I teach GCSE drama in a rough Saff London Comp and get the students hooked with Baz Lurhrmann's modern version of it and then to teach them more of what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote the play, I show them this one by Zeffirelli - it works a treat. It is beautifully done, universal in its themes and appeal and the acting is rivitingly good - especially the very young and beautiful Olivia Hussy, though Michael York as a petulant Tybalt is equally good.
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I have watched this film time and time again and I never fail to find it as funny as I did the first time I watched it. If you are Irish you can totally get the humour in this film. I found it hilarious and would strongly recommend it.
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"Loot" is a black farce which in the stage version is a heady mixture of brilliant deadpan, highly stylised dialogue and an ever-tightening thumbscrew of a plot. It is relentless, and the fact that it never allows the audience a moment to relax is what makes it increasingly and hysterically funny. It's one of those plays where the word hysterical is not a sloppy substitute for "jolly good", because the characters are frequently on the verge of hysteria. The plot is well-summarised in other reviews, so I won't go over it again.
Silvio Marizzano is one of those directors who doesn't trust his material, and would much rather Orton had written something different, simpler and shallower, so he tries to make it as much like a Carry-On film ... Read More:
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In many ways it is a great film. It is a film about justice and how crooked it is. Justice is not interested in truth but in respecting some procedures, some rules that only aim at protecting the powerful. The flaw in that system is not the judges who are unbreakable walls keeping the defense counselors of the victims in their place, which is in the margin of the case. The flaw is the jury when there is one and when this jury is not crooked, bought up, bribed or simply afraid. This jury has all powers they can dream of in their hands as for making justice and making the law, the common law of jurisprudence. But what can a jury be afraid of? Many things. In this film it is not the racial problem. It is not the social problem either. This case has to do with ... Read More:
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Don't you just miss John Candy? Not one of his funniest parts - he's actually out-acted by the wonderful Maureen O'Hara - but a fabulous film all the same that leaves you with a happy glow at the end.
As a general rule, I am not especially drawn to horror films - even those which have a strong vein of comedy running through them - but Theatre of Blood (Douglas Hickox, 1973) is one of the exceptions.
Firstly, it has a very imaginative premise:- Ham Shakespearean actor forced out of his profession by a "circle" of theatre critics decides to revenge himself on the lot of them, by murdering them one by one in ways that have been directly lifted from Shakespeare's plays. He is assisted in this by a new "company of players" he has recruited from the ranks of London's down and outs. At this point, Theatre of Blood reminded me of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange which came out a couple of years earlier. And it's none the worse for that.
Literary anoraks usually have difficulty in coping with movie adapations of their favourite books, failing to understand that their mental view of the original will not survive the change of medium and the consequent creation of a new art form. A book as iconic as Joyce's Ulysses will never be faithfully 'reproduced' on screen to the satisfaction of such critics.
In fact Joseph Strick's 1967 film not only sees the successful transition of Joyce's book into a new medium (within the 'new wave' tradition popular with film makers at the time) but has also created a work that remains highly relevant to the 21st century viewer. Strick actually filmed in black and white and in 'modern dress' ( for the time) for budgetary rather than aesthetic reasons.
On Monday this was 8.99 and I put it in my basket. I wanted to pay today, Tuesday and saw that it had gone up to 17.99. Very trashy Amazon. Are you giving the extra to any of Mr Newman's charities?
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I teach GCSE drama in a rough Saff London Comp and get the students hooked with Baz Lurhrmann's modern version of it and then to teach them more of what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote the play, I show them this one by Zeffirelli - it works a treat. It is beautifully done, universal in its themes and appeal and the acting is rivitingly good - especially the very young and beautiful Olivia Hussy, though Michael York as a petulant Tybalt is equally good.
>>More Details