Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) (1 Viewer)

[Wayne_j]

Some critics that I follow say that this is one of their favorite films of the year.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Some critics that I follow say that this is one of their favorite films of the year.

Like any film, it's going to have its supporters and detractors. I'm looking forward to seeing this film.

 

[TravisR]

From what I’ve seen the movie competently to impressively recreates live performances, especially Live Aid...

That (and Rami Malek) is why I want to see the movie.

 

[WillG]

I get that some folks are pleased that this film will be a more upbeat celebration of Freddie than a more honest full disclosure biopic would likely be.

Maybe I'm alone on this - but I would prefer that I get something honest, even if it breaks my heart at the end. A real story that ends in sadness but is the truth is more impactful to me than something that I know is bent to end the story on a high note.

I don't know how they end the film, but it doesn't sound (from reviews) like Mercury's final days are covered in any meaningful way.

Sounds like the fellow who plays Freddie did an amazing job though. That's definitely a big plus. I just wish they had done the braver thing and kept it real.

I’m pretty much in agreement. I don’t need every single lurid detail but I don’t want a lot of the more unattractive truth glossed over either.

I also heard that the movie has some silly self aware gags. One such that I read about

Spoiler

Mike Myers cameoing as a record exec saying “Kids will never bang their heads to BR”

 

[Jeff Adkins]

What a huge disappointment this was. I understand the need to change a few things here or there to make the story flow better, but this was just one fabrication after another. One ridiculous one is when they have Brian May talking about his idea for the song "We Will Rock You".........in 1980! I can't recall ever seeing a biopic that was mostly false as this one was.

As a work of mostly fiction, I guess it works on some level. The music is great....so there's that.

I'd give it a D.

 

[Wayne_j]

I can't recall ever seeing a biopic that was mostly false as this one was.

What about The Greatest Showman?

 

[Tino]

What about The Greatest Showman?

I don’t think TGS was intended as a serious bio pic as much as Bohemian Rhapsody is. The trailers are all focusing on Mercury and the rise of Queen as if it were.

 

[Chris Will]

It really bugs me when biopics get dates wrong. Could they not pull up Wikipedia on set? Changing dates is just lazy writing or editing imo. This is disappointing to hear.

 

[mattCR]

There is a lot wrong with this film. I was also very disappointed. My problem is that it felt very disjointed, as though there was no story there. We see them banging around in the studio originally, before they have a contract, just lifting up lamps and joking around.. next thing we know the studio is offering them a contract(!?!) We never really got into what happened inside the studio on that recording to encourage it.

The rest of the film also lept around; stuff happened, but no real reason why they happened, any motivation of the characters.. and the characters themselves were all cardboard cutouts. We learned absolutely nothing about any character except for Mercury, and even that seemed really surface.

Not just as a biopic, but as a film, the best moments were of course the music.. but everything in between felt like a jumbled up script without any direction or purpose at all.

D

 

[TonyD]

I'll catch it on Netflix. Just doesn't strike me as a $30 night at the movies kind of show.

This won't be on Netflix

 

[Jeff Adkins]

It really bugs me when biopics get dates wrong. Could they not pull up Wikipedia on set? Changing dates is just lazy writing or editing imo. This is disappointing to hear.

It also shows them playing "Fat Bottomed Girls" on their first U.S. Tour in like 74 or 75. That song didn't come out until 1978.

Those are the minor things. I don't want to mention the really big stuff they fabricated because I don't want to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it.

 

[WillG]

It also shows them playing "Fat Bottomed Girls" on their first U.S. Tour in like 74 or 75. That song didn't come out until 1978.

Those are the minor things. I don't want to mention the really big stuff they fabricated because I don't want to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it.

That’s why we have spoiler tags.

 

[EricSchulz]

It also shows them playing "Fat Bottomed Girls" on their first U.S. Tour in like 74 or 75. That song didn't come out until 1978.

Those are the minor things. I don't want to mention the really big stuff they fabricated because I don't want to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it.

That’s where they lost me. I understand the liberties taken wereto increase the drama or because a song told a story that fit. For the casual fan that’s fine. For diehards like me, not so much.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

That’s why we have spoiler tags.

Fair enough.

