Rami Malek is Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody"*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by AKA, Sep 5, 2017.

  1. Mistermono

    Mistermono Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Saw it tonight. Nearly full theatre (cheap Tuesday). Usual rock biopic caveats (especially that you can never equal the original performances). Agree with Vidiot that the cgi Live Aid crowd was atrocious. Did make me want to listen to some Queen though.
     
  2. mikedifr0923

    mikedifr0923 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Your last sentence is why I loved it. Saw it this past weekend. I get that it wasn’t 100% accurate, but for the movie they wanted to make and that they wanted it to be a feel good movie I like what they did. Certainly got me feeling a little emotional towards the end.

    I also thought the acting was fine. The other guys in the band don’t have the biggest personalities in the world, especially when compared to Freddie. I think they played them maybe a tad dry, but I thought the cast did a real solid job.

    I’ll look to books for more accuracy.
     
  3. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Which is the better concert to get on DVD: Rainbow '74 or the Hammersmith Odeon one from '75(?)?

    Slight apology for the threadcrap.
     
  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I have to say, it was jarring to see the real Freddie Mercury sing during the closing credits, because all I could do was think, "wow, that guy actually had charisma and looked like a rock star. Rami Malek... not so much." I think Malek did the best he could with what he had, but it ain't the guy. I think any of us would have the same problem with four people playing John, Paul, George, and Ringo as well, because we know too well what they look like, how they talk, how they perform, and their larger-than-life personalities. You wind up most of the time going, "aaaaaa, it's a guy pretending to be another guy who's famous." I could never quite lose myself in the story and characters, which is unfortunate.

    But it is an entertaining film, and clearly it's gonna hit $400 million in another week or two, and not many films of this budget have done that in recent years. ($387M+ as of today on BoxOfficeMojo.) Audiences clearly like it, and the (fired) director, Bryan Singer, has already got a new job directing a new film.
     
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  5. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    It was entertaining for my daughter, which was the most important thing to me, but as someone whose been into Queen from the very first album, you’re right, I could never lose myself in these characters and I sat there scratching my head for a lot if it, including at all the praise for Rami’s performance. I also think that if you removed all the music, and just laid the acted scenes back to back, it would be much more apparent how bad the remaining bits are. The “Another One Bites The Bus” bassline that saved the band being particularly cringeworthy.
    The teeth thing looks hokey on film, but in reality, Mercury was so self conscious about his appearance, he was constantly licking his lips and trying to hide his teeth the best he could. So, to see him with dry, cracked lips in the movie was just weird. Freddie also had this amazing sense of humor that they totally failed to capture...which is unfortunate. I think that’s more of a directoral and writing issue than an acting issue. It honestly seemed that May and Taylor were there to make sure their characters came across as good as possible, and Freddie was left to be the antagonist of this movie...the cause of all the problems, while the others were just perfect, and they had to remind Freddie of how perfect they were all the time.

    Freddie has almost coal black eyes, yet in sone of the Live Aid shots, Rami’s are now brown to conveniently show the reflection of the crowd.

    [​IMG]

    Freddie’s sense of humor. Did they ever have Freddie laughing in this movie?

     
  6. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    Rainbow '74 (they're both good though).

    Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl is also worth getting.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2018
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  7. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I mildly prefer "Odeon" just because I think the band sounds a little tighter. Coin toss, though, honestly:

    Queen: A Night at the Odeon [Blu-Ray] (2015)

    (Oh, and this isn't a threadcrap - it's a detour. Threadcrap = something negative in intent...)
     
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  8. rontoon

    rontoon Animaniac

    Location:
    Highland Park, USA
    They're both great but keep in mind that the Odeon show is from an hour long broadcast.
     
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  9. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Watch them on YouTube and decide for yourself.

    I prefer Rainbow ‘74 but I have long had a soft spot for that film. It’s from a time when Queen had a level of hard rock power like The Who, the Sabs.....bands who really brought high energy live during that time.

    I agree except I was surprised they let that comment Taylor made to Mercury’s younger sister stay in the script. It probably never happened anyway, but in our current and thankfully changing culture I was a bit taken aback that they thought a good way to get a laugh there was for an early 20’s Taylor to make a pass at an underage girl who when asked what she was doing later said “homework”.
     
  10. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Still curious to know what real footage of Freddie is shown during the credits.
     
  11. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    Underage is below sixteen in the UK, she looked over than that in the movie. You can be in full-time education until you're 18.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2018
  12. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    It’s this...

     
  13. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Still a bit surprising they went with it, is all.

