Film: Bohemian Rhapsody

Dear God, I was up before the sun. I had to be in Sutton for midday to give the car back, and had to collect it in Wimbledon first. Fair play to me, I made it early - and popped into the Caffe Nero across from the station for some breakfast. Which consisted, natch, of a chocolate Milano with cream, and one of the little gianduja pieces they obligingly keep by the till. It's a nice little place, and I found a seat among the eclectic collection of furniture, before they were all snapped up by the never-ending parade of families with buggies. Used their WiFi to download a massive satnav app, which turned out to be absolutely useless, as it couldn't recognise the name of the garage! so I promptly uninstalled it, and used Google Maps thereafter.

As it turned out, I ended up driving the car back to Wimbledon after its trip to the garage - yes, they would potentially buy it from me, but the sales manager would have to sign off on it when he was back on Monday. But hey, I'll avoid the final balloon payment, and get a cheque, and today I finally got around to cancelling the direct debit I've had in place with the finance company for the past three years! Times are good. Dropped off the car at the house of the guy who's the registered keeper, and dropped in to him for a lovely chat - and that was that.

For the evening, I thought film - and top of the list, finally, was Bohemian Rhapsody, which is showing quite close to me, in the Vue Islington! Cheaper than the average, too. Well, I'd had that in mind for a few days, and was keeping an eye on how it was booking. Now, I do keep forgetting that it's actually cheaper to book online, so (as always) it came as a complete surprise to me to see the ad on the website. Anyway, booking's been quite slow for this - but gee, when I checked this evening there were only four tickets left! How lucky was that - I ended up with a side seat, but that was fine.

I was tired enough to crash on a sofa in the office, which revived me somewhat - got myself moving just a bit late, and headed off on a trot up the hill, which I haven't done in a while. I could get my ticket scanned from my phone, of course, and as I approached the usher to do so, someone else was asking him how long the ads would take, so he knew whether he had time to do whatever it was he needed to do. 20 minutes, he was assured. Mind you, I came in at the tail-end of them, the cinema almost completely full, and had to squeeze past a whole row to my seat at the end. Ah well.

So, the story of Queen, focusing - naturally enough - on Freddie Mercury. Opens with them preparing to go onstage for Live Aid - which is a teaser for the end, where we get a pretty full rendition of their Live Aid set! because this is, above all, a rock-lover's film. Ooh yeah - and boy did it bring back memories! Wait till you hear all those songs you'd forgotten about. Radio Gaga, anyone? Or how about the cross-dressing video for I Want to Break Free? Banned in the States, apparently - prudes. Maybe it was the orgy scene.. Jeez, I remember watching it quite blithely as a teen.

Rami Malek has the tough job of portraying the completely OTT lead singer - and he plays a blinder, completely deserving of his Golden Globe. The other band members kind of fade into the background beside him - but then, the music is the real star, the song Bohemian Rhapsody providing a major focus. Aiden Gillen plays their first manager, and an unrecognisable Mike Myers is the EMI executive who rejected them, and lived to regret it.

Man, the Live Aid sequence at the end is phenomenal. Seems they completely recreated Wembley for it - and it was all I could do not to jump up and start singing along. Now THAT is how a rock crowd should behave - lacklustre concert attendees, please take note! Check out the U2 flag in the audience. And don't miss the original video for Don't Stop Me Now, which plays over the closing credits. Awesome film - go check it out. As for comments that it skims Mercury's debauchery - well, that does get a nod, disapprovingly. To say it again, it's all about the music - as it should be.

Froze my face off walking home. Tomorrow, I'm headed on my annual trip to Cirque du Soleil at the Albert Hall - this year, it's Totem. I see I have something in common with royalty there.. Cheapest tickets from the venue, and they ain't cheap!

On Monday, I'm back with London Speaks Sessions for "True Crime: Survivor Stories and Straties (sic.)". This is a talk about survivors of extreme situations - and delivered by the excellent Jennifer Rees, whom I've seen a few times before. Not only that, but I got to use my loyalty Funzing discount for it, having cancelled a previous event for which I'd used that!

And on Tuesday, I had arranged to go with the London Jazz Meetup - but gee, it's all the way out in Ealing! So I said sod it, I'd go to the pictures again. Watch this space..