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Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
I was transported...in the best way...extraordinary...
...just got home and my husband and I are still happily reeling with the back draft of the experience. I feel strangely territorial about the group--saw them live in Atlanta in 77 (the News of the World tour) and they had already long been the soundtrack for the life I shared with my best friends at that time...
But I think they have more fans than just us. An educated guess...
Random critics can pick it apart all they want--doesn't change a thing for this girl who knows a good deal about their history and doesn't care one bit if some things got shifted around for the sake of a compressed 2 hour telling. I was so moved, and the love and respect he was truly afforded by his band mates (as it should have been) truly translated. Freddie Mercury was ultimately a very private man, and in keeping with his wishes that those closest to him abide by his request to keep his affliction with AIDS to themselves, I don't think he'd have wanted this movie to focus any more on his sexual preferences and lifestyle than it did. Their music will always be a gift in my life, and this movie did ALL that justice. WELL done, all. Seriously--and "Thank you"...;o]
Wicker Park (2004)
An intriguing surprise...
I enjoyed this movie on its face and found myself wanting to watch it again upon its conclusion, which very rarely is true for me. Most movies, including the ones I consider amazing, require the passage of several years before I might entertain the idea of watching them again. This was different, and will perhaps be better understood once you have seen the movie. It's like a puzzle I want to put back together on my own.
***SPOILERS*** Part of what I found most wonderful about this movie was that I was able to walk away from it not really considering ANY of the four major characters as "the heavy." Also, some preconceived ideas I had did not come to pass. For example:
MATT: Throughout the film you see him balancing his value system against his desires, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but I got a sense that this guy wanted terribly to do the right things. Matt's going to see the play with Luke just because it mattered so much TO Luke is but one example
LISA: Didn't want to like her, didn't want to understand why Matt's feelings for her were as strong as they were. I had believed it would just be a sexual pull she exerted on Matt & this was not the case--I got it.
Luke: Played appropriately in places as almost shallow & buffoonish, I still got a sense that this guy was a truly good person & despite his fumbling hipness, he really wanted to be a great friend and to care about someone at a much deeper level than it appeared at first glance. I liked his forgiveness of Matt for having been out of touch for 2 years.
ALEX: Her conflict throughout the movie could have played well to her ultimately being labeled a psycho, but I felt great empathy for her (especially toward the end of the movie) at having been caught up in an emotional roller-coaster that drove her decisions throughout the movie. In one of the final scenes where she confesses her sins, so to speak, to Lisa, I felt especially rewarded that she was so much more than just a lunatic--and was, indeed, NOT crazy-- and that the character was an Anybody who could have been caught up on the thorns of an overwhelming desire.
Also, I enjoyed the friendship between Matt & Luke and how it remained intact and viable throughout the film. I think Matt's losing touch with Luke for 2 years was also symbolic of his having lost touch with himself.
And the final scene between Matt & Lisa was satisfying to me--I REALLY wanted them to find each other again, and the emotional elements of this moment in the characters' lives was depicted beautifully.
Finally, what a painfully lovely moment with Rebecca, when Matt is telling her what has happened, and what has been true for him since he thought he'd lost Lisa, when she said (and I'm DEFINITELY paraphrasing),"You want me to...know WHAT? That I'm not the girl who can break your heart?"
Haven't we all felt THAT before?
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Loved it--and I'm the WRONG demographic...
I am a 45-year old woman who wound up watching "Napoleon Dynamite" on pay-per-view with my 13-year old step-daughter. I had fully planned to jump on-line while she watched, instead I found myself laughing all the way through, and am actually planning to buy the DVD. I finally made it on-line all right--I must have spent a good 2 hours (so far) surfing for whatever I can find about this refreshingly hopeful movie that deserves every dollar it earns.
I'm not big on gross-out humor and couldn't be paid to watch anything with"American Pie" in the title. I don't really know what I expected, all I know is what I found was making me grin randomly throughout the day @ work, and I'm an administrator at a bank. I haven't so thoroughly ENJOYED a movie in a really long time--and I don't even know why. GOSH! I think it's gentleness was very appealing to me. It was amazing to see Napoleon's character be so true to himself throughout the movie, whether this was intended or not. I thought it interesting that a previous comment referred to his "mean-spiritedness"--I may be out of touch, but I picked up on nothing even close to that. His ability to be loyal and to try to do the right thing when it counted far out-weighed his haphazardly abrupt comments, "Whatever I want to do--GOSH!' moments. And in today's culture where there is such a societal fear of: a. being different or b. people who ARE different, how novel it was to watch the events unfold in Napoleon's life and to know he had absolutely NO plans to construct a semi-automatic from a kit out behind the llama shed. He was simply himself, and made no apologies (nor collected any real resentments) for it. A few things happen in the movie that aren't really explained in any further detail--I don't know about you, but for me, that's kind of the way my life plays out, too.
I hope to see more of this character in future "installments". If they stay as true to their skills as Napoleon stayed to himself, we could very well have only just BEGUN to have a flippin' good time!