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Bohemian Rhapsody movie

Nolomite

All-American
Jun 19, 2003
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Is a very good time! Typical band stuff, lots of drama - but characters we really care about. And all the songs we want to hear, or nearly so.

Rami Malek was outstanding; Brian, Roger, and John were excellently cast (including the little kid from Jurassic Park as Deacon).

Mike Myers was hard to recognize - but I LOL'd when I realized who I was looking at. I have always considered Bohemian Rhapsody's appearance in Wayne's World as the catalyst for the song to jump from "former chart-topper" to "Iconic Never Will Die Anthem That Will Span Generations".

I was also pleased to see the movie revise the previous timeline for Freddie's HIV diagnosis. In real life he looked like himself at Live Aid in '85, and looked like crap at Wembley in '86 - skinny and weak, sweating profusely but never taking off his jacket (while the others weren't sweating much). In the movie they move up the diagnosis to a bit before the Live Aid appearance, and the first symptoms to just before the HIV test became widespread.

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I think rock biopics usually suck, unless you're really only passingly familiar with the real story. I guess almost all biopics do...when you know the real story, it's amazing what liberties they take. I'm ok with changing timelines, events, etc, to fit a movie but I'm not cool with how often they change fundamental personalities and motivations. I did think the Brian Wilson movie nailed it. I thought Walk the Line was trash.

Anyway, despite my general dubiousness toward biopics, I have to say that the trailer for this REALLY looks good. And I'm no expert on Queen, so I'd probably be less bothered by little things.

How much sex is in it? I have a teenager that would like to go...obviously nothing is going to be surprising to a teenager, but I still am not comfortable watching something with my kids if there's blowjobs all over the place or fairly explicit sex or something.
 
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I think rock biopics usually suck, unless you're really only passingly familiar with the real story. I guess almost all biopics do...when you know the real story, it's amazing what liberties they take. I'm ok with changing timelines, events, etc, to fit a movie but I'm not cool with how often they change fundamental personalities and motivations. I did think the Brian Wilson movie nailed it. I thought Walk the Line was trash.

Anyway, despite my general dubiousness toward biopics, I have to say that the trailer for this REALLY looks good. And I'm no expert on Queen, so I'd probably be less bothered by little things.

How much sex is in it? I have a teenager that would like to go...obviously nothing is going to be surprising to a teenager, but I still am not comfortable watching something with my kids if there's blowjobs all over the place or fairly explicit sex or something.
I want to know that as well. My son really wants to see this movie
 
Thanks for the review. I am trying to go see it this weekend if I can find time. This will be the only movie in 2-3 years I have gone to the theater for.
 
He was such a beloved figure, and only grew in his belovedness (If that’s a word?) after he died. If it’s not a horrendous movie. I think it will do gangbusters business.
 
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Most of the reviews I’ve seen have been pretty negative, although they praise Malek’s performance. I’d still like to see it.
 
Movie's rated PG 13, so it doesn't appear to tell the real story.
 
Is there sex in it? It's the story of a rock band in the 70s.
And it's PG-13. It is not ABOUT sex. Or drugs. Freddie's coming to terms with his sexuality. And the world would not be ready for that stuff for about 20 more years.

Laced with irony - Freddie's legendary joie de vivre cut his life short. And somewhat parallels the iconic song he had written 10 years earlier.



Add up everything we know about rock bands in general, and everything we know about Queen in particular, and you get a story with few plot twists. None of the band members worked for MI-6.

And as far as critics not liking the movie, they actually handle that: after they record and release Bohemian Rhapsody there is a montage of the "professional critic" reviews slamming the song.

Do fans usually sing other band's songs at concerts? Beatles, Stones, Zep, Elvis?

 
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Is there sex in it? It's the story of a rock band in the 70s.
And it's PG-13. It is not ABOUT sex. Freddie's coming to terms with his sexuality. And the world would not be ready for that stuff for about 20 more years.

Laced with irony - Freddie's legendary joie de vivre cut his life short.



Add up everything we know about rock bands in general, and everything we know about Queen in particular, and you get a story with few plot twists. None of the band members worked for MI-6.

