Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

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MichaelB
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#51 Post by MichaelB » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:18 pm

rawlinson wrote:Just a honest opinion. I absolutely despise the band and hope the film flops so it gets no awards play. If it hits big at the Oscars I'll have to make myself see it to have an informed opinion. But despite my hopes I think Malek is going to get a Bafta nom at least. The film might well be decent but I know how much I'll loathe the soundtrack and what a huge part of the film it'll play. Is that really that outrageous an opinion?
Why pay even the tiniest bit of attention to it if you feel that way?

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#52 Post by rawlinson » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:27 pm

Every year I watch every film nominated at the Oscars in the above the line categories and I try to see as many as possible in the tech categories. So if this got a costumes nomination I'd feel ok skipping it but if it got something big it would be a nagging hole in my viewing that would bother me. Beyond that I'm avoiding it as much as possible, apart from when I'm forced to sit through a trailer in the cinema. When I said I hope it flops I mean solely in terms of awards attention. I don't care how much money it takes.

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MichaelB
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#53 Post by MichaelB » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:46 pm

I'll never understand this obsession with Oscars till my dying day.

Soothsayer
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#54 Post by Soothsayer » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:52 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:46 pm
I'll never understand this obsession with Oscars till my dying day.
Agreed.

Also, the mention that this film has no industry support isn't quite true. Queen themselves are actively supporting this film. Brian May isn't quite "Hollywood Royalty" but I'd suspect he has enough influence to help things along (like potentially supporting Singer being kept on the project, for instance).

rawlinson
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#55 Post by rawlinson » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:17 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:46 pm
I'll never understand this obsession with Oscars till my dying day.
About a decade ago I wrote for various film sites. Oscar coverage tended to fall to me. It just becomes a habit.

rawlinson
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#56 Post by rawlinson » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:18 pm

Soothsayer wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:52 pm
MichaelB wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:46 pm
I'll never understand this obsession with Oscars till my dying day.
Agreed.

Also, the mention that this film has no industry support isn't quite true. Queen themselves are actively supporting this film. Brian May isn't quite "Hollywood Royalty" but I'd suspect he has enough influence to help things along (like potentially supporting Singer being kept on the project, for instance).
That's why I think the Bafta nomination will happen. Malek will probably get into the Globes as well.

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MichaelB
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#57 Post by MichaelB » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:25 pm

rawlinson wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:18 pm
That's why I think the Bafta nomination will happen. Malek will probably get into the Globes as well.
This is what I mean about not understanding this obsession with Oscars (or awards ceremonies in general) - you haven't even seen the film, and you're predicting what awards it might win?

(You're by far the only person who does this - in fact, the most demented outbreak in these forums is generally just after the Cannes competition has been announced, with people confidently predicting which films will win which awards, even though nobody outside a very small part of the industry will have seen them yet. They're usually wildly wrong, of course, but mad stabs in the dark often tend to be.)

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#58 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:26 pm

Soothsayer wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:52 pm
MichaelB wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:46 pm
I'll never understand this obsession with Oscars till my dying day.
Agreed.

Also, the mention that this film has no industry support isn't quite true. Queen themselves are actively supporting this film. Brian May isn't quite "Hollywood Royalty" but I'd suspect he has enough influence to help things along (like potentially supporting Singer being kept on the project, for instance).
It's been my impression that May and Roger Taylor have been the primary forces behind making a film about the band, not just supporting it. This is primarily why the version Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to do with David Fincher never got off the ground, they objected to doing anything that would lessen the broader appeal to movie audiences.

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#59 Post by Soothsayer » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:31 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:26 pm
It's been my impression that May and Roger Taylor have been the primary forces behind making a film about the band, not just supporting it. This is primarily why the version Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to do with David Fincher never got off the ground, they objected to doing anything that would lessen the broader appeal to movie audiences.
This is what I've heard as well, I should have phrased that post differently.

The cynic in me thinks that the idea to keep certain subjects out of the film for the "broader appeal" will backfire on its awards chances, and that BAFTA's et al will keep Malek out of contention as a rebuke of such conservative choices.

rawlinson
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#60 Post by rawlinson » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:34 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:25 pm
rawlinson wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:18 pm
That's why I think the Bafta nomination will happen. Malek will probably get into the Globes as well.
This is what I mean about not understanding this obsession with Oscars (or awards ceremonies in general) - you haven't even seen the film, and you're predicting what awards it might win?

