A_Different_Drummer

Using my time machine to travel 10 years ahead -- or is that 10 years behind? -- it is clear this film was severely under-rated. These coming-of-age dramas have been done so often that to succeed is similar to a game of golf, you have to get all the shots on each green just right, for a perfect game. And that is the one word that stuck in my mind as the credits rolled -- smooth. Much of this had been done before, but had seldom been done so gently, so smoothly. Also, time-wise, this was just before the 2019-20 period where the nature of the entire entertainment universe flipped upside down, along with reality as we know it. With hindsight, this was a winner. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Ask any reviewer how many sports biopics they have seen and the answer will always be "too many." QUEEN is an ambitious little project, you can tell that by the over-two-hour runtime. The pacing, the script, the editing, everything is just slightly uneven and unpolished. However, to compensate, there is a legitimate sense of fun imbued in the film, something not common in these sorts of tales. Lots of hidden talent both in front of and behind the camera. Emily Bett Rickards will shock her fans from the Arrowverse as she digs into the lead role and gives it everything she has got. Behind the camera is the son of one of America's best-known directors, and playing the "heel" in the story is a young woman with sharply defined features not seen since the days of Clint Eastwood. His daughter, in fact. Entertaining. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

In case you are from another planet -- which, it turns out, is actually a thing -- we are living in an upside down world. Most Hollywood blockbusters, and most streaming content, put out since the 2020 debacle, in the realm of wokeness, seldom hit the mark. No one talks about it, but millions of frustrated viewers are are constantly shaking down older content releases, from a time when entertainment actually entertained. And then we have THE FRIEND, a concept which, on paper, should fail. But a wonderful and subtle script, with top-tier A-listers, and great acting by the dog, yield a wonderful surprise that scores on so many levels. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))