Any way the wind blows...

thomasross20

Btw loved eacon's "electrical engineering" reply to Freddie's line of questioning. Made me laugh

Blaendulais

thomasross20 said:

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW!!!





Did they do the AIDs reveal a week before live aid to give that part of the film more of a boost or did it happen in that timeframe? 

Would have liked to have found out even more, like the years after live aid running up to Freddie's passing.

Great film, though!

No it happened later Thomas

Stavros

ICBM said:

Just back from seeing it. Brilliant, despite some known historical liberties being taken as already mentioned.

The actors for Brian May and especially John Deacon are almost scarily perfect - Rami Malek a little less so visually but made up for it by nailing a lot of Freddie’s mannerisms.

Nice cats too .

A strong 8/10.

Yeah, completely agree with this, saw it last night.

The only slight criticism I have is that the impression was given (to me at least) that Night at the Opera was their second album, which wasn’t the case at all, there was some great stuff on their early ones, loved Sheer Heart Attack.

thomasross20

Ah ok thanks - I just saw that similar post to mine on that point. It worked!

prowla

I heard "Innuendo" for the first time yesterday, on the radio; I thought it was really funny!

Queen's version of "Kashmir", with a flamenco jig in the middle and an out-take of an operatic bit chucked in for good measure.

ICBM

Stavros said:

The only slight criticism I have is that the impression was given (to me at least) that Night at the Opera was their second album, which wasn’t the case at all, there was some great stuff on their early ones, loved Sheer Heart Attack.

I didn’t really get that impression, but they certainly did brush over quite a lot of detail - probably necessary to keep the story simpler and shorter for the average viewer who isn’t a huge Queen fan. Sheer Heart Attack and News Of The World are my favourite Queen albums - I like Night At The Opera too, but it’s a bit more at the camp end of the spectrum and I prefer the more rocky stuff generally.

And I actually like I’m In Love With My Car, I think it’s quite cleverly written and funny .

GoldenEraGuitars

ICBM said:

Just back from seeing it. Brilliant, despite some known historical liberties being taken as already mentioned.

The actors for Brian May and especially John Deacon are almost scarily perfect - Rami Malek a little less so visually but made up for it by nailing a lot of Freddie’s mannerisms.

Nice cats too .

A strong 8/10.

Gwilym Lee and Joseph Mazzello were brilliant, weren’t they?!

Glad you enjoyed it, Id actually go and see it again but I’ll more than likely wait for the Blu Ray

Jalapeno

Blaendulais said:

thomasross20 said:

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW!!!





Did they do the AIDs reveal a week before live aid to give that part of the film more of a boost or did it happen in that timeframe? 

Would have liked to have found out even more, like the years after live aid running up to Freddie's passing.

Great film, though!

No it happened later Thomas

From memory, it went public a day or two before he died. Though it was clear that those in the know knew long before, and you didn't have to be a genius to guess given his appearance in the last year or so.

thomasross20

Oh wow, so it was a really well kept secret!

EricTheWeary

Jalapeno said:

Blaendulais said:

thomasross20 said:

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW!!!





Did they do the AIDs reveal a week before live aid to give that part of the film more of a boost or did it happen in that timeframe? 

Would have liked to have found out even more, like the years after live aid running up to Freddie's passing.

Great film, though!

No it happened later Thomas

From memory, it went public a day or two before he died. Though it was clear that those in the know knew long before, and you didn't have to be a genius to guess given his appearance in the last year or so.

From memory and backed up by a quick Google he wasn't diagnosed until about two years after Live Aid so if the film ties those two things together it's either a major revelation or just rubbish.
Although it was kept from the public for nearly four years. Pre internet days eh...

Philly_Q

They've obviously decided to make Live Aid the big climax of the film but felt they had to get the HIV/AIDS revelation in somewhere, so they shifted the timeframe rather than having a big high followed by a limp downbeat ending.  That's movies, folks....

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

I can imagine there are two types of people it won't really please - those who aren't really Queen fans for who a lot of it is irrelevant, and those who are extreme Queen fans for who a lot of it is inaccurate.

I was aware of the flaws, but I still enjoyed it immensely for what it is - not a documentary, just a movie loosely based on some of Freddie's life. And I admit to often being irritated by things being wrong in other films...

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Philly_Q said:

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

I can imagine there are two types of people it won't really please - those who aren't really Queen fans for who a lot of it is irrelevant, and those who are extreme Queen fans for who a lot of it is inaccurate.

