Bohemian Rhapsody - Who's seen it and how was it?

[pinkfloydcramer61]

I thoroughly enjoyed. Mostly for the performance clips, and how it showed Freddie's love of cats lol. I wish it had shown more of Freddie's formative years with his formal music training, and the drama for the final Live Aid concert scene was overdone IMO so far as showing uncertainty about how Freddie was going to do, I can't see any hint of shakiness in the actual footage. But of course, it's a movie.

[Vito Corleone]

I watched it on the plane flying home from the NAMM show. I've certainly heard of, and heard Queen, but not being a fan I didn't know anything about their history. I wonder how accurate the history as depicted in the film was. I didn't realize that Bohemian Rhapsody (the song) was a flop when it was released - I heard it plenty on the radio, but that's probably a sign of what kind of radio stations I listen to.

 

I don't watch many movies, but I thought that the acting in this one was excellent - everyone was believable, and I hope that in real life, Freddie and Brian were as good as they were portrayed in the movie. I'd like to have seen them in a club.

 

 

Bohemian Rhapsody wasn't a flop when it was released. It was a huge hit. But the critics didn't like it, which was what the movie portrayed.

 

The critics never liked Queen, and they didn't like this movie either. F' the critics, I say!

 

The history is fairly accurate with the biggest license taken with Freddie telling everyone he had AIDS prior to the Live Aid concert. The truth he is didn't know (or at least didn't tell the band) for a couple of years later. He WAS ill the day of the concert and his doctor advised he not perform so as not to damage his throat. Whether that was AIDS related or not, I'm not sure anyone knows for sure. Lots of controversy among fans about the dramatic license taken with that.

 

Also, some of the dates of when the songs are shown to be written or performed are not correct. For example, the movie implies that "We Will Rock You" was written around 1980 when Freddie had the short-hair look of the "Another One Bites The Dust" period. Even looks like those two songs might have been on the same album. WWRY is from 1978.

 

I'm a big fan of the band but had no problem with that stuff. But I also understand that certain sacrifices have to be made so a movie can flow well.

 

And yes, Freddie and Brian were as good as they were portrayed.

[Saul T. Nads]

 

 

Bohemian Rhapsody wasn't a flop when it was released. It was a huge hit. But the critics didn't like it, which was what the movie portrayed.

 

The critics never liked Queen, and they didn't like this movie either. F' the critics, I say!

 

The history is fairly accurate with the biggest license taken with Freddie telling everyone he had AIDS prior to the Live Aid concert. The truth he is didn't know (or at least didn't tell the band) for a couple of years later. He WAS ill the day of the concert and his doctor advised he not perform so as not to damage his throat. Whether that was AIDS related or not, I'm not sure anyone knows for sure. Lots of controversy among fans about the dramatic license taken with that.

 

Also, some of the dates of when the songs are shown to be written or performed are not correct. For example, the movie implies that "We Will Rock You" was written around 1980 when Freddie had the short-hair look of the "Another One Bites The Dust" period. Even looks like those two songs might have been on the same album. WWRY is from 1978.

 

I'm a big fan of the band but had no problem with that stuff. But I also understand that certain sacrifices have to be made so a movie can flow well.

 

And yes, Freddie and Brian were as good as they were portrayed.

 

WWRY is actually from 1977

 

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Maybe I was an odd man out - but I loved Queen - then and still love the music now. But I don't pigeon hole myself into one genre of music typically either.

D

[Luke17]

I have always loved them...I really enjoyed seeing them fronted by Paul Rodgers IMO one of the best vocalist in Rock with a magical stage presence.

[Ernest Buckley]

Maybe I was an odd man out - but I loved Queen - then and still love the music now. But I don't pigeon hole myself into one genre of music typically either.

D

 

I don`t think you`re the odd man at all... I think a lot of people like Queen after they hear more than the stadium anthems "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions".

 

I have to be honest, the first time I saw the video to Bohemian Rhapsody, I laughed. I was 20 and thought to myself, who are these guys? The lead singer looks funny and they look like something out of the 70s... not realizing the footage was from the 70s.

 

I never associated Bohemian Rhapsody with "We Will Rock You" or "We Are The Champions".

 

A friend introduced me to their Classics CDs released in the early 90s I believe and I could not believe these songs were all by one band... the variety of material was unheard of. Now I listen to them and I truly appreciate the creativity and beauty in their approach. It was rock, opera, broadway, funk, dance, etc... all meshed up into... Queen.

[Saul T. Nads]

Nice post, Ernest. I, too, am a fan of Queen. Slightly OT, but when's your new album coming out?

[Ernest Buckley]

Nice post' date=' Ernest. I, too, am a fan of Queen. Slightly OT, but when's your new album coming out?[/quote']

 

Hey Mark! Long time not talk.

 

The album will be out this year. It was scheduled for late 2018 but my computer basically died... it still functions but it cannot handle working with audio. So I`m replacing the HD with a SSD which should be arriving within the week... just ordered the drive today... then I hope to put the finishing touches on it in March and plan for a May release.

 

Thanks for asking. I hope you are well.

 

E

[Dendy Jarrett]

Well, last night at the Oscars proved folks still love Queen (and the movie BR). What's amazing to me is that the first time I heard "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions", was in 1977 or 1978 and there it was as the opening song some 42 years later. (think about that FORTY TWO YEARS).

