Biff Byford recommended Climbing! by Mountain in Music (curated)
The Last Tudor: Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, Book 13
9.0
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Book
Follow the life of the Gray sisters: Jane, beheaded by Mary I after a 12 day reign as Queen,...
Everybody's Talking About Jamie
Show
Everybody's Talking About Jamie is a musical with music by Dan Gillespie Sells and book and lyrics...
Dumplin' (2018)
8.2
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The plus-size, teenage daughter of a former beauty queen signs up for her mom's pageant as a protest...
Merissa (14003 KP) created a post
May 5, 2023
Senior year (2022)
7.7
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A cheerleading stunt gone wrong landed her in a 20-year coma. Now she's 37, newly awake and ready to...
Merissa (14003 KP) created a post
Nov 4, 2022
Sisters of the Perilous Heart (Mortal Heritance #1)
Book
What would you do to save a sister? As the last mortal kingdom of Kepler resists the Immortal...
Hive Carbon
7.5
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Tabletop Game
Hive is a highly addictive strategic game for two players that is not restricted by a board and can...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) in Movies
Nov 4, 2018
Fortunately, this film rekindled my love for the music of Queen. I gotta admit, I was cranking Queen tunes in the car on the ride home. Unfortunately, the storytelling is weak, so I really did not gain any insight into Freddy, his family, the group, his marriage, his bi-sexuality, his drug use, the times they lived in or the AIDS epidemic of the '80's. All these items were touched upon in the movie, but not delved into, leaving a void in the part of my brain that craves a good, meaningful and touching story with my movie/musicals. It certainly doesn't help this story that I have the wonderful A STAR IS BORN sitting in my recent memory.
But the music, the musical performances and the acting performances of all involved almost make up for this void, leaving a very satisfying experience at the movies.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY follows young Farrokh Bulsara as he joins the band SMILE, changes the bands name to QUEEN, changes his name to Freddie Mercury and becomes an International Superstar leading up to the inevitable fall and resurgence at the Live Aid concert in the 1980's.
In the lead, Rami Malik is wonderful. He has the essence of the superstar we know down well. He is a winning, watchable presence on screen and I wouldn't be surprised if he is mentioned when Oscar nominations roll around. Joining him as members of the band are Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon and Gwilym Lee as Brian May. All are effective enough in their roles - and believable in the musical scenes - with Lee standing out just a bit more than the others.
Also along for the ride are Lucy Boyton as Freddy's wife, Mary Austin and Tom Hollander, Mike Myers and Aidan Gillen as music execs aiding and attempting to guide Queen to the top. Only Allen Leech as Paul Prenter is unconvincing on the screen. But, I blame this more to the decisions of the screenwriters and directors for Paul is the "villain" of this piece - and a not-too-subtle villain at that.
But, Director Bryan Singer (X-MEN, THE USUAL SUSPECTS) is forgiven his lapses in content and subtlety as the music scenes are strong - and the film finishes with a 20 minute recreation of Queen at the Live Aid concert that is worth the price of admission all on it's own.
All in all, a good time at the movies. If you like Queen, you'll be entertained by this film.
Letter Grade: A-
8 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)