    When a guy asks a younger girl what she is doing later and she says “homework”, the implication is there and yet it only accomplishes a brief chuckle from the audience at best. Doesn't seem that anybody noticed it, but for what was gained I found it odd that they would go there given the climate in which we are living. Plenty of other ways to get laughs.
     
  14. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Thank you all, for the commentary on Rainbow vs. Odeon DVDs.
     
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  15. intv7

    intv7 Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    I thought it was a good way to get a laugh. I laughed. :shrug:
     
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  16. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    The audience when I saw it chuckled.

    Sleazy tends not be funny to me. Obviously others will feel differently.

    I can understand her reaction was considered funny because the flirtation was meant to be ludicrous. But as I said, I’m surprised they felt that “laugh” was so crucial that they left that in.

    Think about it: Her answer as to what she’s doing later (“homework”) suggests what? That she’s too young to go out later with an adult man.

    Again, just surprised that got through, but that is just MO.
     
  17. intv7

    intv7 Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Of course I thought about it. That's why I chuckled.

    I'm a staunch supporter of the "Me Too" movement as well, and I don't take this as anything other than the gag that it was intended to be. Nothing offensive here. It's a joke.
     
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  18. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    They went with Freddie lip-syncing? Hmm.
     
  19. OberonOz

    OberonOz Senior Member

    I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and have seen it twice now. That said, while I appreciate some liberties had to be taken, some others just seem to be the result of the "too many cooks" scenario you mention. While I didnt mind them introducing Freddie's AIDS diagnosis pre-Live Aid, I didnt think it was necessary to suggest the band had broken up etc before Live Aid got them back together. I didnt think it was necessary to relocate We Will Rock You to 1980. But I was quite happy with Rami as Freddie. I thought he did a very good job. I notice in TV interviews Fred does a lot of the same things you describe Rami doing. I didnt feel that Rami's teeth were noticeably more prominent than Fred's and went back to look at video footage to be sure.
    Im very happy its doing so well, even if I think it could have been done better. It could have been a lot worse!
     
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  20. OberonOz

    OberonOz Senior Member

    I just thought that the joke was more that Roger obviously hadnt realised quite how young Kash was. I mean at that point in the movie Roger couldnt have been more than 21 or 22 IIRC and if he thought Kash was 18 there wouldnt be anything suss about it other than the joke that she made it, by pointing out she was still in school.
     
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  21. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Your perception may well be correct with him 21-22 and her 18.

    But her age wasn’t spelled out, and I still think the premise of why her saying “homework” was funny could only be that she was too young for him. Some people probably would not find it funny if an adult man in a rock group was hitting on their high school aged daughter. Even if we presume it was a mistaken perception of age, that might be something explained after a knuckle sandwich in a lot of homes.

    Anyway, all I was saying is that I found it to be somewhat odd to go with that as humor, especially given the times in which we live.
     
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  22. OberonOz

    OberonOz Senior Member

    Sorry, maybe I wasnt clear. I felt that Roger was the butt of the joke. Her father certainly wouldnt have approved of 21 or 22 year old Roger hitting on his 16 or 17 year old daughter, but its only Kash saying that she will be doing homework that makes Roger realise that he has made an idiot of himself. I got the feeling that Rog heard her and went "Eek" and put on the brakes big time! :)

    Of course I could be entirely wrong. As it is, factually, in 1970 Kash would have been 18. Roger was only 3 years older than her in real life.
     
  23. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I saw it with my 12 year old daughter and she really liked it. Mission accomplished.

    I pointed out the inconsistencies of the time line and factual/falsified elements to my daughter and, get this, she didn’t care ! I didn’t either when it came right down to it. I’m a very harsh critic of stuff. I think if anyone has read my album reviews or any thread I participate in, I tell it like I see it.

    Yes, there were some really dumb, predictable, and by the numbers scenes in this movie (the ones with Mike Myers were particularly bad; not necessarily because of him, but it was just so hackneyed), but oh well.

    So, my daughter liked it, and I got goose bumps from the band rocking out with “Doing All Right” in the club scene. When the Brian May character hits those chords after the verse, I got goose bumps. It was LOUD and it was awesome. The first Queen album is my very favorite so, yes, I’m biased, but that was great.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2018
  24. npc210

    npc210 Forum Resident

    Can anyone recommend a good Queen book and/or Freddie biography for a diehard fan? I bought a handful of Queen books about 20 years ago, including a great book called Queen Live (I think that's what it was called; the cover was a black and white shot of Freddie in a leotard), but got rid of them after college.
     
  25. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury, by Lesley Ann Jones

    Or...

    Somebody To Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury, by Mark Langthorne

    Or if you want one about the band, as opposed to being more focused on Freddie...

    Is This the Real Life? The Untold Story of Queen, by Mark Blake
     
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