Bohemian Rhapsody review WITH spoilers

I'm going to preface this entry with the following: I honestly thought I was a fan of Queen.

I did.  I truly did.  I thought that if you love at least 5 of a band's songs (and I mean really love) that you were at least a passive fan.  I went to Bohemian Rhapsody (in IMAX) the other night and for the entire first half, I didn't recognize any song.  I heard the melodies and I was completely in the dark (literally and figuratively).  Likewise, I didn't know any of the players in Freddy Mercury's life.  Oh, I knew Freddy Mercury.  I defy you to find someone who hasn't heard of Freddy Mercury.  Mary (played by Lucy Boynton) was wonderful and I enjoyed Miami quite a bit.  Mike Meyers was in it briefly as the head of a music studio and in my humble opinion, he had the best moment in the film.  One of his lines was hysterical: "you need a song that will make teens turn up the volume and bang their heads and Bohemian Rhapsody ain't it."  A clear, undeniable connection to Wayne's World and I laughed audibly.  Sadly, my laugh was the lone reaction at the witty reference.  The movie's point of view was predominantly that of Freddy Mercury and luckily I knew about him and his immeasureable contributions to Rock and Roll.

Leading up to my trip to the local AMC, I had seen a variety of reviews.  Friends were saying it was a must see and while I'm at it, I must see it in IMAX (which was a mistake, we will get to that later).  I also saw a good deal of reviews written by professionals online and none of them were positive save for the well deserved praise heaped upon Rami Malek for his portrayal of the legend, himself.  The reviews were mostly the repudiation of Mr. Mercury's sexuality as it had been illuminated on the screen and the mind numbing results of putting most of the facts to film in various incorrect orders.  For example, Freddy Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS 2 years after the Live Aid concert.  Regardless, I strode through those IMAX double doors with nary an expectation and that is a rarity for this moviegoer.

As certain as anyone has heard of Freddy Mercury, they also know that he was a gay man and that he passed away well before his time due to complications with AIDS.  The problem that these reviewers had with his sexuality became clear to me as I watched.  The love affair with Mary was fairly well fleshed out.  I think the average movie watcher would believe that Mary was the love of Freddy's life.  I certainly felt it.  However, once we learn, subsequently as Freddy does, that he has a penchant for men, the movie doesn't have near the coverage with any of the men in his life as we received with Mary.  Not a single man significant or otherwise received the Mary treatment.  Yes, Mary was the love of his life, but I felt lead to believe that he never loved again.  What's more, with all of the time spent with Freddy and Mary, I still felt unsatisfied with the tumultuous events regarding their affections.  I felt far worse for Mary than I did Freddy.  That was an odd feeling to me since the movie focuses its attention almost exclusively on the band's ring leader.

I saw what they were saying about how Freddy's sexuality was portrayed.  I also felt that whomever wrote the movie didn't care much for Freddy Mercury.  It was clear that the writer thought Freddy Mercury was the musical genius that we all know him to be, however, they pulled no punches with every other aspect of his life.  Freddy broke  Mary's heart.  Freddy apparently slept repeatedly and carelessly with other men (though that's suggested rather than shown in a montage or something of the like).  Freddy killed the band by being a jerk and ultimately going solo.  Freddy was desperate for friends.  Freddy was lonely.  Freddy ended up doing heavy drugs in order to work.  Freddy Mercury was more than the sum of these parts and it's a travesty that these are the only parts we see.  The previous incarnation of the movie was going to star Sasha Baron Cohen and be rated R but the band had too much input and wouldn't relinquish their influence on the movie.  I don't think it's too much outside of the realm of possibility that the band's influence and everlasting jealousy (illustrated in the film) of the man who made them a headlining band lead to this outcome.  The result: a projected flickering of everything that was wrong with Freddy Mercury and very little that he had done right in his life.

It's clear that the relationship with the band was strained and that they were a dysfunctional family as much as it was clear as to how much he loved Mary.  That said, those were the only 2 relationships that were developed to any kind of extent.  Miami was a great character and he was introduced as some kind of studio executive and then he's gone for a long while and when he comes back, Freddy fires their manager and hires Miami to do it and almost immediately he says yes and that's pretty much the extent of the relationship that we see on the screen.  I don't know how the band or Freddy actually felt about him or what he was all about.  I would have loved to have seen more between him and the man he ended up with, Jim Hutton.  Likewise, his strained relationship with his family interested me very much, but it too went nowhere.  His father was the polar opposite of proud of him and then suddenly with no resolution, Freddy repeats advice his father gave him and all is forgiven?  This movie was fragmented more than any other movie in recent memory and it's due in large part to introducing several characters and then yanking them as swiftly out of the story as they entered.  From what I understand, they completely reenacted the Live Aid concert at 24 minutes in length.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the reenactment, that's time that could have been spent on a proper arc with any relationship that was severely abbreviated on screen.  I would have been more satisfied as a customer with that content instead.