(You're by far the only person who does this - in fact, the most demented outbreak in these forums is generally just after the Cannes competition has been announced, with people confidently predicting which films will win which awards, even though nobody outside a very small part of the industry will have seen them yet. They're usually wildly wrong, of course, but mad stabs in the dark often tend to be.)
Again, it's habit. But you don't generally need to see the film to predict awards chances. You're not predicting based on quality but on buzz and the likelihood of film's meeting what used to be considered the Oscar mould. I genuinely find it fascinating to see the films that are touted heavily that fade away and the ones that come out of nowhere. In terms of quality my favourite films of any given year are far removed from what the Academy tends to nominate. But I find it oddly interesting in the same way other people would with sports predictions.

rawlinson
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#61 Post by rawlinson » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:37 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:26 pm
Soothsayer wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:52 pm
MichaelB wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:46 pm
I'll never understand this obsession with Oscars till my dying day.
Agreed.

Also, the mention that this film has no industry support isn't quite true. Queen themselves are actively supporting this film. Brian May isn't quite "Hollywood Royalty" but I'd suspect he has enough influence to help things along (like potentially supporting Singer being kept on the project, for instance).
It's been my impression that May and Roger Taylor have been the primary forces behind making a film about the band, not just supporting it. This is primarily why the version Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to do with David Fincher never got off the ground, they objected to doing anything that would lessen the broader appeal to movie audiences.
Yeah, that's what I've heard as well. I would actually have been more interested if the film had been an unvarnished portrait of Mercury.

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domino harvey
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#62 Post by domino harvey » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:45 pm

MichaelB, you're usually a rational voice around here, but I think you're being unnecessarily judgmental on this. I follow the Oscars like others follow sports teams, and I'm not the only one. No one is claiming an Oscar or any other award as a worthwhile metric of quality, it's just of interest to some of us and harms no one

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#63 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:05 pm

Soothsayer wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:31 pm
flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:26 pm
It's been my impression that May and Roger Taylor have been the primary forces behind making a film about the band, not just supporting it. This is primarily why the version Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to do with David Fincher never got off the ground, they objected to doing anything that would lessen the broader appeal to movie audiences.
This is what I've heard as well, I should have phrased that post differently.

The cynic in me thinks that the idea to keep certain subjects out of the film for the "broader appeal" will backfire on its awards chances, and that BAFTA's et al will keep Malek out of contention as a rebuke of such conservative choices.
Regardless of BAFTAs, I would imagine this movie will be more popular in England than in America. Radio staples aside, the band's American popularity has never been as strong as their contemporaries, whereas in the UK they are treated with about as much reverence as The Beatles or Stones. They had an uptick when "Bohemian Rhapsody" was used in Wayne's World, going as far as being a #2 single 16 years after it originally charted in 1976.

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Lost Highway
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#64 Post by Lost Highway » Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:26 pm

rawlinson wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:14 pm
Just a honest opinion. I absolutely despise the band and hope the film flops so it gets no awards play. If it hits big at the Oscars I'll have to make myself see it to have an informed opinion. But despite my hopes I think Malek is going to get a Bafta nom at least. The film might well be decent but I know how much I'll loathe the soundtrack and what a huge part of the film it'll play. Is that really that outrageous an opinion?

Queen is a much disliked band among people who are not into mainstream rock music. I liked them till I was around 13 in the mid-70s and then I got into Bowie and Patti Smith which lead to punk and all that good stuff and I left them behind. I also have ambivalent feelings about someone like Mercury. I can understand not wanting to ruin your career but as a gay teenager I didn’t have much sympathy for all these celebrities who clearly were queer and who didn’t come out till they were in their deathbed. Unlike Bowie who For the time was incredibly bold in the way he played around with sexuality and gender and who in reality probably always was fairly straight in terms of his sexuality.

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#65 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:03 pm

It's a double-edged sword because homophobes hate their music too, and the general state of prudishness in America in the 80's is likely why their popularity waned.

