Doug and The Beets

If you watch enough of this series, you’re sure to come across Doug and Skeeter’s favorite band in some capacity. On Nickelodeon, they’ve made 3 cameos, but their songs also make several appearances. Either in the background, accompanying a montage, or being sung by any of the characters (like Patti in “Doug’s secret song”). Back in the earlier days of Nickelodeon, some of their commercials were music videos featuring songs and sequences of their series. This cross-promotion was absolutely genius. Good times.

Not counting real bands that’ve played fictional versions of themselves in various movies, The Beets are arguably the coolest fictional band ever. They’re obviously a take on The Beatles with an equally fanatic young audience. Cue up a song on the radio and every character is compelled to grab a random Beets wig, seemingly out of thin air, and rock out on air guitar.

The members include Monroe Yoder on bass guitar, Flounder on guitar, Chap Lipman on drums and Wendy Nespah on keyboards.

Back when I was watching this show as a kid, The Beets left a lasting impression. With an ear worm like “Killer Tofu”, how could they not? But I don’t think I appreciated them as much as I do now. 
Now that I’ve developed an attachment to various musical artists, I can more easily relate to Beets-Mania and the ups and downs Doug went through with them.

There are tons of memes on Facebook that stress the importance of friends that introduce you to good music. Skeeter fits that description perfectly. Doug knew nothing of The Beets when they met so Skeeter took it upon himself to give him a comprehensive education about them and their music. Anyone who has a friend or family member like that should consider themselves lucky.
One common theme that seems to repeat itself over the three episodes The Beets appear: a concert is on the horizon, but the two of them have to overcome a series of obstacles standing in their way.

Doug Rocks
They find out from Rodger about a local concert, but tickets are already sold out. They win a pair from a radio contest, but after Skeeter lets his enthusiasm get the better of him at dinner, his dad grounds him. By the time he’s “un-grounded,” he and Doug missed the concert.
But at the Honker Burger, they have a chance meeting with the band. One of the series highlights for sure.
They run into Rodger at the end when he tells about them seeing the band through his binoculars in the back row. Of course he bragged about getting closer to the band than they did- unaware of what just took place. But I’m kinda surprised he didn’t make up an elaborate story like meeting them backstage to rub it in.

Doug’s Hot Ticket
With so many near misses and mishaps, Doug and Skeeter really went through the ringer this time.
Tickets to a concert sell out when they’re next in line, but Doug lucks into a pair thanks to his sister Judy. (She got them from a date but had no interest- go figure!)
They travel to Bloatsburg on the Beets bus, which is packed with other diehard Beet-niks. Here and other places in this segment, you learn all kinds of cool trivia about the band, including the original name of their biggest hit. (Supposedly it was changed from "Szechuan Bean Curd" because that  was too hard to rhyme). As someone who's really gotten into little known trivia of music, there was a lot of fun dialogue.

At a diner pit stop, they strike up a conversation with truck driver Charlene (kind of a cool character we only see for a few minutes). Unfortunately they’re so distracted that the bus leaves without them.
I know the DJ said it was meant to be a 10 minute break, but it was kinda irresponsible of him to not making sure two unaccompanied minors were on the bus before leaving.
Doug and Skeeter are lucky enough to get a ride from the local sheriff (whose basement hosted The Beets rehearsals before they became famous and his sock inspired their song “Where’s My Sock?”) to the venue, but somehow left their tickets behind. (Seriously? How?)
By pure coincidence, though, the stage crew arrived late and Doug offers to help them move the equipment. Not only does this land them backstage passes but they get a little more face time with the band. 

Doug Meets RoboBone
Newly elected as student activities chairperson, Doug launches a campaign to get The Beets to play a concert at their school. But after succeeding, assistant principal Mr. Bone quashes it because he doesn’t deem their music appropriate for a school function.
Would’ve been nice if he mentioned that before the petition began...
As is often the case in times like these, Doug asks himself “What would Quailman do?” Inspired by various comments made by his friends ("It's like Mr. Bone is programmed to say no to everything."/"Yeah, like a robot. The subject is closed. The subject is closed"), the alter ego of Mr. Bone in this sequence is a robot from outer space. His primary objective: boss people around. Several of Doug's classmates wind up in eternal detention for trivial offenses.
Side-note: the first time I heard the phrase “pray tell” was in this cartoon and for years, I thought it was one of those random identifiers you used for a person instead of their name.

The way Quailman wins in the end is a little too simple, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Robo-Bone and his army decide to torture everyone with their yodeling, but when Quailman suggests they sing in the same key, their sound isn’t just more tolerable, it ends up being worthy of a musical career. 
Ultimately, the solution Doug finds is striking a compromise. Mr. Bone’s complaint was that The Beets weren’t as wholesome as his group, the Bluffington Yodelers. So Doug suggests making them the opening act. It goes over really well for everyone. The Beets even get a spark of inspiration- their new song “I need mo’ allowance” (which we also hear during a montage for "Doug Inc." where Doug starts a lawncutting business with his friends) actually works yodeling into the chorus.

Between that and writing catchy songs about tofu and missing laundry, there really was nothing The Beets couldn’t do.

Except stay together, unfortunately. I didn't watch much of the ABC part of the series, but I'm pretty sure the band broke up sometime during it. I skimmed the Wikipedia page for further info and it sounds like they broke up the first time (and the next several times) over silly reasons. 

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Director: Jason Moore
Writer: Kay Cannon

Notable Cast

Beca- Anna Kendrick
Jesse- Skyler Astin
Aubrey- Anna Camp
Chloe- Brittany Snow
Fat Amy- Rebel Wilson
Lilly Onakuramara- Hana Mae Lee
Cynthia Rose Adams- Ester Dean
Staci- Alexis Knapp
Benji- Ben Platt
Bumper- Adam Devine

 

Introduction

 

It’s hard to believe this movie came out almost 10 years ago.

Supposedly it was based on a book and Elizabeth Banks liked it so much she helped bring it to the big screen. This was also at the height of Glee’s popularity so the timing was something like this was perfect.

Other than Anna Kendrick’s involvement (I’d been following her movies since Twilight), that common ground with Glee piqued my interest and I saw it on HBO when it premiered some random Saturday night.

My first impression was mixed, to put it mildly. There were a few decisions made by the writers I wholeheartedly disagree with, but the highlights lying in their wake shouldn’t be completely overlooked.

My motivations for finally putting a review of this movie down on “paper”— there are a few, most of which came from a recent revisit, and I’ll get to all of them at some point in this post.

I won’t be shy about calling out the flaws as I see them, but there’ll be just as much to be celebrated elsewhere.

To quote various YouTube videos about tv and movies, a spoiler alert is now in effect.

Not just for Pitch Perfect and its sequels but 2 similarly themed TV series that happen to be among my all time favorites.

 

The Plot 

Once upon a time, there was a collegiate show choir called the Barden Bellas. They were the top show choir in the nation. Until one fateful competition when Aubrey Posen let her nerves get the better of her and she puked during the choir's performance, costing the Bellas the first place trophy... and the respect of their peers. The resulting incident had since gone viral.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to do the rest of the review like this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So from the get go, this movie already started on the wrong foot for me. This wasn’t just puke. It was projectile vomiting. Speaking as someone who got sick in school as a kid and was teased about it, I cannot for the life of me understand why exaggerated puke is used in movies or why it’s used for comedic effect. I could blame a certain Monty Python sketch but I don’t know if they’re the first ones to do it.
All of that being said, we do circle back to this point later in the movie, and while it is overblown and gross, the comedy that comes out of it- it was too ridiculous not to find hilarious. So I guess it depends on the circumstances in how it’s used.

