Bohemian Rhapsody

First Hit: Accurate or not, this film was fun, well-acted, engaging, and joyful.

Like many, I liked and enjoyed much of Queen’s music. The song Bohemian Rhapsody was one of those songs that broke new ground and confounded music executives. The development of having the audience be the music by stomping twice and clapping once in “We Will Rock You,” was brilliant. It became part of their anthem. And finally, “We Are the Champions” is a song that continues to be used world-wide by sports teams as well as lots of other groups.

This film’s focus is on Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek). Born with four extra incisors, his teeth gave him a unique look. His family’s religion, Zoroaster, gave him a homelife that was restrictive and eventually he changed his name from Farrokh Bulsara to Freddy Mercury to help him distance himself from his family and background.

The scenes when the band is figuring out songs together spoke a lot about how they co-created their music. They were misfits together as a group, and they claimed that much of their audience were the misfits in the world.

Freddie grew up confused about his sexual orientation. He did fall in love with Mary Austin (Lucy Boyton) who became his wife, ex-wife, lifelong friend, and supporter. It was with Mary that you could see Freddie relax and not need be “on.”

What made this film work was the music and how the band was always there for the music.

Although, there are misrepresentations in this film about Freddie, when he contracted AIDs, that wasn’t the point, it was about how this group of men worked together to create music together. It was about how Freddie represented Queen as their front man, and that they were a team of musicians.

Malek was sublime as Mercury. Although he didn’t actually sing any of the songs, he lip-synced perfectly while capturing the grandiose way Mercury was the front man for Queen. Boynton was excellent as Mercury’s female love. Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, and Joseph Mazzello were extraordinary as Queen band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon respectively. Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan wrote a wonderful story. Bryan Singer made this story come alive, but I’ve got to say, the music is the star right behind Malek.

Overall: Thoroughly enjoyed the power of Queen’s music and to add great acting by Malek and the band helped even more.

Rush

First Hit:  Extremely well-made film about the rivalry of 1970 Formula 1 racing legends James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

This is a sit back and hold on to your seat film, as Ron Howard, makes everyone seem integral to the story, including the cars.

The British Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) is a charismatic, hard drinking, smoking and instinctive race car driver. His goal is to drive fast and win races. He doesn’t know much about the details of the cars he drives, he just knows when they are good and how to drive them fast.

His archrival is Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) who is meticulous, knows everything about the cars he drives and knows the risk of everything he does. These two guys are as different as night and day, except they both like to go fast. We are immediately immersed into each of their personalities as Ron Howard makes sure you “get” what each of these guys are like.

Then there are the cars; the sound and power of these cars comes through on this film in spades, yet it doesn’t overwhelm the film or scenes. The races are used as check points on the evolution of the driver’s lives.

Hemsworth is very good at portraying the intense, likeable, Hunt and gives the audience glimpses of his depth as a person. Bruhl is absolutely amazing. His embodiment of one of the most famous drivers is amazing. Peter Morgan wrote a fabulous script that let both the characters breathe while the racing was the stage. Howard shows, yet again, why he is one of the best directors around.

Overall:  Whether you like racing or not, it is wonderful and intense film. It is a Rush.

360

First Hit:  At times interesting and other times aimless.

Directly, indirectly and poorly connected stories about desire, life and love.

The film begins with Michael (played by Jude Law) married to Rose (Rachel Weisz) wanting to hook up with a prostitute named Mirka (played by Lucia Siposova) while on a business trip. All the while Rose is having an affair with a photographer who is cheating on his Brazilian girlfriend.

The hurt girlfriend heading back to Brazil, runs into an older recovering alcoholic man (Anthony Hopkins) and their spontaneous meeting and possible interlude is interrupted by her meeting a convicted sex offender (played by Ben Foster) who is trying to find the right path, yet she puts temptation in front of him. 

There is also a Russian mobster who’s driver becomes smitten with the prostitutes sister while his wife wants out of their marriage and longs to have a relationship with her boss a Muslim dentist, who is conflicted about his feelings because she is married.

