Popular reviews

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  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★½ 6

  After watching this I'm wondering if Liberace was maybe a little bit gay.

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★½ 1

  "they don't have any idea that he's gay."

  appropriately rich but disappointingly standard. douglas & damon slay their roles (everyone here does, really), but the pathos is limited by fixed rails.

  curious as to why the final title card is so vague. "scott lives in reno, nevada." yeah, in jail.

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  Review by Josh Gillam ★★★★

  The last ten years in the life of flamboyant pianist Liberace (Michael Douglas) are seen through the eyes of Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), his assistant and lover, in Steven Soderbergh’s biographical drama co-starring Dan Ackroyd, Scott Bakula, Debbie Reynolds and Rob Lowe.

  The film is a fascinating look underneath the glamorous sheen of celebrity and into the more complicated reality underneath, exploring the highs and lows of its characters in an empathetic and even-handed way. Douglas is fantastic, embodying the larger-than-life Liberace in a way that manages to avoid caricature. He really manages to find the inner vulnerability and loneliness of the outwardly extroverted entertainer, whilst also getting across the charm that drew others in, making him sympathetic despite some…

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  Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★★ 6

  An outlandish and yet often sincere biopic about two of the most insincere and broken individuals portrayed in any biopic. In many ways, the rawness and straightforward nature with how everything was shown in here for some reason reminded me to what many were hoping for to see in Bohemian Rhapsody movie, though something tells me Freddie wasn't going around adopting his male escorts. And speaking of male prostitutes I loved how this movie wants me to believe everyone thought Liberace wasn't gay. I mean, c'mon, people aren't that stupid and ignorant... right?

  Many of the reasons why I was so invested into this movie was thanks to the great performances by Damon and Douglas. They both killed it and…

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  Review by doinkdedoink ★★★★★ 1

  don't you just love gay and jealous matt damon

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  Review by I.V. ★★★★

  Soderbergh does Fassbinder, essentially.

  Jonathan Rosenbaum on Fox and His Friends: "At one point the camera is even stationed on a floor a moment before the hapless hero slips and falls, in sadistic anticipation of his mishap. As with much of Fassbinder's work, his cruelty complicates rather than negates his mordant, on-target social analysis." That's pretty much this movie in a nutshell.

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  Review by TajLV ★★★★ 1

  No studio wanted to produce this. Director Steven Soderbergh first mentioned the project idea to Michael Douglas during the filming of Traffic in 2000, but the powers of cinemadom judged the story "too gay to be commercial," so it languished in need of backing till HBO finally took a gamble on it as a made-for-TV movie. Two Golden Globes and eleven Primetime Emmy Awards later, Soderbergh's vision is complete, and the tale of the last decade in the life of the world's most extravagant piano-playing showman has been told, masterfully.

  When I first heard Douglas was going to play Liberace, I thought to myself, "No way! The guy who made it with Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct? The guy who's…

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  Review by Paul Robinson ★★★★ 5

  The film deemed to gay for Hollywood even after the much loved Brokeback Mountain is a great picture, and will continue to show my pleas to Steven Soderbergh to not give up on Cinema so we don’t lose one of the most entertaining and unique eyes in film. Though his contributions to T.V. will be something everyone should be excited for.

  Behind the Candelabra the story of Pianist Liberace played terrifically by Michael Douglas and his relationship with a much younger man Scott Thorson played by Matt Damon. A film I was expecting to be way over the top and become a camp act much like Liberace’s real life stage show. But this is a warts and all story of…

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  Review by {Todd} ★★★½

  "I can't believe you're still Catholic" -Scott,

  -Soderbergh Ranked: boxd.it/axqbw

  Liberace was gay?!

  Behind the Candelabra is an outstanding biopic about the unseen part of Liberace's life. The story is consistently engaging and funny and sad and interesting and I really enjoyed it... more than I thought I would. The real winners here are Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. Specifically, I don't know if I ever fully respected Douglas' career until seeing him do something different and interesting like this.

  Great stuff!

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  Review by Erik 🎼 ★★★★½

  i love being gay and playing the piano that’s all i have to say

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  Review by h.j. kwiatkowski ★★★★★ 4

  This is it. This is peak Soderbergh. I will be in absolute awe if I find another one of his movies topping this one. I'm wholly convinced Steven Soderbergh is one of the greatest to ever do it.

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  Review by Noah Thompson ★★★★ 2

  You have done it by just being yourself
  Perhaps after all, that is what love means
  And that is why I love you

  On an episode of WTF that came out today in correlation with the eagerly anticipated (at least for me) No Sudden Move, director Steven Soderbergh discussed with Marc Maron the difference between a "film" and a "movie." Now, I wouldn't make a distinction between the two as I find that a bit too gatekeepy, but I am not Steven, and I think he brings up something interesting among the regular talk of "a film means something, and a movie is entertainment." Alongside saying something along those lines, Soderbergh talks about how for his projects, he has no…