 Also-- while these vocal groups are technically acapella groups, I'm going to continue using the phrase "show choir" to describe them.

Fast forward to the next fall, aspiring music producer Beca enrolls in the Bellas college. And after one of the Bellas overhears her singing in the shower, she recruits her to join the group.

After some coaxing, she convinces her to harmonize with her in the showers. And they sing David Guetta/Sia’s “Titanium”.
It’s hard not to echo Beca’s reluctance. It’s PG13 so nothing is shown, but what would you do if some strange girl asked you to sing when you have no clothes on? 

So they have the auditions for the group where everyone sings “since you’ve been gone” with varying levels of success (or lack thereof). Beca shows up late and auditions with something of her own. And Anna Kendrick wound up becoming a viral sensation- in the best way.

“Cups” was based on an older song, but she performed it accapella while using a cup as a percussion instrument. This led to a fully produced version of the song to be recorded and released. She did a music video that got tons of views, played a lot on the radio, and several subsequent videos were made by people who wanted to teach others to do the cup routine too.
If anything cool came out of this movie, that was it. I watched the video once and I actually learned the cup routine from YouTube. Whether I can do it now, I’m not sure. 

After auditions are done, the Bellas go through their own hell week and are drilled to the bone. Then they got over songs and Beca points out “there’s nothing from this century on here.”

So begins another major source of conflict in the story: Aubrey is THOROUGLY convinced that singing these songs will get them back to championship status. More specifically, performing the same three songs for every competition. 
I wish I was kidding about this... I have nothing against "The Sign," "Eternal Flame" or "Turn the Beat Around"... or any songs predating the 21st century for that matter. But how STUPID is this plot device? I know this is a movie and not everything is meant to be realistic, but be reasonable! No show choir or acapella group would do the same setlist for every competition they go to. They don't always have the same judges for each competition, but if they did, this would be greatly frowned upon.
Even more frustrating, nobody but Beca wants to stand up to her or makes any attempts to change this asinine ritual. 
I'm sorry... this stupid decision on the part of the writers (whether it's the book or the movie, I have no idea) kills a lot of potential joy that could be had watching this movie. 

Drama within the group aside, there's a side plot where one of the recently inducted Treblemakers (aka the rival all men's show choir on campus) tries his darnedst to be Beca's friend... and possibly more. But she wants no part of it. 

Later on, it's revealed that she has an issue trusting people because of her parent's divorce. Part of the reason her dad insisted she went to college for a year (it was part of a deal where, if she fulfilled her end, he'd help pay for her to move out to LA to begin her producing career) was to make friends. And through her time with Bellas, she finds more friends than she'd probably had her entire life and eventually, she lets her guard down with everyone else around her. 

Beca is probably my favorite character Anna Kendrick ever played. I'm not jazzed about the idea of remixing music, but it'd be cool to have that kind of talent. And I can relate to her having walls up around herself. I still have trouble being myself around people, even into my 30's. 
But it took me several semesters in college before I made the friendships I did, so I can speak from experience that college is worth it if only for that. 
While rewatching it the other day, I also remembered something else: throughout the movie, she wears a shirt with a button-down shirt over it. I thought this was a cool fashion statement and I made a few purchases in part to emulate it. Although, to be honest, I typically wear a sweater around the house anyway because that's what I'm comfortable in. 

Her friend (and later boyfriend) Jesse is also one of those movie characters I really liked spending time with. His excellent taste in movies may have a little to do with that (one was "The Breakfast Club"- aka my favorite movie of all time), but the conversations he had with Beca about music in movies were really fascinating to me. I'm not the most talkative person, but whenever conversations skew in that direction, that's one of the few times I feel free to open up and be myself. 

After several ups and downs, Aubrey finally deciding to loosen up the reins, and the Bella reinvented themselves, adopting mashups into their setlists, the movie finally arrives at the final competition night. 

Between the tight medley the Treblemakers did and the Bellas doing the coolest remix of "Don't You (Forget about me)" among several other songs, it was a tough call. And of course, the Bellas win.

Then the sequel comes along, a wardrobe malfunction blows everything up and they have to start from scratch again... but that's another movie. 
There's a third movie, but I don't remember much about it. It may have been vomit-free (part 2 has that in common with it, thankfully), but I think my issue was with the story. Something about it just didn't grab me like the first one did... with its flaws and all. 

...I didn't know where else to put this... 

I don't know what it is about show choir stuff in media, but why does it seem like the judges or commentators never care enough to do their jobs? In Glee, they always get random judges and they're there because their agents put them there. 

In this movie, it's Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins, and they're always talking crap about all of the contestants... which is kinda weird because she's one of the producers of the movies. But it might be on the same level of irony as Jane Lynch (a show choir veteran) playing the mortal enemy of Mr. Schuster and The New Directions. 

Soundtrack

Not gonna lie... I got the soundtrack specifically for that epic championship winning number for the Bellas where The Breakfast Club song was among the ones involved in the mash-up. Today was the second time I'd listened to it since I got it.

While it has all of the songs from the movie, there were a few disappointments.

The radio version of "Cups" with the full production wasn't a part of it... I can only assume the radio single came after the soundtrack came out and they just missed the opportunity. (According to Wikipedia, a subsequent soundtrack was released, including any songs missing from the one I have)

It's also a pet peeve of mine with movie soundtracks when the songs aren't sequenced in the same order they appear in the movie. The Bellas finale medley is track #11 and there's 4 songs listed after it.  

Curtain Call

Probably the coolest thing about revisiting this movie was the cast... in my view, Anna Kendrick was the biggest star going in, but over time, several others took this opportunity and made huge careers for themselves.

After the huge success of "Cups," Anna Kendrick insisted that she didn't want to launch a music career... but she continues to sing as Princess Poppy in the "Trolls" franchise alongside Justin Timberlake and many others.

I'm pretty sure I saw Rebel Wilson in "Bridesmaids" before this movie. Her character in that movie was not very nice. Not just the fact she read Annie's diary ("I did not know it was your diary. I thought it was just a very sad handwritten book"), but she conspires with her brother to boot Annie out of the apartment when she's not even paying rent. Ridiculous!
Throughout the franchise, Fat Amy is definitely one of the most memorable characters and even though her heart is in the right place, she isn't always the nicest person. But since this movie, I'd seen her in "How to Be Single" with Dakota Johnson- again, she plays someone who gives her friend tough love, but she means well. 
And more recently, she hosted the dog grooming competition show "Pooch Perfect" and she was a really great host. I don't agree with all of the design choices with these dogs (particularly the use of fur dyes), but I kinda hope it comes back for another season... as long as she's hosting. 

Again, to continue reaping the benefits of the ongoing show choir bandwagon in media, Skyler Astin was cast in "Glee" as the head of rival show choir Throat Explosion. I vaguely remember seeing him at Nationals, making a comment that everyone recognizes The New Directions was "that choir" where that one guy died... referencing the tragic loss of Cory Monteith they spent the better part of Season 5 struggling with.
But most recently, he was Zoey's friend (later boyfriend) Max on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist"... it was fun, but also strange seeing him again in this movie. Watching him with Anna Kendrick had me thinking "this is weird, it's like he's cheating on Zoey"... even though that show hadn't come around until recently.

Side-note: I'm still not over the fact that show got cancelled. It NEEDS to come back. 

Despite the fact his character didn't become a Treblemaker until the very end of the movie, Ben Platt made out like a bandit... he became Evan Hansen, a role that earned him a Tony and he will reprise that role in the upcoming movie adaptation. 

