Cait Blanchett is really brave! She kissed Russell Crowe!. Eeeew ~ DitzWednesdays are choir days. Without the car we do a lot more waiting around & I realised something. Once Liddy got her lisence it was usually Liddy & Ditz who went to the movies together ~ or to church or anywhere else for that matter. It had been a long, long time since I had taken Ditz anywhere just for fun. One reason, of course, is simply that Liddy had the car on weekends & of course anything Ditz was remotely interested in doing Liddy organised. No wonder two such very different girls are so remarkably close.
Anyway I realised there are a number of movies around just now that we both wanted to see & if we go to the mainland early on Wednesday we can squeeze in a morning session before going on to singing. Being the good mummy that I am I dutifully checked movie times & bus timetables & off we toddled ~ to the cats' absolute horror!
Ditz kept asking me if I was excited so maybe she was ~ just a little. We had opted to see Robin Hood with Cait Blanchett & Russell Crowe. Why not? A good English tale full of Aussie actors. Mind you, Ditz usually avoids seeing these sorts of movies with me because I am likely to sit there & go completely rank at all the historical inaccuracies but she must have been feeling brave yesterday ~ or she simply had one of her regular brain farts & it never once crossed her mind. Whatever it was it was Robin Hood we went to see.
Now I have never seen Cait Blanchett be anything other than stunningly beautiful & totally convincing as an actress ~ no matter what part she is playing. Russell Crowe on the other hand did not make a very convincing Robin Hood. My opinion. The critics I've read seem to think otherwise. Perhaps it is merely that overall I found this film really, really disjointed & extremely uneven. It bounced all over the place in France at the start so we kept getting subtitles up saying where we were ~ which means nothing unless you have a much better grasp of geography than Ditz does ~ & presupposes one has at least the rudiments of the historical background. Let's just say Ditz had heard of Richard Cour de Lion before & leave it at that ~ though not for want of trying on my part. It also left out all the messy & unflattering things about Richard ~ which make him a more understandable & rounded figure ~ his sexual preferences, his dislike of England, the fact he never wanted to rule there, his reluctance to return & rule. Why the English have always so adored him rather escapes my understanding but they do.
Nor do I understand why this particular story ends up with at least one actor camping up their part to the point of lunacy. This time round it was Oscar Isaac as Prince John. Sorry but the spoilt brat number [& there is no doubt in my mind John had an extremely large chip on his shoulder] was rather over done.
Were there things to like? Surprisingly yes! The action shots of Medieval warfare were exciting & made you feel you were right there in the midst of the noise & confusion. Watching how the archers were directed & a castle fired was fascinating. I at least appreciated the historical background & that Robin was put into context for once. There were some lovely scenes of Medieval farming & living arrangements. Someone was meticulous with their background detail. When the story settled down in England the disjointedness dissipated somewhat but I still felt too much was squeezed into too little time. A good editor was needed or more care taken with the original structure of the screenplay. Oh, & there was Mark Addy as Friar Tuck! Such a small part but so well done! Conveyed an awful lot more than was actually scripted by the way he tackled his part. Really well done. As I said, a rather uneven movie & I wouldn't actually recommend paying for it at the movies. Wait till it comes out on DVD & goes into the cheapie pile.
Anyway we reeled out of the movie theatre with our ears ringing from all the clanging swords & smoke of warfare & toddled into town only to find out singing had been cancelled. Most of the choir is down with the flu it seems. Oh well. Ditz & I went to the Gelato shop & indulged. Pistachio for me; caramelo & Rocky Road for Ditz. Ditz's was too sweet for words & I was so pleased I hadn't ordered either of those. We ate them as we wandered off towards the hospital to visit Dino who is still hooked up to drips & things & totally bored out of his brain. We handed over his phone charger so he could be a little less bored, declined to eat the hospital dinner he was too ill to even think of eating, chatted for a little while, then headed home. It took hours & hours. Why is it these things happen when we no longer have personal transport?!
