Unpopular Opinions

[starri]

Thirded.

Was it in anyway necessary?  No.

Was it a beautifully made film?  Absolutely.

[Shannon L.]

Finally saw Magic Mike XXL, which I was told was better than the first one because it didn't take itself as seriously.  Yes, that it true, it didn't and I appreciate that and the Mini-Mart scene was hysterical, but seriously?  Meh.  I thought it was down right embarrassing at times--and I don't mean the dancing*, I mean the acting (Andie McDowell!  Dear God.) and dialog.  IMO, Jada Pinkett Smith, as much as I normally can't take her scenery chewing, was the best part of the whole movie. 

*I'm seriously impressed that Channing Tatum can move like that, but the rest of the routines were just bad or boring.

[Shannon L.]

Age of Ultron is on tv right now and it reminded me of another UO I hold, based on the opinions of people I spoke to in person and chatted with online.  I love Vision.  I've loved Vision from the moment they showed him floating in front of the window looking out at the city.  When I mentioned that I hated knowing that he would more than likely die in IW, I was met with a lot of "Meh, whatever. I don't care about Vision" comments.

[JustaPerson]

5 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

Age of Ultron is on tv right now and it reminded me of another UO I hold, based on the opinions of people I spoke to in person and chatted with online.  I love Vision.  I've loved Vision from the moment they showed him floating in front of the window looking out at the city.  When I mentioned that I hated knowing that he would more than likely die in IW, I was met with a lot of "Meh, whatever. I don't care about Vision" comments.

Aw, me too! It's helps that I'm a fan of Paul Bettany. I was tickled when I realized that they were actually going to go in on Wanda/Vision, cuz it just seems like a weird comics-only thing that wouldn't work in live action. His deaths were gutting! Both he and Elizabeth Olsen sold it. It was one of the saddest scenes in the film for me. 

Edited August 13, 2018 by JustaPerson

[Crs97]

My UO is that I think Idina Menzel oversings most of her songs, and I would have given Kristin Chenoweth the best actress Tony for Wicked over Idina.

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, Crs97 said:

My UO is that I think Idina Menzel oversings most of her songs, and I would have given Kristin Chenoweth the best actress Tony for Wicked over Idina.

I do not like Idina's voice at all. It's very flat, atonal, nasal, and it all but pierces my skull. I think Broadway's Caissie Levy was a better Elsa, mainly because it makes more sense to me to cast an alto.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Wiendish Fitch

[proserpina65]

21 hours ago, Crs97 said:

My UO is that I think Idina Menzel oversings most of her songs, and I would have given Kristin Chenoweth the best actress Tony for Wicked over Idina.

My UO is that I hate them both.

[WritinMan]

On 8/12/2018 at 8:57 PM, Shannon L. said:

Age of Ultron is on tv right now and it reminded me of another UO I hold, based on the opinions of people I spoke to in person and chatted with online.  I love Vision.  I've loved Vision from the moment they showed him floating in front of the window looking out at the city.  When I mentioned that I hated knowing that he would more than likely die in IW, I was met with a lot of "Meh, whatever. I don't care about Vision" comments.

This reminds me of an unpopular opinion I have: I liked Age of Ultron more than The Avengers.

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 9:56 AM, Blergh said:

Even though this was brought up in the Old Shows Better Than Remembered thread, since this is about a movie, I'm putting it here. As much as I liked The Monkees TV show and songs, with the exception of Davy Jones's music hall tribute "Daddy's Song" that phenomenally showcased his singing and dancing skills (as well as the editorial skills of the filmmakers to perfectly match footage of oppositely dressed performers performing identical moves), I LOATHE the movie Head ! Pretentious, confusing, depressing and utterly trashing to the band itself as well as the audience with virtually no humor whatsoever. Even Micky Dolenz's attempt at humor re the Coke machine in the desert fell flat in that it was SO dragged out that even the dimmest viewers worked out what was supposed to be the 'payoff' long before the execution.  Oh and even the "Porpoise Song" was a complete bummer, IMO. Sorry, but that movie epitomized some of the worst excesses of the era with none of its virtues (and I don't think it's because they were too 'deep' and the audience was too simple at the time to 'get it').

I figured it was either the drugs that were popular at the time or the deconstructionist movement.