Adam Devine was a jerk as Bumper... but I'd seen him in two roles since that redeemed him in my eyes. He was one of the interns in the Anne Hathaway movie "The Intern." Granted, he wasn't the perfect guy because he had a falling out with one of the girls at About The Fit and had to take Robert DeNiro's advice to win her back, but he had some good moments.
He also played himself on an edition of "The Price is Right: At Night" where he helped donate a lot of prize money to charity.  

...

Other than revisiting some of these musical numbers, one reason to revisit the movie is Lilly. She's so soft-spoken, you have to be absolutely quiet to understand what she's saying and the more you see the movie, the more you'll understand. She says some really random crap and it's pretty hilarious. 

Then she finds her voice later on and it turns out she's a bad-ass beat boxer.

On a slightly different note, she also makes an angel in a huge puddle of puke... yeah, it's gross, but it's also kinda awesome. 

And Cynthia Rose's name came from the Prince song "Starfish & Coffee," which was based on the childhood ancedotes of his then-girlfriend, Susannah. (IMDb has confirmation of this, so that's pretty cool)

I just can't help but feel like this movie could have been so much better if certain creative decisions were different. I still think the "same three song" setlist was a stupid idea and they could just as easily have figured something else out. Like Aubrey was just afraid to incorporate any 21st century music. The fact she's an Army brat doesn't give her enough of an excuse to be a complete tyrant and act like the victim when the others question her authority. 

One final "Glee" connection: the Bellas lost out on making the title competition, but earn their way back in because the next team in line got disqualified. 

I can't help but feel "Glee" took a page from that book and used a similar plot device. 

In Season 4, they lost a competition when Marley fainted during their performance. This happened because she was overdosing on laxatives to lose weight and her eating disorder finally caught up with her. All of this was brought on because someone else in the Glee club was bullying her, yet when they lost, she got all of the blame for it. 

Sorry, I'm still mad about that.. especially since the Glee club needed to win Nationals or else would have to disband... as someone who lived and breathed the show, it felt like the end of the world. (Whether this was at the point the show was starting to lose traction is up to individual discretion. I was on board until the final season when they tried to introduce a new cast of characters and it just didn't have that same magic).

But after a few depressing weeks, The New Directions was revived because The Warblers was disqualified for using steroids. Maybe not the best writing, but I didn't care.

In "Pitch Perfect," the Bellas were able to go to the title competition because another team was disqualified for having a high school student in their rooster. It's an all-collegiate competition, so at least that logic makes sense. 

Beyond all this, I don't have much else to add in terms of a conclusion.

Blinded By the Light (2019)

I usually open up these posts with the cast lists, directors and so on. The only name I recognized was Hayley Atwell, who played Agent Carter in the Marvel movies (and the short-lived TV show).

I remember seeing the trailers for this last year and being blown away. My immediate reaction when I realized what this was going to be was "no way..."
We'd been doing a lot of movies featuring music by a single artist. Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman. So they're kinda riding that trend. And I kinda don't mind it. They're working through a lot of great artists. 
I also knew as soon as I picked up on this movie featuring Bruce Springsteen music... "oh boy, my dad is gonna LOVE this movie"... and I called that perfectly. 

As is often the case, he came across this movie in-flight, immediately fell in love with it, started talking about it whenever conversation with other people promoted it and insisted we have to get it. Yeah, when movies are parred with really good music, my dad just can't help himself. The Amazon package came a couple days ago.

We all gathered around and watched it yesterday... and there are a lot of thoughts I had during and afterwards. I knew I'd be less likely to want to watch it again so soon, so while everything was fresh, I wanted to get my thoughts down. 

This is inspired by a true story. A young Pakistani boy, Javet, living in Luton in the UK in 1987 comes from a strict household. Between his overbearing father and the state of the town, he wants nothing more than to escape it. He's also an avid writer, something he enjoys, but he also writes because, according to him, his dad is the only one allowed to have an opinion in his house. Someone he meets at uni (that's college in British talk) introduces him to Bruce's music ala cassette tapes and it gives him a whole new perspective on things. 

Just to get the negativity out of the way... as great as a lot of this movie was, the depressing parts of it were kinda hard to swallow. I actually checked the player for the time-- it was at least 20 minutes before things started getting good. It was almost like the beginning of Deadpool 2- it was super dark and depressing for the first 10 minutes or so. 
I have a lot of love for the 80's in general. I was born in 1986, so I love that era in general. Especially the music and movies- whether from that era or based in that era like this one. I remember being in a chat room talking about how I love that period and wish I could have lived my adult life in it. Someone said that it wasn't that great. This movie touched on that a bit.
There was a lot of unrest and hatred for Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the economy was so bad that nobody is hiring. His dad worked at a car factory, who laid off several of their workforce. At the start of the movie, we see that all of the wages earned by the hero (working a summer job) and his wife (a seamstress who works out of the house) are given to him. The only thing that would've made this picture more depressing is that he's spending all the money on booze cuz he's a belligerant drunk. The family is Muslim and drinking is against their religion, so that isn't the case. But it keeps his family from having independence. 
When Bruce comes into the picture, things do feel lighter and he more able to express himself, but there are still setbacks. Almost to the point where it was too much for me to take. While I don't know how much of the story actually happened, it comes from something real. Reality isn't always pleasant, but that doesn't mean I like enduring that harshness for long periods. That's why I like escaping into music and my writing. 

I think I also related strongly to the notion of not being free to express my opinion... granted, most of my dad's opinions on things are intelligent and they make a lot of sense to me. (More sense than a lot of the media, honestly). But there are some things I don't fully agree on and it's really frustrating to not be understood or listened to. It doesn't come up terribly often, but when it does, fireworks sometimes happen. Maybe the movie just hit a little close to home and that made it a harder watch than it should have been.

Now for some good things...

There's a lot of talk in the movie industry about being inclusive and telling stories from different races and cultures. In that respect, this movie does a great job. In this period, there was a lot of racial tension. Pakistanis have integrated into Luton to pursue a better life than in their country, but the National Front (meaning the local British folk) don't want them there. There's a lot of talk about immigration these days in America and how people are strongly supportive or strongly opposed to it. I'm somewhere in the middle-- we have a lot of people going hungry and living in poverty. How is it fair to bring more people into the country when there's barely enough for people already living here? But I'm willing to make exceptions, for people who really need to escape dire circumstances. It differs from person to person. I also don't like sanctury cities because criminals who are here illegally are hiding in them so they can't be deported. (Those stories drive me CRAZY when they've killed people and they've gotten into the country despite being deported multiple times).
The movie gives a good perspective on what Luton was like for the Pakistani population. There are slurs being scrawled with graffiti. Javet runs home to escape from a punk on the street giving him the stink eye. There are even little kids pissing through a mail slot in one scene. It's inexcusable that their parents allow them to do this or encourage it. 

The interesting thing I found-- they're a Muslim family and have a lot of friends that come from the same background. There isn't a single scene where you see them praying. Considering how important prayer is in their religion, that's kinda surprising. The closest we get to the Muslim experience is an incident where a pig head is hang by a mosque. Yikes... 

Now for the music... 
So much music... 1987 was such a great time for music. I'd been going through the 80's and found that I really enjoyed 84-85 and 87. Javet's best friend is in a band and he's doing the whole Pet Shop Boys/Boy George look. At uni, there's a radio station and the DJ was going gaga over Tiffany. 

Then there's the headliner, Bruce Springsteen.