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#66 Post by Lost Highway » Wed Oct 10, 2018 4:02 am

That’s true but they also lost a lot of their original fans (and gained a new fanbase) when they turned from the flamboyant glam-rock of their previous albums to the fascist posturing and anthemic shout-along-rock of News of the World. More of their liberal fans turned away when they played Sun City in the mid-80s. They may have considered themselves as non-political but they were rather naive about the fanbase they started to court and whether those fans were on board with Mercury going full-on 80s gay clone (without ever acknowledging the obvious)

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#67 Post by rawlinson » Wed Oct 10, 2018 7:07 am

I find that today a lot of Queen fans don't even acknowledge the Sun City thing or think it was meaningless. Mercury's death added a kind of tragic respectability to the band as a whole. They are regarded very much as a rock band these days. The kind who have that certain subsection of fans who tediously go on about pop not being real music while using Queen as an example of rock purity, much in the same way as a group like Led Zeppelin. Truth is Queen were always as much about pop as rock but people wear blinkers.

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#68 Post by Fiery Angel » Wed Oct 10, 2018 9:51 am

Lost Highway wrote:
Wed Oct 10, 2018 4:02 am
fascist posturing
Huh?

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#69 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Oct 10, 2018 9:52 am

Exactly.

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Lost Highway
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#70 Post by Lost Highway » Wed Oct 10, 2018 10:42 am

Seeing them live during the News of the World tour at a stadium in Munich didn’t help. The 70s were a time when Germany for the first time confronted its Nazi past head on. The synchronised crowds conducted by Queen to We Will Rock You and We are the Champions didn’t look great in context.

I wasn’t the only one to think so, this is a famous takedown of Queen:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... zz-188987/
Whatever its claims, Queen isn’t here just to entertain. This group has come to make it clear exactly who is superior and who is inferior. Its anthem, “We Will Rock You,” is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you. Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band. The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas.
Take that as you may, one thing which is certain is that with News of the World and We Will Rock You, the critical regard they were previously held in, dropped massively.

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Fiery Angel
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#71 Post by Fiery Angel » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:04 am

Lost Highway wrote:
Wed Oct 10, 2018 10:42 am
Seeing them live during the News of the World tour at a stadium in Munich didn’t help. The 70s were a time when Germany for the first time confronted its Nazi past head on. The synchronised crowds conducted by Queen to We Will Rock You and We are the Champions didn’t look great in context.

I wasn’t the only one to think so, this is a famous takedown of Queen:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... zz-188987/
Whatever its claims, Queen isn’t here just to entertain. This group has come to make it clear exactly who is superior and who is inferior. Its anthem, “We Will Rock You,” is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you. Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band. The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas.
Take that as you may, one thing which is certain is that with News of the World and We Will Rock You, the critical regard they were previously held in, dropped massively.
Rolling Stone always hated Queen (and I knew you'd dig up that ridiculously moronic Dave Marsh review), so that doesn't really help your case.

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#72 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:11 am

To be fair to LH, the uneasy association of stadium rock with Nazi rallies is not without merit. Even in the heady 60's before it became much more commonplace, it was something noticed by people, some of who would eventually become it's practitioners. In Murray Lerner's footage of the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, there's a scene of a guy coming on stage saying that the whole thing was a "psychedelic concentration camp".

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Lost Highway
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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#73 Post by Lost Highway » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:24 am

Queen shifted full gear into stadium rock just as punk had come along, so the idea that there was something fascist about them was hardly an unusual opinion.
Fiery Angel wrote:
Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:04 am
Rolling Stone always hated Queen (and I knew you'd dig up that ridiculously moronic Dave Marsh review), so that doesn't really help your case.
If you really knew that, then why the incomprehension in you previous post ?

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#74 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:30 am

Punk had it's own actual Nazi following so it's not like they are pure in this either.

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Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018)

#75 Post by Zot! » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:34 am

Well, the Wagnerian operatics of Queen was an certainly a common thread. Certainly Freddy was also an enigmatic egomaniac, while the name Queen denotes a autocracy even before it betrays flamboyance. Before anyone protests, I don't think Queen are actual fascists, but I get the connotation.

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