A gorgeous, big-budget, fully authorised biopic of a music legend, packed with hit after glorious hit? Yes please – let me know if you find one

Stardust should be a slamdunk. After all, 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and 2019’s Rocketman – both biopics of musicians from the 1970s – walked away with Oscars. By all rights, as a film about David Bowie, Stardust should supersede them both. Who could possibly fail to get excited by a gorgeous, big-budget, fully authorised biopic of one of the most legendary rock stars of all time, starring Emma.’s Johnny Flynn, and packed with hit after hit after glorious hit?

The bad news is that Stardust isn’t that film. It isn’t authorised in the slightest – Duncan Jones has repeatedly bristled about its existence on social media – and it has been prohibited from including a single Bowie song. But just because it sounds more like the 30 Rock episode Jackie Jormp-Jomp than an actual movie, could Stardust still beat the odds and be worth watching? Let’s analyse the trailer and find out.

Continue reading…

You May Also Like

Pioneering Hawaiian-born sumo champion Akebono dies aged 54

Tributes paid to wrestler, who was born Chad Rowan and became the…

Independent Sage scientists to join climate crisis battle

Sir David King’s temporary organisation, formed in response to government’s Covid policy…

Armando Iannucci’s epic Covid poem: ‘It’s my emotional response to the past 18 months’

When Covid stalled his film work, the writer took revenge on the…