Maybe it's cuz my folks grew up in Rahway, New Jersey... but they are huge Springsteen fans. My mom has a "Born in the USA" tour T-shirt... or she used to. I hadn't seen it in ages. So I know they saw him in concert at least once. In his lyrics, he talked about places that they'd been to. And my dad has a huge respect for singer/songwriter musicians. Part of the evolution in my musical tastes over the years was to try to find someone to bond over. It never quite happened... song to song, yes, but not a single artist. 
I remember dozens of car rides when we were kids, before we had CD players so we could listen to our own music, when the Born To Run album was playing in the car. Those songs have made such an imprint in my head that I recognize a lot of them just by sound alone. But the thing is... I don't really get Bruce. I respect the heck out of him for what he represents in music and his work ethic. But I don't like his voice that much. And I think I just got so sick of that one song because it'd been played so much. 
At the same time, considering I'd been working on my musical education over the last year or so, I should probably dig a little deeper to see if there's anything I can connect with. I also want to read his book (on my dad's old iPad) to get more behind the story. A few weeks ago, I actually looked up the lyrics to that song to see what the hell he was singing about. Just because of his vocal style, I have trouble understanding a single word. The lyrics were super helpful and I figure if I read through enough of them, I will find that common ground. Not that I'd be a complete disappointment to the family if I wasn't a huge fan. 

The way they incorportated the music in this movie was incredible. Lyrics were flying off the page so you could really see what Javet was feeling and how he was relating. The first song was "Dancing in the Dark"-- I'd known this song for ages because it was one of 3 MTV videos of his on an old VHS tape my dad put together back in 1987... I'd never heard the song like this before. Mainly because I had no idea that it was so dark. It's this nice poppy song. The music video is a boppy live performance where he's smiling and he pulls Courtney Cox on stage and dances with her. This isn't a new concept in music- upbeat music with dark lyrics... but it just blew my mind. 
And yeah, Born To Run got put into the movie in epic fashion... it was kinda hard not to. The way they did it was so over the top and cheesy, beyond anything Glee ever did (trust me, I know, I never missed an episode). So ridiculous. But at the same time, it was hard not to get swept up in the excitement. And if there wasn't any indication before this was a Springsteen house-- yeah, at least 2 voices were singing along to this song as it played. Another reason to not watch the movie multiple times close together- just dealing with that over and over. Regardless of how much I like or dislike a song, repetition is gonna kill it for me. 

Going back to Hayley Atwell- she played his teacher. Another great inspirational teacher. She teaches his English class and encourages him with his poems and helps get him started with his writing career. The funny thing was watching the movie, knowing that I knew who she was and finding at the end "oh, that was Agent Carter." Maybe it's cuz I had "SuckerPunch" on my mind lately, but I thought it was Carla Gugino.

The guy who introduced him to Bruce. First of all, it's cool to find out that they are still friends to this day. And also Javet saw Bruce in concert at least 150 times... dang! That's dedication. 
It also made me sad cuz I didn't get to see Prince in concert a single time. Heck, the only time he came to the east coast when I was following him, I didn't have the guts to ask to get tickets at Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands. Other fans have crossed oceans to see him in concert and I couldn't even get up the courage to travel a couple states. This just brought those feelings back, that one regret I'm always going to have. 
And the two of them get to go to New Jersey (yeah, I know NJ gets a lot of crap for being an earpit and "Born to Run" was literally about wanting to get out of Jersey... trust me on this) and go to all the sites that are associated with him. A really cool montage- that was way too short, by the way. Cuz it felt like so much of the movie was building to that point. But that wasn't the end of it. 
We went to Asbury Park two summers ago after years of trying to find the time to go. We have a shore house in Tuckerton, so we're talking 50+ exits for a day trip. It was great to finally see the place. Actually stand in front of the Stone Pony- that was a pretty awe-inspiring moment. Even as someone who's not a huge fan, just to be right next to a place where rock n' roll history built their reputation- it's something special. 
I really hope I get to do that in Minneapolis- even if all I get to do is First Avenue, Paisley Park and maybe a couple random places having something to do with Prince. I have a list of them. I just don't have anyone to do it with. None of my immediate family like Prince, not as much as I do. They tolerate him and they support my passion for his music, but not so much they want to vacation there. We'd have gone ages ago if there was something for everyone else to do. I've made friends through Prince, but only on the Internet, so that doesn't exactly make things any better. 
I'm also glad that his friend wasn't a casualty of all the anti-Pakistani protesting going on during the movie. I don't know why, but I kept having this fear something bad was going to happen to him. Nope... he's good and they're still friends, like I said. 

Things do blow up with him and his dad, when he finally gets the courage to speak his mind. And there is a reconcilation at the end. Honestly, part of me still wanted to be mad at him and not forgive him so quickly. But it's still family and it's hard not to want to make things right with them. 

I guess what this movie ultimately is-- just the universal appeal of music and how it can span generations. There's a scene where Javet bonds with his friend Matt's dad over Bruce and it's another great musical number- I think "Thunder Road" was the song that time.  

And music has the ability to give us a voice we didn't know we had inside of us. Some things about this movie, I can definitely relate to. And I'm sure my dad thought of me when he saw this because I had this awakening with Prince. My mind expanded with him to where I was seeing things in technicolor. Or seeing an old movie on an HD TV and getting to see every little nuance and detail clearer than before- the way I described hearing the remaster of the 1999 album. 
I was able to see music in new ways I never imagined and then things in my life and artwork. Heck, he helped me get through college whether the music was clearing my head when I didn't know how to start a massive paper or I was writing about artistic things in Chinese Culture class (just one class) from a different perpective. And the crazy part is that there are so many nooks to his music and personality and everything to do with him-- there are hundreds of places to crawl into and escape from the world for a while. (And the world has been pretty really good lately, but sometimes I just like Prince World better). Even if I'm upset about something having to do with him, he's the person I run to to work through and feel better. When he passed away, I leapt into his music with a vigor I hadn't had in a couple years and aside from a few breaks here and there, it's been that way ever since. 

Music changes lives... the only thing that makes it better is to have people to share it with... but there are also times I don't want to share Prince with anyone :P cuz I don't think they'll understand or certain songs are just too embarassing to share. (I'm still kinda surprised my mom and I saw all the "50 Shades" movies together and were able to talk about some of it. But I can't imagine doing that movie with my dad... that'd be weird). I know enough to know general likes and dislikes and I'd played him on occasions, but only the albums I deem "safe" for mixed company. 

Green Book (2018)

Director: Peter Farrelly
Writers: Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga and Brian Currie
Composer: Kris Bowers

Notable Cast:
Dr. Donald Shirley- Mahershala Ali
Tony "Lip" Vallelonga- Viggo Mortensen
Dolores Vallelonga- Linda Cardellini
(only because not many of the other characters made an impression on me)

Awards & Nominations:
OSCAR- BEST PICTURE (this is the big one!)
OSCAR- Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali- rightfully deserved)
OSCAR- Best Original Screenplay
nomination- OSCAR- Best Film Editing
nomination- OSCAR- Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali)
Golden Globe- Best Picture (Comedy/Musical)
Golden Globe- Best Screenplay
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Actor (comedy/musical)- Viggo Mortensen
nomination- Best Director- Peter Farrelly

Write-up:

This movie FINALLY came to cable and I was able to watch it... it was on during New Year's Eve, so I had to watch it again. The people we had over really got into it and enjoyed it. Just from seeing it the first time, I thought it had a good mix of drama and little comedic touches scattered throughout. 

