Never heard of it.

Thanks for your thoughts anyway. We may give it a try. We'll see.

Bohemian Rhapsody: A-
Just watched this- I thought it was really, really good. The performances by each of the four principle actors were fantastic- they absolutely nailed the nuances of the respective band members (and surely Rami Malek's portrayal of Freddie Mercury may warrant an Academy Award nomination). The star of this film is the music itself though, culminating in Queen's full 1985 performance at Live Aid. This film wasn't perfect; I don't want to watch it again in a hurry but I do want to break out a number of the Queen albums. Also, there seemed to be several frustrating inaccuracies with timelines that were obviously played around with in order to suit the overall narrative and ensure the running time fitted. This came across as a bit disingenuous for a music biopic closely produced by the remaining band members themselves.
Overall though, a damned fine movie that served to reminded me of how great a Fleetwood Mac biopic could one day be.
Edit: PS- I should have mentioned there's a lot of humour in this film. Though at times it deals with 'difficult' themes, the overall tone of the film is quite light.

Its the third film in a series of James Bond parodies by Rowan Atkinson (Black Adder, Mr Bean). You haven't missed much.

I cannot wait to see this film.

It looks awful. The record producer in the commercial saying "we can't have a 6-minute song" -- in the 70s???!!! :lol:

phony

Bryan Singer has never made a watchable film.

And that actor is freaky looking and too short for the role.

The record producer is played by Mike Myers in a very comedic cameo. Yes, in the 70's it was (as it always has been) difficult to get radio airplay for long songs. Though it was a prime example of the prog rock of that time, generally prog rock bands such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, ELP etc, tended to focus more on album releases rather than single songs. Queen found it difficult to convince their record company to release the song and had to rely on the support of eccentric English DJ Kenny Everett.

I can't say I've watched any other Bryan Singer films except The Usual Suspects. That was a pretty brilliant film. That said, its difficult to determine how much of this was Bryan Singer and how much was Dexter Fletcher who took over part-way through.

Rami Malek was great for the role of Freddie Mercury and was only just a tiny bit shorter than Freddie in real life. Freddie was 5ft 10''
He was freaky looking???? Freddie Mercury didn't exactly blend into a crowd :confused:

Are you know kidding?Xmen 2 is the best X men film and he directed it.

We did make it out to see Bad Times at the El Royale. I enjoyed it. Somewhere between a B+ and an A- maybe? Lots of twists and turns, some shocking moments, a little bit of mystery as to which historical figure a certain object pertains to... It was one of those movies that you have to discuss with your fellow attendees for a bit afterwards. Everyone had theories about certain issues. The fact that the location was based on the famous Cal Neva resort (once owned by Frank Sinatra) added a little bit of interest as well. I wouldn't want to lead anyone wrong, but I liked it.

Was it repetitive?

No, I didn't get that out of it.

That's not exactly saying much :laugh:

(though catch my review of X-Men 2 in my book The Community of Desire -- available at lulu.com)

30. Suspiria, grade B- = warning; you probably won’t like this movie. It’s a pretentious art house film and a very long one. If there is one word to describe it it is ALOOF. Nothing about it is obvious except for the striking visuals. It feels like we are eavesdropping into conversations and that is how we learn about the plot. The ending, like the plot, isn’t easy to understand.

If you are a fan of the original 1977 film, which is a classic, it doesn’t have that much in common in with it, except little plot pieces here and there. The 1977 movie is a lot more enjoyable than this film, but this film may be more interesting in the long run. If you are a fan Of the Three Mother’s Trilogy, this movie is more like Suspiria’s sequals Inferno and Mother of Tears, which are less obvious and full of symbolism. In fact, this movie does feel like a Dario Argento film, just not his best one, the original Suspiria.

That being said, this movie feels Fresh and different than anything out there and I left the theater thinking I had seen something new- a cold, hollow, visually striking, interesting horror film with absolutely no heart. Nothing quite like it.

(I'm experimenting with youtube.)

31. Bohemian Rhapsody, grade C- or maybe a D + = I had high hopes for this movie buts it’s a big disappointment. The movie just falls flat. It’s not directed very well but the actors try hard. The movie �� s very forgettable. Enough said.

(I'm experimenting with youtube. Trying to decide what I want to do with my channel. I figure I see soo many movies. Maybe post a few reviews.)

Thanks for confirming what I suspected from the trailer.
Came across as nothing more than a telemovie.
A well-made documentary or some sort of concept film based on the musical would have been a better move, presumably. I thought Brian May had more artistic sense than that; but after all the development hell, maybe the final product is far from his initial vision.

It felt like every scene was staged and fake and seemed like a made for tv movie.

Someone told me recently that they had heard an interview with Brian May where he said his vision for the project was to have Freddie die halfway through the movie and have the rest be about what Queen did afterwards. Sounded like Brian wanted much less focus on Freddie but lost that battle.

Good job, Jondalar. You're thoughtful. I've been curious about this remake. I'm not a giallo aficionado, but Bava's Blood and Black Lace is great.

Each to their own. I enjoyed this very much. I know what you mean when you refer to it being a 'Made for TV biopic', but I think that's largely down to some of the British tongue in cheek humour they've deliberately built into this movie. Perhaps it doesn't translate that well to American audiences. When I watched it here in the UK there was a big round of applause at the end. I think the issue is this isn't a film about Freddie Mercury...its a film about Queen. It's made by the remaining members and perhaps that serves to sanitize things a bit. It's in their interests to open up a new group of people to Queen's music and I think its a good film for people who don't really know them very well.
In terms of cinematography... I don't know what you were watching for the last 30 minutes. For me, that whole Live Aid section was incredible.

