This is a very well-directed film. The great joy of watching a Branagh-directed Shakespeare is the effort put into ensuring that the diction is as clear and natural as possible without losing the strength of the text. The cast is excellent, Derek Jacobi and Kate Winslet in particular; even cameos for which you would perhaps have doubts - such as Robin Williams, who impresses with his characterisation of Osric, and Billy Crystal as the gravedigger - work. Indeed, the repartee between Billy Crystal and Simon Russell-Beale in the graveyard scene is the funniest I have ever witnessed.
The colour and sets are spectacular, all filmed in 70mm, allowing for great richness and definition. Branagh says he wanted to escape the Gothic look ... Read More:
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One of Thomas Hardy's best-loved novels is sensitively and accurately dramatised in this 1967 classic.
Upon inheriting her uncle's farm, the beautiful and assertive Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie) is the most sought after maiden in the whole of Weatherbury. She's forced to choose between the affections of three very different men; local shepherd Gabriel Oak, gentleman farmer Mr. Boldwood and the womanising Sargeant Frank Troy. Here, Hardy's classic tale of love, betrayal and tragedy is faithfully dramatised. Personally though, I think the 1998 Paloma Baeza version is even better!
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Hitchcock used an example to explain the difference between surprise and suspense. If people are seated at a table and a bomb explodes, that is surprise. If they are seated at a table, and you know there's a bomb under the table attached to a ticking clock, but they continue to play cards -- that's suspense. There's a bomb under "Dont Look Now" for excruciating stretches of time.
I was expecting this slow-moving movie to descend into routine shock and horror movie,but it doesn't. Most of the movie is all waiting, anticipating and dreading. The jolts that come about midway are of a similar magnitude to movies such as Sixth Sense or The Exorcist.
I first saw this film 30 years ago and was bowled over by the scenery and the actors. Recently I decided to watch it with a more critical eye and found to my surprise that I was even more captivated by the vastness of the landscape which throughout the film forms the backdrop for the tragic love story that unfolds.
At first I thought that Sharif's Zhivago was too "soft" but as the film unfolded I realised that he was "the poet". Christie was as always perfect as Lara and we shouldn't forget Chaplin as the dutiful and loving wife. She plays the role with just the right amount of pathos. However it is Steiger and Courtney who carry the film.
The sight of Courtney standing at the front of a military train rushing past civilians that he neither sees or hears. ... Read More:
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I first saw this film 30 years ago and was bowled over by the scenery and the actors. Recently I decided to watch it with a more critical eye and found to my surprise that I was even more captivated by the vastness of the landscape which throughout the film forms the backdrop for the tragic love story that unfolds.
At first I thought that Sharif's Zhivago was too "soft" but as the film unfolded I realised that he was "the poet". Christie was as always perfect as Lara and we shouldn't forget Chaplin as the dutiful and loving wife. She plays the role with just the right amount of pathos. However it is Steiger and Courtney who carry the film.
The sight of Courtney standing at the front of a military train rushing past civilians that he neither sees or hears. ... Read More:
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I love the Prisoner of Azkaban.I totally don't have anything I don't like about it. My favourite bit is when Marge blew up like a great big balloon .Hagrids garden has changed in the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm aged 7 (seven)
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This is a very well-directed film. The great joy of watching a Branagh-directed Shakespeare is the effort put into ensuring that the diction is as clear and natural as possible without losing the strength of the text. The cast is excellent, Derek Jacobi and Kate Winslet in particular; even cameos for which you would perhaps have doubts - such as Robin Williams, who impresses with his characterisation of Osric, and Billy Crystal as the gravedigger - work. Indeed, the repartee between Billy Crystal and Simon Russell-Beale in the graveyard scene is the funniest I have ever witnessed.
The colour and sets are spectacular, all filmed in 70mm, allowing for great richness and definition. Branagh says he wanted to escape the Gothic look of previous Hamlets, "away from ... Read More:
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I first saw this film 30 years ago and was bowled over by the scenery and the actors. Recently I decided to watch it with a more critical eye and found to my surprise that I was even more captivated by the vastness of the landscape which throughout the film forms the backdrop for the tragic love story that unfolds.
At first I thought that Sharif's Zhivago was too "soft" but as the film unfolded I realised that he was "the poet". Christie was as always perfect as Lara and we shouldn't forget Chaplin as the dutiful and loving wife. She plays the role with just the right amount of pathos. However it is Steiger and Courtney who carry the film.
The sight of Courtney standing at the front of a military train rushing past civilians that he neither sees or hears. Here is a man ... Read More:
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This was a five star film when I was twenty, and genuinely cried at the end feeling my hero had a hard time of it and wern't women cruel and wasn't that the best party ever...now I saw it, laughed a bit, once, and found it horribly dated...but dear viewer, if you are twenty, and sexually inexperienced, you'l probably think it is brilliant..like the Doors really, and there is nothing wrong with that, I just dread watching the Hair film by milos forman again, to find it's lustre gone(do I dare?)
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Yes, it is a pity that the movie is not presented in its intended theatrical aspect ratio 1.85. But to make it clear it is not presented in "butchered 1.33 to fit conventional TV screens" or a "TV-friendly crop of the original wide-screen movie" either. The movie is presented in its original open matte format, which means it was shot in conventional 1.33 to fit TV screens. For theatrical release the picture was then cropped at the top and the bottom, a common practice since the Fifties. So the picture is nothing missing here as the other reviewers suggest. Instead, it shows more information at the top and the bottom than the theatrical release. Just for the record.
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