And as far as critics not liking the movie, they actually handle that: after they record and release Bohemian Rhapsody there is a montage of the "professional critic" reviews slamming the song.

Do fans usually sing other band's songs at concerts? Beatles, Stones, Zep, Elvis?


That's incredible.
 
Wait....Freddy Mercury was gay....you would have never guessed it. The ladies loved him.
 
Saw it last night. Viewing on large screen isn't necessary at all if you want to wait. I liked it a lot. Agreed NDR, Rami did an incredible job.

There were some things they could have done bigger or gone into more, but I think they may have tried to keep it more for everyone.
 
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It was very good with respect to background story, acting and directing.
Highly recommend - 4.5 Stars
 
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Is anyone planning to see it again? I liked the movie a lot, but feel no need to see it again.

Have you ever been to a movie more than once while in its original release? I have - I liked that 2009 Star Trek reboot movie so much I kept rounding up different friends and taking them to see it. For me, it delivered every conceivable thing I could imagine from those beloved characters, even on that well-trodden ground.

That is the only bar that Bohemian Rhapsody fails to clear, for me.


Oh, and Littlefinger is annoying in BR, just like in GoT. Some things should never change!
 
Is anyone planning to see it again? I liked the movie a lot, but feel no need to see it again.

Have you ever been to a movie more than once while in its original release? I have - I liked that 2009 Star Trek reboot movie so much I kept rounding up different friends and taking them to see it. For me, it delivered every conceivable thing I could imagine from those beloved characters, even on that well-trodden ground.

That is the only bar that Bohemian Rhapsody fails to clear, for me.


Oh, and Littlefinger is annoying in BR, just like in GoT. Some things should never change!
Littlefinger was one of the best characters in GoT until the last season when they turned him into a schmuck. I was rooting for him to get the throne.
 
I'd also say it has the best soundtrack ever, followed by Flash Gordon in the #2 spot.

Highlander soundtrack is numero uno for me - particularly

One Year Of Love :
Written by John Deacon

Who Wants To Live Forever
Written by Brian May
This has become a popular dirge

Hammer To Fall
Written by Brian May
Awesome Cold-War protest song that didn't do much in the US.
 
Littlefinger was one of the best characters in GoT until the last season when they turned him into a schmuck. I was rooting for him to get the throne.

He was a good character - the pipsqueak you love to hate. A Westerosi version of Ryan O'Reilly in Oz, caused mayhem by skillfully positioning his enemies against each other. The option for the cunning little guy in a world of much larger brutes. Likely the screenwriter's expression of themselves thriving on cleverness rather than "power".


Favorite Locker Room moment in BR -
Brian May: That's a nice fancy dress, Fred.
Freddie Mercury: I've got to make an impression, darling!
Brian May: You look like an angry lizard!
Nolo, thinking "he's dressed like a bearded dragon!"


Favorite bit of irony in BR
Ray Foster: We need a song teenagers can bang their heads to in a car. Bohemian Rhapsody is not that song.
tenor.gif


Ray Foster is, of course, played by Mike Myers
Yeah, that is Tobias Beecher in the back seat...
 
Is anyone planning to see it again? I liked the movie a lot, but feel no need to see it again.

Have you ever been to a movie more than once while in its original release? I have - I liked that 2009 Star Trek reboot movie so much I kept rounding up different friends and taking them to see it. For me, it delivered every conceivable thing I could imagine from those beloved characters, even on that well-trodden ground.

That is the only bar that Bohemian Rhapsody fails to clear, for me.


Oh, and Littlefinger is annoying in BR, just like in GoT. Some things should never change!
The only movies I saw more than once in the theater at full price were: Superbad, Borat, and Titanic.

SMH.
 
Favorite bit of irony in BR
Ray Foster: We need a song teenagers can bang their heads to in a car. Bohemian Rhapsody is not that song.
tenor.gif


Ray Foster is, of course, played by Mike Myers
Yeah, that is Tobias Beecher in the back seat...

I was very clearly the only one that laughed in the theater at that joke, my wife looked at me like I was a crazy person and there was no one else laughing. I spoke with a friend who is also a queen-nerd and she said that she had the same experience in her movie. I even appreciated the smirk that Myer's gave after delivering the line.