Dearest was relieved to see us. The cats go into meltdown when all their women leave home & Dearest had been loved to death, poor man.
13 comments:
A cousin of mine went to see that movie this week and fell asleep half-way through. It was the first I've heard of it, and usually I'm all over the Robin Hood theme. Do you know, of the several movies I've seen, the one I like best so far is Men In Tights? It seems like the sort of thing Robin would enjoy.
Oh, and for Richard's "sexual preferences" you know that is all hear-say based on one or two odd phrases. Like people saying President Bush was gay because he kissed some Arabian guy when he came for a visit. But what am I saying!? I cannot win an argument with you, my dear. Just know that I protest. :-)
Oh MamaO: Marion Meade, who did a book on Elinor, seems certain Richard's *orientation* was fact. Richard himself twice confessed it. He was far more French than English & it is doubtful he ever even learnt English. He probably never needed to. Of the 10 years he was technically king of England he only spent about 6 months there as he disliked the place & commented it was *always raining* & he would *sell the lot if I could find a buyer*. lol
I had heard that Russell Crowe had a questionable English accent? He is my idea of Robin Hood (ssshhh I have to admit that I like the Kevin Costner version). And doesn't it go for over 160mins. I will wait for the DVD:) What was the music like?
Jo: What English accent? lol. I rather liked the Kevin Costner version. It at least told a good story. As for the music; I checked with Ditz because I honestly have no recollection of the background music. Marc Streitenfield scored it. Ditz says it wasn't noteworthy or memorable. There was a number of Medieval folk tunes scattered about which I do remember because I like Medieval music & these seemed authentic in sound. It was 2 hours give or take & my concentration isn't good fort hat long unless it's an exceptional movie ~ which this wasn't.
I am amazed every time Hollywood attempts an movie based on medieval England. They almost always use English accents to make it seem more authentic but, from what little I have learned about English history, French was more the language of nobility. I think it was funny that the only Robin Hood I have seen with a French accent was in the movie Shrek!
Seeking: this is why Hollywood & I part company so often. French would have been the language of the nobility after 1066 when William did his arrow through the eye thing on Harold [& even that's doubtful] This movie purports to be set in 1199 [I think] & your math is definitely better than mine. ☺ The *real* Robin [& as usual there are several claimants] was a yoeman ~ middle class, so would have known little French & found impersonating a knight just a tad more difficult than this movie makes out. Any French an archer in Richard's army would have known would have been of the rather vulgar sort. There is quite a lot of odd French spoken ~ & French swearing. I seriouly don't know why they bother. If you read any of the English lit from that era it is practically incomprehensible as English anyway. Archer's could release a phenomenal amount of arrows in a short space of time [I forget the exact numbers, numbers not being my thing] & were actually deformed from the amount of practice they endured. That sort of thing is a little hard to replicate. lol
I haven't seen a movie in a theatre since 1989 or 1990. I know, weird. I saw Blanchett & Crowe on the "Today Show" last week promoting the movie. She seemed uncomfortable and he showed himself to be a one dimensional person. That said, I have to admit liking him as an actor. She is, it goes without saying, phenomenal, but he has a certain draw, a male presence which cannot be ignored on the screen in a film. On the "Today" show in Cannes promoting the film, he was, um, limited. But he is very male.
Sandra: interesting take. I adore Blanchett. She ranks with Streep & Hepburn in my book. A freak of nature. Crowe is a bit hit & miss for me. Sometimes I've thought him brilliant, other times, meh. I thought Ditz hilarious. I've heard interviews when Crowe seemed far more intelligent & thoughtful than I ever imagined & ones where he sounds like a Neanderthal. I don't think he likes interviews & I know he hates the media. I can never make up my mind aboyt him.
Hey Lobstar I'm removing your comment, you twit. ☺ Helloooo, you're on candid camer. Honestly!
Oh, & yes good pic on the new clobber. Really looks lovely on her.
Whoops I obviously wasn't thinking :D MY BAD! You get the point though aye!
Love ya, hon. See you soon. ▼☺
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