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axelswag
Reviews
The Reader (2008)
The Reader: Faithful Adaptation but Flat Movie
I read Bernhard Schlink's book in two sittings. It was an engrossing read. One could imagine what a stunning film it would make. However, I have to agree with some of the other writers in this post that Stephen Daldry failed to create an engaging movie considering all the material he had at his disposal. Every director and screenwriter given the task of adapting a book selects a number a scenes from the book. Rarely do they have the luxury of following the book by rote. But Daldry/Hare chose to illuminate areas of the book which should have been left to the book. The power of Schlinks's book is it's love story. Michael Berg's discovery that the love of his life was once a monster. His tormented imagination over the years, and Hanna's involvement in the crime. History and German guilt are interesting subjects in books, but they don't often materialize into passionate themes on film. We want to be shown the passion and the crime, not lectured to.
Intermission (2003)
a bad movie
This was no Trainspotting or Guy Ritchie film. It was a big wannabee. It wanted to be an edgy, nervous-laughter, urban-life affirming film, but it's more of a camera jerky, mess. It's a lot easier to imitate something else, than to create a real story with real characters. From the beginning, I couldn't care less about the characters or what they were involved in. They were always always hitting, pissing, or crying on each other. Only, there wasn't any substance to what they were doing. The dialog between characters is meant to be hip, revealing, instead it comes out trite, and one scene after another is predictable. I know there are viewers out there that really liked this movie, so I could be wrong.
A Knight's Tale (2001)
This is a Disney Film. Enjoy the fantasy!
** SPOILER included, but do you care? **
The first fifteen minutes of "A Knight's Tale" is the best part. We meet the characters of William, Rolland and Wat, peasants in the service of a jousting knight who has just died along a country roadside in Medieval England prior to a jousting tournament. Not knowing what to do, William (played by Heath Leger) decides to take the knights place and the name of Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein of Gelderland to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a knight and nobleman. For a brief moment, the clash between music and historical inaccuracy suspends when Queen's "We Will Rock You" is played to a roaring crowd of spectators at a joust. Strangely, it works! If rock-n-roll were around during the 1300-1400s this is what the crowds would thrill to.
If "A Knight's Tale" had stuck to the story of William's quest to become a knight and the conflict between peasant and nobleman in Medieval class society, it would have made an interesting movie. It doesn't. Instead it falls into a complete muddle. A love story we could care less about. A two-dimensional bad guy, played by the excellent Rufus Sewell. Jousting tournaments which are fun family events but hold few consequences for our hero. In truth, jousting knights were often maimed and killed prompting a ban by English kings, but you would never know it from this movie. William, our hero, who is both broken during competition and tortured when he is arrested, still manages to win the 'World Tournament of Jousting', defeat the bad guy, win the girls heart, and become knighted by a really sensitive Prince Edward, and all without a scratch. Wow, all that could happen! I would have to say that the kind of viewers who thinks "A Knight's Tale" is great movie-making probably enjoys Renaissance Faires and Disneyland. If you're one of those people, enjoy your fantasy!