Beowulf. Are You Going To Go See It?

[Wezil]

LordShiva = Poly's own Ralph Cifaretto

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Wezil
LordShiva = Poly's own Ralph Cifaretto

LordShiva

[BeBMan]

I just read the Beowulf thing is by Robert Zemeckis. Maybe that saves it. Or not, since Stone also messed up the Alexander movie

As for 300, IIRC asked by the press if the movie showed fascist tendencies Snyder reacted surprised, and said he made the movie in a way like Spartan warriors would talk about such a battle to eachother, with lots of exaggerations and a simple "Feindbild". IMO that explains a bit, but I still think it was ridicilously overdone (probably like the comic, but that doesn't make it any better in my book).

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by BeBro
I just read the Beowulf thing is by Robert Zemeckis. Maybe that saves it.

Yep, if I wanted to bring English's founding epic poem to the big screen, I'd be screaming into the phone, "Get me the guy who did Back to the Future and Forrest Gump!"

"Mama always said, life is like a hall of Spear-Danes" -- Grendel

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Yep, if I wanted to bring English's founding epic poem to the big screen, I'd be screaming into the phone, "Get me the guy who did Back to the Future and Forrest Gump!"

Contact had some epic qualities I guess...

[Elok]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
I love the Seamus Heaney translation of the poem.

I've heard of that one, but never read it. My version is a prose translation by someone named Constance B. Hieatt. Any idea how they compare? Anyway, this thread has got me hungering for some bleak Germanic worldview, so I'm going to read it again.

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Wezil
LordShiva = Poly's own Ralph Cifaretto

LordShiva = Poly's own Ralph Kramden

[Guynemer]

Slowwhand = Poly's own Mongo from Blazing Saddles.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

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

We're going to go see it. Neil, he's very good at capturing the essence of his source material while still changing it into something unique and interesting. I've been a fan of the original (my version is prose by Robert K. Gorden) for a long time, but (since it has been mentioned) the original would play as well as the actual history of Thermopylae in theaters. Take it for what it is; a transformation, not a translation.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Elok


I've heard of that one, but never read it. My version is a prose translation by someone named Constance B. Hieatt. Any idea how they compare? Anyway, this thread has got me hungering for some bleak Germanic worldview, so I'm going to read it again.

Seems like there's been a movement lately to retranslate epic poems to make them less 'literary' and more immediate, recapturing the sense that these would have been works designed to be heard, not read -- and heard, moreover, by uneducated people. The Fagels translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Pinsky translation of Dante's Inferno, and Heaney's traslation of Beowulf all work this way.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


Yep, if I wanted to bring English's founding epic poem to the big screen, I'd be screaming into the phone, "Get me the guy who did Back to the Future and Forrest Gump!"

"Mama always said, life is like a hall of Spear-Danes" -- Grendel

Aah, you're afraid that he would it mess up like the ET guy did with Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List?

Seriously, if this Beowulf thing sucks or not, the idea that one director can only be good at a certain genre is kinda strange.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by BeBro


Aah, you're afraid that he would it mess up like the ET guy did with Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List?

Seriously, if this Beowulf thing sucks or not, the idea that one director can only be good at a certain genre is kinda strange.

Frankly, I think Saving Private Ryan and especially Schindler's List (and The Color Purple, for that matter) are mediocre films at best, and suffered greatly because they were being helmed by Spielberg. And it's precisely because Spielberg is a shallow, banal director with no ability to make films that transcend the category of crass entertainment -- much like his protege, Zemeckis.

Beyond that, most directors, like most artists in general, do have a limited range, or at least a limited vision that does not serve all genres equally well. Much as I like Hitchcock, I wouldn't want to see his "Annie Hall," any more than I'd want to see Woody Allen's "Vertigo" (except I would want to see that, but for all the wrong reasons). Zemeckis is good at what he does -- light entertainment. But I wouldn't trust him with a literary epic any more than I would trust David Lean with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

[BeBMan]

I disagree I want to see Scott's American Gangster as much as I wanted to see his Alien, Bladerunner, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Blackhawk Down, Thelma and Louise...and yeah I know that one can always point to some weaker movies, or weaker parts of those mentioned movies. I still don't buy the "limited range" thing per se.

And all criticism on Spielberg aside, I wouldn't call Schindler's list "crass entertainment".

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by BeBro
Gladiator

Ridley Scott + Russell Crowe

[SlowwHand]

I will never watch "Blackhawk Down" again.
Movies are meant to entertain, IMHO. That movie just pisses me off.