 

D

[Luke17]

Yeah, Dendy..I loved Rami as Freddie..right from the get go..turns out he is a first generation Egyptian to the US,

Just as Freddie was a first generation guy from Zanzibar to Britain..

.

As I mentioned in a prior post, I saw Queen on their first US Tour ‘ Sheer Heart Attack’ ..mid 70’s @Trenton NJ War Memorial bldg.

 

they appeared with Kansas and Mahogany Rush.

I became an immediate Queen fan right from the get go..

 

I used to watch the guitarists of most bands I saw in concert, but Freddie and Roger Taylor were the guys that stood out for me..John Deacon and Brian definitely rocked, but Freddie was King ( or Queen) and I never heard a set of drums sound like an orchestra before ..Go Roger.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Yeah, I first became aware of Queen sometime around 1974 or so when Killer Queen was released, and that led me to the album (Sheer Heart Attack). I've been a fan ever since then... still haven't seen the movie though. The Oscars led my wife to decide to rent it on demand, but I was just too tired last night to watch it; I'll probably wait until this weekend, but I'm looking forward to seeing it.

 

I'm a bit jealous of you Luke - that's really cool that you got to see them so early on in their career.

 

 

[Luke17]

Phil, They were amazing, not so well known, The war Memorial Bldg. now called Patriots Theater is still an amazing venue, built when Trenton was a thriving Industrial City, so no expenses were spared..The acoustics are stellar.

I think I made mentioned we were ‘patted down’ by Security outside..they confiscated our Doobies and our Wine Skins, and we were just incensed!

first time that ever happened..and I’m fuming and complaining ‘Is this gonna be the future of concert going?’

haha

[Phil O'Keefe]

Sounds like it was indeed an awesome show, as I suspected it would have been. All of those guys were / are really smart, and one of the things I really admire about Queen was their seriousness and work ethic. They weren't going to toss out their university degrees to just mess around at making music - they worked hard at it, and it showed.

 

I saw the movie over the weekend, and while I liked it and found it entertaining (and I agree that Rami Malek did a really good job portraying Freddie), I kept getting annoyed / distracted by the various factual / timeline mistakes in it... Deacon didn't join the band at the same time as Freddie, Fat Bottomed Girls shows up way too early in the movie; it came out on Jazz in 1978, not in 1975, We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions / News Of The World was released in '77, not '80 (the whole "Freddie's late to the studio" thing was bogus... although the part about Brian wanting a song where the audience could participate is true), they weren't on the outs or on hiatus right before Live Aid, Freddie didn't know he had AIDS prior to Live Aid, etc. etc.

 

The studio shots were also rather fun / amusing to see too... as well as the fictional A&R guy stuff...

 

I realize they have to take a certain amount of artistic license when trying to cram a band's story into a movie that only lasts for a couple of hours, but when they put in stuff that's way too far from reality (a lot of it rather big stuff, like whether or not the band had broken up at one point or not, or whether they left their label...), it tends to cloud the actual facts / history in the minds of a lot of the general public...

 

YMMV.

[Luke17]

I agree 100% Phil, there was a hella lot of stuff out of kilter, and since ‘Deeks’ Had virtually no input, nor Freddie, it was a good deal of conjecture, Fairy Tale, and how Roger and Brian wanted to remember, or how they want to be remembered.

I love Roger Taylor, he is an amazing drummer, singer and arranger,,,but his song, ‘I’m in love with my car’ was NOT a single release song..

IMO it would have been dead in the water as soon as it set sail.

[t_e_l_e]

i laughed how they made fun about i'm in love with my car

 

i saw "queen" with paul rodgers in 2004 or 05 and i have to say i regret spending 75euro for it. the sound of the venue was bad, some crackling noise over the PA multiple times, brian may played audible mistakes (wrong notes) in radio gaga etc and paul rodgers cannot replace freddie...

 

i'm a queen fan and i enjoyed the movie but i will not go to any of these revival shows again

[Notes_Norton]

I finally saw it.

 

It was OK for a biopic, nothing more or less than I expected.

 

The actors did a nice job looking like they were playing, the editing on the music performances was OK, and the acting for the most part was decent. I do think it was overdone at times, but not knowing that much about their personal lives, I can't say that with authority.

 

I read there are historic flaws in the story, but as much as I like the music of Queen and many other bands, I really don't pay attention to their personal lives. That doesn't interest me. The music interests me.

 

I thought the band collaborations and fights were rather unrealistic, at least compared to the many bands I've been in, but then again, I wasn't the proverbial fly on the wall so I could be mistaken.

 

I would have preferred to see more about the band interactions and less about Freddie's personal life, but as I said, personal lives don't interest me that much. Enough for the reasons for his personality developments would have been enough for me. I'd rather see them create and play music. But I'm not the type of person this movie was pitched to (I play commercial music to make a living, so I understand).

 

All in all I enjoyed the flic, found it entertaining, thought moved at a decent pace, and for a biopic, well done.

 

I rented the DVD, and actually enjoyed some of the extras as much as the movie (since the extras are shorts on a DVD, we call the shorts BVD's)

 

About Queen's music: While I certainly didn't like everything they did, I didn't hate any of their music either, and there are some truly great pieces they played that I dearly love and have added to the collection on my post-ipod digital Walkman (the entertainment in my car since local radio stations don't thrill me).

 

Freddie was a talented person, and I think it's sad he got AIDS before the medical profession figured out how to keep it from killing people. I'm sure there was a lot of fine music left inside him when he left us.

 

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