TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

[jimmy olsen]

the evil spirit sez "You will not know defeat until the trees of the forest rise up to attack you" instead of, more simply, "Yes."  Is this guy retarded?

Does he know the spirit is evil?

Also, unless you live in Middle Earth, that does seem like a rather unlikely occurrence.

[Ideologue]

the evil spirit sez "You will not know defeat until the trees of the forest rise up to attack you" instead of, more simply, "Yes."  Is this guy retarded?

Does he know the spirit is evil?

Also, unless you live in Middle Earth, that does seem like a rather unlikely occurrence.

He calls him by the name "Evil Spirit."

[jimmy olsen]

the evil spirit sez "You will not know defeat until the trees of the forest rise up to attack you" instead of, more simply, "Yes."  Is this guy retarded?

Does he know the spirit is evil?

Also, unless you live in Middle Earth, that does seem like a rather unlikely occurrence.

He calls him by the name "Evil Spirit."

What word did he use in Japanese? It may be a mistranslation.

[Sophie Scholl]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ide has not read Macbeth.

[CountDeMoney]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ide has not read Macbeth.

See, this is why Ide's movie reviews are the Languish equivalent of Timmay's cancer-riddled femur.  He'll give Kurosawa's MacBeth a  C+, but that shitburger sammich of junkie jism Public Enemy a B.  Kid's brain has melted in law school. 

[katmai]

Oh sure, blame law school. We all know it was shit waaay before then Seedy.

[Sophie Scholl]

Look at his diet.  Shit in, shit out.  It's amazing that his body and brain function to the level they do.

[Ideologue]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ide has not read Macbeth.

See, this is why Ide's movie reviews are the Languish equivalent of Timmay's cancer-riddled femur.  He'll give Kurosawa's MacBeth a  C+, but that shitburger sammich of junkie jism Public Enemy a B.  Kid's brain has melted in law school.

I'll bet fifty cents you've never even seen it.

And of course I've read MacBeth.  I've read plays you fuckers never heard of.  Epicene?  The Persians?  Yeah, right.

It is not my favorite Shakespeare, and this is not my favorite film version of it.

Anyway, I love how you gave me shit about static shots and silence when I praise Kubrick, but Throne of Blood became some kind of Goddamn masterpiece because you think it gives you ammunition for a cheap shot.  MAH KUROSAWA

Also, why do you hate Michael Mann?  It's not like Public Enemies was made by some scrub.  It's nothing great, but it's entertaining and worth watching every ten years or so.

That said, I've watched Sanjuro three times this week and after really getting a handle on it, I think I probably should give it the A+ it deserves.  I was way off on that one.

***

Tim, blame Criterion if you want.  I have no idea what the Japanese word was, but it's probably pretty hard to mistranslate "evil" in regards to a ghost.

[Admiral Yi]

Have you seen Hidden Fortress?  My favorite Kurosawa.

[Ideologue]

Have you seen Hidden Fortress?  My favorite Kurosawa.

I think I did once as a kid.  It's coming behind Stray Dog and High and Low.

I looked up some pictures from it.  Man, that Romulan chick in it is hot.

[Sophie Scholl]

The reason I doubted it, Ide, is because that whole scene is taken from Macbeth, right down to the spirit talking about the moving trees.  Scene IV, Act I:

Third Apparition

    Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care
    Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
    Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
    Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
    Shall come against him.

http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Macbeth/18.html

[Ideologue]

Sure, I'll cop to not recalling that specific scene; like I said, never been my favorite play, so I haven't seen it or read it in about ten years.

Anyway, seems unfair to armor a film against criticism because it adopts the flaws of its source material.  The susceptibility of the gangsters to manipulation through the first two thirds is still a problem in Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing, never mind that they're being faithful to Yojimbo.

[Sophie Scholl]

I'm not trying to armor it against criticism, I'm simply stating that your quip sounds silly to someone more familiar with the play.  I suppose if you don't like the original source material, it is unlikely that you'll like the adaptation.  Especially if they try to remain true to the source material.  I enjoyed the film, but I also enjoyed the play.  As to your self appointed position as a unique and special readers of lesser known plays, I've actually read The Persians, though not Epicene.  I took some Greek and Roman comedy and drama classes in translation in college, in addition to reading a few on my own for enjoyment.  I've also dabbled in a fair sampling of early modern English in particular and Medieval European in general literature, including plays.

[Ideologue]

I'm not trying to armor it against criticism, I'm simply stating that your quip sounds silly to someone more familiar with the play.  I suppose if you don't like the original source material, it is unlikely that you'll like the adaptation.  Especially if they try to remain true to the source material.  I enjoyed the film, but I also enjoyed the play.  As to your self appointed position as a unique and special readers of lesser known plays, I've actually read The Persians, though not Epicene.  I took some Greek and Roman comedy and drama classes in translation in college, in addition to reading a few on my own for enjoyment.  I've also dabbled in a fair sampling of early modern English in particular and Medieval European in general literature, including plays.

Fair enough.  Like I said, this is the first time I'd seen Macbeth in a number of years.

The Persians is pretty good.  I like Aeschylus in general.

But to elaborate on why it bothered me: not seeing through that prophecy is a definite flaw.  No one is so dumb as to blithely accept such an obvious prophecy of doom as a favorable divination.  Why use such specific language?  Obviously, because the spirit is omniscient, the spirit is a dick, and it will come to pass.  If Washizu, or MacBeth, spent the next twenty minutes contemplating his own downfall, it's a B--Macbeth ain't bad otherwise, and I particularly like Lady Macbeth (though not Isuzu Yamada's understated performance, which is probably Kurosawa and which may well play better to a Japanese speaker, but she's much more lively in the superficially similar role as Lady Sebei or whatever in Yojimbo).  The problem is he jumps to a totally unwarranted conclusion that no one with a brain stem could jump to.

If nothing else, he's got hours to think about it as he traipses back to Spider's Web Castle.

Can you imagine if Claudius had just shrugged his shoulders when Hamlet threw that play and said "Wow, what a coincidence!"

P.S. I actually do like the photography and tightly controlled blocking quite a bit.