Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#201 Post by tenia » Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:21 am

When you think about it, that's quite a stupid move to do since Mercury clearly still is the frontshop of the band, so it'd be like trying to diminish your golden egg "oh but actually, it's not that golden".

j99
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 10:18 am

Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#202 Post by j99 » Sat Mar 09, 2019 4:32 pm

Black Hat wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2019 4:13 am
hearthesilence wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:28 am
I got the impression that the film thoroughly tweaks and changes every detail of their real life story, to the point where it's complete myth-making, far moreso than The Buddy Holly Story. I wouldn't take any of it as an accurate reflection of what happened.
Myth making? If you mean about Freddy Mercury I'd say quite the contrary. My read on all this rewriting of Queen's history is that's about Brian May and Roger Taylor's ego (if I had any doubt the appalling Oscar performance closed it). I'm no Queen fan, but how Freddy came off in this film was unbelievable. I still can not believe they put a scene in with him begging the band to let him back in before sending him out the room like they were doing him a favor. There were so many things like that, but even more subtle things in this film that really served to boost May & Tayler while diminishing Mercury. It's a shame millions of people have seen and love this film thinking this was Freddy Mercury.
Yes, I did find that scene laughable. As if Mercury was dispensable, considering what the remaining members have done post 1991. Made an album with Paul Rodgers, collaborated with boyband 5ive, and done a tour with an American Idol winner. It’s clear Mercury was the driving force of this group, and one of the few things they got right in this film of alternative facts was when Mercury said they’d still be playing down the local pub if he hadn’t joined the band. He brought out the best in them, and since his passing they have floundered.

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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#203 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sat Mar 09, 2019 5:27 pm

Though the film centered heavily on Mercury, it went out of its way to show that the band members were talented and smart and without obvious flaws. Seemed like 2 or 3 times we heard about what degrees the band members had. And we see them creating iconic Queen songs without Freddie. The first time we see the band, pre-Freddie, they sound like Queen fully formed while the lead singer even sounds a good deal like Mercury. The implication being that Freddie added charisma, but the band was essentially Queen before/without him.


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FrauBlucher
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#205 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:51 pm

I just watched this. Not a fan of biopics and BR's mediocrity at best is an example why. And Rami Malek winning the Oscar, good grief. Also, some of the nonsensical sentimental scenes are just so grating. But as someone who grew up in the 70s when all you did was listen to AM/FM radio, Queen's music could not be ignored. They were huge. I didn't own their records or albums but I did like hearing some of their music when it came on the radio.

On a side note, I was at Live Aid in Philly at JFK Stadium. Starting at noon, eastern time they started to show the Wembley sets on a huge screen as they would set up for the next acts at JFK and visa versa. It was pretty great. The two Wembley acts that really got the Philly crowd going was U2 and Queen. They both were electric. And we all knew we were watching something that was going to be talked about for years. And that performance by Queen gave them another life before Freddie Mercury's death. And U2's performance dropped them right in the middle of the mainstream.

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#206 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Dec 04, 2020 4:18 pm

I watched the Live Aid performance on that DVD I mentioned earlier where it's a bonus feature. I can understand why it jolted the crowd (compared to the band's harder rock, the more poppy New Wave or New Romantic acts didn't seem as dynamic live as they might have been on record or video), but I wasn't crazy about them cutting down their songs a verse or two to fit in as many as they could. But also understandable given the time restraints.

A movie about Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart being developed at Amazon, with script by Carrie Brownstein. I'm reading a Billy Joel biography right now, and I could see a movie out of the period of time where he moved to California and ultimately wrote "Piano Man", detailing his experiences working at a nightclub while in hiding trying to get out of the bad first solo record deal he made.

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