He’s a Crack Rock Star. He’s the...
Vidiot
Week of February 15, 2019
Reunion tours = band members alimony
payments. First up...
Bohemian Rhapsody
When a band is named Queen don’t be
surprised if all of their songs are about Welsh Corgis.
And while the group in this biography
doesn’t dwell on dogs their output does run the gamut.
Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) goes from fan
to front-man when he replaces the singer of his favourite band. Backed by the
original guitarist, drummer and new bassist, Freddie christens the band Queen
and they release a successful album. However, Queen’s eclectic sound makes them
a hard sell, while Freddie’s alternative lifestyle makes him a media darling.
Framed by their 1985 Live Aid performance
and sprinkled with their timeless tunes throughout, this behind-the-scenes look
at the legendary band skims over the important parts and instead focuses too
much on the nominal contributions of the other members and their qualms with
Mercury.
Nonetheless, without Queen the only music
played at sporting events would be the national anthem. Yellow Light
Velvet Buzzsaw
The key to being a great artist is the
ability to sketch the nude form without being arrested or sued.
The crimes in this horror movie however are
being committed by the artwork itself.
An up-and-coming art agent uncovers
captivating canvases painted by a dead neighbour that she takes to her gallery
owner boss (Rene Russo) and to her ex-lover (Jake Gyllenhaal), L.A.’s top art
critic, for appraisal. While the collection is eventually deemed priceless and
curators (Toni Collette) begin to clamour for pieces, everyone who has viewed
the paintings has subsequently been killed in artistic fashion.
Backed by an impressive cast playing
unlikable characters and a unique concept that is never fully realized, this
cerebral shocker never strikes the right balance between the visceral horror
and the highbrow elements it keeps adding to the pot.
Nevertheless, with murderous artwork
hanging in your gallery you’ll never need a security system. Yellow Light
Overload
Zombies never allied with the Nazis during
WWII because even zombies aren’t that inhuman.
However, this horror movie depicts a
history where the world’s worst teamed up.
The day before D-Day a squadron of US
paratroopers (Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, John Magaro) are secretly dispatched
over France to dispense of a German radio tower. But as the regiment attempts
to complete their mission, they stumble upon a church where they discover the
Nazis are conducting experiments on the locals. With time running out and the
dead coming back to life, the soldiers must make the ultimate sacrifice to save
humanity.
While the idea of meshing the two
powerhouse villains has been explored many times before in cinema, this
cartoony American addition from producer J. J. Abrams doesn’t bring anything
all that new to the genre besides a few impressive scenes early on.
Furthermore, zombie veterans would just
ruin Remembrance Day ceremonies. Yellow
Light
***Front Man Down***
Eddie and the Cruisers
When the singer of a band dies it is
customary to wait 2-weeks before going on a European tour with their hologram.
Thankfully, this drama takes places decades
before technology ruined music.
In 1983 a music journalist, Maggie (Ellen
Barkin), pitches a story to her television bosses about the mysterious death of
1960s rocker Eddie Wilson (Michael Paré) and his unreleased album that
disappeared. Through interviews with his backing band The Cruisers (Tom
Berenger, Joe Pantoliano, Helen Schneider), Maggie hopes to find the missing
master tapes before the Ghost of Eddie does.
While Eddie’s sound is more akin to Springsteen
than The Supremes, this time-jumping whodunit is still an enjoyable dissection
of posthumous stardom. And while the dialogue is poetic and cheesy the
ambiguity behind Eddie’s demise is engaging and realistic.
Incidentally, bands can always find a
replacement for their dead lead singer with a trip to nearest the
safe-injection site.
He’s a Grizzly Baritone. He's the...
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