Romeo + Juliet

[modage]

i love baz.  i prefer moulin rouge to r+j, but i remember when it came out how inventive and different the film was.  like, the fact it made kids go see shakespeare was pretty good, i think.  i dunno, i think its pretty great.  moulin rouge blows my mind though.

[NEON MERCURY]

.....this movie was whack....when i was a younng'n after this movie was released theatrically..everybody went ape-sh(it) over leo and claire annd said that shakespheare was "hip"......if shakes was still alive he would smack baz upside the head w/ a stone tablet or something.....

[Sleuth]

"it is the eeeaaaaaaast.......and Juliet is....the sun??????????.....!!!!!"

[Jeremy Blackman]

if shakes was still alive he would smack baz upside the head w/ a tablet or something.....

Why, because his works are alive?

New interpretations are always a good thing.

Which inspires me to start a new thread!

http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?p=113494#113494

[Finn]

I'm glad I could bring this up. A new thread is born.

[Pedro]

thoughts

luhrmann's version is closer to the original play than zifferelli's in one sense:  it starts more light heartedly and gets more and more tragic.  in that sense, the movie trailer editing style of the beginning defenitely works.  the Z man's version starts out very seriously and just continues on from there.

id say luhrman's version is innovative in the way that it handles the material...i'd say it's a letter to the ADD MTV generation, and how they would have to see shakespeare presented to enjoy it...

however, i still loathe a lot of it.  i can't, however, deny luhrman's visual talent.  it's remarkable, and dizzying, and i grealy admire the way he does it, but FUCK i just cant enjoy it at all.  id love to, i really would...and i think that ive grown to APPRECIATE baz...i just can't fucking stand watching his films.

[Vile5]

i saw it and i hated it

[NEON MERCURY]

i saw it and i hated it

don't be sad...that the reaction from 99.9% of people who saw this also..

[grand theft sparrow]

.....this movie was whack....when i was a younng'n after this movie was released theatrically..everybody went ape-sh(it) over leo and claire annd said that shakespheare was "hip"......if shakes was still alive he would smack baz upside the head w/ a stone tablet or something.....

Would Shakespeare have smacked Branagh upside his head for the 4 hour Hamlet, in your opinion?

[cine]

.....this movie was whack....when i was a younng'n after this movie was released theatrically..everybody went ape-sh(it) over leo and claire annd said that shakespheare was "hip"......if shakes was still alive he would smack baz upside the head w/ a stone tablet or something.....

Would Shakespeare have smacked Branagh upside his head for the 4 hour Hamlet, in your opinion?

I'm going to jump in and say no.

[grand theft sparrow]

.....this movie was whack....when i was a younng'n after this movie was released theatrically..everybody went ape-sh(it) over leo and claire annd said that shakespheare was "hip"......if shakes was still alive he would smack baz upside the head w/ a stone tablet or something.....

Would Shakespeare have smacked Branagh upside his head for the 4 hour Hamlet, in your opinion?

I'm going to jump in and say no.

Good enough. Thanks.

My point is that Branagh's Hamlet was just as anachronistic as R+J.  Were there any trains in Elizabethan times?  The clothing was also very 18th-19th Century.  So if that's why Neon Mercury thinks Shakespeare would bitch out Baz, then he'd bitch out Branagh and everyone else who made a Shakespeare adaptation on film after 1970, pretty much.

I can totally understand not liking R+J for its technical merit; it's kind of a cinematic equivalent to a kid who didn't take his Ritalin.  But it's a poor excuse to not like it just because it's an update. Purism is the worst thing that can happen to art.

[cine]

You know, when you think about it, it really doesn't matter which film Shakespeare would approve of or wouldn't, because I'd venture to say that he wouldn't like seeing ANY of his plays put on film.

[grand theft sparrow]

You know, when you think about it, it really doesn't matter which film Shakespeare would approve of or wouldn't, because I'd venture to say that he wouldn't like seeing ANY of his plays put on film.

Considering that he died almost 300 years before the invention of film, I'd have to say you're right.    

But seriously, folks... no, I just was curious to know whether the dislike of Romeo + Juliet came from the decision to update it or the decision to make it "MTV-style" (I hate that phrase)... but seeing as how I was responding to something Neon Mercury said in January (which I didn't notice before), I don't expect a response.

[picolas]

I just was curious to know whether the dislike of Romeo + Juliet came from the decision to update it or the decision to make it "MTV-style" (I hate that phrase)...

between those two, i'd say most people hate it because of the MTV, but it's also often a combination of how "theysaythelinestoofast." or "I hate DiCaprio in everything no matter what it is for no reason."

and if people think Spears would hate something because of anachronisms, they should read Julius or a lot of others i can't recall specific examples of anachronisms from..

i can't find my dvd of this right now.

[Ghostboy]

Well, I like it.