There was applause from some members of the audience in my theater too, but like you said, to each their own. This movie felt staged and fake. I liked the stadium scene too but it was out of place and came out of nowhere.

32. First Reformed, grade B = the environmental movement meets religion. Highly unusual indi movie that is really a character study of a priest going through life changing events. Very small movie but memorable and well acted.

33. Overlord, grade B- = this is really a war movie that turns into a zombie movie. It’s good but not great. It needed a few more scares, but it’s a movie that is done well. The acting is good. Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel son, Wyatt stars in it.

34. Boy Erased, grade C + = don’t send your homosexual child to a camp to be turned straight. Ummmm, duh! 99.9999% of the population knows this already, but that is what this movie is about.

Ok, so great message but what about the movie. Very boring. The only thing I can compare this to is Girl Interrupted and that movie is a lot better than this. The boys at this camp are not as well defined and there is not a strong antagonist like Angelina Joli in this movie. It’s just blah. We don’t get to know the kids in this camp. Big disappointment.

Well... if you mean the population of the US, a running gag on late night is that the current Vice President isn't aware of this, and he must be indicative of an element of the population greater than 0.0000001%!

Well then they need to make a better movie than this. This movie is snorsville. It's totally boring and it's only getting good reviews because of its message, not because it's actually good.

35. Widows, grade B = good movie, it’s sort of a revenge movie with lots of twists. Not sure all the twists worked but thought the actresses were great in it.

36. Spider-man, into the Spider Verse, grade A = great cartoon, just as good as the Incredibles 2. The animation is unique but works. One of the best movies I’ve seen all year. Loved it!

Anyone been to see Aquaman yet? With the exception of Wonder Woman I tend to favor what Marvel has done over DC, but I was intrigued by this one.

I will see it this weekend. I held off because of the crowds.

37. Bumblebee, grade B+ = this is the only Transformer movie I ever liked, it’s pure Disney, if you have kids, this is a movie can feel comfortable taken them too. It’s very good.

38. The Favourite, grade A = it’s excellent. It’s about Queen Ann and two people basically competing to be her best friend. It’s a Dark Comedy and one of the best movies of the year. It’s totally original. Nothing like it.

39. Aquaman, grade B - = I will say this movie is not for everyone, half like and half don’t, it’s pure spectacle. It’s a beautiful movie with good acting and special effects. However, the story suffers because they cram too much in it. If you want to see this movie see it on the big screen. It’s not near as good as Wonder Woman, but they really tried on this one. It’s an underwater Star Wars.

Thanks for the positive review of The Favorite. Good to know that there's something out there worth seeing!

I ended up at the cinema and there was absolutely nothing worth seeing (if you think the holiday movies in the US are paltry fare, try Japan...another DragonBall anime, anyone?), so I ended up making do with Bohemian Rhapsody. Its pace made it tolerable (as did the very Freddie large cup of beer I was drinking (one of the good things about cinemas in Japan)), but the whole movie played like an airbrushed collection of clockwork hagiography written by a team of record label lawyers, solely designed to market the Queen and Freddie brands to as wide an audience as possible.

Take the scene early in the film where the pre-Freddie band's lead singer quits on them. If the film had a shred of raw realism, the remaining band members would no doubt have been swearing and kicking the car tires and all the rest, or at least had upset/worried expressions on their faces, but instead, the audience knows that Freddie will be walking around the corner in a matter of second--and from the look on the other band members faces, they know it as well. "Oh no, our lead singer has left--whatever will we do now?" (big knowing wink to camera)

If the same filmmakers made a movie about Fleetwood Mac, it would have scenes like this:

Stevie: I'm breaking up with you, Lindsey.
Lindsey: Oh, so you're just going to, like... go your own way? (Close-up on dawning look of inspiration. Cut to next day in studio)
Lindsey: Hey guys, listen to this new song I have!
(Plays demo tape. Perfect album recording of GYOW fills the studio. Stevie pulls an old top hat out of a box.)
Stevie: And I just found this hat!

Christine: Well, that's a wrap on recording.
Mick: Yes. Now all we need is a name for this great new album of hits.
John: What are you two whispering about over there? Are you spreading... rumours?
(Mick gives Christine a knowing smile. John gives Lindsey a smug grin. Lindsey raises eyebrows knowingly at Stevie. Stevie puts her foot up on a small stool and lifts her shawl back in a dramatic pose.)

I didn’t like that movie either. Everything felt fake and staged.

40. Annihilation, grade A- = great sci-fi flick that basically stars all women, buy or rent, it’s worth it, a bunch of military women go into the jungle to investigate a strange event.

Anyone see Bird Box?
I thought it was pretty good. Very similar movie like The Happening many years ago.

It’s not in theaters. I think it’s just on Netflix.

Yes its only on Netflix but making a fortune. Over 50 million downloaded the movie which was an all time record. The buzz is all over the internet which will probably put the movie 75 million.

I really thought it was good. I'm not a fan of horror, but this was more thriller and suspense. Reminded me of "A Quiet Place," along those lines.

Made for some very interesting discussions around the dinner table with my young adult children who had some totally different takes on parts of the story.

Yes, it was a combination of A Quiet Place and The Happening.