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What's Love Got To Do With It? 
Actors : Angela Bassett, Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly, Laurence Fishburne, Virginia Capers, Dororthy Thorton
Director : Brian Gibson
Studio : Walt Disney Video
by Walt Disney Video
Release Date : 1999-08-24
Publisher : Walt Disney Video
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780788816376
UPC : 717951003256
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 74 reviews)
List Price : $14.99
Our Price : $6.49
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Description |
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Experience for yourself the powerful true-life story of Tina Turner -- rock 'n' roll's remarkable and talented superstar. Laurence Fishburne (THE MATRIX) and Angela Bassett (HOW STELLA GOT HER GROVE BACK) deliver winning performances as Ike and Tina Turner -- whose turbulent relationship eventually forces Tina to leave and face the fear, pay the price, and find the courage to believe in herself. Don't miss WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT -- the amazing and uplifting story of one of the world's most exciting, high-energy entertainers! |
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Marketadvisory.com essential video |
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Tina Turner, that dynamic diva of pop/soul/R&B from the '60s to the '90s, sings like a woman whose life story is every bit as rough and tough as her voice. And What's Love Got to Do With It, based on her autobiographical account (in I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder) of her years under the iron fist of her abusive husband and musical partner/Svengali Ike, is further proof of what we've always known about Tina: She's what you call a survivor. The movie is sort of the Disney version of Tina Turner's story--a glossy but thoroughly enjoyable, old-fashioned showbiz biopic with laughs, tears, great music, and outrageous (but faithful) period decor, costumes, makeup, and hairstyles. Our Heroine triumphs not only over the rigorous demands of her career in the music business, but finally manages to bust out of her troubled, violent marriage as well and become her own person. This is a movie that'll have you shouting at the top of your lungs: "You go, girl!" --Jim Emerson |
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Angela Basset's arms are dyn-o-mite! |
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What's Love Got To Do With It? is the biopic of singer Tina Turner. Angela Basset received an Oscar nomination for her fearless performance, she is a powerhouse! Laurence Fishburne is at his creepiest playing Ike Turner, Tina's manager and abusive husband. This film is a bit much at times but the performances cancel out the soapy plot. Check it out sometime! |
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Feels a little like condensed soup... |
There is a growing problem with biopics of this nature. They either feel overly stuffed (since these performers lives were really so rich with color) or they feel a little too airy since everything tends to get glossed over too quickly. With `What's Love Got to Do with It', the former is most definitely the case. Instead of feeling as if we really get to know Tina Turner we are left wondering who she really was. This isn't to say that the film is a failure, but it is to say that the film never really captures the life she led. We are left feeling as though we got a quick overall glimpse of her life but we are never really brought down into the trenches so-to-speak. There are so many facets of her life that are merely mentioned instead of fleshed out, so in the end `What's Love Got to Do with It' winds up feeling a little unfinished.
The film tells Anna Mae Bulluck's story; a young girl getting swept up in the musical movement of one Ike Turner, her powerful and raw vocals causing a nation to fall in love with her and a jealous husband to resent her. As a piece of mere entertainment the film works. It has glorious set pieces and nice musical numbers and it tells her story so that we can understand it. As an in-depth look at this woman though, it falls short. It feels as if it is just cutting from one event to another without really tying things in for us.
One minute Ike's two sons are dropped off on his doorstep and then next minute they are playing a concert. There is no explanation made, no serious consideration given to Ike's previous relationship. One minute Tina is presented with a Buddhist chant, the next she is a full-fledged practicer of the faith without any real weight given to that aspect of her life.
This is sad because Tina's life is rich with turmoil as well as accomplishment, but the film seems to lend no real time to anything within her life. It plainly tells us what is happening and then moves on, never fleshing it out to the full.
Another problem that I have with the film is Angela's portrayal of Mrs. Turner. A lot have raved her but I personally found her performance to be a tad uneven. She was over-the-top one minute, under the radar the next and then spot on the next. She managed to pull out some brilliant scenes, but those scenes got lost when she became overtaken by ticks and `attitude' that seemed unnatural and out of place (that whole courtroom scene was a joke). I understand her Oscar nomination, because this is the type of performance the Academy usually goes for (biopic, abuse, tragic, inspiring) but her hammy performance was not really worthy of too many accolades. To me it was Laurence Fishburne that actually saved this movie. I normally find him rather dull and uninspiring, but his portrayal of Ike is rich beyond words with charisma and ferocity. He is genuinely charming one minute and fear inspiring the next, and he never falls into the Morpheus brand of monotony he seems to have fallen victim to since 1999. He gives the most colorful and praise worthy performance in the film, and was really much more deserving of the Oscar than the person who actually won.