First off, I'm really happy that this movie won Best Picture. I still don't understand why people were so upset about it. I mean, what were they expecting? Black Panther? BlackKkKlansman? Bohemian Rhapsody? 
There had been talk for years about Oscar nominees and winners not being diverse enough. I don't remember who said it, but someone made a comment a few years ago that there need to be more good roles written for black actors, more good stories, because that's what is going to change things. I thought this movie was a shining example of that. 
(Like Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book has issues with inaccuracies, but a lot of it has truth to it. I haven't seen the Spike Lee movie, but one day, I might just to see what it's all about. Even after seeing it, I don't think I would have been happy with Black Panther winning Best Picture. No Marvel/superhero movie should win that top honor, not even Endgame... they lost their shot with Iron-Man and I still put that on top shelf).

The basic story is that Tony is an Italian New Yorker who has mob connections and works as a bouncer/chauffer. He's asked to be chauffer/assistant to black piano virtuoso, Dr. Donald Shirley, as he embarks on a tour into the deep south in the early 60's.

I have a lot of thoughts coming to me from different places, so I think I'll do bullet points to touch on a few: 

• Reading trivia: the real Tony Lip was an actor on The Sopranos... I'd never seen the show, but dang, that's kinda cool. His son was also one of the screenwriters of the movie
• Viggo Mortensen is unrecognizable... I almost couldn't believe this was Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. I can definitely see why he was nominated... but I'm still glad Rami Malek took home that award. 
• I didn't notice this the first time around, but in the movie, there are interesting little nuances you pick up. Like how Tony's attitude towards blacks changed throughout the movie. There was a scene near the beginning where two black handymen came to the house and Tony throws the glasses they drink into the garbage... which his wife later rescues... that just made me go "whoa..." I know that there was a lot of prejudice back then and that was indicative of that, but it was still shocking... right up there with Dr. Shirley's less than acceptable bathroom options while touring in The South.

Mahershala Ali deserves his own section for a bit. I'd never seen any of his work. I know he's a highly acclaimed actor and he'd won awards before. But seeing him for the first time, I can completely understand why. He has a really awe-inspiring stage presence. Like he changes the air in the room when he appears on screen. He takes his job very seriously and the characters he plays (at least this one- cuz that's all I have for reference) are made better because of him. 

Not all of the piano playing was his, but he pulled it off really well. (The brilliance actually came from the composer, Kris Powers, who was his body double... dang can that guy play? And according to trivia, he only plays Steinway pianos that are handmade).

Moreover, Dr. Shirley is such a gentleman with great poise and dignity. He holds high standards for himself and those around him. That makes you want to rise to the level of your highest self. He has a great way with words too, even in the more dire situations, where he has to explain to Tony the difficulties he has to face.

I wrote this in an earlier post, but the way he explains the shallowness of the white folks who ask him to perform for them. That they only want him because it makes them seem cultured and after he leaves, he's just another black man they could care less about. What a contrast that is... not to mention the last stop of the tour where he threatens not to play if he can't eat in the main dining room... and the guy in charge STILL won't budge?! And he has the nerve to ask Tony to talk sense into him? That ain't right! 

We were on an Alaskan cruise and this movie was on, but that was the only scene I got a chance to see before we had to leave for dinner or something. Oddly enough, it was within the last 20 minutes of the movie, so I didn't have to go.

Also gotta add that I spent a lot of this movie kinda waiting for something really bad to happen... just dreading it because I was really enjoying it and how these two characters were getting on and developing a closer bond... but that moment never came and it ended on Christmas night where Dr. Shirley had a seat at the Vallelonga table for dinner. It's hard not to get a little warm & fuzzy about it.

And when the credits started to roll, I just about applauded. I definitely cheered because it was a great movie I really enjoyed. 

The biggest highlight was probably when Tony was writing letters to his wife and Dr. Shirley teaches him how to write properly. It has comedic moments in it, but it also has those "standing back in awe" type moments. Like he'd become Tony's Cyrano. The man also had such a decorum about himself that he didn't let Tony get away with much, whether it's stealing or littering. There's a scene where he takes a rock from the ground and they argue for 5 minutes about putting it back or paying for it. 

Also Tony getting all crazy about there being a KFC in Kentucky and he actually convinces Dr. Shirley to try some and despite prior hesitation, he gets really into it. 

Some things are just impossible to resist... 

There's also two instances involving cops with different results... makes for an interesting contrast between North and South.

One where a very important political figure gets involved and my jaw dropped to the floor when their identity is revealed. The other, it was an unexpected pleasure how different it was. Kinda interesting too to read that that cop was playing by Brian Currie, one of the screenwriters. 

Also interesting to read is that we see a lot of scenes with Tony's relatives...I'm not sure how many of them, but apparently a bunch of them were actually Villalongas playing themselves.  And I think Viggo Mortensen wasn't told this until after they'd finished shooting.

And the song Dr. Shirley plays at the scene in the end where he wows a crowd at a bar... he said earlier in the film how his record company told him to play pop music because classical might have trouble gaining traction with an audience. But he adds "...but not everyone can play Chopin. Not like I can"... according to the trivia, the Chopin piece he played is rated a 9/9 on Henle Levels of Difficulty scale, meaning it's one of the hardest songs to play on piano. 
:mind equals blown:

On the tour, Dr. Shirley plays with 2 other guys. One scene I gotta add for some self-indulgence: they exchange a few words while driving down the road in two different cars. Tony mistakes it for German and he gets corrected. Even before he is, though, I'm saying to the TV: "dude, that's Russian"... there were subtitles in a number of scenes (note: Dr. Shirley knows a few languages, which makes things interesting). But even with how limited my Russian is now (I learned a lot off the Internet over a 6-month period back in 2015... I've since forgotten most of it), I was able to pick up some of the words. The conversation ends with Dr. Shirley saying "paka" as the guys drive off... there were no subtitles, but I know that means "bye" or "see you later"

I'll just end with one final quote that kinda sums the movie up:

"Being genius is not enough, it takes courage to change people's hearts." 

Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

Director: Stephen Herek (also directed "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure")
Writer: Patrick Sheane Duncan
Composer: Michael Kaman (also did music for the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" franchises)

Cast:
Glenn Holland- Richard Dreyfuss
Iris Holland- Glenne Headley (RIP 2017)
Coltrane "Cole" Holland- Nicholas John Renner (age 6)/Joseph Anderson (age 15)/Anthony Natale (age 28)
Coach Meister- Jay Thomas (RIP 2017)
Principal Jacobs- Olympia Dukakis
Vice Principal Wolters- William H. Macy
Notable Students
Louis Russ- Terrence Howard
Gertrude Lang- Alicia Witt/Joanne Gleason (adult) Hall
Rowena Morgan- Jean Louisa Kelly
Bobby Tidd- Damon Whitaker/Forrest Whitaker (adult) 

Award Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Actor- Richard Dreyfuss (lost to Nicholas Cage for "Leaving Las Vegas")
Golden Globe- Best Actor- Richard Dreyfuss (lost to Nicholas Cage)
Golden Globe- Best Screenplay- Patrick Sheane Duncan (lost to "Sense & Sensibility")

Write-up:

Introductory Notes

I really need to get more in the habit of using this blog more often... there have been a few movies I've rewatched lately that I hadn't written about previously that I'd like to make time for. 

This is one of them. I watched a couple of weeks ago and I figured there were enough talking points and things I picked up for the first time that i don't want to wait too long to write anything. 