Spoiler

The biggest issue I had with the film was how they portrayed Freddie as a guy who got seduced into going solo and breaking up the band. They have him in an office begging the band to get back together and play Live Aid. Roger Taylor makes a comment that they don't have enough time to get ready because "they haven't played together in years". In fact they had just finished a tour for "The Works" album just 8 weeks prior to Live Aid. The band never broke up. They all decided to take some time off after the "Hot Space Tour", but it was less than a year. The last show of the "Hot Space" tour was in November 1982 and they started recording "The Works" in August of 1983. I'm not sure what the point was of making it seem like Live Aid was some sort of a "reunion", but nothing could be further from the truth.

Having Freddie tell the band that he had contracted HIV during Live Aid rehearsals was another thing that stretched the truth. He wasn't even diagnosed until 1986-87 and the band wasn't told until for another year after that.

Also the way Freddie joins the band in the film is completely false. They have him showing up at a show and introducing himself to the band. In fact, he already knew those guys and even shared an apartment with them.

Their split with their manager was amicable. In the film Freddie fires him and kicks him out of the car because he suggests Freddie go solo. That's a pretty unfair portrayal.

The relationships with Mary Austin and Paul Prenter are full of inaccuracies too.

Was there much of anything in this film that actually happened?

 

[Malcolm R]

That's why I don't bother with Hollywood biopics. Other than the names, there's not much that's actually factual. The actual story is never good enough, they have to fudge the facts to create false drama.

But they often get rewarded, so it's likely to continue. BR is heading for a higher than expected $45+ million opening, and the Cinemascore grade is "A".

 

[Bryan^H]

What a huge disappointment this was. I understand the need to change a few things here or there to make the story flow better, but this was just one fabrication after another. One ridiculous one is when they have Brian May talking about his idea for the song "We Will Rock You".........in 1980! I can't recall ever seeing a biopic that was mostly false as this one was.

As a work of mostly fiction, I guess it works on some level. The music is great....so there's that.

I'd give it a D.

I didn't plan on seeing it, but so many rock n roll biopics take great liberties. "The Buddy Holly Story" is an example of pure fiction in a lot of scenes.

I guess one of the more accurate would be Oliver Stone's "The Doors" and that is mainly because much of it was from the book "Riders on the Storm" by drummer John Densmore.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's why I don't bother with Hollywood biopics. Other than the names, there's not much that's actually factual. The actual story is never good enough, they have to fudge the facts to create false drama.

But they often get rewarded, so it's likely to continue. BR is heading for a higher than expected $45+ million opening, and the Cinemascore grade is "A".

I'm not surprise that hardcore fans of Queen and Freddy Mercury are upset about this film. I always knew they would take factual liberties as they've done since making such biopics for almost 100 years. It's the general audiences that are driving the higher box office and that film grade score. Unfortunately, that's what Hollywood always cared about, not about getting it right.

 

[Bryan^H]

That's why I don't bother with Hollywood biopics. Other than the names, there's not much that's actually factual. The actual story is never good enough, they have to fudge the facts to create false drama.

But they often get rewarded, so it's likely to continue. BR is heading for a higher than expected $45+ million opening, and the Cinemascore grade is "A".

Very true. That being said I wouldn't mind a few facts fudged if I saw a movie made about some of my favorite music groups.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

For all of the handwringing after the trailer came out about the movie supposedly erasing Mercury's homosexuality, the actual movie was as flagrant a case of bi-erasure as I've seen. It's true that Mary Austin broke things off with him because she thought he was gay, and it's true that the relationship that carried him through the final years of his life was with a man, but he had lots of sex with lots of people of both genders in the interim.

One of many areas where the film made things tidier than they were.

 

[JimmyO]

Not to sidetrack, but I sure hope Rocketman is much better than this.

What would impress me the absolute most is if Rocketman is as true as can be made, and with the full disclosure by and blessing of Elton John himself. I suspect it will be that, because he has been pretty forthcoming I believe in the past about his very turbulent career, especially when it comes to drugs, etc.

I think what might bode well in its favour is that Elton is still with us, and he'd probably want the film to be as true as it can be. I am of course presuming that to be true since Elton is one of the producers on the project. Fingers crossed.