. I love true story movies and ones that I know a little about are my favorite. Like most people my age my first introduction to James Brown was in Rocky 4. I have liked his music but knew very little about his life. I can't speak to how accurate the movie is but what I can say is the Chadwick Boseman did an amazing job. The best part of the music bio-pics hasn't been the actual movie itself but the acting. Jamie Foxx, Joaquin Phoenix and now Chadwick Boseman. They all inhabit the characters and that is the most exciting and interesting aspect of the movie. You feel like your watching the actual events and not a recreation. Overall, an OK movie that James Brown fans will love but the reason to watch is for Boseman's portrayal. I give this a B.

I know folks have been talking about a James Brown biopic for years and I secretly hoped that it would not come to pass. I feared that it would be butchered in an attempt to "butts in the seats". I know folks need to make money but don't kill something wonderful in the process. This movie was WAY better than I had hoped. Kudos to Mick Jagger and a standing ovation for Mr. Chadwick Boseman.

I did not see "42" but the brotha knocked this one clean out of the park. Loved seeing Voila Davis, Octavia Spencer and my girl Jill Scott as well. Of course, the music was amazing! I couldn't get over how Boseman captured James Brown's pattern of speech, walk, dance moves, etc. This performance was electric. Now I have to go read, "The One" to find out how much was fact and how much was fiction.

If you have any interest whatsoever in JB music, catch this one!

I remember when I first herd rumors about this movie, and Spike Lee's Involvement with it. He wanted Wesley Snipes to be The hardest working man in showbiz and I thought, perfect. Chadwick Boseman had some big shoes to fill, not only in my perception of Snipes but being James Brown himself. Lucky for Chadwick, Tate Taylor was backing him up.

The director made a well crafted biopic about James Brown. Choosing to format the story in a more nonlinear fashion, which was brilliant. Sometimes movies based on real people tend to get dull when they hit a point in their lives when nothing is really going on. Taylor fixed it by not telling the story of James Brown from beginning to end.

The movie goes over all the highlights of James Brown's career. From playing Boston after Martian Luther king was shot to his infamous car chase with the state troopers. In-between it tells the story of James Brown's youth before he even got into music.

The musical part I found interesting, as it showcases what made Mr. Brown's sound so unique and what was going through his head when he was making music.

It's strange that Chadwick Boseman is making a career out of playing famous trail blazers, doing James Brown so soon after playing Jackie Robinson in 42. He does do a better job in this film than he did in 42. Watching him perform as James Brown was entertaining.

So despite falling into some clichés you see with biopic about musicians (like that scene in the beginning of the movie when an old icon reflects on his past) the movie did have it's own unique style too it similar to Mr. Brown himself, and though Chadwick's performance was bold genuine, I'm still thinking what Wesley Snipes could have done with the film.

Chadwick Boseman is James Brown as he recreates his evolution as a performer in exhaustive dimension and magnitude. The raw and charismatic excitement of Brown's presence are all here. This shows dedication and natural ability as Boseman reminds us of a heritage that music cannot deny and a story that needs to be told again and again as Brown's influence continues to mesmerize us when we hear him. The entire cast were soulful and talented. Viola Davis was very moving as Brown's mother who had abandoned him as a young child and we sense the deep sorrow and loss that Brown must have endured and helps us understand his determination and inner fire as he himself catches hold of his spiritual connection to source and allows his musical genius to take hold of him and us. The words and messages in the songs that Brown wrote may at times seem simplistic but true as he sings them with such knowing, a man who has experienced life in all its dimensions.

I feel like there really was an interesting film somewhere in here, somewhere buried deep inside here though. The performances here are solid, if not a little too over-the-top that venture on caricatures from the supporting roles. The lead performance, though, really is fantastic, and it's such a shame that the film drags him down so much. The editing here is pretty atrocious, although much of it could be attributed to the screenplay's problems and wanting to go through his whole life in little segments that really feel way too erratic. The set deigns are good as is the music segments, but James deserved a much better film, and the lead as well.