Does this film sound confusing and a mixed up? It is but is tied together enough to follow the disparate plots. What didn’t work is a cohesive story on which an audience member could become interested in.

There were moments of possibilities, but the way it is shot there is a distance between the director, the story, the camera and the audience.

Law seems only slightly engaged in his role because there isn’t enough meat for him to fully expand the role. Weisz is in the same predicament and her talents were wasted. Hopkins made the most of his role as did Foster whom I thought provided a powerful edginess and an unpredictable component to this film. Peter Morgan wrote a partially disjointed screenplay. Fernando Meirelles didn’t create a compelling film but more of a light comment on relationships.

Overall:  Promising cast was let down by the script and direction.

Hereafter

First Hit: Sublime – This film tells a story of life after death in a way that lets audiences look at their own beliefs with equanimity.

This film develops three unique stories about the lives of three people who are touched by death differently and come together in an engaging and sublime way.

Most films dealing with death and the hereafter bring in stories of religion or prophecy (The Rapture is one) as the focus. This one alludes to science but not in an overhanded way. 

The science is about what people experience after dying is only used as assistance by one of the characters to write her book on her experience. It was a way for her to find words to what happened to her.

The opening scene has Marie (played by Cecile De France) on a south Asian island looking for souvenirs for her boyfriend’s children when a tsunami hits the town. She is swept up by the wave of water and I will tell you this that it is an absolutely amazing sequence of scenes as to what it could feel like to be swept away by water.

My own experience of near drowning when I was body surfing in the infamous Southern California south swells at Huntington Beach Pier while in high school was immediately touched and remembered.

The power of water to disorient direction and make one helpless to a commanding power of a raging sea is captured in this opening sequence. It is amazing! Left for dead, her body (with will/spirit/destiny) decides to come back and stay in this world.

The experience she had during the time she was not breathing and without heartbeat deeply affected her and leaves her her questioning her life. She becomes curious of what happened to her and her experience while she was dead for some minutes.

A young twin boy Marcus (played by both Frankie and George McLaren) loses his twin brother and feels lost and because his twin is gone, he feels like only part of him is still living and he feels totally lost. His mother, a drug addict, has to let the surviving boy live with foster parents, therefore he feels even a greater sense of being lost and abandoned.

The third story is about George Lonegan (played by Matt Damon) who as a child ended up, through illness and surgery, with the ability (curse) to connect with people who have passed on. This happens when he touches someone. At one time he was famous for doing readings for people but it was a life he disliked.

When we meet him he is working in a sugar factory, living alone, and his brother keeps trying to get him to go back into the psychic business. The issue of his being a psychic is brought full force when he meets a woman in a cooking class; they team up together in some of the films best and joyous scenes while in class. When she learns he has this gift she implores him to tell her what he sees, he does and she leaves his life crying.

These stories slowly weave together in a way allowing each character to be seen more fully as they struggle with their stories. George’s story is the primary story in that he is the connection between the other two characters.

This film is introspective, doesn’t try to push a belief or religion. It simply says, people who have had experiences where they have been clinically dead come back with an experience which poses the question is there life after death in the Hereafter.

Damon is extraordinary in this role of a man who tries his best to live with having the ability to understand and hear of departed souls. The McLaren boys were engaging and wonderful as the twins and the remaining boy Marcus. The depth and loss of a twin was effectively portrayed. De France was very good in what must have been a difficult role in the beginning where she had to give an accurate rendition of what it was like to be swept away in a tsunami. As her role unfolded I didn’t think her transformation was effectively written. Peter Morgan wrote this with an openness that didn’t force any one idea or spiritual or religious aspect. Clint Eastwood directed and he shows he knows how to pace a film. He used minimal special effects after the opening tsunami scene but used great acting to let the story unfold at an engaging pace.

Overall: I really enjoyed this film from the opening sequence to the questions it poses and how it always let the audience have their own opinion.