I was aware of the flaws, but I still enjoyed it immensely for what it is - not a documentary, just a movie loosely based on some of Freddie's life. And I admit to often being irritated by things being wrong in other films...

If you make a documentary, you need to be accurate. Thing is, for entertainment, real life events often don’t make the best fit for a given formula - such as the two hour movie that needs a good climax and lots to keep the watcher interested. 

It’s not a new problem. Shakespeare’s history plays are notoriously inaccurate and all over the shop - even with details that were known and understood at the time - as he was writing to entertain his intended audience

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Philly_Q said:

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

I can imagine there are two types of people it won't really please - those who aren't really Queen fans for who a lot of it is irrelevant, and those who are extreme Queen fans for who a lot of it is inaccurate.

Also possibly people who watch it from the perspective of "is it a good film?" as opposed to "is it a good film about Queen?".  I suspect that's the critics' perspective, but it'll be interesting to find out.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Also possibly people who watch it from the perspective of "is it a good film?" as opposed to "is it a good film about Queen?".  I suspect that's the critics' perspective, but it'll be interesting to find out.

Quite possible - and if so then some of the things that I enjoyed, particularly the sheer accuracy of Gwilym Lee and Joseph Mazzello (Ben Hardy tried hard but wasn't quite close enough to the real Roger to have the same sort of doppelganger effect), and some of the detail of the equipment and studios - would go right over their heads.

I would be interested to know if some of the possible 'mistakes' - like a couple of 'wrong' guitars - were actually deliberate and based on known photos or records. I did spot that the backup Red Special on stage was red not yellow, which is definitely wrong... but I have a bit of a thing for that yellow one even though Brian apparently hated it!

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

I would be interested to know if some of the possible 'mistakes' - like a couple of 'wrong' guitars - were actually deliberate and based on known photos or records. I did spot that the backup Red Special on stage was red not yellow, which is definitely wrong... but I have a bit of a thing for that yellow one even though Brian apparently hated it!

Things like that certainly add a different element to music biopics which go over the heads of most viewers.  Like Gary Busey playing a '70s Telecaster for most of The Buddy Holly Story.

I recently saw Lords of Chaos, about the late '80s, early '90s Norwegian Black Metal scene.  I'm not knowledgeable enough to say everything was 100% accurate, but they seemed to have tried very hard to find the right equipment (I was surprised Euronymous played a sunburst Les Paul!) and even the correct T-shirts to correspond with photos of the real occasions.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

They've obviously decided to make Live Aid the big climax of the film but felt they had to get the HIV/AIDS revelation in somewhere, so they shifted the timeframe rather than having a big high followed by a limp downbeat ending.  That's movies, folks....

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

It feels like a film celebrating his life could have ended at Live Aid. A film about him living with HIV is a different thing. 
Perhaps the slight mish mash reflects the various production difficulties. I’m not bothered about 100% accuracy but giving Freddie AIDS two years early is a significant change. 

HAL9000

Just seen it. Superb.

Blaendulais

EricTheWeary said:

Philly_Q said:

They've obviously decided to make Live Aid the big climax of the film but felt they had to get the HIV/AIDS revelation in somewhere, so they shifted the timeframe rather than having a big high followed by a limp downbeat ending.  That's movies, folks....

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

It feels like a film celebrating his life could have ended at Live Aid. A film about him living with HIV is a different thing. 
Perhaps the slight mish mash reflects the various production difficulties. I’m not bothered about 100% accuracy but giving Freddie AIDS two years early is a significant change. 

He probably had it then but may not have known

EricTheWeary

Blaendulais said:

EricTheWeary said:

Philly_Q said:

They've obviously decided to make Live Aid the big climax of the film but felt they had to get the HIV/AIDS revelation in somewhere, so they shifted the timeframe rather than having a big high followed by a limp downbeat ending.  That's movies, folks....

I'm starting to feel I have to go and see this, the contrast between the reviews and reaction on here is making me curious.

It feels like a film celebrating his life could have ended at Live Aid. A film about him living with HIV is a different thing. 
Perhaps the slight mish mash reflects the various production difficulties. I’m not bothered about 100% accuracy but giving Freddie AIDS two years early is a significant change. 

He probably had it then but may not have known

He may well have but his partner is clear that he wouldn’t have known then and the not knowing is the point. 
Ah well, only a fillum...