Miles Ahead Movie Trailer

[skeith]

52 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I enjoyed Cheadle as Miles quite a bit,  just felt that there were two movies happening at the same time that were only partially tied together by the end. That was my qualm, such as it was.

Interstitial enough, it seemed that the more...interpretational of the two, the Mystery Tape story, really took off in a way that felt like Miles. The more literal biopic element did right to bring out the sensitive side of Miles, but I dunno...I liked the time skipping rather than straight flashback gambit, and the thing in the boxing ring at the end where boxers became band was for sure a kind of brilliance, but  Frances as Rosebud, not so sure...

I enjoyed Cheadle as Miles too....and the movie was much more creative than the Hank film...I only meant to say that Tom Hiddleston's acting job is just scarily close to Hank (or what I know about him)...in some part aided by a physical resemblance.

[JSngry]

And how about a Miles & Cicely movie, with music only an incidental element?

There's more than one "Miles movie" to be had, if not actually made.

51 minutes ago, skeith said:

I enjoyed Cheadle as Miles too....and the movie wabelievech more creative than the Hank film...I only meant to say that Tom Hiddleston's acting job is just scarily close to Hank (or what I know about him)...in some part aided by a physical resemblance.

Hey, I Imprinted on George Hamilton as Hank, so I would not be able to see that through clear eyes...and believe me, that's a drag.

[Al in NYC]

I finally saw this last weekend, after some indecision brought on by dread that it would be like the Chet movie.   I really liked Cheadle's performance as Miles, and, of course, the use of Miles' music as the score.  Those things by themselves lifted Miles Ahead well ahead of Born To Be Blue in the 2016 trumpet player biopic sweepstakes. The "unstuck in time" narrative strategy worked quite well in several spots too IMO, and seems to me a good way to tell the story of an artist with as varied a life as Miles (similar to the recent James Brown biopic).  

But, overall, I thought the movie was a bit of a mess.  With plot elements that mixed together quite uncomfortably, like someone edited together 2 different films about different characters played by the same actor (sort of a mirror image of the recent Brian Wilson film).  And I thought the whole Ewan McGregor, conniving record executive, 'Junior' the trumpet player, car chase and gunfire, stolen tape sequence descended into grating incoherent silliness pretty quickly.  Maybe it was meant to play as a sort of cocaine fever-dream, showing just how far off the rails Miles' life and mental state had gone, but I kinda like my artist's biopics to at least have something to do with the creation (or lack thereof, in Miles' case) of their actual art.  Miles Ahead had a little of that, but IMO it really didn't seem part of the same movie as the main action/comedy/tragedy plot.

'Round Midnight still easily wins the non-documentary jazz movie category in that regard for me.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Al in NYC

[skeith]

Does anyone know if in fact Miles Davis actually fired a gun at someone in CBS Studios and at other folks and was shot at himself?

Makes for an exciting movie but perhaps feeds into precisely the type of stereotype one would have thought Cheadle would to a lot to avoid.....

And with all its problems I did enjoy the film.

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by skeith
forgot words

[sidewinder]

Didn't someone take a pot-shot at his car outside the Blue Coronet in Brooklyn in the early 1970s? (I think the story was that Marguerite Eskridge was with him).

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Al in NYC said:

I finally saw this last weekend, after some indecision brought on by dread that it would be like the Chet movie.   I really liked Cheadle's performance as Miles, and, of course, the use of Miles' music as the score.  Those things by themselves lifted Miles Ahead well ahead of Born To Be Blue in the 2016 trumpet player biopic sweepstakes. The "unstuck in time" narrative strategy worked quite well in several spots too IMO, and seems to me a good way to tell the story of an artist with as varied a life as Miles (similar to the recent James Brown biopic).  

But, overall, I thought the movie was a bit of a mess.  With plot elements that mixed together quite uncomfortably, like someone edited together 2 different films about different characters played by the same actor (sort of a mirror image of the recent Brian Wilson film).  And I thought the whole Ewan McGregor, conniving record executive, 'Junior' the trumpet player, car chase and gunfire, stolen tape sequence descended into grating incoherent silliness pretty quickly.  Maybe it was meant to play as a sort of cocaine fever-dream, showing just how far off the rails Miles' life and mental state had gone, but I kinda like my artist's biopics to at least have something to do with the creation (or lack thereof, in Miles' case) of their actual art.  Miles Ahead had a little of that, but IMO it really didn't seem part of the same movie as the main action/comedy/tragedy plot.

'Round Midnight still easily wins the non-documentary jazz movie category in that regard for me.

