just saw Bohemian Rhapsody

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
12/05/2018 at 20:56 • Filed to: None

*spoilers, probably, i hope kinja does eat the buffer image*

T his is one of those movies where I’m not sure if I enjoyed the movie itself or if I enjoyed it because Queen. I definitely enjoyed it, though.

Th e concert as a finale was still incredibly moving even though you knew it was coming all along (or if you don’t know Queen, you figure out well before the ending anyway). All the cliche shit happened: getting goosebumps, shivers down your spine, tearing up, etc. Building up to that moment after his downward spiral gave it much more impact.

Not sure how much of it is factual or exaggerated, but I loved the attention to detail in recreating a show that happened over 30 years ago. Hearing Dire Straits in the background finishing Sultans of Swing while the band preparing for their set; the cups on the piano; Freddie playing a few chords and fiddling with some sound settings before going into Bohemian Rhapsody.

Overall, I thought the pacing was kind of strange at times, it left me feeling like it skipped over a lot. M aybe it didn’t, I don’t know Queen’s history at all apart from what I saw today. Anyways, the 2 hours flew by and at the end I just wanted the concert to go on longer even though I knew it was done.

On a side note, looks like Hollywood is jumping on this bandwagon with an Elton John movie coming out at some point. Or maybe Bohemian Rhapsody is already on the bandwagon, but either way, I think it’s worth seeing. Also, this trip to the theater was a reminder of why I don’t like going to theaters.

DISCUSSION (8)

Textured Soy Protein > gin-san - shitpost specialist
12/05/2018 at 23:30

I hear you about hating going to theaters.

When I lived in Madison, WI, I was spoiled by my local Marcus theater. Plenty of parking, tickets weren’t *too* crazy expensive, and if you sign up for their free rewards program, you can get the Fandango convenience fee waived for buying reserved seat tickets ahead of time.

Now I’m (back) in the DC burbs, and at the closest Regal movie theater to my house tickets are $14.30 instead of $11.50 at that Marcus. You have to pay to subscribe to the Regal rewards thing to avoid the Fandango fee.

But the worst part is parking costs 2 bucks WITH VALIDATION FROM THE THEATER, IN THE SUBURBS. It’s in a mixed use development with retail, apartments, etc. I grew up here and that theater was built when I was in high school. There used to be bigass free parking lots for the theater, but that was before all the apartments and everything else went in. I hate paying that 2 bucks for parking.

So instead of $23 for the two of us, it’s $34!

There are a couple AMC theaters a few miles farther away where tickets are $12.30 and there’s free parking, but it’s the same shit where you have to pay extra to AMC for their subscription to avoid the Fandango fee.

My wife found a site that sells discounted Regal and AMC passes for I think 9 bucks, but you have to bring them to the theater to exchange them for tickets so you can’t pick seats ahead of time, and for big movies on opening weekends the theaters don’t let you use the passes. So for random not-crazy-busy movies, we use the passes and I suck it up and pay to park at the Regal close to home. Half the time even with the passes we still say FUCK YOUR 2 DOLLAR REGAL PARKING and drive to AMC on principle.

But if it’s a big movie where we want to get seats ahead of time, between the ticket prices and the parking, it’s 6 bucks cheaper to drive the few extra miles to and from the AMC. So we’re much more likely to go there. Hey, 6 bucks ain’t a ton of money but I hate nickel and dimey bullshit.

Oh, and there’s an Arclight with free parking at the mall, where regular showtimes are $16.50 a pop! Dafuq?

Ugh. Stupid movies. Time to fire up BitTorrent again...

PyramidHat > gin-san - shitpost specialist
12/06/2018 at 01:07

Saw it myself, and experienced the same feelings. I understand Sasha Baron Cohen wanted to play Freddie Mercury, but wanted it to be a much grittier movie and focus more on his illness. The band nixed that. I got the impression, they wanted it to be more of a tribute than a biopic.

Want a cry? YouTube “these are they days”...it was released in May 1991 and I think was the last video Freddie’s was in.

Monkey B > gin-san - shitpost specialist
12/06/2018 at 07:40

I enjoyed it, but it was watered down quite a bit. Someone in the know likened it to snapshots in a much longer story. My least favorite part was they castrated the rest of the band to seem like “OK Freddie, whatever you say Freddie. Rubbish.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Monkey B
12/06/2018 at 08:06

That’s what I felt about the pacing - it’s like “here’s some highlights” and the parts that I wanted to see played out more were quite short, like how the band came to write some of the songs. I was expecting much more conflict, I suppose.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Textured Soy Protein
12/06/2018 at 08:07

Yeah, I haven’t known this lady too long so I didn’t think twice about going to the movies but god damn next time I’ll think thrice.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > PyramidHat
12/06/2018 at 08:14

wanted it to be a much grittier movie and focus more on his illness

Not sure if I’d necessarily enjoy that more of less; really I was hoping to see crazier stories about the band and a bit more “making of” when it came to how their songs were written.

There were funny bits like the running joke about “I’m In Love with My Car” plus smart-ass lines like “I wouldn’t want to stand out in Britain,” after Freddie’s asked about fixing his teeth.

Overall, enjoyed it. Probably could’ve been better or worse, but it’s funny that the absolute best part is just a recreation of a concert from 1985 which was awesome to hear with the theater sound. Kind of wish those jump cuts to some pub, parents, Roy Baker, etc. weren’t done but I guess it is a movie first. Maybe when they release the movie on Blu-Ray they’ll have an uncut version of the concert recreation.

ateamfan42 > gin-san - shitpost specialist
12/06/2018 at 09:32

Anyways, the 2 hours flew by and at the end I just wanted the concert to go on longer even though I knew it was done.

If you enjoyed the re-created performance, get yourself a copy of Live at Wembley Stadium. That show was in 1986, and captures the band still at their prime. It was a terrific concert and I’m glad it was recorded for posterity. It really demonstrates what an incredible showman Freddie could be (and the rest of Queen kicked ass too!)

gin-san - shitpost specialist > ateamfan42
12/06/2018 at 13:35

I’ll probably have to get that - I have the actual Live Aid DVD somewhere but a full Queen concert would be nice.