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Ensign_Ricky posted:That...that's actually a good point. Well, there's the fact that the writers both said the screenplay was done before Hefner came on board, and that it had no impact on the film.
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Dec 23, 2014 19:45
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Also, as far as I remember the display of breasts in MacBeth wasn't titillating at all. The naked witches were kind of gross, and MacBeth is completely weirded out by them. It's not like he is all "Aw yeah, down to the tittie committee!" when he enters that cellar, they surround him and feed him drugs and it becomes kind of like the scene from Rosemary's Baby where Rose gets impregnated.
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Dec 23, 2014 19:52
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Chainsawdomy posted:
I like this movie a fair bit if only because I've never seen Titus Andronicus performed (yet I did get to see King John performed by a major company a few years ago  )This is by far and away this worst of any Shakespearean films, the Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdbzRtxVtns If you hate yourself you can watch the whole thing on youtube. I will also fight anyone that likes Romeo+Juliet but I'm pretty sure I said that in the threat that inspired this one. Also if you ever get a chance watch the Stratford recording of the Tempest with Christopher Plummer which I had the great joy to see live during my honeymoon.
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Dec 23, 2014 20:50
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sbaldrick posted:This is by far and away this worst of any Shakespearean films, the Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino. OK, let's fight. But first I'd like to hear a few words on why the Pacino Merchant is the worst Shakespeare film. I have only seen the first few minutes and they didn't strike me as particularly horrible. Would be great if it was so horrible I never needed to watch the rest, because I'm not made out of time.
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Dec 23, 2014 20:54
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Good, I will fight anyone that defends a film that turns a great dirty joke into a footnote because for some reason the director doesn't understand it. First off look at the year the Merchant of Venice was made, Pacino was well into his lazy period at that point despite the fact he made it as a passion project. He didn't play Shylock with any of the pathos required to make the play not come of as super anti-Semitic (not that Shakespeare would have ever meet anyone that was Jewish in his life). Basically it's an insanely hard play to pull off without coming off as racist which it fails to do.
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Dec 23, 2014 21:15
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That still says nothing about why it's a bad adaptation.
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Dec 23, 2014 21:19
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:That still says nothing about why it's a bad adaptation. If you don't understand why making an insanely anti-Semitic adaptation of Merchant of Venice starting a lazy Al Pacino is bad I don't know how to help you. A good adaptation makes you feel the torture that Shylock would have undergone having him hide away and be brutalized by the crowds, the movie just doesn't get that through. He honestly has to be a full on tragic figure for the play to work in the modern world.
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Dec 23, 2014 21:47
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I actually quite like the Pacino Merchant. Yes, it could have gone a little further in decrying the anti-Semitism, of course it could. But if you're staying close to the source material, that's goddamn hard. I think the addition at the beginning of Jeremy Irons spitting in Pacino's face actually helps to make Shylock a slightly more sympathetic character. In the main text, all we have is Shylock's word that he's been wronged, so the film shows a bit better that, yes, Shylock has been treated like poo poo by Antonio before. And I really enjoyed Pacino's performance overall, especially his delivery of the "Have a Jew not..." speech. On the special features on the DVD there's an interview with Pacino where he says he's repeatedly been asked to portray Shylock in other productions, and turned it down because the anti-Semetic tone was a game-killer for him. He literally never wanted to play Shylock until he read this particular script. edit: DeimosRising posted:Well, there's the fact that the writers both said the screenplay was done before Hefner came on board, and that it had no impact on the film. See, I didn't know that. And yeah, it was hardly titillating, but it was loving weird. Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 22:25
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I've thought recently that I'd love to see a modern "Game of thrones"-style treatment of King Lear. That would very well drive home how much of a jerk he is being to his daughters, even with audiences who get bewildered by Shakespearean English.
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Dec 23, 2014 22:46
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Richad the III ( the 1995 film) with Ian Mckellan was pretty cool. I love the pseudo-fascistic visual style.