Lastly, why I cannot recommend IMAX...

There are FAR TOO MANY close ups, on virtually every character.  I never needed, nor need again to see Rami Malek's face THAT big on an IMAX screen.  With all of Freddy Mercury's strife with his teeth (that gave him extra range, a superpower!), I think that most people would agree that Freddy was a handsome guy.  Putting Freddy's teeth on another person who doesn't have Freddy's other stronger features may have been a mistake in retrospect.

Am I a fan of the movie?  I thought it was okay.  There's as much that I liked about the movie that I also disliked and I believe that I have justified my feelings in this entry.  I love at least 5 Queen songs which a few came about during the second half of the movie.  That song recognition made it more fun for me.  So how do I reconcile that my friends loved this movie and many reviewers hated it?  This isn't the first time this has happened and it won't be the last.  My working theory is that in order to LOVE Bohemian Rhapsody, you MUST be a fan.  I liked Bohemian Rhapsody, I didn't love it.  I went for the movie and not the band.  I suspect my friends went for Queen first and foremost and the movie was secondary.  This is how I came to the conclusion that I must not be a true fan of Queen but rather a passer by who thoroughly enjoys select tracks of theirs.

If you want to see the awesome reenactment of Queen's Live Aid performance in the best format, you MUST see it in IMAX.  If that's not that important to you I would say wait for Netflix or network television.

Straight Out of Compton

This isn't a review of Straight Out of Compton which was excellent by the way.  I want to note how timely it was, racially in our current political climate.

The "black lives matter" movement became directly attributed lives of the black community being taken by some white police officers.  Even going back to Rodney King, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, etc, these white cops keep getting off with nary a slap on the wrist.

Abner Louima was guilty of a crime, but the officers in charge thought it would be "fun" to sodomize him with a plunger handle.

Amadou Diallo was reaching for his identification when officers shot at him over 40 times.  As I understand it, 1 or 2 officers reloaded.  How many shots were reasonable for an unarmed black man? I don't know but it can't be 40.  

No jail time for any officers in either case to my knowledge.

Then came "cops lives matter" and that seemed like an attempt to take the spotlight off of the desperate attempt for the black community to get some attention on an important issue.  But there's no denying that the retaliations against cops can't continue.  Especially since these cops were random.  Police lives absolutely do matter as well, just not in the same way as the point being made with Black Lives Matter.

I have seen posts saying that using "black lives matter" is an attempt to say that black lives are more important and that it's polarizing.  I can't disagree more.  An entire of community is begging for you to acknowledge the inequality out there and what do you do?  Tell them to shut up.  Instead of saying "yes, I see it, you're not alone!" Some people respond with "cops lives matter". They do, but you're missing the point entirely.  If cops didn't profile and in some cases needlessly take black lives, there wouldn't have been a retaliation.

Honestly, I liken this to the revolutionary war.  That one snowball that started the Boston Massacre.  You can only oppress a people for so long, you can only push someone so far before you get pushed back.

Yes, I have seen the videos of the suburban black guy lecturing the inner city black community about behaving and being compliant, but I can only imagine constantly getting pulled over and detained because of my race.  I'd be REALLY pissed off.  This guy in the suburbs isn't detained like this necessarily in his middle to upper class suburban town.  Why do you put so much credence in one or two people when others are out there in droves saying the contrary?

"You look like a gang member!"

 "Really?  Do you see a gun?  Did I hurt someone?  I'm drinking a slurpee, why do I need to get on the ground for the 3rd time in an hour officer?!" 

"I can fix that smart mouth on you kid"

I'd be livid.  A whole race impotent to the authorities that marginalize them.  I'm actually surprised it took this long for any retaliation.

Saying that the "black lives matter" is polarizing, is missing the point.  I implore you to try on those shoes and see how you like the fit.

Quoting stats of minority imprisonment being the "valid" reason for profiling seems ignorant.  There is a reason for it.  This is societal and cyclic in nature and it needs to be fixed before it gets worse.

Getaway review now in theaters (Pre viewing review, contains nospoilers)

First time writers Sean Finegan and Greg Maxwell Parker and Director Courtney Solomon (director of "Captivity" which I enjoyed), bring you "Getaway".

Getaway stars Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez and the barely seen John Voight.

