Movies: Queen movie:Bohemian Rhapsody (lets rewrite history)

x Tame Impala

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Aug 24, 2011
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I thought the movie rocked. The Live Aid concert was incredibly well done. I got chills. **** the critics, the people have spoken- 94% on rotten tomatoes by the general public.

It was a fun and entertaining movie for sure. But for someone as iconic and who lived such an amazing and volatile life as Freddie, most of the movie was as deep as a birdbath
 
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Terry Yake

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Aug 5, 2013
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overall i'd say it was decent but left a ton to be desired

the live aid scenes were absolutely fantastic. the attention to even the smallest details are incredible. but i hate how they left so much out about FM's personal life. FM lived a live like no other and this movie did that no justice. i also didn't like how they handled his HIV diagnosis. he wasn't diagnosed until 87 but in the movie they fused his diagnosis with the live aid performance which was pretty lame
 

frisco

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Sep 14, 2017
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Some critics have been on the harsh side but fans seem to be more impressed. I personally haven't watched it yet but Queen are my favorite band of all-time and have read everything out there on them. Hoping not to be disappointed but I will see it soon regardless and probably multiple times. Word is some parts were "glossed" over to get the more friendly PG rating but actor Rami Malek did promise a lot of extra footage on the DVD release that was cut from the theatrical version. Also, word is the pic ends with Live Aid (1985) and not FM's death in 1991.

Anyway, I think Freddie Mercury may have been one of the most interesting men of the 20th century and probably squeezed about twenty lives into his 45 years. Sometimes that is hard to portray in a palatable two hours especially when there is so much else to tell (other three members of the band, music, etc.,). There may be room for someone to focus strictly on FM alone in a motion picture format especially focusing on his later years. Obviously, there's overlap between his life and the band but it would be something.

As far as music biopics I liked "Walk The Line" and "The Doors". The only fault I could really find in the Johnny Cash movie was it ended in 1968. Cash led a tremendously fascinating existence from that point until his death in 2003. There's probably a movie's worth of stuff that could be culled from that time period.

My Best-Carey
 

Blitzkrug

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Sep 17, 2013
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Queen is back apparently. Bohemian Rhapsody has made an almost unheard of 3rd visit to the Billboard hot 100.

They also currently have 5 songs in Spotify's international top 50. Bohemian Rhapsody (11th), Somebody to Love (45th). Another One Bites the Dust (32nd), Don't Stop Me Now (48th) and Under Pressure (50th)

Not bad.
 

KahunaBaby

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Oct 31, 2011
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It's funny...the actors that played Brian May and John Deacon were practically dead ringers. However the guy that played Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) looked nothing like him.

The movie was decent but there was so many inaccuracies especially on how the band first met. 7.25/10.
 
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Jumptheshark

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It's funny...the actors that played Brian May and John Deacon were practically dead ringers. However the guy that played Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) looked nothing like him.

The movie was decent but there was so many inaccuracies especially on how the band first met. 7.25/10.


and that is the problem some people have

the worst kept secret in rock and roll was that while Queen was one of the biggest bands in the world--there was a lot of drama around it 24/7 and they did not have to make anything up to make it seem more dramatic
 
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Huggy43

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Why are people surprised about the historical inaccuracies? Biographical films that have people involved with the film that the story is actually about are always diluted. The Doors movie was a good example.
 

Sentinel

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I enjoyed it quite a bit. I am not the world's biggest ggest Queen fan (although I do own most of their catalog) and I am fine with them sanitizing Freddy. No problem with the way they treated his homosexuality and AIDS. Ultimately it's an how many great songs they wrote.

I also like that Deacon, May, and Taylor actually played important part in the movie. Unlike, say "The Doors," where all I could see was Morrison/Kilmer with a few sprinkles of Manzarek/McLaughlin.
 

Deadpool8812

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Historical inaccuracies aside, it was a pretty good movie. Sure it didn't tell the x-rated life of Freddie, but there was no way the remaining members were going to hurt his image

It did bother me that they portrayed Freddie as the only one in the band that lived a party lifestyle though. Deacon, yeah...from all accounts he was very quiet and rather boring (in a movie character sense). But May & Taylor were not the saints they were portrayed as
 
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CokenoPepsi

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Historical inaccuracies aside, it was a pretty good movie. Sure it didn't tell the x-rated life of Freddie, but there was no way the remaining members were going to hurt his image

It did bother me that they portrayed Freddie as the only one in the band that lived a party lifestyle though. Deacon, yeah...from all accounts he was very quiet and rather boring (in a movie character sense). But May & Taylor were not the saints they were portrayed as

They werent really saints... Freddie threatened to expose their cheating many times
 

HanSolo

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Apr 7, 2008
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Any of you guys old enough to remember Live Aid? I feigned sickness to stay home from soccer practice, so I could watch (and tape) it all day. LOVED IT.
Live Aid deserves its own thread
I definitely wasn't old enough but I still watch the whole thing every now and then. No exaggeration when people say it may be one of the best live performances of all time. Even on that old footage you can feel the energy emanating from the band and into the crowd. Mercury had the crowd absolutely spellbound.

Anyway, I'm a big Queen fan but not to the point of knowing all the stories of their time in the industry under Mercury so I didn't really nitpick the creative license as I watched it. I thought it was fine. I went in expecting not much more than a band career story set to music I love and that's what I got. Thought Malek was good. He nailed how Mercury sounded when he spoke though I think he had to strain himself at times to imitate his mannerisms and often times he had these very alien mannerisms that didn't really line up with the videos I've seen of Freddie. Not exactly a fair critique because he can't help it but it did stand out to me.

I certainly can see the argument that it could have and should have been better but I was entertained so whatever.

And it just reminded me how damn unique Queen was and still kind of is. When you think of the best musical artists there's always other predecessors that either directly or closely imitate their sound. Hell I mean even Queen did a damn solid Elvis imitation with Crazy Little Thing Called Love. But I can't think of many bands that have really even come close to Queen's sound and style. At least not when taken as a whole.
 

Newsworthy

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I'm a big fan of Queen. Seem the movie twice. Very entertaining. Sound is amazing and the effects are absolutely stunning. Great acting all around however the issues I have with the movie have been stated above. I rather the real story instead of made up stuff. Things like how they met as a band should be told I truth. I didn't mind the dirty laundry not being aired out however made up characters as fun as they seemed kinda does. And Myers is a hoot.
 

SeidoN

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watched it yesterday. went in expecting to be disappointed based on the hype but honestly I really loved it
 

the squared circle

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Finally watched it on the weekend. I echo all the disappointments with the inaccuracies. Even something like We Will Rock You, shown as being developed in 1980 - really? HOW can they make such a silly mistake? Arguably the greatest rock anthem ever, and they can't get that date right? Little things like that bother me.
I would have preferred them morphing into the real band playing the full Live Aid set. Would have been so much cooler.
The guy playing Brian May - my goodness did he ever look identical to Brian. Good job on getting someone with Deacon's nose too.
It's been 27 years (!!!) since Wayne's World, so I bet the Mike Meyers reference went over many peoples heads, haha.
 

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