Writes A.O. Scott (NYT).
ADDED: Here's The New Yorker's Anthony Lane:
Extra teeth. That was the secret of Freddie Mercury, or, at any rate, of the singular sound he made. In “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a new bio-pic about him, Mercury (Rami Malek) reveals all: “I was born with four more incisors. More space in my mouth, and more range.” Basically, he’s walking around with an opera house in his head. That explains the diva-like throb of his singing....
... Malek, mixing shyness with muscularity, and sporting a set of false teeth that would make Bela Lugosi climb back into his casket, spares nothing in his devotion to the Mercurial....
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43 comments:
And why would I give one damn about anything AO writes or thinks or says?
Ouch.
AO Scott is just a poor boy, nobody loves him.
Run, don't walk, to listen to Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera, and A Day at the Races, in order and in their entirety. Those three albums, recorded in two years, made the best case for Queen being the true successor to the Beatles. Nothing Queen produced after came anywhere close.
I agree
Well fuck him.
I hope the film hits box office records and wins a dozen Oscars...
I was a huge fan of the band growing up. Always wanted to see a concert, but when I had the means to do so, Mercury was already dead.
I have no plans to see the movie, but I do hope it is a good one.
Flash Gordan was a great film score.
Random thought.
I agree
I want to hear what her son has to say about the movie. That is an opinion I might trust.
If I recall the film-making politics correctly, Freddie Mercury's family controlled the story line and were allergic to anything approaching true drama, hence a boring movie.
Rami Malek was stellar in The Pacific, Okinawa episodes.
Earnest: I believe his bandmates were involved as well, and there was some tension about how gay to make Freddie.
I was a fan of the group, and remember Rolling Stone's critics hating the band, especially News of the World.
For something lighter, I would suggest Postmodern Jukebox, which just dropped a Queen-sized version of "Video Killed the Radio Star."
Perhaps Cunio should have voiced Freddie in the movie.
My thought, seeing the previews, was that the most memorable scenes were refilmings of things already on film. The Live Aid Wembley Stadium performance is clearly a climax ... and you can watch the actual Freddie Mercury and Queen performance on YouTube. Why pay to see a doppelganger?
According to Rotten Tomatoes, 56% of critics have given a positive review. Among so called "Top Critics," the figure is only a little more than 30%. So it certainly seems to be a decisive. As amazing a front man Freddie Mercury was, I was always more interested in Brian May. My favorite rock (semi-)biopic remains Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous.
I was a fan of the group, and remember Rolling Stone's critics hating the band, especially News of the World.
I pretty much agree with the critics from News of the World on, but their three preceding albums (listed above) are organic masterpieces.
But does the film feature fat bottomed girls? They make the rockin world go round.
Queen had the misfortune to crest as the riptide of punk came along. That stripped a whole lot of '70's musicians of whatever critical rock cred they may have had. Bad timing in that regard but, hey, they made more money and enjoyed more fame than Richard Hell or Rat Scabies ever did, so they got that going for them.
Movies about rock bands generally suck because most bands careers peak somewhere before the middle of the story. Once you hit that peak you've got to either adjust the story and have it end on the peak (which angers the fans) or figure out how to slog through the rest of the movie until the band breaks up or somebody dies. That slog, which is mostly about the band battling substance abuse problems while they chase their former glory, is usually long, boring, and ultimately depressing. I suspect AO Scott's review is accurate.
If I recall the film-making politics correctly, Freddie Mercury's family controlled the story line and were allergic to anything approaching true drama, hence a boring movie.
From what I have read, the band controlled the story...and wanted the true story. How much drama can there be in a biopic about a great rock band? I know...the big reveal at the end...Freddie's gay!
Queen has a brilliant past and a fraught present. Brian May in particular is a complex person, and his iron grip on this film doomed it to mediocrity from the beginning. There is a deeply interesting movie to be made about Freddie, but this was never going to be it.
The best movie about rock stars will always be "This is Spinal Tap."
I know...the big reveal at the end...Freddie's gay!
The reviews I have read all seem to lament that the gay stuff wasn't upfront and in your face. They were so disappointed. (I don't know why. Every TV show is loaded with gay people. You'd think that would be enough)
PS. I had no idea Freddie was gay and I thought "Queen" was just a cool name.
Fat Bottom Girls is a gay anthem.
Skimming through a few reviews online, I have the sense that a lot of the professional critics are disappointed that an in-your-face, activist LGBTQ agenda is not the organizing principle of the film. Word of the day: straightwashing.