I am going to read the biography and might watch the movie again in a while, but not in the theater.
 
I was very clearly the only one that laughed in the theater at that joke, my wife looked at me like I was a crazy person and there was no one else laughing. I spoke with a friend who is also a queen-nerd and she said that she had the same experience in her movie. I even appreciated the smirk that Myer's gave after delivering the line.
After the movie I played the Youtube clip from Wayne's World and explained that Mike Myers was the record label exec so that they could be in on the joke also.
 
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The most poignant scene was when Freddie was leaving the clinic after having received his HIV+ diagnosis:

Kid in the hall with Kaposi's sarcoma on his face: (recognizes Freddie) (tentative) ay-oh.
Freddie: (thinks for 2 seconds) ay-oh.

2 things going on there - the kid's "ay-oh" was a question: "Freddie Mercury has HIV?"
Freddie's "ay-oh" response was "yup."

But, in those 2 seconds, Freddie's inner monologue was something along the lines of "I may have and incurable and fatal disease, but I am still Freddie Frickin Mercury! I am still on this earth for a reason."

At least that's how I see those 5 seconds.


Now that I think about it, the producers/director did a fine job of letting the movie get serious without getting irretrievably morose. I loved that cut-away to Mike Myers, "the man who gave away Queen" while Queen was owning Live Aid.
 
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I think my 13 year old went to see this today. I'll get his take...he's pretty discriminating about movies as he fancies himself a movie snob. He's aware of the Wayne's World scene from me showing it to him/me doing it in the car, so he may get that.

I've had a few moments of being the only one laughing at a joke in a movie. I don't remember the exact thing, but at the end of Gone Girl there was something that triggered a guffaw from both my wife and I that got us some dirty looks. That movie had a lot of obviously intentional black comedy, but I'm thinking you have to be married to appreciate it.

There was a line in the first Deadpool that absolutely killed me, one of the best lines I ever heard in a movie, and I was the only one in the theater that laughed LOUDLY between laughter at the other lines. Involuntary blurt laugh style. It was a reference that was pretty tenuous, and you'd probably have to be 40+ to get it, but it was absolutely brilliant and fit the Deadpool gross/irreverant humor style perfectly. Whoever wrote it, I feel like I want to write them a letter telling them how much I appreciated it.

Only movie I remember actively seeing twice in the theater (on consecutive nights) purposely was Pulp Fiction. I'm sure there were a few others when I was a teenager that were more like seeing a movie with one group of friends, and then you're with another group of friends that want to see it, but not really purposely actively trying to see it again.
 
.........
I've had a few moments of being the only one laughing at a joke in a movie. I don't remember the exact thing, but at the end of Gone Girl there was something that triggered a guffaw from both my wife and I that got us some dirty looks. That movie had a lot of obviously intentional black comedy, but I'm thinking you have to be married to appreciate it.

There was a line in the first Deadpool that absolutely killed me, one of the best lines I ever heard in a movie, and I was the only one in the theater that laughed LOUDLY between laughter at the other lines. Involuntary blurt laugh style. It was a reference that was pretty tenuous, and you'd probably have to be 40+ to get it, but it was absolutely brilliant and fit the Deadpool gross/irreverant humor style perfectly. Whoever wrote it, I feel like I want to write them a letter telling them how much I appreciated it.

.......

So what was the Deadpool joke?

The intro to SuperTroopers had my brother and me peeing our pants the first time we saw it. Barely anyone else was laughing (the theater was pretty empty) and we left the theater in pain from the LMAO with no regard.
 
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Wouldn't that quip be true of anyone that is bisexual?

The flippant answer is that I said something not someONE.

The less flippant answer is with 41-71 genders now (not joking) there's also a laundry list of sexual identities that go with with those many genders. There are people who like "feminine" only men and women regardless of "units" so that they would have sex with a flamboyant feminine gay guy and a coquettish femme "straight" woman in which case they would be called gynosexual not bisexual. Meanwhile you could have someone who likes John Waynesque straight guys and butch or tomboy women and they'd be called androsexual. You might have someone who isn't attracted to any specific gender but requires literary "romantic" attachment before they become secually interested and it's called demisexual.
 
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