“Bohemian Rhapsody” (Drama/ Biography/Music: 2 hours, 14 minutes)

Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy and Joseph Mazzello

Director: Bryan Singer

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic elements, suggestive material, drug content and profanity)

 

Movie Review: “Bohemian Rhapsody” is an impressive biographical slice of the band Queen from the 1970s to early 1992. 

For those who appreciate the good music by the band, the movie plays like a concert in various scenes. Often the concert scenes overshadow the fine performance of Rami Malek, who plays the legendary lead singer Freddie Mercury, the creative moments that inspired the group’s hits. 

Freddie Mercury (Malek), Brian May (Lee), Roger Taylor (Hardy) and John Deacon (Mazzello) are the band Queen. Their lives from the 1970s until their legendary appearance at the Live Aid concert in 1985 are the story. Along the way, we see the band during its triumphs and difficulties, including its breakup and reunion. 

Of course, Mercury is the centerpiece of the band. His life is the heart of the narrative, including his sexuality and his relationships with family and friends. 

Malek has been in several movies, but he is best known for his award-winning role Elliot Alderson on television’s “Mr. Robot.” Here, Malek is impressive. He becomes Freddie Mercury in a convincing manner. 

He is moving as an actor because he has a relatable face. His kind demeanor makes his characters emotively alluring. Such attributes work as the movie’s lead. 

Malek’s scenes with Lucy Boynton, who plays Mercury’s female love, Mary Austin, are interesting in that they offer a greater understanding of Mercury. Boyton and Malek have a unique chemistry that makes their scenes some of the better moments.

Bryan Singer’s movies appear better when he likes his subject matter. The notables include “Apt Pupil” (1998) and “Valkyrie” (2008). Clearly, Singer has an adoration for Mercury and Queen. His retelling of Mercury’s life and how the band Queen created their songs is agreeably fashioned.

One of the more intriguing aspects of any artistic venture is the artist’s inspiration and execution to create their art. Singer offers that. He shows the creative process and the result, the group’s nice music at concerts. 

Too bad, he should have stuck with the off-stage moments more than on-stage ones. The group dynamic when creating their music is much more intriguing than watching the cast lip-synch and phantom play the iconic band’s lyrics and music. However, Queen’s music is very good and Malek’s performance is sound.

Grade: B (Malek’s and music are an enjoyable rhapsody.)

 

“Mid90s” (Drama: 1 hour, 25 minutes)

Starring: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges and Na-kel Smith

Director: Jonah Hill

Rated: R (Pervasive language, sexual content, drug and alcohol use, violence disturbing images — all involving minors)

 

Movie Review: Actor Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is a potent one. He nicely takes audiences back to the mid-1990s. Nostalgia reigns in this nice coming-of-age tale. 

The drama has a good cast led by a talented young Sunny Suljic.

Stevie is a 13-year-old in a 1990s Los Angeles. He lives with his mother, Dabney (Waterston), who has relationships with multiple men, and his abusive brother, Ian (Hedges). 

Stevie’s home life is depressing. He spends most of his time at Motor Avenue skate shop. There, he meets new friends who are slightly older teenagers who are fellow skateboarders. Stevie’s friends introduce him to a street life where he learns about relationships, race and class. 

Jonah Hill received Oscar nominations for “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) and “Moneyball” (2011). He is an able actor. With “Mid90s,” he proves just as able a director and writer. Hill provides a realness about youths in an effective fashion.

“Mid90s” is an engaging movie. It nicely keeps focus on the character Stevie, played nicely by Suljic (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” 2017). He is a youthfully cute kid that one easily relates. Suljic plays the character with a resounding keenness that makes his role easily relatable. 

Despite the fact the movie is about teens, it is not for younger audiences. This is an adult movie.

The drama is profoundly rendered on the big screen by Jonah Hill. He shows that he is just as interesting as a director and writer as he is an actor.

Grade: B+ (The 1990s era provides a pivotal screenplay.)

*Playing in larger cities

“Nobody’s Fool” (Comedy: 1 hour, 50 minutes)

Starring: Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter and Whoopi Goldberg

Director: Tyler Perry

Rated: R (Profanity, sexual content, violence, nudity and drug material)

 

Movie Review: Tyler Perry once again gives audiences a less than par comedy. The wayward story starts as a reunion for sisters to a movie about relationships. 

The comedy is childish and the clichéd romance is skippable. 

Tanya (Haddish) is released from prison. She reunites with her sister, Danica (Sumpter), a cooperate advertising executive. Danica has been having an online romance with an unknown guy. 

Tanya believes Danica is being catfished, when someone online pretends to be someone else.

The movie needs focus. The story is a scattered attempt of screenwriting. It is neither convincing nor comical as a romcom.

The acting is nil. Haddish overacts as usual. Sumpter appears lost. And Whoopi Goldberg’s performance is a distraction like the big blonde wig she wears.

A nice addition to the cast is Omari Hardwick. He is the one grounded character in the comedy. While his performance is the best of the cast, it is not enough to save this wayward venture.

