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Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Started by surreal, May 15, 2018, 02:51:48 PM

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sevendaughters

the Guardian review points out how they turn Who Wants To Live Forever into a Freddie-has-AIDS song when it's actually a Brian-really-loves-Highlander tune.

New Jack

Absolutely baffled Paul Rodgers wasn't cast instead of Elliot

Custard

I'm by no means a huge Queen fan, but I've gotta say, I bloody loved this. Looks and sounds brilliant, and the cast are great.

It's a love letter to Mercury the man and Queen's music, and if it doesn't make you wanna pump your bleedin' fists even a tiny bit, than frankly you're dead inside. DEAD!

4 dwarves with trays on their heads

EDIT - Oh, and don't be put off by twats singing. The one I went to was packed, and the most it got was some bopping heads during the Live Aid performance, and a brief round of applause at the end. Cos we're all American now.

It's worth seeing in the cinema for the recreation of Live Aid alone. Bloody incredible on a big screen.

Head Gardener



looking forward to seeing this tomorrow



they were the first band I saw live in 1977



I have all their records



Sheer Heart Attack is one of the greatest rock albums of all time



I know it'll be a sanitized version of events but I don't care



I hope Rami's performance does Freddie justice



BlodwynPig


Shit Good Nose

Quote from: BlodwynPig on October 27, 2018, 09:09:08 PM
Those dentures look off.

I don't know - I watched a Queen thing last night with interviews from the 70s and Freddie's chompers were fucking massive.  It seriously looked like he couldn't close his mouth because of them during an interview with Bob Harris.

mothman

It's the eyes, I tell you, the eyes! They scare me.



MiddleRabbit

Just seen this.  Not a big fan of Queen by any stretch but I do enjoy a musical biopic.

It was quite poor but the kid playing Brian May absolutely nails it.  Quite astonishing really.

kalowski

Quote from: MiddleRabbit on October 28, 2018, 05:27:59 PM

It was quite poor but the kid playing Brian May absolutely nails it.  Quite astonishing really.

Head Gardener

I really enjoyed it, I wanted more dirt but it was loud and funny in parts and Rami did a great Freddie, however...
the record nerd in me was annoyed by 2 tiny errors which is pathetic I know, but I couldn't help it.
Firstly they are doing their thing circa 1974 and then cut to a performance of Fat Bottomed Girls, then straight into a scene of
Night At The Opera (1975) discussions with their management. FBG wasn't performed or released until 4 years later so wtf!?
tsk.
Secondly in that scene where they are discussing A Night At The Opera in an office lined with gold discs, someone points at one on the
wall and comments about it being Dark Side Of The Moon - the plaque on the frame clearly says so too but the disc they show has an EMI logo,
the Pink Floyd album had a triangular Harvest logo not EMI one.
Jeez.


Pink Floyd DSOTM label


Queen EMI label


buzby

Quote from: Head Gardener on October 28, 2018, 07:40:04 PM
Secondly in that scene where they are discussing A Night At The Opera in an office lined with gold discs, someone points at one on the
wall and comments about it being Dark Side Of The Moon - the plaque on the frame clearly says so too but the disc they show has an EMI logo,
the Pink Floyd album had a triangular Harvest logo not EMI one.
Jeez.


Pink Floyd DSOTM label


Queen EMI label
It was released in Japan with EMI labels - maybe it was a Japan gold disc?


Head Gardener

holy fuck!!! damn, you could be right but it didn't look right, the label colour in the frame was lighter than the Jap issue but a good point well made +1

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Head Gardener on October 28, 2018, 09:09:32 PM
holy fuck!!! damn, you could be right but it didn't look right, the label colour in the frame was lighter than the Jap issue but a good point well made +1

WON'T BE WATCHING FILM.

non capisco

Quote from: Head Gardener on October 28, 2018, 07:40:04 PM
I really enjoyed it, I wanted more dirt but it was loud and funny in parts and Rami did a great Freddie, however...
the record nerd in me was annoyed by 2 tiny errors which is pathetic I know, but I couldn't help it.

You forgot the bit where they wrote 'We Will Rock You' in 1980. I can forgive it pulling 'Freddie tells the rest of the band he has AIDS just before Live Aid' out of its arse for dramatic purposes but short haired Freddie walking in on Brian May demonstrating the We Will Rock You stomp during what I assume to be 'The Game' sessions? Jog on!

Having said that I did appreciate the portrayal of John Deacon as some kind of confident wisecracking everyman and Brian May as an uptight dickhead. Much as has been said about Rami Malek's startlingly accurate Mercury but the bloke who played Brian May was even better. It's probably harder to totally nail someone that completely boring. The bit in the 'Hot Space' press conference when he goes "Does anyone here want to maybe ask a question about the muuuusic? (crap shrug)" was up there with Serafinowicz's "Weeeeary old Wogan" from the Comic Relief Blankety Blank parody for almost supernatural levels of mimetic accuracy.