I've been a fan of Queen since I was a kid, and the trailer actually seemed pretty interesting to me. I'd like to learn more about the early days of the band and their creative peak in mid/late 70s. I'm also interested in the drama behind the heroic effort behind the creation of Queen's masterful Innuendo as Freddie Mercury was dying of AIDS. However, in 2018, I doubt that a mass audience cares much at all about Mercury's sexuality, much like they don't care about the sexuality of most any other star. To me, that seems like something to celebrate, rather than lament.
Without having seen the film yet, I won't be surprised at all if this ends up being one of those films that the critics pan and the general public enjoys quite a bit -- not so different from how fans and critics received Queen, itself.
""A baroque blend of gibberish, mysticism and melodrama"
That appears to be all anyone else ever was, as I get older.
Pity.
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...
"The best movie about rock stars will always be 'This is Spinal Tap.'"
Wrong - that honor goes to ”Dig!” Man, you guys are old - and, now that I've found it, I've got to add "Dig!" to The Art Garage immediately.
The best concert film is "Stop Making Sense" which is already up there.
Please make a note of it.
BOOM!
Word kept. Go to the movies with me: I'll show you old fogies what's up.
Watch "The Decline of Western Civilization" before deciding.
as this movie was being contemplated, who was it that thought this subject would be interesting to ANYONE?
Ann Althouse said...
"Watch "The Decline of Western Civilization" before deciding."
Watched it a billion times. What "The Godfather" is to wannabe gangastas, that is to Punks. But "Dig!" is better. More honest, by far, about what the experience of Rock - the highs and lows - is really like.
"Decline" is propaganda - "Dig!" features my friends (honestly).
The big complaint about "Bohemian Rhapsody" is there aren't enough shots of Freddie blowing guys in the park.
Okay, but why would you watch propaganda a billion times?
What do you think of Part 2?
The sleeze factor of the Mercury film being directed and edited by the vile Bryan Singer will keep me away.
That's "sleaze."
I like the music (especially some of the early stuff). My interest in a pic about a rock star where the band peaked decades ago? Approaching zero.
How many of us oldies want to go to a rock bio-pic? How many kids give a damn about Freddie Mercury's life?
True tale: I was exploring tunes for my cell phone notification. Judy heard an instrumental portion of "Fat Bottom Girls" and said, "I like that one". I did NOT pick that to be her identifier.]
I was always kind of cool on Queen, I think because they were all over the map on style. Hard rock (e.g., Sheer Heart Attack) to pop (You're My Best Friend) to weird (Radio Gaga), which some argue is one of their strengths. Which it can be, I suppose.
I doubt I'll see it until it comes out free on Hulu or something. Most biopics are just dumb, IMO; I'd rather watch a documentary.
I think The Game is underrated as a Queen album.
Did you know Brian May has a PhD in astrophysics?
Agree with the Flash Gordon soundtrack. The Highlander one is pretty good, too.
I think I would give up my right pinky to channel Freddie's voice doing karaoke to TIe Your Mother Down (probably my favorite Queen song).
That is all.
Ann Althouse said...
"Okay, but why would you watch propaganda a billion times?"
That was 40 odd years ago. I was a Punk in L.A.. Except for going out, there was no entertainment for us, so that video WAS our entertainment. At that time, for many kids, that was a How-To Manual. It played in bars under the music on old graffitied TVs. It was a classic. We had no idea how limited it was then. "Dig!" is about what it's really like to be in a band and, both, make it and not. The real deal. It's timely, too, because Anton is bi-polar like Kanye - and also into my cult thing - so there's lots to find interesting in that.
"What do you think of Part 2?"
Part 2 was about big hair and spandex metal, which - beyond an occasional arena rock song or two - is not my thing at all.
Queen is one of the few bands that has stayed in rotation ever since I first heard them. They don't keep surprising me, like Zappa can, and are even occasionally dated now, but they did once raise my passion for Rock - and my respect for the number of styles one "Pop" band can engage in - to what was an insane level for a High Schooler.
I was completely devoted to them, and I still like the reminder.
Anthony Lane is the best, and funniest, weekly writer in The NYer.
Crack: Anton's fight onstage, at the Brian Jonestown Massacres' big debut, is priceless.
PM said...
"Crack: Anton's fight onstage, at the Brian Jonestown Massacres' big debut, is priceless."
And a regular occurrence. I can't imagine being in a band with a bi-polar dude - it's hard enough with "normal" people - but, if I had known about the whole cult thing back-in-the-day, I definitely would've made a bigger effort to be close to Anton. As it was, I got to know Jeffy a bit, because he'd come over to the house with my boy, Daren, who's also bi-polar. (Jeffy enters "Dig!" about half-way through the film, after taking a hiatus from the mayhem). In those days, I was The Man, so I got to meet everybody going up or down the ladder.
Good times.
That's sleaze
Noah Webster was a tyrant.
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