OK, I will answer the obvious question first: Why is the intrepid adventurer Indianasmith watching a "chick flick" like this anyway?
Well, I am hugely interested in Tudor England - it was a fascinating crossroads in history, and a time of incredible, larger than life personalities as well as a remarkable flowering of art, literature, and science - the height of the English Renaissance coinciding almost exactly with the English Reformation. In short, a remarkable time to be alive.
And the dynamo that drove the change was, of course, "the King's Great Matter" - Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon that broke England away from the Catholic church and made him the most powerful monarch (tyrant) in English history. Anne Boleyn, of course, was the siren who seduced him away from his queen, only to come to a bad end three years later when she was executed for treason and witchcraft.
I had read the Philippa Gregory novel this movie was based on last fall, and found it to be both entertaining and reasonably accurate. Beyond the almost irresistable compulsion to insert 20th century attitudes and mores into her 16th century characters, the story stuck to the historical narrative in most places and filled in the gaps with at least credible speculation. The novel is narrated by Mary Boleyn, Anne's sister who was the King's mistress before his legendary romance with Anne began, hence the title.
Now I realize that, when compressing the events of an entire turbulent decade into a two hour movie, some liberties have to be taken. I will also say, in all fairness that the lead actresses, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansen are of course, easy on the eyes. And Eric Bana resembles the real Henry VIII far more than John Rhys-Meyers of Showtime's THE TUDORS.
But, all that being said, this movie not only mangled and compressed the history of those years beyond all recognition, it also grossly distorted and twisted the storyline of Gregory's novel. The dialogue was frankly impossible, many of the minor details badly botched, and the acting performances were frankly wooden. Scenes and characters jumped around so swiftly that it was hard to remember who was who.
In case I have not made myself clear, this movie SUCKED big-time!!! About the time King Henry was depicted RAPING Anne Boleyn in their first intimate encounter, I turned to my wife and said, "This is just really an atrocious film." It got no better after that.
So if you want to see a much more accurate and better done retelling of the events of those turbulent years, rent Season I of Showtime's THE TUDORS. Not only does the length of the series allow for a more accurate depiction, the casting is far better, the characters far better developed, the sets are gorgeous, and the whole thing is just better.
And yes, the Showtime series has boobs.
I've looked at this a time or two at the video store ... and thought about for about a second. Then I said to myself, "Self, this looks like some girlie-man-click-flick-crap IndianaSmith would watch!" and placed it back on the shelf. :wink: I opted to go with "The Bank Job" instead.
We watched this one a couple weeks back. I wasn't impressed, either. Oh, the look of the film - costumes, sets, etc, - was cool, but having gotten spoiled on The Tudors' slower pace, this film seemed like a hatchet job.
Oops --
I've actually been looking forward to seeing this one, as I loved Johannsen in "Girl With The Pearl Earring" and "The Prestige", and I think she does period-acting just about as good as anyone can.
What bad news --
peter johnson/denny crane
My wife really enjoyed the book, and she has been interested in seeing the movie. The warning is much appreciated.
Any film based based in England now or containing any historical content is either a ganster flick (stop it guy ritchie!) or obviously a period drama. I had to learn all about Tudor England in school, so anything like this bores the pants off me.
I work with a woman who loved the book but turned the movie off after a half hour. She said the book was butchered to hell.
Quote from: circus_circus on July 26, 2008, 12:27:46 PM
Any film based based in England now or containing any historical content is either a ganster flick (stop it guy ritchie!) or obviously a period drama. I had to learn all about Tudor England in school, so anything like this bores the pants off me.
I don't see how anyone could find a time period with such high drama and captivating characters boring, unless it was poorly presented. Was your history teacher perchance a basketball coach?
He was deputy principal aswell as history, the classes were always disrupted by this loony kid.
I got a better history teacher in my final 2 years of high school though, he was a real character and you could tell that he really had a passion for history.
World war II was the main focus of my exam, with a small section on Russia. I loved all that, found that stuff very interesting and I did very well in my history exam.
Quote from: indianasmith on July 24, 2008, 11:28:24 PM
it was a fascinating crossroads in history, and a time of incredible, larger than life personalities as well as a remarkable flowering of art, literature, and science - the height of the English Renaissance coinciding almost exactly with the English Reformation. In short, a remarkable time to be alive.
A remarkable "flowering" of art, literature, etc.? Good grief, are you turning poet on us or what? Where's the guy with the hat holding the turtle?
History is my passion, whether it be grubbing an 8,000 year old spearpoint up from a lakebed while fending off the snakes with my stick, or reading about the court dramas of Tudor England, or watching the re-created glories of ancient Rome in an epic film. It's all me.
Quote from: indianasmith on July 27, 2008, 08:19:29 AM
History is my passion, whether it be grubbing an 8,000 year old spearpoint up from a lakebed while fending off the snakes with my stick, or reading about the court dramas of Tudor England, or watching the re-created glories of ancient Rome in an epic film. It's all me.
So have you seen "To Kill a King" I rented it yesterday, going to watch if later. Looks interesting.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302436/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302436/)
Yes - I even started a thread on it here somewhere. I liked it pretty well; that is a fascinating part of English history that I would like to know more about.