Movie Reviews #67…
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Marielle Heller, dir. Maybe all frustrated authors should see this movie as a lesson on what NOT to do when they feel unappreciated. It was funny at times but also often sad. Melissa McCarthy has a very different role as Lee Israel, and she delivers her finest performance. Richard Grant, as Lee’s gay friend Jack Hock, is marvelous too.
The movie is also a portrayal of the seamier side of the NYC art scene and the hypocrisy and unethical criminals who prey on people by selling fake memorabilia who enabled Lee. The snarky attitudes of Lee’s agent and the bookstore owner were painfully real too, looking down their noses at an author who’s no longer popular.
Not recommended for action movie fans, this one is for a more cerebral audience who appreciate a great story and great acting.
Bohemian Rhapsody. Bryan Singer, dir. Freddy Mercury (played here by Rami Malek) was the larger-than-life lead singer of Queen, but what I liked about this movie was that it showed both that this rock group was a team of geniuses working, squabbling, and expanding the frontiers of the rock genre. Queen needed Freddy and every other member of that band.
For a Hollywood biopic, this portrayal of Mercury’s life from bag boy at Heathrow to the best known rock star of the pre-internet era is better than most. Of course, there are always the Hollywood distortions of history (e.g. the movie has Freddy diagnosed with AIDS just before the Live Aid concert in 1985, when in fact he was diagnosed in 1987). There was never a dull moment in this movie, whether in the portrayal of Mercury’s tortured existence or in the encore of some of the group’s best hits and their origins.
I also learned more things about Mercury (assuming they’re not Hollywood distortions)—a talented man who died too young, a true showman and musician. The Steinway at Wembley everyone used was his, and that twenty-minute gig there will be remembered for a long time.
I’m afraid in this internet era music fans don’t know Queen. Maybe the movie will help them discover the group and help others rediscover them. We old folks can relive our youth through this marvelous biopic, but it’s worth seeing by everyone.
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Comments are always welcome!
Goin’ the Extra Mile. The U.S. made the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), Russia stole them, and now China wants them…and will kidnap Mary Jo Melendez and her family to get them. Returning to the globe-trotting suspense and action of #1 with many of the same actors as #2, this third book in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” is a rousing finale for this trilogy. Available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliates (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and so forth).
In libris libertas!
