Elton John Movies
John, born Reginald Dwight, is a rock star who appeared in the film Tommy (1975). ~ All Movie Guide- 2010
William Shakespeare's tragic romance gets a garden-gnome twist in this computer-animated musical featuring the voices of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, with music by Elton John. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2007
- Add Elton John: Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden to QueueAdd Elton John: Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden to top of Queue
Elton John: Elton 60 -- Live at Madison Square Garden features a full concert of nearly three dozen songs by the pop master. The set list includes classics like "Your Song," "Crocodile Rock," "Tiny Dancer," and "Levon," as well as such favorites as "Burn Down the Mission," "Madman Across the Water," and "Take Me to the Pilot." This release also contains over a dozen rare television performances from throughout his career. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elton John
Concert for Diana captures a 2007 tribute to the deceased Diana Spencer, the former Princess of Wales. Among the many performers who appear on the bill are Nelly Furtado, Elton John, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, and Kanye West. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Prince William, Prince Harry, (more)
- 2006
- Add Tony Bennett: An American Classic to QueueAdd Tony Bennett: An American Classic to top of Queue
The concert film Tony Bennett: An American Classic serves as a video accompaniment and companion piece to the legendary crooner's 2006 album of the same title. On that LP, Bennett duets on a series of pop standards, with nineteen of the world's top rock and pop artists. In the film version - originally produced and aired on NBC - Bennett teams up with many of the same guests, including Christina Aguilera, k.d. Lang, Stevie Wonder, Chris Botti, Elton John, Juanes, John Legend, Barbra Streisand and Diana Krall, to celebrate his own 80th birthday. Rob Marshall, the helmer of Chicago, directs. Tracks include: "Smile" with Streisand, "Sing, You Sinners" with Legend, "Because of You" with Lang and Botti, "The Best is Yet to Come" with Krall, "The Shadow of Your Smile" with Juanes, "Rags to Riches with John, "Just in Time" with Michael Buble, "For Once in My Life" with Wonder and "Steppin' Out" with Aguilera. Bennett then performs his standard closer, the seminal "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," as a solo number. Throughout, Marshall and his collaborators re-create, via elaborate onstage production design, classic settings from various periods in Bennett's life and career, including the 52nd Street Swing Club, one of the earlier incarnations of Columbia's recording studio, Carnegie Hall, the stage of the 'Rat Pack,' the set of Bennett's infamous MTV Unplugged performance in the early nineties, and much, much more. As these settings magically come to life on stage, such celebrities as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Crystal, Robert de Niro, John Travolta and Bruce Willis, recount the tale of Bennett's life, career and musical journey, and their narration is interwoven with the musical performances by Bennett and his fellow vocalists. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Bennett
Two kids with nothing in common are brought together in a very unexpected way in this comedy. Nell (Samaire Armstrong) is a pretty but hopelessly geeky teenage girl who loves Shakespeare and wants little more than to study literature at Yale when she graduates from high school in a few months Woody (Kevin Zegers), who lives next door, is the quarterback on the school's football team, and seems like a sure bet to land a lucrative football scholarship despite the fact he isn't especially bright. Nell and Woody are not at all friendly and normally have nothing to say to one another, but one day during a class field trip to a historical museum, the two fall under the spell of an Incan icon and when they awake the next morning, Woody's mind is in Nell's body, and vice versa. Neither is comfortable with their sudden gender switch or having to assume the other's personalities, but they quickly realize that until they can find a way to reverse the spell, they have to work together if Nell is to go to Yale and Woody is to get his scholarship and move away from this loutish parents (Sharon Osborne and Maury Chaykin. Elton John was an executive producer on It's A Boy Girl Thing, and songs from his back catalog appear on the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Zegers, Samaire Armstrong, (more)
- 2005
- Add The Who: Tommy and Quadrophenia - Live with Special Guests to QueueAdd The Who: Tommy and Quadrophenia - Live with Special Guests to top of Queue
Rock and roll legends The Who come alive for a whole new generation of fans in this release that offers a collection of unforgettable live performances. In addition to a stunning live performance of Tommy featuring special guest stars Elton John, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Patty Labelle, and Steve Winwood, this three-disc release also offers a live 1996 performance of Quadrophenia, and three more sets featuring such classics as "Boris the Spider", "Who Are You?", and "The Acid Queen". ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2005
- Add From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Concert for New Orleans to QueueAdd From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Concert for New Orleans to top of Queue
The biggest names in modern music all come together on one stage for this landmark concert organized to raise funds for the relief and rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina and featuring special appearances by a number of New Orleans legends. Featured performers include Aaron Neville, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimmy Buffet, John Fogerty, Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews, Irma Thomas, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Lenny Kravitz. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Twenty-two-year-old Tommy Matisse (Dan Spielman) is a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London who dreams of writing an opera that will speak truth in the chaos of the contemporary world. Consumed by his unrelenting search for inspiration and his powerful love for girlfriend Alysse (Leeanna Walsman), Tommy remains deaf to the desperate cries of his younger sister Emma (Abbie Cornish). When Emma and Alysse go out for a night of partying and Emma suffers a fatal overdose, Alysse's burden of guilt becomes too weighty to bear and she soon seeks to tell Tommy the truth about his sister's death. Subsequently torn apart by Tommy's anger and Alyssa's sorrow, the pair both embark on solitary journeys that find Tommy making a name for himself in the Melbourne club scene, and self-destructive Alyssa falling under the drug-addled influence of powerful music producer and nightclub owner Hector Lee (Andrew Lee). Though Tommy and Alyssa are later reunited when their paths intersect at the club where Tommy is DJ'ing, the resulting rage of jealous Hector threatens to spell tragedy for all involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Spielman, Leeanna Walsman, (more)
- 2004