I must admit I laughed out loud at the AIDS clinic patient giving a weak little "eh-oh" to the departing Mercury, and his resigned, spoken "eh-oh" back. Probably wasn't meant to.

kidsick5000

Quote from: non capisco on October 29, 2018, 05:26:14 PM
I can forgive it pulling 'Freddie tells the rest of the band he has AIDS just before Live Aid' out of its arse for dramatic purposes.

That was the worst part for me. Giving him the Aids diagnosis two years early just to fit with the film's narrative feels like a disservice to both band and the man.
I would have thiught that if there's one aspect of Freddie's legacy you want to be true too, it's that.
What's really galling is that the film gets the music and the performances so right.
It's a ballsy move to recreate most of the Live Aid gig and they pull it off. It feels rightfully triumphant. Really moving, tear in the eye. Everything.
So that its frame by a chronological mash up of events and not one believable conversation is rotten. Especially when the Queen story by itself doesn't need embellishments. Cath the Days of Our Lives doc on Youtube. The films approach to drama just makes you ask Why?

sevendaughters

seen it now. perfect film for the majority of Queen fans but just not a good biopic really. i wonder if the people who are moaning that the film glosses his race or sexuality are willing to own Sun City for the sake of a fuller picture? Queen were always a superficial band and this is the film that suits them best.

CaledonianGonzo

If I were going into this as a fan of movies in general or of historical accuracy then I'd be nitpicking and complaining like a good 'un, but speaking as a Queen fan it's a fucking riot. 

And it seemed to me that the audience were loving it.

kidsick5000

Am I the only one who had a problem with the bloke playing Kenny Everett?

Head Gardener


Keebleman

Is the Sun City business in the film at all?

rue the polywhirl

I read a excerpt of George Benson's autobiography about playing in Sun City. A comparative multi-racial utopia in the dark, apartheidy times of SA. A morass of moral finding but ultimately the right step forward. I don't think Queen need to do any owning of Sun City at all. They had fans there, they can't be blamed for playing. 'You're happy to sell records there but you won't do any shows, even to build bridges?'

Just saw the movie. Totally edgeless, a near-thorough Jonas Brothers Disneyfication but a real blast. Despite the calvacade of 'Chubby hmmm' moments and the glaring disregard for songwriting chronology the only nitpicks I came away with were that Brian May looks about 10 years older than the rest of the band, Deacon looks like Micky Michaels from League of Gentlemen and the whole time Rami Malek was burning to play Jaws in a remake of Spy Who Loved Me. And why couldnt they get the big CGI crowd scenes at Live Aid to look slightly convincing? It looked like the graphics for a tie-in video game on the Nintendo Wii.

sevendaughters

Quote from: Keebleman on November 05, 2018, 02:03:39 PM
Is the Sun City business in the film at all?

No, the film effectively ends at Live Aid. Which the film suggests that the band reformed to play after Freddie has gone party boy in Munich for 3 years. They'd just come off the tour for The Works.

kidsick5000

It's an Eric Morcambe film.
They're the right events... not necessarily in the right order.

There seems to be various accounts of what Live Aid was to the band.
One is that it was a last gasp as the band was close to breaking up seemingly having lost the US footing - in part thanks to I Want To Break Free video. The US sees drag as more sexually threatening than other territories.

CaledonianGonzo

For whatever reason, Queen seem to written it into their own story as a pivotal moment and a huge comeback (despite The Works and related singles and tours being pretty successful).

Ultimately, the movie's a total fantasy, but it's arguably no worse for that.  Better that it ends in a rousing sequence at Live Aid than spends the final half hour focussing on the recording of The Miracle before concluding on Freddie saying 'I need to go peepee'

Bad Ambassador

I haven't seen it yet, buy my trepidation regarding it having been written by the same chump who did The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour appears to have been bourne out.

kidsick5000

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on November 06, 2018, 06:38:46 AM
Ultimately, the movie's a total fantasy, but it's arguably no worse for that.  Better that it ends in a rousing sequence at Live Aid than spends the final half hour focussing on the recording of The Miracle before concluding on Freddie saying 'I need to go peepee'

It's the ideal moment to stop this film. It is their greatest triumph.
But there's definitely a decent sequel to be had. There's no less drama to be had there.
It just won't be as much of a music fest. It has to be said that Queen's inventiveness and that random factor had all but left by The Works   

a duncandisorderly

from a mate of mine, via email... he prefers, as do I, the first four or five albums, & a long time ago (pre-wikipedia) he wrote the queen entry for 'the rough guide to rock', so he knows the biographical & historical stuff as well as anyone:

Flick nothing to write home about I don't think....as if their career peaked with Live Aid.
"we haven't played together for years" says Rog.... no, only a massive tour four months before it.

Lots of bending the truth chronologically.....the acting's decent though and they made it as much about the life Freddie had away from Queen....but they never seem to work these biopics. The truth is out there anyway.

Clownbaby

The guy playing Roger Taylor didn't look shrewy enough I don't think

kidsick5000

Quote from: Clownbaby on November 06, 2018, 11:49:51 AM
The guy playing Roger Taylor didn't look shrewy enough I don't think

Out of all the band members, none of his wigs looked real.

Custard

Played by EastEnders' Peter Beale, no less