Beauty vs Beast: Any Way the Wind Blows
Monday, January 7, 2019 at 5:14PM Jason from MNPP here, fresh from a weekend stuck on the sofa nursing a stomach flu, and that was even before Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody won top prizes at the Globes last night. On that sour note, I give you this week's "Beauty vs Beast" poll. Best to get these movies out of the way now, since I think (and hope and pray) that this might signify the peak of their awards run. As Nathaniel pointed out in his Globes take this morning...
"Both are films which have been accused of having their true stories of queer musicians diluted or significantly fictionalized by the people doing the telling (former bandmates in the case of Bohemian Rhapsody and the family of an employee in the case of Green Book)."
There exists in the ether of our imaginations two fascinating movies about Freddie Mercury and Dr. Don Shirley, full of sharp insights about race and sexuality in times and places that warped these men while simultaneously feeding off their talents, but those movies will have to, for the time, stay in our imagination. This is what we got.
PREVIOUSLY Way back before the holidays we faced down Dame Julie Andrews' two most iconic roles, and even though Mary Poppins can fly the saintly Maria took it to the mountain-top and spun herself up a win with 56% of your vote. Said Joel:
"Watching the precocious Maria makes me so happy that I want to yodel-lay-hee-hoo off a damn Alp."
Reader Comments (7)
Don did not have his life story directed by someone who belongs on the sex offender registry, so he wins this one.
Haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody, but I did see Green Book. Whatever you may think of the film, Mahershala Ali gives a great performance.
Still refusing to give BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY any money, so haven’t seen it.
Mahershala is fine... but really bad in his big Oscar moment.
Not voting. Both very handsome, talented actors though!
Mahershala any day, any time, any place.
Recognizing these were both problematic movies, I still really enjoyed them - and these performances. Fine acting by a couple of fiiine men. I pick Don because I have a soft spot for brilliant pianists and Freddie seems like he'd get exhausting after a while.
I find it weird that both of them are probably going to win the Oscars this year.
I think that there should be more outcry over Ali’s Category Fraud than if the screenplay diluted his lifestyle...