During a less than par scene, Haddish’s Tanya says jail makes a man a true man. Tyler Perry, as writer and director, has no response from other characters or at least a reaction that is a rejection of this unintelligible line. Apparently, Perry thinks this is appropriate humor. Audiences should not be as foolish.

Grade: D+ (You are somebody’s fool if you see this.)

“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” (Adventure/Family/Fantasy: 1 hour, 39 minutes)

Starring: Mackenzie Foy, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman

Directors: Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston

Rated: PG (Violence and moments of peril)

 

Movie Review: Eye candy and well-known actors are pluses for this adventurous tale. However, the performances play second fiddle to the brilliant visual distractions. 

The story is elementary writing that remains family friendly while adding nothing resounding to the “Nutcracker” realm. 

Clara uses a magical key to unlock a parallel world where her late mother has governed as queen of four realms. Clara (Foy) meets leaders, clever rodents and brave and noble soldier Phillip (Fowora-Knight) in the new world. 

Her new home away from home is in turmoil as a pending war against the Fourth Realm, a place ruled by Mother Ginger (Mirren), is near.

The family feature manages to create nifty visual effects and set designs, but it fails to create a lasting story. It is a simplistic narrative hidden by diversions to distract. The adventure is plentiful, yet “Nutcracker and the Four Realms” is not memorable.

Grade: C (About two out of four realms are engaging.)

“Suspiria” (Horror: 2 hours, 32 minutes)

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton and Chloë Grace Moretz

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Rated: R (Nudity, violence, thematic elements, strong language, sexual references and gore)

 

Movie Review: “Suspiria” is a remake of the pivotal 1977 movie directed by Dario Argento, which he cowrote with Daria Nicolodi. Like the 1977 version, the current feature is a horror movie that gradually becomes more evident as it continues. 

It is an effective movie of artistic visualizations, but its presentation is not one that many audiences may agree with initially. This is not an energetic thriller or slasher. It is a traditional horror similar to those of yesteryear that has dramatic moments. It works if one can sit through the mystery it creates yet never remedies fully. 

Determined young dancer Susie Bannion becomes part of a world-renowned dance ensemble. She quickly becomes part of a dark mystery surrounding the dance company that engulfs her, the company’s artistic director, Madame Blanc, and grieving psychotherapist Dr. Josef Klemperer. 

The dance institution is a front for a powerful witches’ coven. 

Luca Guadagnino is the director of “Call Me by Your Name” (2017) and “A Bigger Splash” (2015). He knows how to take a movie and make its characters pivotal players in equally essential narratives. He makes his screenplays to have depth, and he directs characters in a manner that each actor becomes an individual study of humanity. 

His style is similar here. However, the movie is overly long, more than two and a half hours, a horror movie that has some unclear portions.

Despite its weirdness, Guadagnino manages to make the movie interesting because it is a well-acted photoplay. Swinton, Johnson, Moretz and others are intriguing, especially Swinton who plays several roles. 

Guadagnino has worked with Swinton in seven movies, including “Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory” (2002), “The Protagonists” (1999) and “I Am Love” (2009). They both know how to make good movies together.

“Suspiria” is a well-done movie with good visual effects, but it is an overly long horror of gore and violent imagery. The latter overpowers the prior.

Still, Guadagnino directs the movie in a Stanley Kubrick manner. He bravely gives audiences a unique horror movie, one that cunningly happens like the setting of a calm sunset. However, when night falls, this darkly themed movie leaves one wanting some light shed on unresolved concepts.

Grade: B- (It is bewitching enough, but it remains a puzzling mystery, too.)

*Playing in larger cities

“The Happy Prince” (Biography/Drama: 1 hour, 45 minutes)

Starring: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson and Colin Morgan

Director: Rupert Everett

Rated: R (Sexual content, nudity, strong language, violence, and brief drug use)

 

Movie Review: Rupert Everett writes, directs and stars in this longtime project. “The Happy Prince” is one of the uninspiring additions about Oscar Wilde.

As Oscar Wilde (Everett) lies dying in a Parisian hotel room, the comical literary figure poignantly reflects on his past in England, France and Italy. He thinks of his societal exclusion and time spent in jail because of his sexuality. 

He thinks of his wife, Constance Wilde (Watson), and their children. He especially recalls his happy yet turbulent relationship with Alfred Bosie Douglas (Morgan). Through it all, the flamboyant Wilde keeps his wit and maintains an ostentatious lifestyle.

The movie consists of Wilde reminiscing about his past. The movie handles this via a series of flashbacks. The constant flashbacks are annoying. Time is difficult to grasp because of this. The rest of the movie is comprised of squabbles between Wilde and a few of his nemeses.

Everett plays Wilde adequately. He is not the problem. His directing of his own script is.

The setting is enticing, and the characters are intriguing on the surface, but the movie appears to only scratch the surface of these people. Everett does not give one a chance to know any of the online personas, so it is difficult to care for these people. Therefore, their efforts are insignificant as portrayed here.

Grade: C- (Not a happy movie observer.)