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Dec 23, 2014 22:51
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Ensign_Ricky posted:I actually quite like the Pacino Merchant. Yes, it could have gone a little further in decrying the anti-Semitism, of course it could. But if you're staying close to the source material, that's goddamn hard. I think the addition at the beginning of Jeremy Irons spitting in Pacino's face actually helps to make Shylock a slightly more sympathetic character. In the main text, all we have is Shylock's word that he's been wronged, so the film shows a bit better that, yes, Shylock has been treated like poo poo by Antonio before. Maybe its because Merchant is my favorite of all the play (it was the first one i ever read)s, but I remember when this play was being made and being really excited by the fact they where planning on cleaning up the antisemitism to fit a modern world and it just didn't go far enough. There could have been dialogue less scenes about Shylock dealing with being a Jew and even his being shuned by his own community after Julia converts
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Dec 24, 2014 00:04
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I mean, when you get down to it it's still Merchant of Venice, though. It's like remaking Birth of a Nation without the racism; to have it be recognizable, you can't scrub it out completely, because of how deeply ingrained in the original work it is.
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Dec 29, 2014 18:57
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SALT CURES HAM posted:I mean, when you get down to it it's still Merchant of Venice, though. It's like remaking Birth of a Nation without the racism; to have it be recognizable, you can't scrub it out completely, because of how deeply ingrained in the original work it is. Very true. In many Shakespeare adaptations, it's not too hard to remove some racism; in Whedon's Much Ado, they changed the word Jew to Fool, line still worked. Merchant is...trickier. Yeah, a few more silent scenes would've worked, but I know I felt some sympathy for Shylock by the end.
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Dec 30, 2014 05:40
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A major problem is that Shylock is ultimately a supporting character in a comedy- Shakespeare was empathetic enough to glimpse past his and society's anti-Semitism to at least posit "this guy is human, after all, isn't he?" but it never gets past that, and the mood of the play is so light overall that trying to bring in a serious consideration of racial prejudice is difficult.
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Dec 30, 2014 18:44
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Stare-Out posted:I watched Titus last night and drat, that movie is like a fever dream. It's very, very faithful to the material which is great but the modernizations come off as a bit clumsy, particularly in Goldenthal's otherwise great score. Hopkins easily steals the show and the scene where Titus pleads for his sons' lives is absolutely captivating. And speaking of Taymor's adaptations, what's the story with The Tempest? The cast looks stellar but I saw it received mixed to negative reviews. Worth checking out?
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Jan 2, 2015 19:24
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Maxwell Lord posted:A major problem is that Shylock is ultimately a supporting character in a comedy- Shakespeare was empathetic enough to glimpse past his and society's anti-Semitism to at least posit "this guy is human, after all, isn't he?" but it never gets past that, and the mood of the play is so light overall that trying to bring in a serious consideration of racial prejudice is difficult. Yeah I don't think it can be redeemed for modern audiences, unless irony is layered on with a trowel. It's pretty much 'welp, the jew died so lets get on with our fun aristo stuff'.
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Jan 4, 2015 23:05
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Watched the Walker/Eccleston Othello. It's good, but not exceptional. Walker's Othello is believable as a jealous murderer, because he's pretty much a turd. From his condescending speech to the rioters at the beginning to the fact that he's conspicuously never shown doing anything, the film flirts with making Iago's conviction that he's some sort of caricatured undeserving Affirmative Action hire explicitly true - but then again, the film is largely from Iago's point of view. It really plays up Iago's sexual attraction to Othello, too, which is appropriate given its emphasis on modern race relations. You can totally see Eccleston's Iago heading home to jerk off to interracial cuckolding porn - he's jealous of Othello in both senses of the word, envious of his promotion and jealous of his affection.
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Jan 6, 2015 05:35
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Ensign_Ricky posted:For the most part it doesn't take me out, it's just a little jarring to me. Sounds like you're just about ready for Prospero's Books, Ricky.
