By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Last year, many critics joked that since Ash Wednesday would be on Valentine’s Day and Easter Sunday would fall on April Fools Day, many Christians would be confused. Instead, people’s faith in their God was severely tested on Feb. 14 with the Parkland Shooting. In the midst of political finger pointing, our neighbors pitched in and attempted to heal the painful situation. Bentley, host for Deerfield Beach Percy White Library’s Wags & Tales Reading Program, visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as a therapy dog. The Coral Springs Museum of Art encouraged art therapy and displayed student’s art work. Music was another form of release as I witnessed two teenage strangers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School bond with each other through their acoustic guitar strumming.

On April 1, 2018, family and friends quietly celebrated; it was a quiet news day. At 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the first notes of Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert on the NBC Network and social media exploded. While there was common criticism of cheesy TV commercials, the live production was a juggernaut of show-stopping musical numbers featuring John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Alice Cooper and Brandon Victor Dixon singing the signature song. After 40 days and one week of grief and despair, Jesus Christ Superstar provided a few hours of escapism that good art should provide.

Beyond a good story, interesting characters and strong visualization, this year’s Top 10 List includes movies that helped me escape. I went into the dark cave known as cinema and emerged with a sense of illumination about my place in this world.

Cinema Dave’s Top 10 favorite films (In reversed alphabetical order):

• Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

• 12 Strong

• The Mule

• Juliet, Naked

• First Man

• Eighth Grade

• Creed II

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• Black Panther

• Avengers: Infinity War

Honorable mentions: Solo, A Star is Born, Ready Player One, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

2018 will go down as a fine year for documentaries. Won’t You Be My Neighbor was unique because Dr. Fred Rogers was such a positive character and the film retained a sweetness from beginning to end. Despite a tragic ending, Sharkwater Extinction was a fantastic visual experience featuring gorgeous sunsets and underwater adventure. RBG and Love, Gilda provided private insight into two public figures, a Supreme Court Justice and a gonzo comedian, respectively. While The King is a toe-tapping assault about the fruits of American capitalism from the Hollywood elite, Women of Venezuelan Chaos presented the squalor and negative effects of the dreams of socialism, which is an eminent front for government tyranny.

With the exception of Christian Bale thanking Satan for his Golden Globe win, the Hollywood elite bridled their words at last Sunday’s awards ceremony. Based on the belligerent behavior of Hollywood elites (I am looking at you, Robert DeNiro), the television ratings have been increasingly dropping. The box office broke records for 2018, but with Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther contributing for nearly a billion dollars in the kitty alone. Without family friendly Marvel Comic Universe movies for 2018, the record breaking box office would have collapsed like a house of cards.

With new revenue streams like Amazon and Netflix, many award-nominated motion pictures had limited screen time in theaters. In fact, some films go from opening at film festivals to direct streaming on your computers if you purchase Netflix or Amazon. If movie theaters plan to survive, they need to focus on good old-fashioned customer service and cleaner movie theaters.

Nonetheless, I am optimistic about visiting Savor Cinema in the next couple of months to catch up with the Oscar nominated films that I did not see yet. With Glass, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame opening at Museum of Discovery and Science (IMAX) in Ft. Lauderdale, expect to see Cinema Dave eating a jumbo bag of popcorn and enjoying Saturday Matinee escapism.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

My School of Rock vocal teacher, Jessica Morale, threatened to suspend me because I had yet to see Bohemian Rhapsody, which had been getting some of the best word of mouth rave reviews. Much like A Star is Born, so many people have seen Bohemian Rhapsody on the big screen. I regret missing this feature on the five story IMAX screen when it played at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science. But I finally got to see it.

For those who rode with me back in the day in my yellow Volkswagen Beetle named Kelso, you likely heard a Bohemian Rhapsody bootleg on an eight-track player. When Kelso was full, we would all sing the opera parts from the song, a decade before Wayne’s World was released. We were cool before we knew it.

Bohemian Rhapsody shows a baggage handler at London Heathrow Airport, Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek), who lives with his conservative Parsi family. One night, he catches his favorite local band, Smile, whose lead singer abruptly quits. Farrokh auditions on the street and his future bandmates Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) recruit him immediately. After forming a new rock band by the name of Queen, Farrokh legally changes his name to Freddy Mercury.

Despite having a flamboyant front man, Queen becomes a strong ensemble band with each player contributing to some of the great songs of album rock radio stations, ie, “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “You’re My Best Friend,” “Another One Bites the Dust” and “We Are the Champions.” Queen tours the world with concerts that demand audience interaction, mostly conducted by Freddy Mercury.

Of course, with any rock artist biopic, we witness the self destruction of success. To director Bryan Singer’s credit, he does not dwell on this dark side of Freddy Mercury. (It should be noted that Brian May and Roger Taylor were involved in this production). Bohemian Rhapsody opens and closes with Freddy Mercury’s redemptive moment, the “Live Aid Concert” on July 13, 1985 at the Wembley Arena in London.

The “Live Aid Concert” was a golden moment for this columnist finishing up his course work at Florida State University. Broadcast poorly on MTV, so much of the concert was lost in hype, though Queen’s performance was highly praised.

Bohemian Rhapsody is worth the price of admission for recreating this golden performance with four actors and special effects. That said, unlike the self indulgence of the “Woodstock Generation,” “The Live Aid” generation used music to prevent starvation in Ethiopia in the mid 80s. Thanks Bohemian Rhapsody for reminding this columnist about this charitable time during the Reagan-Bush administrations.