A Knight's Tale

[faerieofdeath]

I have absolutely no idea what to make of this movie.  On one hand, you have your average mideval movie involving a noble, tragic, charismatic hero fighting for glory and ramming sticks into people.  On the other hand, you have knights with nike swooshes on their armor, crowds of peasants singing along to Queen, and the most historically innacurate costumes and hair I have ever seen outside of my 9th grade Romeo And Juliet report/video.  It was interesting, amusing, well-made, and featured a good representation of Geffory Chaucher, but at several points all I could do was stare blankly at the screen and say "What the hell was that?".  I'm pretty sure somebody has posted something about this before, but I am so utterly dumbfounded that I have no choice but to vent my confusion to the people whose movie opinions I trust the most.  Wow, what a disturbing statement.

[Scott]

This is why A KNIGHTS TALE is the best film out at this time. Its much better than THE RETURN OF THE MUMMY, SHREK, and probably better  from what I've heard than  PEARL HARBOR..

I liked A KNIGHTS TALE very much. It is probably the film of the summer, but I'm hoping GHOST ON MARS, PLANET OF THE APES, and TOMB RAIDER can somehow save this summers movies.

I loved the banquet scene with the music and the document forger/gambler/speaker character in KNIGHT TALE. The director and characters in A KNIGHTS TALE are all good.

[BoyScoutKevin]

They did it to appeal to today's audience. But, there are ways, then there are ways.  The right way is 1968's "Romeo and Juliet."
True to its time period, but appealing to '60's audiences. The wrong way is "A Knight's Tale." I never seen a film that was more
schizoid. There were things about it that I loved, but there were
parts of it, that so turned me off to it, that I could not look at the screen. (IMO) A noble failure. Having seen "The Mummy's Return," I will agree with him that "A Knight's Tale" is better then that one. I have no plans ever to see "Shrek," so I will not
comment on that one. I do have plans to see "Pearl Harbor" on Monday, so after I see it, I hope to let everyone I know what I thought of it. As for the rest, with all due respect to Scott, I hope that "A Knight's Tale" is not the best film of the summer. If it is, then we are in deep trouble. But, his taste in films this summer seem to run contrary to mine. Of the three films he named, the only one I plan on seeing is "Planet of the Apes," then only to compare it to the original. I do not have high hopes for the new one, as I am not a fan of Tim Burton. Except, for his
"Ed Wood," I think he would be better off sticking to animation. Until next time . . . Enjoy whatever you see.

[faerieofdeath]

The document forger/gambler/speaker (who happened to be my favorite character, too) was actually a real person at one point.  His name was Geffory Chaucher and he was a very popular author, his most well-known work probably being "The Canterbury Tales", which involves a group of religious pilgrims in the 13th (I think?) century sitting around a tavern and swapping stories.  I don't know much about his life, but, whether accurate or not, it was a wonderful depiction of a struggling mideval writer.

[peter johnson]

Despite what Roger Ebert says -- he liked it -- I have no plan to see this either, especially now that I know that Chaucer is supposed to be a character in it.
If we were to simply get a film of the stories of Chaucer told in cinematic fashion, I think it could easily fly with today's audiences:  Huge fart jokes, @!#$ jokes, rabid bad sex jokes, fat jokes, stupidity jokes, and the usual greed, avarice, lust, violence, and other stuff of the human condition.  Sounds like Adam Sandler . . .
Anyway, this Knight thing sounds awful to me -- and I do admit I could be wrong --
What the hell do we need with bad retellings of classic story forms when there has never been a decent Beowulf or Nigril's Saga or etc. etc. etc. etc. brought to the silver screen?  Do a faithful adaptation of "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight" from the 1200's and its violence and sex and carnage and other human excesses would put current video games to shame -- it would have to be rated "NC-17".
Why must everything interesting in literary history be constantly DUMBED DOWN to some imaginary lowest common denominator?  Why not just tell the straight story?  KEEP the stuff in them that modern audiences are supposed not to get or understand -- there may be a new fashion craze for wimpoles and codpieces -- which I think would be perfectly wonderful  . . ..

[Scott]

Peter, I can understand your feelings for a classical tale, but perhaps you might like this one. Give it a chance. My view may be tainted though because I seen it a week after seeing RETURN OF THE MUMMY, but i did enjoy it and I think you will also.

[BoyScoutKevin]

As I said in my earlier post, after seeing "Pearl Harbor" on Monday, here is my comparison of "Pearl Harbor" and "A Knight's Tale." Scot may disagree, and that is okay, but this is why I enjoyed "Pearl Harbor" more then "A Knight's Tale." I like to get emotionally involved in a movie. Five minutes into "Pearl Harbor," I was emotionally involved with the characters. I never could get emotionally involved with the characters in "A Knight's Tale." "Pearl Harbor" was better cast. By that, I mean the more actors I recognize in the cast, the better I like it. In "Pearl Harbor" I recognized Jon Voight, Mako, Josh Harnett, Alec Baldwin, Dan Akyrod, Ben Affleck, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. In "A Knight's Tale," I recognized Heath Ledger. As an action aficionado, I am always looking a good piece of action. As I like my action more close up and personal, of all the war films of all the battles that have occured in the last century, that I have seen, I have seen only three films, that I thought had really good action: "All Quiet on the Western Front," "A Bridge Too Far," and "Pearl Harbor." So I thought the action was better in this one, then "A Knight's Tale." It was funnier. It was more historically accurate. At least more historically accurate then "A Knight's Tale." Recognize the lady at the Cabinet meeting. That was Elizabeth Perkins, the Secretary of Labor, and the first woman to serve in the Cabinet. The filmmakers did not have to include her, for who would have said anything. But, I appreciate the care the filmmakers did take to get it right. The music was better. At least I did not wince like I did when I heard that anachronistic music in "A Knight's Tale." And if not for all those reasons, then for one more. At last, "Pearl Harbor" gave me some idea of what my mother and father went through during WWII.

[The Waffle Man]

You people are nuts; Shrek is a GREAT movie. You should all go see it. The Villain wasn't as fleshed out as he could have been, but other then that, a fine movie. I especially loved that hydrocephalic lord Farquad mascot. They made an action figure out of him, you know.