In the end I have to say that while `What's Love Got to Do with It' seems almost empty at times, it is entertaining and it does hold our interest. I just expected a lot more from this film, since it has been raved about profusely by so many. See this for the story, and for Fishburne's dynamic performance, but don't expect a whole lot of enlightenment on the subject of the one and only Tina Turner. |
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What's Love Got To Do With It? A lot, it turns out |
This was a very dramatic movie, that was overall pretty good, but like Ike Turner, it got a little heavy handed at times. As a biography it ranks up there with Walk the Line, but perhaps a slight notch below Ray.
The opening scene with the young Anna Mae Bullock (Rae'ven Kelly) singing in the church choir was priceless. She showed great potential and promise and energy--as a rock and roller, not a holy roller! As the choir director escorted her to the door, pulling her by the ear, you just knew that she was going someplace. Someplace else.
Great performances by Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, and all the supporting cast. Angela, who graduated from Yale with a B.A. in African-American studies in 1980 and Yale drama school with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1983, sure doesn't show it here, as she becomes a shy but talented teenager named Anna Mae Bullock from Nutbush, Tennessee. She received an Oscar nomination, but lost out to Holly Hunter for The Piano. As an aside, Fishburne turned down the role five times, when he thought that either Halle Berry or Whitney Houston were being cast, but upon hearing that Angela Bassett was going to do it, he finally accepted. As Ike and Tina Turner, they have some very dramatic and harrowing scenes, and they both deliver stellar performances.
Great music, and really spectacular concert scenes that captured the excitement of their performances. The title song was used especially well, as a comment on Ike and Tina's relationship, and the fact that she had really moved on. I liked the wild fashions, especially the ones that Ike wore as the 70's raged on. 70's fashion can really make you look like a clown, but it showed how like a chameleon, he changed his look to match his surroundings, and went with the flow of the fashion. Lots of great costumes on Tina, the band, and the back up singers, the Ikettes.
But for all the great music, they left out a song and performance that was really special, and I wonder why they left out the Ike & Turner version of the Otis Redding song, "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)". You can hear it on their 1968 Blue Thumb album entitled "Outta Season". Even better, see it in The Rolling Stones concert documentary Gimme Shelter. No, they didn't do it at Altamont, but were on tour with The Stones and their raunchy, sexually charged duet really brought down the house at Madison Square Gardens. Tina and the WLGTDWI? film makers might have thought it too risque, or that it would disrupt the narrative they were fashioning; but I think it would have shed a little light on certain aspects of their relationship, as well as showing what an incendiary act the Ike & Tina Turner Review could be.
A very fine film that tells the story from Tina Turner's point of view. She has lived an incredible life, and her story makes for a very dramatic and compelling narrative. She has come such a long way since she was that little girl from Nutbush, Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock, who was thrown out of the church choir.
I, Tina by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder (Hardcover - Sep 1986)
Takin' Back My Name: The Confessions of Ike Turner by Ike Turner, Nigel Cawthorn, and Little Richard (Hardcover - Sep 15, 1999)
Private Dancer (1990) This is the Post Ike record that features the song WLGTDWI? that gave this film its title.
Rhythm Rockin' Blues (1951) Rocket 88 (some say it's the first rock 'n roll song ever recorded) along with other Ike Turner music, can be heard on this record.
The Color Purple (1985) (as Larry Fishburne) .... Laurence Fishburne played Swain in this adaptation of the book by Alice Walker.
Malcolm X (1992) .... Angela Bassett portrays Dr. Betty Shabazz, wife of Malcolm X.
The Matrix (1999) .... Laurence Fishburne was Morpheus. How cool is that?
Mystery Men (1999) .... Lucille, The Shoveler's Wife, is played by Jenifer Lewis, who played Zelma Bulluck, Anna Mae's mother, in WLGTDWI? Jenifer also played Real Estate Agent Toni Childs' mother Verreta, who embarasses her daughter with her Fresno manners on the sitcom "Girlfriends."
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - Criterion Collection (1970) Besides the Stones and what happened at Altamont, there is some fine footage of Ike & Tina Turner performing I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) that is much sexier than anything in WLGTDWI?
Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa (Remastered Edition) - Subtitled - 1951 by Akira Kurosawa (Remastered Edition) - Subtitled - 1951 ~ Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura (DVD - 2008)
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Tina Turner Rocks! |
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I enjoyed watching this film as it gave me the insight to one of my favorite legends. Due to what Tina has endured, it was impossible to watch it a second time. However, this will be in one of my all time favorites, as it had a happy ending! Isn't that why we all go to the movies?! Thank you. |
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Go Tina, Go!! |
This was an amazing movie. Angela Bassett really did her thing in this movie. It is a must see!!
Purchase it now!!!
Toya |
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