Pretty Good

A lot of fun.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

In those dark ages of American movies, along the hollow sequels, childish animated movies, a new despicable genre has arisen: the Biopic ! When they are about politicians or artists, you can a sure awful expect a stinky turkey: Along Vatican, Hollywood is in making saints: with those Biopics, they kiss asses so much that it ends up like excruciating hagiographies! Usually they start with the caption - inspired by true facts - so it means that it's not the reality but the reality they want to find: However as PKD said, truth can't allow revisionism and at the end, even small changes means something else... With politicians, you end with propaganda and with artists, you end up with advertising... Focusing about those 2 categories is a slap in your face: you should understand that the more they consider them great, worthy, unique, historic, irreplaceable, talented, the more they tell us, the common, ordinary people that we are valueless, unworthy, all the same, untalented, uneducated and expandable! So it's your choice to accept being ridiculed, but for myself and from now, i won't never watch again those kind of biopics! Actually, this Al movie can't really be considered as a Biopic even if it lies upon a true fact. In a way, it's a sort of companion to his recent Humbling as in the two movies are drama / comedy in which Al plays an artist: it's funny to notice that indeed the 2 movies opens just moments before the show! Here all the stupid sexual content of the other movie has been (almost) cut and it's more a movie about family commitment so a topic Al has already visited but no in such funny way! Al is rather convincing as a singer and the more he gets old, the more he connects with kindness and heart with the other characters! His lost family is well played and it was great to see again Alias now a mature mother! The only big thing that i regret is the way big money and celebrity addiction comes so easily to solve all problems as the audience is ordinary and not ultra wealthy, meaning that our problems just stay! The last scene is really well done but the after credit just kill its emotion!

Al Pacino really is into the role. It's not that you ever feel like he's slacking when he plays someone, but it's really refreshing to see him go all Rockstar on us. You could almost say it works on a meta level too (him being one of the greatest actors to ever grace the screen). He can also live through things he probably won't be doing in his real life and have a lot of fun with it.The character is very well written (based on a real life musician, clips during the credits, if you wonder who he is) and the story does work. There are many clichés in this, but the actors are so good, you probably won't notice. And no matter how low Al Pacinos character sinks, there is always the believe in him, the aura that he has, the screen presence. Will that all help in the end though?

When I started watching this movie I thought it was some stupid, low budget movie. I was mistaken. It first portrays how (shown in many movies) superstars land up at some point in their career, with drugs and alcohol. Al Pachino played a good role in this movie and I think it's worth being one of his best.When Danny Collins gets this surprising letter from John Lennon he decides to finally come out of his drug stage and, in a way, start fresh. First by mending - actually creating a bond with his son that he has never met before who has his own family and hates his guts. There the story of this movie builds! I took the time to pay attention to this movie and I enjoyed it but I don't think all will because it was a bit long and it dragged out. None the less it was brilliant, good acting, good actors (and actresses) along with a humorous side to the movie. A well deserved 8!

Al Pacino takes his weathered being to a different role. He is a rich rocker, left over from the 70's, who has managed to continue to sell out huge venues, even though he continues to march out the same tired songs that he did years before. I suppose Neil Diamond is a bit like this. That aside, one day he comes into possession of a letter that was supposed to have been delivered to him; it is a letter from John Lennon of the Beatles. It requests contact with Danny. However, some thirty years pass before his manager is able to get it for him as a birthday present. This leads him to try to make changes in his life. Two things seem to be at the center. First, he wants to return to songwriting, something he was good at once; secondly, he wishes to connect with his son whom he has never met. This is a rocky road and it is an interesting set of events that take place. He meets a manager of a Hilton Hotel, played by Annette Benning. He is attracted to her and a sort of soul connection develops. He has lived it up with booze, drugs, young women, and other indulgences, but now he has to exorcise those demons to move on. That is what the movie is about. By the way, the soundtrack is filled with wonderful John Lennon tunes.