Eternals

Childish fancies plus relentless, fairly cynical mandatory diversity equals a silly, mostly absurd movie. More interesting storylines immediately suggest themselves to the viewer in the first five minutes; none are realized. Instead, we get a mostly tepid end-of-the-world scenario that relies on cliches for resolution. The main issue here is the attempt to be all things to literally all people, resulting in a story the comes across as less an artistic vision and more as the notes from a committee meeting. As many boxes are checked as possible, lest someone should feel left out and accordingly take to social media with profit-killing vengeance. A sequel is clearly set up, but I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting to watch it--certainly not anyone wanting to pay for it. You might just wind up eternally grateful if you skip this one.

Rocketman

Thanks to some unfortunate scheduling, this outing suffers from an inevitable comparison to Bohemian Rhapsody, that other, at least superficially similar '70s rock-icon bio. There is a key difference, though, in that this work's "filmed stage musical" approach doesn't work quite as well as a straightforward narrative treatment of Sir Elton's story might have. Furthermore, the device of telling the story through the artist's songs--without much concern for their temporal sequence, for anyone old enough to be familiar with the discography--makes the life story seem somewhat muddled. Egerton's acting performance--playing someone thoroughly well-known to most of the audience, so a challenge there--is strong, though his singing voice doesn't really match John's very well. And the representation comes with certain other veracity issues, even given--or perhaps because of--the subject's clear participation in the production. (One obvious example: movie Elton never goes as bald as the real-life rocker did). Ultimately the film relies heavily upon the goodwill viewers have for the music; as that resource exists in abundance, this film edges more towards positive territory. It doesn't shoot into orbit, but it flies just high enough for most fans.