Why I love this movie-- first off, it's one of those inspirational teacher films I'm just a big sucker for. I don't know what it is, but I enjoy them so much. It's a subgenre I realized I liked and decided to see as much as I could. Kinda like how I had to see all the Brat Pack/John Hughes movies because I liked "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller" so much... none of the other ones I'd seen, I liked nearly as much, but at some point, I'll get around to writing about "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink" and "St. Elmo's Fire." 
I think this was in the running for my top 100 movies, but maybe I wanted to get a little more variety so I didn't... watching it again, I don't know what I was thinking passing it over.

Also- I checked out the nominations that it got and couldn't believe it didn't win anything. Richard Dreyfuss did win an Oscar another role, but still... he was AMAZING in this movie. Plus, he got passed over for NIcholas Cage... not to knock Nicholas Cage, but somehow I doubt "Leaving Las Vegas" left nearly this much of an impact. I think the only reason he won over him was because he's a Coppola and the results were fixed in his favor.
And the Screenplay thing... Sense & Sensibility is an old classic remake dozens of times. Why not give it to something brand new that its likes won't be seen again? I just don't get it...

Another big reason I like this movie... it's about music and it's a time capsule of past decades. Makes you think about how much times have changed. 
Sadly, music and arts programs are suffering more cuts as the years go by. My thoughts in complete sarcasm: "God forbid the school cut any major sports programs :cough: football :cough:" 

Me randomly gushing about bits of trivia I found out and also actors I discovered had been in other things I'd seen...

One cool thing I found in the trivia: Michael Kaman (whose name I did recognize from the "Die Hard" credits... I maintain so much random trivia, it's ridiculous) was so inspired by working on this movie that he actually started a non-profit to donate musical instruments to underpriviledged children. We need more people like him in the world.

For other things I'd picked up... I'm one of those people who recognizes faces, even if they have the smallest roles, and I look it up on imdb to see if my instincts are right. The first few times, I remember recognizing Terrence Howard and Forrest Whittaker... funny thing I discovered today: in high school, the character was portrayed by Damon Whittaker and as an adult he was played by Forrest- who's 9 years older than Damon. The two of them look so identical, it's crazy.
This time, my mind was blown over the adult version of Gertude Lang who appears in the last scene of the movie, which is a big reunion scene where Mr. Holland receives a tribute from all of his former students who'd since graduated. She looked so familiar to me, so I looked her up. Her name was written as Joanna Gleeson. To me, Gleeson makes me think of Brenden Gleeson who played Mad-Eye Moody and I'm thinking "she's not a ginger, so she can't be related to him"... her maiden name is Joanna Hall. I looked through her credits and had a huge ah-ha moment. She played the Baker's Wife in the "Into the Woods" production where Bernadette Peters played The Witch-- also she won a Tony for that role. She's also been married to Chris Sarandon since 1994. Anyway, long rant over... I love that production so much and it's cool to see her in a different capacity. 

Back to the Movie at hand...

I gotta stop gushing and actually talk about the movie... SPOILERS will follow immediately...


The essential story is that Mr. Holland is a struggling musician who wants to one day be remembered for writing one epic song- hence the titular opus. 
But to make ends meet, he needs to take a teaching position. In his words, he said he got a teaching degree to fall back on, but never expected that he'd need to use it. In his case, he teaches musical theory and appreciation as well as instructing his band how to play their instruments. 
The movie follows him from when he starts in 1965 all the way to 1995... when the school decides they need to cut the entire music program to save money. There'd been talk of budgets and saving money throughout the money and certain things that take place are a direct result of that. There are a couple instances of irony displayed in the money and this is one of them. Naturally, he ends up falling in love with this position and sorry to have to leave it. But he isn't just fighting for his job in the final moments- he's fighting for the future of youth and how they need their minds enriched by music and the arts. 

Another irony manifests in his family and becomes a major plot point. 
There are a lot of compliments about how people with disabilities are cast in movies. A popular one is why characters confined to wheelchairs are portrayed by actors who can walk. And shows like "Speechless" were revolutionary because they had characters with cerberal palsy that were played by people with that condition (kinda sad that was cancelled- I saw it once a few times, but each time I really enjoyed watching it).
The irony how Mr. Holland loves music and lives for it... but when he and his wife have a kid, they discover later on that he's deaf. All of the actors who played Cole as well as the people in the school he went to, they were portrayed by deaf actors. 
None of the other actors went on to do anything major except Anthony Natale, who played the oldest incarnation of Cole Holland. This was an interesting find even though I never watched the series. "Switched at Birth" had characters that were deaf and he was a production assistant on the show, so his knowledge from living with this condition helped make that show more authentic. 

It's a big shock when the Hollands find out that Cole is deaf. Probably more to Mr. than Mrs., devestated that Cole will never be able to appreciate music the same way he does. The scenes where the two of them are struggling with how to deal with his deafness are a little difficult to watch and they still turn my stomach to this day, but this is something that happens in real life that a lot of people struggle with. Having that dose of reality shown so well is great. 
One of few complaints I have about the movie-- there's the 4th of July parade scene where Mr. Holland is leading the marching band and it's this big epic thing. The parade has a fire engine that sounds its horn and everyone is covering their ears and Iris checks on Cole to find that he's sleeping through it. Something about how this one scene is portrayed doesn't work for me. This movie takes place, presumably, in a small town and I assume they have this parade every year. They should know about the fire engines in the parade and not be so shocked by it making noise... and they shouldn't have brought their kids to the parade if they wouldn't handle the loud noises. But when the camera slows down to show Cole asleep in his stroller... the first time I saw it, I didn't understand why this was so dramatic where Iris was taken aback about it. When his diagnosis is revealed, it makes sense, but without knowing what to expect, I thought the problem was that he'd suddenly died. That's what scared the hell out of me about that scene. (Plus, I also have an aversion to incessant sirens... when I was younger, but also a couple years ago at a beach where a distant fire engine blared for what had to have been 5 minutes straight and I was so freaked out long after it stopped that I couldn't wait to leave). But what made her immediately think he couldn't hear it? Was so crazy to consider that he slept through it? I mean, the chances are slim to none, but still... it was almost dramatic how that was orchestrated. 

A major part of the movie is Mr. Holland dealing with Cole's deafness and coping with it. When first diagnosed, the first person they saw told them how Cole will use gestures to attempt to communicate and not to use them back because they won't help him in the hearing world. Iris insists after an episode that they need to enroll him in a school for the hearing because she needs to be able to talk to him. She also makes a comment that that first guy was an idiot because he thought of deaf people as mentally handicapped. I never really thought about it like that. I thought the guy meant that the gestures he'd try to use were incorrect because he hadn't been taught properly yet. 
But yeah, I think back in the 60's, people with deafness really weren't understood or appreciated the way they are now, so it had to have been realy difficult. 
Of course, Mr. Holland throws himself into teaching, so he doesn't really spend a lot of time with his own family and doesn't know how to communicate with his son well. 
One significant moment is 1980 after John Lennon was killed. He's very upset about it, but doesn't think Cole will be able to because he can't hear music. They have an argument (with Iris translating) where a lot of frustration boils to the surface. Cole tells him how he must think he's stupid because he doesnt know who John Lennon is or what music is and he could teach him what music is like, but won't. 

Personally, this was the first time I'd heard about John Lennon being killed. My knowledge about The Beatles was very limited at the time. It still isn't great, but I do know a lot more than I used to. Somehow, that was the one scene I always remembered. And later in the movie, at Christmas time, Cole put on some records and sat on one of the speakers and his parents came down the staircase to find him chilling to the music. Even if he only picks up the vibration of it, that was kinda cool. 
Mr. Holland later conducts at a concert that has people from the school of the deaf in the audience and he incorporated flashing colored lights in the show to make them a part of it. And of course he does a tribute to Cole, singing and signing "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon. He prefaces this by saying the deaf in the audience will be thankful they won't be able to hear him sing it. Yeah, he doesn't have the best voice, admittedly... 