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Jan 6, 2015 22:30
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DrVenkman posted:For anyone with an interest in Shakespeare...and hip hop, this is a great talk. Akala is a pretty clever and talented dude. He did one song that was basically all Shakespeare references https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUCFlzrkclg
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Jan 7, 2015 03:42
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sbaldrick posted:Maybe its because Merchant is my favorite of all the play (it was the first one i ever read)s, but I remember when this play was being made and being really excited by the fact they where planning on cleaning up the antisemitism to fit a modern world and it just didn't go far enough. They did include the last scene of him being kicked out of the ghetto since he was forced to convert.
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Jan 9, 2015 21:04
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I remember seeing Branagh's Love's Labours Lost a while back, and being absolutely shocked that Matthew Lillard was far from the worst thing about that adaptation.
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Jan 10, 2015 01:24
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Meaty Ore posted:I remember seeing Branagh's Love's Labours Lost a while back, and being absolutely shocked that Matthew Lillard was far from the worst thing about that adaptation. Same. There was an interview with him a while back where he talks about how out of place he was in that movie but I think he actually does just fine with it, and there are certainly worse parts about it than him.
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Jan 10, 2015 12:36
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I haven't watched many Shakespeare adaptations other than Romeo + Juliet, but I'm looking to get into them now (especially since I recently took a class on Hamlet). What are your guys' thoughts on Laurence Olivier's version of Hamlet?
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Jan 22, 2015 21:37
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Akarshi posted:I haven't watched many Shakespeare adaptations other than Romeo + Juliet, but I'm looking to get into them now (especially since I recently took a class on Hamlet). What are your guys' thoughts on Laurence Olivier's version of Hamlet? It doesn't have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and is therefore lame. The film noirish look it has going is cool though. I'm fond of the Branagh version myself, though at 4 hours in length it is a bit long. It's not perfect but it is my favorite version. I like the 2009 BBC version as well if only for Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 00:29
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Julie Taymor's The Tempest is incredible. Taymor has a wonderful sense of cinema.         
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Feb 1, 2015 21:20
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So, I mean, it has my favorite film Caliban, a great Trinculo, a good Sebastian and Antonio, a gorgeous Miranda and Ferdinand (aside from Ferd's ill-considered mustache) and turning Prospero into a lady works better than you might have imagined, but uh, for every three beautiful shots, there's a shot from a lovely music video, typically whenever Ariel shows up. Plus it's got a really bad case of Orangeandteal Disease...          Also, massive negative marks in my book for loving with the script so much. I mean, yeah, sure, you want to make the movie shorter so let's just chop out a bunch of lines, but come the gently caress on. This is Shakespeare. If anyone's the kind of guy who wrote stuff that's worth keeping in the script, it's loving Shakespeare. I also found it pretty hilarious that Ferdinand is wearing a tank top and jeans or something. I didn't mind, just found it funny:  I'm also surprised you picked a shot of Prospera in her circle of flames as an example of something you liked. That really didn't work for me. She's way overexposed for some reason, she doesn't really fit in with the background, and the palette all of a sudden gets all washed out.
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Feb 6, 2015 15:57
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I have to be honest, all that stuff you just posted is good. I like it all.
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Feb 6, 2015 20:30
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I have no problem watching JuTay's The Tempest on mute.
