Put Rami Malek high on the list for best film performances of 2018. As Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British band Queen, the Mr. Robot star performs miracles, catching the look, strut and soul of Mercury, who died of complications from AIDS in 1991. Sadly, the film itself shows signs of a difficult birth. Sacha Baron Cohen was set to play Mercury before he left over creative differences. And director Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects) was fired for not showing up on set (an uncredited Dexter Fletcher replaced him).
The rousing life that Malek brings to this extraordinary recreation deserves all the cheers it gets. Screw the film’s flaws — you don’t want to miss his performance.
Judge it for yourself, but the reviews sees to indicate that they kind of missed the mark on this one. Damn, this is one of those movies you just didn't want them to screw up.
The film's reluctance to deal with Mercury's sexuality is catastrophic because his sexuality is so connected to the art of Queen that the two cannot be separated out. Refusing to acknowledge queerness as an artistic force—indeed, to point at it and suggest that this is where Mercury went astray—is a deep disservice to Mercury, to Queen, to Queen fans, and to potential Queen fans. Genius doesn't emerge from a vacuum. Mercury was made up of all of the tensions and passions in his life: he loved Elvis, opera, music hall, costumes, Victorian England ... and, yes, sex. Lots of it. Sexual expression equals liberation, and you can feel the exhilaration of that in Mercury's once-in-a-generation voice. You cannot discuss Freddie Mercury without discussing the queer sensibility driving him, the queer context in which he operated. Or, you can try, as this film does, but you will fail.
Man, the more that comes out about the narrative slant of this movie, the more the other band members are actually kind of sounding like pieces of ####.
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I think Freddie himself would be the most upset about how they treated his legacy. He was never one to hide or tone down who he was. The other band members should be ashamed for trying to rewrite his story
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I'm hoping Baron Cohen does an unauthorized version down the road. This will probably perform poorly at the box office now that it's basically confirmed as a Queen music video.
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Last edited by Senator Clay Davis; 11-01-2018 at 02:07 PM.
knowing Cohen he'd ramp up the comedy of the situation by having the concert portions of the movie silent with a big "Audio Permission Not Granted" label in the middle of the screen.
knowing Cohen he'd ramp up the comedy of the situation by having the concert portions of the movie silent with a big "Audio Permission Not Granted" label in the middle of the screen.
That movie would still be better than the Jimi Hendrix biopic starring Andre 3000 that had zero Jimi Hendrix music in it.
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Just saw it, loved the movie! I thought there was enough sexuality in it, I'd you want more you can use your own imagination. The focus on Live Aid was really cool, and Malik knocked it out of the park.
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At the top of the charts, Fox's Bohemian Rhapsody endured word of a troubled production as the film that was eight years in the making topped the domestic box office with a $50 million debut from 4,000 locations. On top of that, the film's "A" CinemaScore is a great sign looking ahead as there is little in the way of direct competition over the next month or so. The film played to an audience that was 51% female with 78% of the crowd coming in aged 25 years or older.
Internationally, after getting off to an early start in the UK last weekend, Bohemian Rhapsody expanded to 64 total overseas markets this weekend and delivered an estimated $72.5 million for a global cume topping $141 million. The UK leads the way with a gross that now totals over $26.5 million while other highlights include a $7.7 million debut in France followed by Mexico ($5.8m), Germany ($5.7m), South Korea ($5.7m). Australia ($5.4m), Spain ($4.8m) and the Netherlands ($1.6m). The film will add another 14 markets next weekend, including Japan.
Ok, I finally saw the movie last night. I would rate it 7/10 (or 8/10 if you are a big Queen fan). The movie was really all about Freddie - he was in almost every scene, so it wasn't quite the Brian and Roger movie I was warned about. I don't think it glossed over his sexuality that much - it was quite central for a PG-13 film. His family was quite a contrast to the life he would have, and I'm sure that was accurate.
Rami Malek was outstanding of course - he really captured the essence of Freddie including his physicality on stage. Gwilym Lee also was very good capturing the look and demeanor of Brian May. The actor who played Bob Geldof had me convinced too. Roger sure wanted us to know that he got lots of women before he was married.
There were many historical innacuracies - many of the songs, costumes and stage designs were out of acutal sequence. Ex. in the movie they performed Fat Bottomed Girls on the first US tour, well before it was actually recorded on Jazz. Freddie and Mary never actually got married, and he lived with another woman in Munich for many years. Freddie was not HIV positive until 1987. Live Aid was 1985.
The Live Aid scene was great and very accurate in many small details. I cried a couple of times because I miss Freddie so much, and I lost a good friend to AIDS too. I liked the moment when a patient in the AIDS clinic recognized him.
I'd like to get a print of the final black and white image of Freddie on the stage at Wembley.
Don't know why people let reviewers affect their opinion before going in. This is one of those times where I think they got it wrong. I thought it was solid. Saw in IMAX, which was awesome for the Live Aid performance. Been thinking about how awesome it was on several occasions this week which is a good sign for any movie.
As for the performances............ Someone get Rami Malek his Oscar.
Last edited by djsFlames; 11-06-2018 at 09:13 AM.
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Troutman, I saw it last night, and I agree with you for the most part, however I did think that they portrayed the rest of the band as Freddie's saviours really, and I did not like that, that they lived this clean upstanding life and all of Freddie's problems were due to his lifestyle.
All the music scenes gave me goosebumps, and I definitely teared up a few times, I miss Freddie so much too!
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