I am going to tell you a secret.  I have a knack for knowing from a trailer whether or not I am going to like a movie or film.  It's all gut and instinct and it's usually correct.  I saw the trailer for this movie and I didn't have a feeling at all whatsoever and that happens as well.

So what I do when I get a bad feeling or no feeling as I got with this movie, is I will read all of the terrible reviews ultimately, lowering my expectations.  I am usually able to find some enjoyment from doing that.  That said, I read endless terrible reviews and then went to the movie.

The movie is about Brent Magna (Hawke) who is an ex-racecar driver who is asked to do a set of "tasks" by the evil John Voight.  Why does he do them?  Because his wife was abducted by Voight and he will kill her if he doesn't.  Along the way, Selena Gomez tries to jack the car (or so it would seem from the trailer) and now she is added to the missions at hand.  The trailer is very misleading as Selena Gomez looks like she's trying to be "gangster".

Without spoiling anything, I cannot confirm or deny that she is some type of a gangster, car jacker, but I was pleasantly surprised with what the decision of what they did with her character.

You have seen a variation of this movie before, you could tell from the trailer, so why should you see it?  I don't have any really good answers to that question.  Some people enjoy muscle car chases so much that they have made entirely too many Fast and the Furious movies.  That's one answer I suppose.  If you are a car chase fan, this movie is for you!  There is no CGI whatsoever in this movie.  Ethan Hawke in an interview said there were very small HD digital cameras placed throughout the cars as they went through rigorous stunts.

If you are a Selena Gomez fan, I would say you should probably see it.  They give her far more to do than veteran Ethan Hawke.  All throughout the movie, Magna does exactly as he's told, never questioning a single command.  Enter Selena, she is the questioning subconscious that Magna should have.

As with all movies with car chases, extensive or otherwise, you have to wonder about continuity, by which I mean the condition of the car.

Remember Commando?

You can see that this Shelby Mustang hits a good number of things in this movie.  Early on in the film, Voight tells magna that the car has been armor plated so that is supposed to explain why it can take so much damage, without actually getting damaged.  We do see an armored truck hit a cement post and crumple later in the film, but you aren't supposed to notice that.  So yes, the car survives much abuse through a lot of the movie.  Having said that, the side view mirror does do a brief disappear, reappear, then disappear again act.  While I noticed it, it didn't bother me.  Remember, I knew what I was getting into before I walked in.

The movie is cut together like a MTV-Baz Luhrmann-music video-on-steroids and that's what keeps the willing suspension of disbelief fueled.  You simply don't have time to think as it's a very swift moving movie.  Just remember to bring dramamine.

If you like the Fast and the Furious type movies, I would definitely say this is worth the price of a matinee.

Lastly, there is nothing after the credits, so no need to hang out unless you absolutely must know who the "best boy" was.  You're welcome!

Insidious: Chapter 2 (post viewing article, contains spoilers)

We have a new antagonist and a new take on the old one.  I am not talking about the crazy red guy who loves to "tip toe through the tulips", I'm talking about the Black Bride.  She's a he?!!?  I did not see that coming.  Did you?  The Black Bride's real name is Parker (not Marilyn) and she is a he!  The new antagonist is his mother who is trying to fit a round peg in a triangle hole by forcing her son to dress and act like a woman.  Parker ends up in a mental hospital because he tried to castrate himself and he was under Josh's mother Lorraine's care.  He died back in 1986 when Josh first started to experience the dark realm by jumping out of a tall window to his death.  Parker's mother apparently already dead at some point by 2013 has been trying to get him to take Josh's body, and take it he did.  As it turns out, Parker (aka the Black Bride) took Josh's body leaving him in the dark realm.

Parker as the Black Bride above, Crazy mother below

 
Though Elise is dead, she is still helpful from "the other side".  Even though we don't get much quality acting from this actress, I was happy to see her back as she was the only one who really knew what was going on with all of these issues. 

I was excited to see the additional layering in the story as time went on.  Everything was perfectly timed.  With Parker we first found out that he tried to castrate himself and then that information provided to be meaningful when we found out about his mother making him act like a girl.  He only wanted to please his mother, ultimately. 

 Crazy mother and Parker in a girl's dress

Another example is when young Josh said something back in 1986 that we the viewers and people in the room didn't understand at the time.  Later as they worked through the grainy image trying to make it more clear we see that he was actually talking to a visiting current version of Josh, responding to the question: where he can find the Black Bride. 

The response is the part that I don't care for... 

It bothers me how these "ghosts/entities" travel, crossing between the two worlds through this red door.  Sometimes it's the red door and sometimes it's not.  I still, after repeat viewings of Chapter 1 and seeing Chapter 2 today, have no concept of how transportation works in regard to being a ghost in the real world to being a guest in the dark world.

