Movie Review: ****Joyful Noise (2012)

I like music, and this movie has plenty of music and jumping and clapping songs that praise the Lord.  The church choir director has passed away, and the position maybe should have been passed to his wife G.G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton) but instead goes to a choir member, Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah).  But the two that really sing are Sparrow's grandson Randy (Jeremy Jordan) and Olivia (Keke Palmer).  This starts a pretty bitter rivalry.  The choir is wanting to compete and make it to nationals, which they have never quite accomplished.  However there are differences in which way the choir should go, more traditional vs more modern.  In the end they put on quite a show, which they really need.  And the two young people strike up a relationship. 

Movie Review: ***Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

This is the biopic of the rock band Queen.  My brother had an 8-track of theirs.  Their music has been fascinating.  They were one of the first groups to sing a Capella, although many have followed.  The music of Queen is fantastic.  The lifestyle of Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) leaves something to be desired.  Mercury (birth name Farrokh Bulsara) was born with extra incisors, which pushed his teeth out.  He went through his childhood being teased.  His family had to flee Zanzibar due to a revolution and moved to England.  Freddie was already a British citizen. 
The movie portrays Mercury as shy and backward.  However, he finds friendship and a fiancé with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton).  He also find family in the band.  Brian May (Gwilym Lee) lead guitar, Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) drums and John Deacon (Joe Mazzello) bass.  Freddie often gets bored with himself and throws parties, and goes with men.  He eventually announces to his fiancé that he is bisexual and their relationship after that is always platonic although they remain life long friends.  Mercury calls her the love of his life.  This film shows the making of "Bohemian Rhapsody" which is very entertaining.  It also shows several other song writing experiences.
However Mercury allows himself to manipulated by a manager and gay partner.  He embarks on a solo career, but is always seeking something more.  He finally comes to his senses and returns to queen of "LiveAid" a large concert to aid people in Africa.  This allows himself to also amend with his family, as his father accepts his doing things for charity. 
The movie portrays Mercury as finally settling down and finding happiness with a new partner. 
This movie really hits ate lifestyle, and how decisions can effect happiness.  But the big thing going for it is the music.  I don't know if they use Mercury singing, or the actual actors.  Mercury had one of the greatest voices of all time, and he credited his extra incisors to giving him more vibrato.  He did have a four octave range, which means he could sing lower than most of us as well as higher. He was also a prolific song writer and innovator. 

He Touched Me: The Gospel Music of Elvis Music

This link to Youtube only has the end of the program.   However I saw the entire program on PBS and then also on Bing.  It is amazing the love Elvis had for gospel music, and in turn the Lord in general.  This movie documents how he was influenced by this music growing up in Nashville, both gospel and Black gospel were part of his growing up years.
It goes on to talk about how he would insist on making gospel recordings, sang a gospel song on the Ed Sullivan Show, and was a true devotee.  Quite often he would do two shows.  However then he would retire to his room where the musicians in his group, and himself, would entertain until dawn, singing mostly gospel songs.

Movie Review: ****^Silent Night (2012)

This movie is more than a film about the writing and first performance of "Silent Night."  Although it does tell this story.  Joseph Mohr is the assistant priest, however the priest is often away as he attends to a larger church.  This movie is about the priest Joseph Mohr (Carsten Clemens) and his overcoming bitterness which might result from his work, and loving people, but watching them die.  He supports a singe mother, and her sick son.  In his illness he reads the poem he has written, "Silent Night" to him, and he takes comfort from the words.  Mohr organizes a choir from among local citizens, many of whom do not attend church.  They sing in German, which is not right according to the lead priest, who arranges for the transfer of Joseph Mohr.  Joseph Mohr, asks the parish organist, Franz Gruber (Markus von Lingen),  to write a special Christmas song.  However this work bogs down as the parish organ stops working, and Joseph is too involved int he writing and offends the organist.  Joseph determines to give up move to a different parish, and let his bitterness over take him.  However he is confronted by the mother of the boy who passed away.  She reminds him how he loved the poem, and asks that he not let her son's death be for nothing.  With renewed faith, he takes the poem to Franz Christmas Eve, asking him to set it to music for Christmas Eve Mass.  He takes his guitar with him.  The choir is invited to sing the last stanza of each verse, and Franz and Joseph sing the song as a duet.  I like this movie because of the internal struggle of the priest, who makes a decision not to become as the older head priest, who is bitter and cynical.  It is good to be reminded that our attitude, to a great extent is a choice, despite our circumstances.  I also liked the portrayal of a young woman, who likes to sing, and becomes so enthused at one point she things with the choir.  I guess choirs were all male at that time and this causes a scandal.  I often am overcome with the desire to sing myself, and sometimes getting in trouble singing too much.
This movie is made by writer and director Christian Vuissa.  He is a Mormon directory who has made several Mormon movies.