Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Legend/Mythology
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Not much to pick from this week and can't say that I love love any today but do like some of them.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
It was a bit odd but interesting. I generally like it but don't think I get it get it since I'm not at all familiar with the Odyssey, beyond knowing who Odysseus is, which it is loosely based on. I did think the music is great.
Tristan + Isolde (2006)
I would have liked it much better if it had a better Tristan. The character mopes and cries quite a bit, which still could have turned out fine, but James Franco was just awful at it.
Tristan + Isolde (2006)
I would have liked it much better if it had a better Tristan. The character mopes and cries quite a bit, which still could have turned out fine, but James Franco was just awful at it.
Robin Hood (2010)
This
was just so unmemorable which is such a pity and it had a lot of good
actors in it. Also, doesn't Russell Crowe seem too old to be Robin Hood?
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Participating Blogs/Bloggers
I haven't seen any of these but I agree, Crowe is too old to play Robin Hood.
ReplyDeleteI know right!
DeleteO Brother is fantastic. I am somewhat familiar with The Odyssey, but I forgot most of it after reading it in college. I hated it. This, I love.
ReplyDeleteDidn't like either of your other picks. Franco was sooooooo bad, as he is in most things. I only think he's good in a handful of roles. Robin Hood was really bland and forgettable.
Franco - I know right! He was so bad in this. You're right, he can be so astonishing awful in some movies and yet be decent in others. He is so inconsistent.
DeleteI liked didn't love O Brother but it had many good things in it. I'm with you on the Franco film and his non-performance in it. I'm a Russell Crowe fan but this may be the worst version of Robin Hood I've ever seen. Even the Kevin Costner film had a great supporting cast and a sense of fun and adventure though nothing beats the Errol Flynn/Olivia de Havilland 30's film.
ReplyDeleteI picked three that all related to the Trojan legend in some way.
Iphigenia (1977)-Michael Cacoyannis’s (Zorba the Greek) intense rendering of the Greek tale of child sacrifice. King Agamemnon kills a deer in the sacred grove of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt which keeps the Greek fleet from sailing off to Troy. Turning to the oracle for a solution the message is handed down that the only way Agamemnon can restore the wind is to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess of the hunt. Summoning her under the guise of a betrothal and marriage contract to Achilles he is then faced with the bitter pleas and recriminations of his queen Clytemnestra (Irene Papas) and the defiance of Achilles, who discovers the plot and tries to intervene. Potent film with Papas a FORCE as the embattled queen.
Troy (2004)-While on an official visit Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) falls for Sparta’s King Menelaus's (Brendan Gleeson) wife, Helen (Diane Kruger) and she flees with him to Troy. Menelaus’s brother King Agamemnon (Brian Cox) sees his opportunity to declare war in his attempt to extend his control over the Aegean Sea. While stopgaps lead by Achilles (Brad Pitt) and Paris’s brother Hector (Eric Bana) are attempted at the behest of Trojan King Priam (Peter O’Toole) it all escalates into epic tragedy. Monumentally BIG production with an extremely starry cast is involving and compelling if overlong with good performances across the board save Bloom but Eric Bana stand out as Hector.
The Trojan Women (1971)-After the sacking of Troy Queen Hecuba (Katharine Hepburn) reflects on her ruined kingdom. Her son’s widow, Andromache (Vanessa Redgrave) is raising their son, Astyanax (Alberto Sanz) alone and Hecuba's daughter, Cassandra (Geneviève Bujold) dreads enslavement by their Greek masters. Meanwhile Helen of Troy (Irene Papas) risks being executed. All the women fear for Astyanax as he is now the focus of the Greeks' attention as the last male heir of the Trojan royal family. With that powerhouse cast and a dramatic story this should have been a riveting watch but its muddy photography, inert staging and despairing tone make it a slog.
I like Crowe too but he was I think miscast as Robin Hood. Ridley Scott was probably trying to create the magic of Gladiator.
DeleteOf your picks I've only seen Troy and it was just ok for me.
I read Ulysses and enjoyed the film with Kirk Douglas and I really enjoyed O Brother but it helps to know the legend. I love the story of Tristan und Isolde but James Franco would be horrid. I actually like this Robin Hood version but it is a serious take on this legend which kind of took the stuffing out of this fun legend and yes, Crowe is too old but I still enjoy watching it.
ReplyDeleteI like the story of Tristan and Isolde too, which is why I still enjoyed the movie. Everyone else in the movie is fine. Only Franco was horrible.
DeleteI've seen all of these but I'm not crazy about any of them.
ReplyDelete