I want to know your thoughts.  What did you think of the movie?  Were you happy to see Elise's return?  Were you shocked that the Black Bride was really a man?  Sound off in the comments below!

Insidious Chaper 2 review now in theaters (contains spoilers from "Insidious" only)

The same writing/ directing team associated with Chapter 1 is on board for Chapter 2, which is nice.  James Wan directing and Leigh Whannell writing.

When we last checked in with the Lambert family, young Dalton was crossing over into the dark world where he truly didn't need to be.  His father Josh also has the gift of astral projection into other worlds and he went in after him.  Josh had been haunted by "the Black Bride" a bride dressed in a black wedding dress and it was feared that she might take Josh's or Dalton's body.  Dalton returned to his own body, but something went awry with Josh's return and we felt it was a set up for a second installment.  We were making the correct assumption.

In "Insidious: Chapter 2" we are seeing that Josh may have come back with someone attached or  broken, if at all.  This entire movie is about them finding out more about the history of the Black Bride since certainly she must have followed Josh back into our realm and of course combating her in whatever way they can.

Since there's not much else I can tell you about the story without spoiling, I will tell you that both the young version of Elise (from the first installment) as well as the old version are NOT very good actresses.  The younger was worse, but they were both fairly terrible.  Elise's two minions are back for some much needed levity.  They both have video cameras and it seems as if the creators are introducing their take on the "found footage" phenomenon while staying true to the same type of storytelling they had in the first "chapter".

Who did not return for part 2?  The red crazy fan of Tiny Tim.

I liked this one more than part 1, however, it was far less frightening and far less disturbing.  It will still scare some people.  There is an overlapping element too that I really liked in the plot, that again, I can't say anything about without spoiling anything.  Be aware that Chapter 2 sets things up nicely for Chapter 3. 

Overall, this if you liked the first one, you will definitely like this one.  I'm going to give this a "worth the evening price of admission" because let's be honest, who's going to go and see this during the day?

Lastly, there's nothing after the credits so don't bother hanging out.  You're welcome!

My Favorite Film? Today? The Paper (pre-viewing review, contains no spoilers)

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite movie is.  I take that question to mean "what is either your favorite movie OR film."  That is usually a very difficult question to answer for me.  There are so many fantastic movies and films out there all over the world.  For some reason I had a moment of clarity and yes to my surprise, I had an answer for him.  My reply?  “The Paper”.  I believe that “The Paper” will always appear in my ever changing top 5 films of all time, but for that particular moment of that particular day “The Paper” was without hesitation, my definitive answer.  Many people have not heard of “The Paper” which can be found  these days on DVD and VHS if you still have such a video playing device (truth be told, I still have a VCR).  So if this is your first exposure to this wonderful film, feel free to keep reading.

 

“The Paper” directed by Ron Howard, released in 1994 stars my favorite actor Michael Keaton as Harvey Hackett.  The film also showcases the talents of Marissa Tomei, Glenn Close, Robert Duval, Randy Quaid among others.  You might be saying to yourself: “but Lance, how can this movie be so great and have all of these stars in it and I haven’t heard of it?”  I have no idea, but it’s a travesty!

 

The film is about two inner city youths charged with the murder of two Wall Street businessmen.  Every newspaper in New York City is trying to get the scoop, however, only one newspaper cares enough to get the accurate account of what happened.  Subplots include but are not limited to: broken down air conditioning during a heat wave, Randy Quaid upsetting an elected official and Michael Keaton having a baby with his wife Marissa Tomei and working too much.

 

Technically, the subject matter lands us squarely in the Drama genre, however with this cast, the comedic elements come out at all the appropriate times and makes this one of (if not the most) enjoyable times I have had watching a film.  I hope you check it out and come back to discuss it with me in the post viewing review.

RoboCop Reboot

After all of the rumors, there is an actual trailer for the new RoboCop movie.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one.  It looks stylistically like they did a great job updating the suit and the technology and there's more to it than just an almost dead guy cum cyborg fighting crime.  I will say that this trailer might give too much away in terms of the obstacles the new RoboCop will face.  I don't like not seeing Peter Weller as the damaged man fighting against science and technology to keep his humanity.  Samuel L. Jackson is in it though and even Snakes on a Plane was watchable in some strange Mystery Science Theater type way.  So what is there really to be afraid of?  Will you pay a full price evening admission price to see this movie or is it a rental automatically for curiosity's sake?  Let me know your thoughts, sound off in the comments section below.