What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

[Madeleine]

Yes I heard that too, although I also read that he didn't want to wear the "fat" suit as it would impede his movement too much, which confuses me as being older, coupled with his bad leg, would have hampered Henry's mobility anyway.

[sweetpotatoboy]

Originally Posted by Brenna

What ticked me off was Meyers refused to gain weight or wear a body suit to show Henry the VIII gaining weight as he aged. How do you get away with that? The man was like 300 lbs when he died but Meyers still has his six pack!!

That man comes across as one of the vainest ever. Yes, he looks good; but he has such an air of knowing it about him and his own self-esteem being bound up in his physical appearance, that it's quite off-putting and unattractive, even.

A decent and more confident actor would have no issues with ageing-up a little. Henry clearly still had charisma, even when his looks and physique were shot. I guess Meyers is not confident that his charisma can outshine any physical deterioration.

So far, I've watched the first two seasons and will eventually watch the others. I find it entertaining and actually quite astonishing how in many respects they've kept close to historical facts, which are arguably more complex than ideal for a soap opera type show, despite veering off at others.

[Telynor]

Originally Posted by sweetpotatoboy

A decent and more confident actor would have no issues with ageing-up a little. Henry clearly still had charisma, even when his looks and physique were shot. I guess Meyers is not confident that his charisma can outshine any physical deterioration.

And that's a pity. I loved what Keith Michell did with the role of Henry VIII in the 70's miniseries, he not just looked like Henry, but had the confidence to let him decay as the series went along. Now that's dedication to a part!

In his final years, Henry was pretty much immobile, being in a carrying chair to get about, and his temper tantrums were pretty spectacular to witness.

My history nerd self just keeps rebelling at watching this series, it just rubs me the wrong way in all sorts of ways.

[Madeleine]

The Tudors is fine if you take it as a guilty pleasure, and there is quite a lot of unintentional hilarity too, although I must admit that I was surprised that sometimes they do get it right, and two of it's selling points for me were that it did the big scenes very well - the executions too, were pretty emotional; and, best of all, they didn't have constant crashing music at any even slightly dramatic scene. Indeed, I remember some of the executions being filmed in almost total silence - much more dramatic than about 20 violins all sawing away.

I can just about remember the Keith Michell series, and agree that he's the defining Henry VIII.

[donroc]

I also vote for Keith Michell.

[DianeL]

I'm also very much in the Michell camp, and in fact I found out this week one of the BBC series spun off after the success of "Six Wives" is now out on DVD (I have looked for it before): "The Shadow of the Tower". I knocked it straight to the top of my DVD mailing qeue and have already found a copy on eBay, in case it turns out to be good. Given its lineage, I have good hopes.

[LoveHistory]

I watched the Michell one just a month or two ago and was so impressed that I told my parents they have to watch it as well. I'm happy to say that they almost always take my suggestions and move them to the top of their Netflix queue.

[donroc]

Last night I rented a film I looked forward to seeing without reading reviews ever since I heard it was released first in Europe.

It stars Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz -- excited? It was the story with flashbacks of the last day and corrida of Spain arguably greatest Matador, Manolete. Brody closely resembles Manolete, but I give the film no stars out of five.

The English language title is silly -- A Matador's Mistress -- the film lacks the music and pageantry asssociated with the bullfight except quick snippets. It fails to deal more thoroughly with the rivalry between Manolete and Dominguin, and unless my eyes blinked at the wrong time, it failed to show the poster where it took place at Linares or mentioned the great bull that fatally gored Manolete, Isolero. The film was PETA correct by not showing all aspects of a bullfight.

Two much better films are the Tyrone Power Blood and Sand. Rita Hayworth could give Cruz lessons in femme fatale). The other is The Bullfighter and the Lady.

There's also a plagiarism issue from a novel that I cannot go into here, and no, it is not one I wrote, but I wish I had.

[BrianPK]

Watched "Copying Beethoven" over a few nights. Oh dear! . . . very forgettable.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424908/

[MLE]

Sat through the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie and was bored almost to tears. The plot was so incredibly disjointed, I could hardly figure out anybody's motive -- except the director's to film yet another pirate fight scene.