One major part in all of these inspirational teacher movies is how the teachers impact their students. The movie begins with the principal giving him a hard time for not giving 110% to his students and how she'd never seen a teacher break for the doors at the end of the day with as much gusto as his students. 
Then he starts to make an impact. Teaching Gertude how to play the sunset on her clarinet. Helping Louis Russ find the beat. Encouraging Rowena to aim high and go for her dreams.

One reason I wanted to watch this movie came from Rowena's story arc. He casts her in the school play where they're doing a Gershwin revue. In other words, a lot of classics. I don't know what is about this song, but this movie and the 2009 Fame remake- "Someone to Watch Over Me" is performed by someone in the movie and the teacher always asks them what they think the song is about because they don't seem to be singing it from the right perspective. 
Don't know why, but that song came to mind a lot for me a few weeks ago and I guess I wanted to revisit it. Rowena was singing it with a smile on her face, but after Mr. Holland explains what the song is about, she loses the smile and starts to put her heart in it. 
That's why I liked Harry Connick Jr. as an American Idol judge- he was more honest than the judges on the show had been in quite some time. And he always asks the contestants what they think the songs are about because that is essential to giving a good authentic performance. 
Taking current events into account, there was a storyline here that could have derailed this whole movie. It's hinted at that Rowena has a crush on him and even asks him to run off to NYC with her. He even names a song he's writing for her. If anyone heard about any of this, they would have launched an investigation and had him fired even though he was innocent.

The final scene where all of the students come together to wish him well and he gets to perform his opus with former students in the band... that's a great scene.
I know this is a fictional story, but I always groan that the movie ends with the performance and fades to black... because I want to know what happened to the other characters. What does Mr. Holland go on to do after he loses his job? Cole is doing well at a school for the deaf, where I think he is teaching. But I feel like other story arcs need to be concluded. Maybe that's just me wanting more. 

It's cool seeing the years go by and seeing the newsreels showing current events. But I almost feel like they skipped over too much time. We go from 1965 to 1970 to 1980 to 1995. I didnt think to calculate how much screentime is spent in each time period, but we really didn't get to see much of the 80's. It's also cool to see the fashion change from decade to decade. It starts with the girls wearing skirts and the teachers being adverse to Mr. Holland using rock music to demonstrate his points to skateboards and boomboxes. 

Speaking from personal experience, music has always been a big thing in my life. With my own music teachers, I remember my music teacher in elementary school having to travel to classrooms because of budget cuts that caused him to lose his classroom. It's been a long time, but I don't remember much about his teaching style, but he was a fun teacher. 
I went back to music in high school with concert choir. I also participated in all of the musicals with a company... I never got cast in any of the roles, something I'm still bitter about because they always went to the same people. As talented as they are and how much I admire them, I still kinda hate the favoritism, even if they were the best for the role. I really liked Ms. Cloak and gave a lot of effort in class. But it was annoying how everyone else, except the lead actors in the shows, treated it like study hall and would spend a lot of time talking when we need to be rehearsing. There was one year where it was the winter concert coming up and we still had a lot of rehearsing to do and she was very upset with the class for talking so much and saying we aren't even cloes to being ready for the show. 
Admittedly our drama class kinda turned into study hall after a while too, but it sucks being in class with people who don't really care to put in a full effort. 

Makes me think about one scene early in the movie where he's grading tests and the scores are terrible and he reads some of the "best" answers aloud. So it does take a little effort on both sides and trying to meet each other on the same level to really make progress. And obviously a lot of progress is made. 

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan
Music by Queen (duh!!)

Cast:
Freddie Mercury- Rami Malek
Brian May-  Gwilym Lee
Roger Taylor- Brian Hardy
John Deacon- Joseph Mazzello
Mary Austin- Lucy Boynton
Paul Prenter- Allen Leech
Jim "Miami" Beach- Tom Hollander
Jim Hutton- Aaron McCusker
Ray Foster- Mike Myers

Awards and Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Actor- Rami Malek
OSCAR- Best Sound Editing
OSCAR- Best Sound Mixing
OSCAR- Best Film Editing
nomination-OSCAR- Best Picture
Golden Globe- Best Actor (Drama)- Rami Malek
Golden Globe- Best Picture (Drama)

Write-up:

Man, was this movie hyped when it was coming out last year? The only thing that kept me from seeing it in theaters was "A Star is Born." I'd just been to the theaters to see it and I didn't feel like making the 20-30 minute trip down the road to the theater to see it. 
It was also disheartening later to read all of the people online saying how it was inaccurate and they took way too many liberties for the sake of Hollywood. Seriously, what a way to ruin it for all of the people who really liked the movie... 
Then the nominations started coming out. But even before that, I already had a strong feeling that Rami Malek was going to come away winning the Best Actor Oscar for the movie. And sure enough he did. And it was really great for him- just to see someone new win and what they'll end up saying during their acceptence speech. It was like Eddie Redmayne for playing Stephen Hawking. You get a really strong feeling about a certain role/actor when it's announced that screams Oscar and it's great to see the end result of it. 
It was also really cool at the Oscars seeing the movie win all of these awards. Plus, Adam Lambert and Queen performing to open up the show. I was not an Adam Lambert fan AT ALL when he was on American Idol and I'm still thrilled Kris Allen won over him. But I'd seen him perform with Queen on a Yahoo! Livestream. The two fit together so well. But the one song that they didn't perform together was the namesake of this movie. And it's just as well that wasn't the case. It is Freddie's song, after all. 

So my dad saw the movie in-flight, as he often sees these movies. He was mystified about all the awards buzz because of the naysayers saying it was inaccurate. He sees the movie and does a complete 180. It only happens maybe 25% of the time, but he'll say a movie is so good we have to buy it on DVD ASAP. 
It also kinda helps that it has great music. My dad is a sucker for movies that have great music. Especially if it tells a good story. I might never have seen "Purple Rain" if he hadn't recommended it. Not the biggest Prince fan out there (he only bought the soundtrack for the two songs he really liked), but he respects people who write their own music and play it well. He also saw Led Zepplin at the Garden State Arts Center (now the PNC Arts Center) in 1973 where they did "Stairway to Heaven"- a song he says is the best song ever written. He owns the album with the song on it, but I don't know how he feels about the other songs. He's also one of those people that says any music that came out after the 80's is complete garbage. I'm starting to adopt that cynical POV myself. 

Coming back to Queen, I'm not the hugest Queen fan, but I like a lot of their songs. My first encounter with them was "Bohemian Rhapsody." I remember Constantine Maroulis performing it on "American Idol" and for years, I labored under the illusion that it was his song... I don't know why... but they played it at all of the school dances I went to in high school: two concert choir banquets and senior prom. I remember everyone on the dance floor stopping and singing all of the words together and I'm thinking "I can't believe how everyone is into this song, it only just came out"... 
yeah, I had no idea that this was an old song from 1975 and everyone in my class knew the words because its inclusion in "Wayne's World" made it infamous. And I was the one loser that didn't know the words to the song and wasn't singing along or bobbing their head to it. With the degrading music scene in the 2000's, I was like a satellite without a planet. I had no sense of musical identity and it wouldn't be until 2007 I started to get a grasp of it. Lately, I'd been trying to learn more about music from before my time to get a better understanding of it. But I really should put some of my Beatles albums on my iPod to get into something I'd been putting off forever. 

