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Syd |
Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:04 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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bartist wrote: Syd, I hope you can avoid MAGA loons in the next few days, as they swarm out of an arena in Tulsa, spewing their hazardous blend of far-right memes and virus particles.
Tulsa's far enough from Norman that I'm not worried. We're south of Oklahoma City. |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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Syd |
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 8:40 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote: carrobin wrote: That's a great review--as well as a great opening lyric. Of course my favorite "Hamlet" is the Mel Gibson version with Alan Bates as Claudius (though it cut some of his best scenes, of course). Now I want to see Ethan Hawke's (I had no idea Bill Murray was in it).
I agree about the Gibson Dane, also my favorite screen Hamlet. My LEAST favorite Hamlet is the acclaimed, Oscar-winning, and crushingly dull Olivier version from 1948. My all-time favorite was the Broadway version starring Richard Burton. Wow.
My favorite's also the Gibson, which really captures what the play is about. Like the Branaugh version too. I don't remember if I liked the BBC version, but Olivier's is simply off. |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: billyweeds wrote: carrobin wrote: That's a great review--as well as a great opening lyric. Of course my favorite "Hamlet" is the Mel Gibson version with Alan Bates as Claudius (though it cut some of his best scenes, of course). Now I want to see Ethan Hawke's (I had no idea Bill Murray was in it).
I agree about the Gibson Dane, also my favorite screen Hamlet. My LEAST favorite Hamlet is the acclaimed, Oscar-winning, and crushingly dull Olivier version from 1948. My all-time favorite was the Broadway version starring Richard Burton. Wow.
My favorite's also the Gibson, which really captures what the play is about. Like the Branaugh version too. I don't remember if I liked the BBC version, but Olivier's is simply off.
The weirdest thing to me is that Olivier was responsible for (IMO) the best screen Shakespeare ever, in 1944's "Henry V," and then one of the most boring "Hamlet"s ever produced. |
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bartist |
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:08 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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Syd wrote: bartist wrote: Syd, I hope you can avoid MAGA loons in the next few days, as they swarm out of an arena in Tulsa, spewing their hazardous blend of far-right memes and virus particles.
Tulsa's far enough from Norman that I'm not worried. We're south of Oklahoma City.
I know, but I've probably read one too many "superspreader" stories. I guess some comfort can be taken in that Norman (at least as I remember it from a long ago passing through) is a relatively blue pocket in its red state, so maybe fewer true believers are trekking up from there. And back. I don't envy people in hospitality and restaurant jobs right now. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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carrobin |
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 12:26 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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I love Olivier's "Henry V" because it's gorgeous--the cinematography based on medieval illuminated manuscripts makes it unique, as far as I know. (And by the way, whatever happened to the film of Burton's stage "Hamlet"? I saw it when I was in college, and have often wished I could see it again, but it must be buried in some film library somewhere.) |
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bartist |
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 5:58 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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RIP Joel Schumacher who had a knack for making crappy movies (Flatliners, Falling Down) that would stick unpleasantly in my memory. I could always count on style to triumph over substance in most of his films. That said, he got a helluva perf out of Michael Douglas in FD. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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gromit |
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 12:54 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I've never seen a film directed by Joel Schumacher.
I have seen The Wiz and Car Wash which he wrote the screenplays for.
St Elmo's Fire sounds passable.
The rest of his output is easy to pass on. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 4:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I was an extra in Schumacher's "Batman Forever." I've never been on a movie set so unpleasantly toxic. Everyone seemed to despise everyone else. I knew then and there that it was going to be a terrible movie, and boy, was it ever! I hid in the crowd so that there was no way I'd be visible on screen. |
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bartist |
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:30 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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Ugh. Terrible Batman pic. Glad you hid.
Tim Burton's vision was darker and had more depth, and having Michael Keaton helped. So studio brings in Schumacher to do some family-friendly slop with Val Kilmer. Brilliant.
I remember little of St Elmo's Fire, and wasn't much into brat pack stuff back then. DK if it's worth rewatching. I seem to be utterly addicted to Black Mirror atm. Seasons two and three are fecking amazing. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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The Burton Batman movies are the only ones I like. Keaton was wonderful. Never saw "Batman and Robin," which I gather was even worse than "Batman Forever." I also hate the acclaimed Christopher Nolan Batmans. Hate. |
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gromit |
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 4:37 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I've only watched half of one Batman movie. A Nolan one I believe. I thought it was terrible. Just really really not my kind of film. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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grace |
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:37 am |
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Joined: 11 Nov 2005
Posts: 3212
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bartist wrote:
I remember little of St Elmo's Fire, and wasn't much into brat pack stuff back then. DK if it's worth rewatching. I seem to be utterly addicted to Black Mirror atm. Seasons two and three are fecking amazing.
I sat through SEF only because a good chunk of it was shot on the U of Maryland campus (Go Twerps!). If you want to have a few drinks and razz on the overall badness of the flick, it can be fun but otherwise I would not recommend. Do not engage. |
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bartist |
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:35 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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Thanks. I wash my hands of the matter. And I'm getting a lot of practice handwashing lately. Hope you and yours are well. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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Syd |
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 9:37 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12901
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Christopher Moore, who's hit or miss, has been doing a series of novels based on Shakespearean plays starring Pocket,the Fool from King Lear. The first was Fool (King Lear), which I liked quite a bit, followed by "The Serpent of Venus" ("the Merchant of Venice," which I mostly found tedious), and "Shakespeare for Squirrels", which is "A Midsummer's Night's Dream," and mostly hilarious. The title comes from the idea that Titania's fairies (Cobweb, Mustardseed, Peasebottom and Moth, but not Titania herself) turn into squirrels when the sun rises, an idea that comes about because Christopher Moore feeds squirrels and decided to include them in the novel. He's obviously not going to stick too closely to the play, something that is hinted at when Puck is killed about a third of the way into the novel, and Pocket has to solve the mystery. It's a lot of fun, and really a loving tribute in its way, since this is Moore's favorite Shakespearean play, which does not mean that he's above making a farce of its plot. I recommend it highly. |
_________________ I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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bartist |
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:09 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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High-rise (2016), based on JG Ballard's dystopian novel from the seventies (and set in that decade), is a bizarre and often brutal allegory of social inequality and class warfare. In spite of a clever premise, and strong cast (Sienna Miller, Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Moss...), I found it disjointed, often repellent, and the characters unreal and unsympathetic. In places it feels like an especially bad Fellini film, stylish and noisy but somehow of little significance. Around the 80 minute mark, I bailed and don't plan to see the ending.
I want to read some Chris Moore. Started reading "You Suck: a love story" in a bookstore a few years ago, never got back to it. The Pocket ones sound more my taste. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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