January 17, 2006

Cinematic Weekend

Usually I just want to hibernate when the temperature drops below 20 degrees, but not this weekend. Saw Romeo and Juliet at Theater Row. But walked out during intermission -- this production of R&J wasn't bad, but it just didn't engage me. Wasn't alone in my opinion; at least 2 other groups left before we did. Would have stayed longer and given the production more of a chance, but when the air conditioner (who turns on the a/c in the middle of January?!) kicked in above our heads, we skedaddled.

Then trekked out Queens to visit the Museum of the Moving Image. Impressed the museum staff by answering thusly when asked if I was going to see Hamsun in their screening room:
Uh no, I'm here to see Gumby.

And to cap it all off, saw 2 films: Brokeback Mountain (finally!) and Tristan & Isolde. Wasn't immediately impressed that BM was THE film of 2005, but days after the screening, I find my mind lingering on certain shots, music, bits of dialogue. Definitely superior to TI, which was rather yawn-worthy. The tagline for the film is "Before Romeo & Juliet there was Tristan & Isolde". But the plotline from RJ is recycled in so many films that TI can't help but seem recycled, even if the story pre-dates Shakespeare's time. I suspect that seeing the lackluster RJ performance a few days earlier soured me on liking TI.

At least it helped get rid of the awful aftertaste of Hostel.

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2 Comments

at 3:06 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's a question - do you think it possible that Tristan & Isolde could have been more successful if they weren't billing it as a "pre R&J R&J"? I almost feel like that spoils the whole thing.

 
at 1:51 PM Blogger Awreye said...

No. R&J is their strongest hook for people who are into that sort of film. Maybe they could have used the tagline:
Hot Semi-Nude James Franco Action Featured
to attract more ladies (theater was 80% women at my screening).

 

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