Rocketman

Having previously been hired to finish directing Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was fired, Dexter Fletcher takes on the entire process of another biopic about a legendary and loved musician from the same era with Rocketman. Where as Rhapsody told its story in a typical way as Queen came up with songs, this film takes Elton John's life and tells it through both regular storytelling and musical numbers all based around his great hits up until the mid to late 80s. With Elton serving as executive producer of his own biopic, Rocketman tells its true story as accurate as it can, even with some liberties, in such a unique way that makes the tagline of being based on a true fantasy so true due to the singer's eccentric and over the top style. Much like last year's big musical biopic, the strongest aspect of this movie is the performance of the lead actor, in this case Taron Egerton, and capturing the broken but always needing to perform personality of the musician. Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin, Elton's best friend and writing partner, is just as great due to how he always tries to be by the eccentric singer's side even when talked down upon. Even if you don't like all of his songs, the musical numbers themselves are a wonder to watch and the songs that are used not only continue the story but also provide perfect metaphors for what's going on in Elton's life. Although while it's a better film storytelling, for me Rhapsody is a much more memorable film as I'm more familiar with Queen then I was with Elton John but I'm a great admirer of both and their excellent films. Something else to give Rocketman great credit is the bold move for a big studio to have a gay sex scene, even if it's very short and not so graphic. Over all: 100%

2019 top list so far:
1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Shazam!

3. Rocketman

4. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

5. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

6. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

7. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

8. Us

9. Aladdin 2019

10. Pokemon Detective Pikachu

11. Captain Marvel

12. Pet Sematary 2019

13. The Upside

14. Dark Phoenix

15. Cold Pursuit

16. Glass