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Feb 6, 2015 22:35
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Grigori Kozintsev's 1964 Hamlet (Гамлет) hasn't been mentioned so far, which I'm sure is a hanging crime in some jurisdictions. Sorry in advance for the middling screenshots.  Kozintsev's film is very much a film. What this means is that it mercilessly cuts Shakespeare's poetry and instead translated it into its visual language. Putting acting etc aside, it has some inspired set choices. The literal "sea of troubles" that opens the movie, closes it, and frames the third soliloquy is rather obvious. Nature is right outside the prison of Elsinore.    Elsinore and the court are simply great. The castle is not Olivier's Expressionist shadows, or Branagh's Victorian palace. It's a monstrous fortress, mercilessly bright during day and hopelessly dark during night. Despite the occasional wall-painting or whatnot, it is at best sparse. Claudius' impeccably dressed ministers, for example, sit around a bare wooden table below. I think the second shot in this post might be the closest to an actual full view of the monster. The royal court, however, is strictly Renaissance in fashion and demeanor. Almost every scene has prominent nameless extras or crowds of them. Hamlet is only alone at the shore of the sea, and even then not always.         The statement is obvious: no amount of warmth or gilded pageantry can cover up the prison of Denmark. That's a motif at the very heart of the story, translated to screen.  (The heart-warming reunion between Hamlet and G&R). This doesn't really do it justice. Let's just end by saying this is how the movie interprets the Ghost:     Which I think is amazing. Kozintsev's Ghost is spectral, but impossibly real and solid. He is exaggeratedly slow and heavy, and Hamlet is reduced into a shadow in the background. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Feb 7, 2015 |
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Feb 6, 2015 22:40
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Did that one as a YTOTD - that drat ghost scene gives you chills.
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Feb 6, 2015 22:43
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2010 was like peak "everything is teal and orange"- I feel like it's settled down since.
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Feb 7, 2015 00:23
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Maxwell Lord posted:2010 was like peak "everything is teal and orange"- I feel like it's settled down since.
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Feb 7, 2015 08:23
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I'm watching the 1999 Brian Blessed version of King Lear. The production values are low, with Green screens and everything. Blessed himself is in a terrible white wig which makes him look like Horatio Sanz dressed as Merlin. Gloucester's son's idea of looking mad is covering himself in bright blue paint. The acting is wooden. The camerawork is uneven. It's pretty bad.
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Feb 18, 2015 00:09
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Has anybody seen An Age of Kings? I'm midway through it now, the Richard II was kind of a bust but Sean Connery is killing it as Hotspur and the kid they got for Prince Hal is surprisingly captivating.
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Feb 18, 2015 06:37
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i like the hamlet where he throws his sword like 100 yards through a giant chandeliers rope and it falls down and crushes claudius. i might have dreamed that but i think it was actually a movie
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Feb 21, 2015 20:30
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GrrrlSweatshirt posted:i like the hamlet where he throws his sword like 100 yards through a giant chandeliers rope and it falls down and crushes claudius. i might have dreamed that but i think it was actually a movie That's close enough. Kenneth Branagh. He pins Claudius to the throne by throwing the sword then jumps onto the rope, causing the chandelier to crash into him, THEN he forces him to drink the poison.
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Feb 21, 2015 20:39
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Professor Clumsy posted:That's close enough. Kenneth Branagh. He pins Claudius to the throne by throwing the sword then jumps onto the rope, causing the chandelier to crash into him, THEN he forces him to drink the poison. oh okay, that movie ruled
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Feb 21, 2015 20:43
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GrrrlSweatshirt posted:oh okay, that movie ruled Agreed.
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Feb 21, 2015 20:43
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I wouldn't call it a great movie, it's pretty self-indulgent. But it's actually fun for a four-hour full-text adaptation.   It's a gorgeous movie, and not just because of the choice of set and costume design. Branagh's Elsinore is a late-19th century gilded cage. Everything is beautiful, until you start to notice how many hidden doors there are. The movie uses a lot of long takes that create to take up the whole space of the palace. The camera can circle around character repeatedly to emphasise the characters acting in this environment. The sequence after the closet scene is my favourite part. After Hamlet drags the body away, all hell breaks loose.  The three scenes after this - Claudius discovering what's happened, the capture of Hamlet, and his sending away - are shot as a series of long takes. This gives them a frenetic pace that underlines the spiraling insanity of Elsinore.        Even Claudius is reduced to dashing around in stupefaction. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Feb 22, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 22:39
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Lest we forget https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGDzD42XURo
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Feb 22, 2015 01:00
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