Well said! 

[JSngry]

The asynchronicity of much of the music sometimes worked quite well, as when "Sanctuary" started playing when Miles went to jail and here comes Frances after the Birdland beating. Even though that's a Wayne tune, the question of how much "current" music is actually informed by past events is a pretty good one, and that scene gives a convincing answer.

As for the gangster/thug/whatever element, no problem here. Miles himself was not detached from that element of life, which for his time/place was not unusual. Some people thought that the Corky McCoy cartoon covers were silly, or misdirected, or whatnot, but I think they told the truth abouth what they and the music inside them was all about, of course, with the unique Miles Davis element inextricably infused.

Or put another way - you gonna be do that much blow in NYC/Urban America for that long and not be around that type of world? Not in my experience!

[medjuck]

I enjoyed the film and much to my surprise there were about 20 people in the audience for an afternoon showing. (I thought I'd have the theater to myself.)   Much of it is unbelievable of course but then Miles' being beaten by a police man in front of the Vanguard would seem equally unbelievable to anyone who didn't know it actually happened.   And if Miles had lived long enough he probably would have hired Esperanza Spalding and Gary Clarke Jr. 

[gmonahan]

Finally saw the film last night, and like many here I was surprised that I liked much of it.  The whole stolen tape/car chase stuff was nonsense (though I adore Michael Stuhlbarg, who played Junior's scuzzy agent), but I thought Cheadle did a pretty good job (he looks like Miles), and I liked the musical things, especially the scene with Gil Evans.  That scene makes a nice contrast to "Born to be Blue" in the sense that it demonstrates why Miles would indeed have contempt for Chet Baker, who couldn't read a note of music. Of course, again like many here, I came to the movie with pretty low expectations, but it is nice when a movie turns out to be better than one thought it would be!

 

 

gregmo

[medjuck]

9 hours ago, gmonahan said:

Finally saw the film last night, and like many here I was surprised that I liked much of it.  The whole stolen tape/car chase stuff was nonsense (though I adore Michael Stuhlbarg, who played Junior's scuzzy agent), but I thought Cheadle did a pretty good job (he looks like Miles), and I liked the musical things, especially the scene with Gil Evans.  That scene makes a nice contrast to "Born to be Blue" in the sense that it demonstrates why Miles would indeed have contempt for Chet Baker, who couldn't read a note of music. Of course, again like many here, I came to the movie with pretty low expectations, but it is nice when a movie turns out to be better than one thought it would be!

 

 

gregmo

Agree with all this but why did they have Teo as producer of porgy and Bess? They just like his name?   BTW I saw Francis a couple of times when she was hostess at Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset.  (Never talked to her except to ask for a table for two.)

[sidewinder]

and listed in the end credits as 'Theo (Engineer)' I think..

[A Lark Ascending]

They finally let me in yesterday! Much the same reaction as most people here - better than expected. Plot was a dog's breakfast - gangster movie, soppy love story, corruption of industry types saga - but Cheadle was convincing. The cut and splice approach to chronology made sense when you think of the albums. Some nice film effects and, of course, great music. I especially liked the band section leading into the credits with Hancock, Shorter etc. Just missed the bit where they play Carnegie Hall and all the stuffed shirts, after initial resistance, start to tap their feet. I thought that was mandatory for jazz biopics.   

[BillF]

8 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

The cut and splice approach to chronology made sense when you think of the albums.  

Nice one, Bev!

[BillF]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/25/miles-ahead-born-to-be-blue-miles-davis-chet-baker-jazz-musician-movies

[danasgoodstuff]

4 hours ago, BillF said:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/25/miles-ahead-born-to-be-blue-miles-davis-chet-baker-jazz-musician-movies

Stunningly badly written, self-indulgent review; I quite enjoyed it!

[johnblitweiler]

A trumpeter I know was a teenager in the late 1960s when Miles was back in NY for a month-long gig. The youth went to the Vanguard every night to hear Miles. After a few nights Miles went over to his table, said, "Are you a trumpet player?"  "Yes." "Come over to my house, I'll give  you some music lessons."  So every day that August the young trumpeter went to Miles's home and Miles sat him down at the piano and taught him harmony. He told me that Don Cheadle captured Miles Davis perfectly down to every nuance.  Seems remarkable to me - isn't Cheadle too young to have heard or encountered Miles in person.

I mostly enjoyed the movie. A friend thinks it is a send-up of  blaxploitation movies.

[Dmitry]

Just watched it. What a hot mess...