Painful to watch. Inaccurate in every which way and insulting to both celebrities.
I had to see it and be my own judge; don't waste your time seeing this garbage.
Frank and Ava
2020
Action / Biography / Drama / History
Frank and Ava
2020
Action / Biography / Drama / History
Plot summary
The steel line of sex and tension is palpable throughout this harrowing and heart-stirring Hollywood romance between Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. It's 1949 and Sinatra, the former king of swoon who once enchanted millions of "bobby soxers", is at the downturn of his career as the once golden "Voice" is now compromised by a hemorrhage to his vocal cords while his reputation is lambasted by the press who parade his alleged Mafia connections, liberal sympathies, and extramarital affairs. In the midst of his despair, he falls hard and fast for Gardner, MGM's sultry starlet with whom he shares proclivities for passion, whiskey, obstinacy, and sexual infidelities. Equal to his desire to maintain the interest of the mercurial Gardner, is his almost sacred infatuation aimed at attaining the role of Private Angelo Maggio in Columbia Picture's From Here to Eternity, the sole ray of hope in salvaging his career. An acknowledged long shot due to his questionable acting chops and heretofore box office bombs, Sinatra actively campaigns for the role while divorcing his wife, Nancy, and entering a sexually charged, but suspicion-filled marriage with Gardner that is marked by infidelities, Ava's abortions and Frank's suicide attempts as their hapless romance is parodied by the press who play them off each other. Acclaimed director, Michael Oblowitz, impeccably stylized the film, using locations in Rome, Italy, Hollywood, CA and Sinatra's Palm Springs home to bring Frank and Ava to life. In addition to introducing Rico Simonini and Emily Elicia Low in the title roles, the film also features Eric Roberts, Lukas Haas, Richard Portnow, Domenick Lombardozzi, Neil Sandilands, Jonathan Silverman, Terry Moore and the legendary Harry Dean Stanton; in his last feature film appearance.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
0 stars for this trashy biography.
The acting is appalling!
I rarely write reviews, but I had to put one here. I don't even know how this garbage ever got made. This unknown looks nothing like Frank nor does this girl favor Ava Gardner. The acting is so stiff, it's as if they are just reading the script verbatim with no feeling at all. I watched 15 minutes of this and I had to turn it off. No way I was going to waste any time or my life with this trash. You would do better to watch a cartoon.
It could have been a lot better, a waste of talent and possibilties.
So, I finally got my Blu-Ray of Frank and Ava. I've been looking forward to watching it ever since Emily Elicia Low announced she was working on it. I really, really want to love this movie because she's in it.
When I see her on the screen she always puts out a certain something, but I admit I'm biased. The problem is, well, there are a number of problems actually.
First, the good, I loved the cars, the clothes, and many of the locations. It was great to see Harry Dean Stanton and Katherine Helmond in their last roles as well as veterans like Robert Costanzo and Eric Roberts. Ron Pritchard killed as Sammy Davis Jr. and the people playing the newscasters and rumor mongers were overall excellent. A very nice use of underused talent. Robin Arcuri as a stenographer is an almost criminal under use of talent.
The not so good involved much of the script which just did not seem to give Emily the right words. I'm not sure if there was some bad directing going or or if they just chose to limit the number of shoots, but the scenes with her varied from excellent to ones I really think they should have shot again.
The subplot dealing with abortion managed to get lost along the way and could have easily been cut. The scene in Africa with the "Frank is bigger" should have been cut completely, it was really, really bad and there was no excuse for it.
There were times when there really should have been more people in the scene and their lack was missing. The cinematography/lighting jumped around from movie quality to cheap TV show settings.
Seeing the old school royalty chatting about Frank and Ava was a nice touch.
Overall I was not unhappy I watched it, but for whatever reason what could have been, did not happen. I'll still watch Emily Elicia Low's next film.