As for the movie itself, I'd seen it twice and I needed to see it at least twice before I could write about it. Because there's a lot to cover. Last night after watching it the second time, I must have spent 20 minutes going through all the IMDB trivia about it. I was curious to see why so many people were in an uproar about the inaccuracies of it. 
As far as I could tell, there was nothing criminal about the liberties that were taken. There were bits and pieces where the drama was kicked up to fit the script or serve the storyline within the movie. Ultimately, Brian May and Roger Taylor were producers of the movie, they signed off on everything... they did this out of love for Freddie and his memory, and that's the most important thing at the end of the day. 
With the success of this movie, other musical biopics are sure to happen, but as long as the right people are involved in them, everything will come out ok. But if it was Prince and they were trying to do this treatment with him...well, that's its own post for another time.

Ok, enough side-tracking:
The entire builds up to the Live AID performance, where all of these musical artists came together to perform for charity. And according to the move, Queen saved the entire event. To the other artists, it was just a performerance. Nobody was really paying attention or donating a lot of money until Queen came on to perform. 

But the movie follows Freddie Mercury as he joined the band, they developed their sound, how their most famous songs were created... 
it's also a sad look at Freddie Mercury's life, the loneliness that comes from being a big rock star. You can have a house full of people and host parties and be surrounded by drugs and alcohol, but it's a very isolating life. The unfortunate thing was that it was enabled by the band manager, Paul. While Freddie wasn't as isolated as the movie made him out to be when he was working on those solo albums (and Paul wasn't fired until after Live AID happened), Paul took advantage of Freddie's celebrity to fulfill his own desires, whether it was attention or money. 
Even sadder, both of them contracted AIDS as a result. (It wasn't mentioned in the movie, but Paul contracted it in real life and actually died a few months before Freddie did). You could argue that because of Freddie's sexuality and the fact the transmission of AIDS (already something not entirely understood at the time) was more prominent in gay men in the 80's because safe sex practices weren't taken into account as often as it was for the typical hetrosexual relationship- he might have still contracted the disease anyway... but Paul enabling these situations certainly didn't help things. 
There was a pivotal scene where Freddie tells his bandmates that he's sick. It was fabricated for the movie, not to mention he wasn't diagnosed until after Live AID... but again, it served the storyline in the movie. And his comment to them after his confession was true to real life- he didn't want sympathy or to be pitied. He just wanted to make music. Artists that don't let things like this define them are really admirable. The art always comes first and that's how it should be-- until staying alive becomes a full-time job.

Of course the titular song gets a lot of screen time in the movie. A couple of times, we see Rami Malek performing it. The first time is 16 minutes in, he's on his back and he's playing the opening chords blind on a piano above his head. That's amazing. And the painstaking task of working on it and getting everything right... wow... plus reading how they wore out the tape with all the overdubs to the point it was transparent... another cool tidbit was reading that Brian May showed up on set, unbeknownest to anyone, while the actor playing him was recording the guitar solo. 

I gotta say- all of the actors involved in the movie- they were really good. The actor playing Brian May was so good and he looked so much like him, it was scary. 
Then Mike Myers playing the head honcho at their record company that didn't believe in the song. First of all, the fact he played him, not getting the song when he was the reason it was introduced to my generation with "Wayne's World"... it's freaking hilarious.
Sadly, unless it's a classic rock station, the radio doesn't play anything that's more than three minutes anymore. It was an interesting experience to see the movie and how this song was rejected at first because it was too long for radio. Someone in the scene mentioned "Macarthur Park" being over 7 minutes. I know for a fact that "Stairway to Heaven" was 8 minutes long and it came out before "Bohemian" did... 

It's always fun to see how things that have become fixtures in pop culture and people's minds are rejected at first because they're misunderstood. They played the song on the radio in the movie and there were dozens of one-line reviews saying how terrible a song it was. All of those people, if they're still alive and seeing the movie now, they're probably kicking themselves. 
It's kinda like Harry Potter being rejected by dozens of publishers, but once it finally was, it became this huge phenomenon. 

Another cool touch was when Brian May had the idea to incorporate the audience into their songs when he realized they were singing the songs back to them. That's how "We Will Rock You" came into being. As important as it is for artists they know themselves and stick to their guns, it's also important for them to know their audience and make them a part of the show. After all, they're the ones we pay to see them and are why they have these successful careers. 
The only real downside about that-- when artists that have been around for 30+ years settle for playing concerts full of hits instead of pushing their current material. But it depends on the artist and your personal tastes.

Rami Malek really was good as Freddie. There wasn't a second of the movie where I didn't believe he was that person. Comparing the Live Aid performances side by side (yes, there is a YouTube video on this), he looked a lot like him, but Rami is a lot easier on the eyes. Then again, Freddie Mercury was gay, so I really shouldn't feel that attraction to begin with. But I'm sure if I had been around at the time and saw Queen live in some capacity, I'd be with the die-hard fans... he's one of the most charismastic live performers that ever lived and no imitation will ever be able to surpass that. 
My knowledge on Freddie Mercury was fairly limited. I did see a Behind the Music documentary on him on VH1 Classic, but that was at least 10 years ago and I didn't have a lot of memory of it. I know he's a major performer and had this amazing range. But I didn't know he had a 4 octave range or it was enabled by 4 extra incisors he was born with. I was astonished the most to find out he played piano. I thought he was just the lead singer and it didn't occur to me that he played anything. 
Also- his style of piano playing- it was something really unique and special. With Bohemian Rhapsody, he played the main part of it with his right hand and reached over to the higher keys with his left. Seeing the Live AID performances side by side, seeing Freddie actually do it in real life was mind-blowing. 
(Also didn't know he was bisexual- he's this big gay icon, it didn't occur to me that he'd have any female relationships. But supposedly he was really close with Mary Austin and they stayed close friends in real life. There was part of the Wikipedia article that talked about his sexuailty and how he kept his illness secret... he wanted to keep his private life private and I can absolutely respect that. But I can also see the other side where him confessing to having the disease would boost awareness of it. But it isn't as if coming forward about it would have changed the fact it was killing him)

Now onto the big Live AID performance at the end... 
it was absolutely epic... it was a great set list too. I was really surprised to find "Radio Ga-Ga" was part of it. We do have a Greatest Hits 3-disc set and I'd listened through it once or twice. But when I found Lady Gaga got her stage name from that song, I had to listen to it. It's a little strange and different, but I really liked it. Seeing that performance in the movie where the entire crowd was clapping together to it in unison... WOW... the fact everyone was into the performance all at the same time, that's a powerful thing. It was just like everyone on the dance floor at my school singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody all at once. Makes me feel like there are few other bands that can inspire more crowd participation in that way. And the fact that the Live AID performance was reconstructed almost done to the last eyelash-- seeing the YouTube video with them side by side, all of the gestures being reproduced by Rami Malek... he must have worked on that for weeks to get everything right. 

And it goes without saying... you get through the end, you're full of adrenaline... you have to watch the movie through to the end of the credits. You just have to. They had "Don't Stop Me Now" and "The Show Must Go On" as the final two songs. The first one has been done in so many commercials and I'm already so sick of it, but in the movie, I have to stick with it. And I don't often stick around through the movie credits- unless it's a Marvel movie and there's a scene at the end, or it's a music movie and you have to stay until the last song. "Purple Rain" was the first movie where I couldn't stop watching until the WB logo came on at the end. 
Plus, "The Show Must Go On"... it's absolutely epic and it gives me chills every time I hear it.