- Add Mary J. Blige: An Intimate Evening With Mary J. Blige - Live From the House of Blues to QueueAdd Mary J. Blige: An Intimate Evening With Mary J. Blige - Live From the House of Blues to top of Queue
R&B songbird Mary J. Blige, whose style blends the edgy power of hip-hop with the resonance of classic soul, offers her fans a chance to hear her perform in front of a small audience in a club environment in this performance video recorded during a special appearance at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Mary J. Blige: An Intimate Evening With Mary J. Blige includes performances of the songs "It's A Wrap," "Love No Limit," "Children of the Ghetto," "Whenever I Say Your Name," and many more. The show also include special guest appearances from Elton John and Sting. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary J. Blige
- 2003
- Add Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember to QueueAdd Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember to top of Queue
Bob, Wendy, and all of their machines celebrate the holiday season on Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember. The story finds Bob's twin brother, Tom, visiting the crew just as Bob's team must build a stage for a Christmas concert by Lennie and the Lazers. The story features a vocal performance by Grammy-winning superstar Elton John. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elton John
- 2002
This ambitious, multipart cable documentary series detailed five different stories, from five different parts of the world, of how individuals dealt with HIV. Episodes included "Thailand," set in a Buddhist monastery that had been converted into an AIDS hospice; "Uganda," in which music therapy was used to comfort AIDS orphans; "Russia," wherein a drug-using couple tried to regain custody of their son; "Brazil," documenting that country's free AIDS drug-therapy program; and "India," in which an infected couple worry about transmitting the HIV virus to the wife's unborn child. The guiding force behind the series was Rory Kennedy, youngest daughter of the late senator Robert F. Kennedy. Narrated by Elton John, Pandemic: Facing Aids debuted June 15, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This family musical enjoys the dubious distinction of being the first film ever based on a theme park attraction, the "Country Bears Jamboree" at Disneyworld. Beary Barrington (voice of Haley Joel Osment) is an adolescent bruin raised by a human family after he was found by a park ranger, abandoned in the forest. Curious about his biological roots, Beary travels to Tennessee to seek out his birth parents while attempting to locate the members of his favorite musical group -- a defunct country music act called the Country Bears -- along the way. Country Bear Hall, the famed venue where the band was launched, is facing imminent destruction at the hands of greedy banker Reed Thimple (Christopher Walken), but young Beary has a plan to save the hall by staging a reunion benefit concert. Beary's path takes him through a guitar duel, a vintage coffee house, and a car wash, as he's pursued by a pair of bumbling cops (Diedrich Bader and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell) trying to reunite him with his adoptive parents. Meanwhile, a panoply of musical legends including Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, and Queen Latifah appear Behind the Music-style to comment on the Country Bears' alleged artistic influence on their work. The Country Bears, the first in a pair of planned Disney projects based on the company's theme park rides (the second is slated to be based on "Pirates of the Caribbean"), co-stars Stephen Tobolowsky, Brad Garrett, Alex Rocco, and Stephen Root. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, Stephen Tobolowsky, (more)
- 2001
After his albums Honky Chateau and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player elevated him to rock stardom, Elton John decided to raise the bar on his own music, and rose to the occasion with 1973's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a sprawling two-record set that was a critical success and commercial sensation. This documentary, produced as part of the "Classic Albums" series, takes an in-depth look at the making of this landmark record, as Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin discuss the album's stylistically diverse songwriting and production techniques, while a number of the musicians who worked with John on the album also share their memories. In addition, Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road includes rare film footage and photographs shot during the recording sessions, numbers from Elton's live shows of the 1970s, and demo versions of several of the album's classic songs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2000
- Add Elton John: One Night Only - The Greatest Hits Live at Madison Square Garden to QueueAdd Elton John: One Night Only - The Greatest Hits Live at Madison Square Garden to top of Queue
This special two-night October 2000 concert features pop legend Elton John at one of the only venues that can match his blend of glamour and sophistication, New York's Madison Square Garden. Guest stars like Bryan Adams, Kiki Dee, Mary J. Blige, and Billy Joel team with the star to showcase some of his biggest hits from the past four decades, including "Your Song," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Rocket Man," "I'm Still Standing," and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues." ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide
Dreamworks SKG's second feature-length animated film blends comedy and drama in an unusual historical adventure. Two genial swindlers working as stable hands stow away with Cortez, the legendary Spanish conquistador, as he searches for El Dorado, the lost City of Gold. Luck smiles on the two con men, and they happen to find a settlement in Mexico that they believe is El Dorado; however, while the two exotic strangers are at first embraced by the Mayan people, they've also arrived just in time to be offered up as the next human sacrifice. The Road to El Dorado was directed by Don Paul, who helmed the first DreamWorks animated feature, The Prince of Egypt; Will Finn, a featured animator on Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin; Bibo Bergeron, who worked on Ferngully: The Last Rainforest; and David Silverman. It features new songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, and the voice cast includes Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Rosie Perez, Edward James Olmos, and Armand Assante. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, (more)
- 1999
British director Coky Giedroyc's sophomore feature outing concerns a pair of working class women in Edinburgh, Scotland. Down-to-earth Ellen (Gina McKee), a noted cartoonist, invites her wacky, outgoing best friend Cora (Helena Bonham Carter) to a post-divorce party. Ellen is recovering from an ill-fated marriage to the rakish Daniel, a compulsive gambler and philanderer. Cora broke up with her love 'em and leave 'em French lover Claude, who left her with a child. Told largely through flashbacks, the film charts the rise and fall of the two relationships, remembered by the pair as they bond over drinks. Later, a revelation suddenly strains Cora and Ellen's old and dear friendship. Women Talking Dirty was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helena Bonham Carter, Gina McKee, (more)
