Beowulf. Are You Going To Go See It?

[Japher]

Looks lame to me, the poem was good however.

[Winston]

Sounds like a new line of Bang & Olufsen speakers aimed at the German consumer market.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
Hollywood has an amazing ability to take almost any era of history or literature and turn into something almost unrecognizable mess and lose it's original meaning. 300 was just an awful movie and the portrayal of Persians was despicable. It honestly reminded me of Nazi portrayal of Jews in their propaganda films and seemed to glorify a totalitarian Spartan society while omitting the rampant pederasty they practiced.

You watched 300 expecting to see a history movie?

Do you do the same with Oliver Stone movies?

[Apocalypse]

Yeah, because the Spartans were also shown as a model society.

[Elok]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Funny that you mention 300. Everytime I see the promos for Beowulf I keep hearing, "This. Is. SPARTA!!! I. Am. BEOWULF!!!"

Beat me to it...anyone else see the Robot Chicken where they have the This Is Sparta guy in different anticlimactic situations, e.g. watching "Two and a Half Men," screaming "THIS. ISN'T. FUNNY!" and kicking the TV over?

Oh, and of course I'm not looking forward to their sodomizing the stark Anglo-Saxon tone of the poem and turning it into more closeted machismo crap, Grendel's mother was not the sort you'd want to see naked albeit Angelina Jolie is, etc, etc...

Now, place your bets on what they're going to ruin next. Perhaps Iwo Jima, with lots of little Japanese guys with pointy horns and samurai swords overrunning three naked giants with eagle tattoos and miniguns?

EDIT: Grendel's mother, not Beowulf's. Actually, I wouldn't want to see Beowulf's mother naked either, considering how old he is at the time of the poem/movie, but that's another story.

[Wezil]

Americans looking to Hollywood to learn their history.

[Zkribbler]

Am I the only one thinking about seeing this??

To me, it's as if they've taken motion capture to a new level. It looks almost real and I think this technique has a real future in fantasy/sci-fi flix.

I don't care how much Neil Gaiman changes the story. As was said above, the original Beowolf story is boring. ...And Gaiman is a terrific writer. I have faith that anything he does will be far better than the original.

And the movie has Angelina Jolie.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Wiglaf


Wiglaf

QFT

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Am I the only one thinking about seeing this??

Nope. I'll wait until DVD but I will see it also.

I expect entertainment from Hollywood, not accurate portayals of history or word by word devotion to original literature. This has potential to be entertaining.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Am I the only one thinking about seeing this??

On this forum? Possibly.

To me, it's as if they've taken motion capture to a new level. It looks almost real and I think this technique has a real future in fantasy/sci-fi flix.

Did you like the Star Wars prequels?

I don't care how much Neil Gaiman changes the story. As was said above, the original Beowolf story is boring. ...And Gaiman is a terrific writer. I have faith that anything he does will be far better than the original.

Don't know enough about Gaiman to judge, I only ever read one Sandman collection my brother left behind. It was okay, I guess. As for Beowulf being boring, you have to be able to immerse yourself in the world as you read.

And the movie has Angelina Jolie.

Geez, you're acting like there's a shortage of Angelina Jolie cheesecake out there. Like Bkeela said, watch Gia. Or Foxfire. Or Pushing Tin, IIRC. Or the two Tomb Raider abominations, or...there are a ton of them, really. She's not exactly shy.

[DinoDoc]

I'm probably going to go see it.

[Riesstiu IV]

Originally posted by Wezil


Americans looking to Hollywood to learn their history.

What I don't like is directors misleading the audience into believing their films are history. Zack Snyder, the director claimed that the events in the movie were largely historical accurate.

Yet I realize the film is based on a comic that appeals to basement dwelling teenagers with sociopath tendencies. All those slow motion death scenes, turning Persians into strange zombies and monsters, and making Spartans into ubermensch. All these aspects of the film appeal to that demographic.

I understand that films are usually never historically inaccurate but 300 is just an insult to anyone interested in classical history and anyone with a brain. There are plenty of things wrong with the film besides to history aspect. How about the cliched dialogue? "Freedom is never free."

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
What I don't like is directors misleading the audience into believing their films are history. Zack Snyder, the director claimed that the events in the movie were largely historical accurate.

"Largely" doesn't necessarily mean all. Just the basic facts included (Spartans led by Leonidas and Persians led by Xerxes fighting a lengthy and quantitatively lop-sided battle in a narrow pass near Thermopylae in the 5th century BC with period weaponry before a traitor gave the Persians an alternate route) all meet the requirements of "largely."

Edit: after some googling I see that indeed Snyder only said the events are 90% accurate, whereas the visualization was undoubtedly complete fiction. He even said in another interview (link) that 300 was a "fantasy film," simply dramatizing the embellished narration of Dilios, "a guy who knows how not to wreck a good story with truth." By any interpretation of these statements the movie wasn't even purported history, sorry.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV


What I don't like is directors misleading the audience into believing their films are history. Zack Snyder, the director claimed that the events in the movie were largely historical accurate.

And shame on you if you believe a Hollywood director that says such things. He's an "artist" (yes I use the term loosely) not an historian.

I personally enjoy Oliver Stone flics. I find his style to be very visually appealing but I certainly don't accept his movies as accurate depictions of historical fact.

Your complaints about movie style are valid enough. If you didn't like the look, tone, dialogue or style of 300 then that's your call but to trash the flic b/c it doesn't measure up historically is just silly.

[LordShiva]

Gladiator