 

On ‎2‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 6:41 PM, ribboninthesky1 said:

I never read the books, and somehow managed to largely avoid the films.  I've caught bits and pieces of the 3rd one on TV over the years.  However, due to a free trial, I recently watched the Harry Potter film series on HBO.  And...the special effects are great.  But little about the series resonated with me.  I found it pretty repetitive: Harry being fawned over by everyone outside his uncle's family, the trio getting caught up in one thing or another, Harry being in danger and having to defeat it alone. Most of the emotional beats didn't hit me in the feels.  There were series plot points that were presumably from the book but didn't make much sense in the films.

By the time I got to the Deathly Hallows (which should have been one film), I was just ready for it to END.  Dear God, eight films, damn near 20 hours long in total.  Ron was annoying and mostly useless after the first film, I often questioned why he and Harry were friends, and I was utterly confused why Hermione liked him.  Hermione was the most skilled of the trio, and at various times I wondered why she wasn't the special one.  For me, all of the "chosen one," special snowflake stuff would have been buttressed by actual study and competence that Hermione exhibited. I liked Harry well enough, but the films weren't that persuasive in my view. Heck, even he admitted that a lot of it was luck.    

All in all, I found the films largely forgettable.  I don't feel I missed much by not watching at the height of popularity.           

Oh gawd, how I hate Harry Potter and it creeping into the popular culture.

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 12:34 AM, Blergh said:

UO the movie Karate Kid, I thought it downright disturbing that the Cobra Sensei Kreis made no secret of having his entire dojo of minors act out a vendetta to physically harm (if not debilate)   a single much smaller, scrawnier kid (Daniel)- yet no adult authority figure or parent of these dojo cultees ever attempted to call him on this much less try to prosecute him for wanting to harm a kid. Only Mr. Miyagi even attempted to call him on it (and yes he definitely taught Daniel to defend himself magnificently ) but why was this one adult allowed to have so much control over these troubled teens' lives in the first place?

My UO: Daniel deserved to get his ass kicked after antagonizing Donny, the guy he ended up fighting in that tourney. Also, he should have been no match for someone who had been practicing karate for years and years.

[starri]

On 7/9/2018 at 9:59 PM, starri said:

Which for the record, I would be totally down with, if they agreed from the outset to do Down the Dark Hall.

Apparently, with no fanfare, a Down the Dark Hall movie starring Uma Thurman as Mme Duret was released on digital video last week.  I know that's not a great sign for quality, but I'm willing to give Amazon $7 to find out.

[Shannon L.]

On 8/20/2018 at 11:17 AM, Ubiquitous said:

My UO: Daniel deserved to get his ass kicked after antagonizing Donny, the guy he ended up fighting in that tourney.

I'm watching that scene right now.  Granted, Daniel shouldn't have aggravated him--he should have known better, but it was just water. I don't think that justifies getting your ass kicked so badly that you can't stand up on your own and are practically unconscious.  Even his own friends were telling him that he was going too far.

[Spartan Girl]

I like the teen reboot Sophie Turner version of Jean Grey way better than the one we got in the original X-Men movies. She's way more fun with her Dark Phoenix powers than she was stuck between Logan and Scott.

[WritinMan]

On 9/4/2018 at 7:28 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I like the teen reboot Sophie Turner version of Jean Grey way better than the one we got in the original X-Men movies. She's way more fun with her Dark Phoenix powers than she was stuck between Logan and Scott.

Nice to see this. I sometimes think I'm the only person not particularly impressed with Famke Janssen's Jean Grey. She was OK....

[methodwriter85]

I am going to admit that Black Panther didn't do much for me.

[Joe]

44 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

I am going to admit that Black Panther didn't do much for me.

That's fine. While I liked it, it's not in my top five MCU movies.

[ribboninthesky1]

On 8/1/2018 at 8:38 PM, Shannon L. said:

Finally saw Magic Mike XXL, which I was told was better than the first one because it didn't take itself as seriously.  Yes, that it true, it didn't and I appreciate that and the Mini-Mart scene was hysterical, but seriously?  Meh.  I thought it was down right embarrassing at times--and I don't mean the dancing*, I mean the acting (Andie McDowell!  Dear God.) and dialog.  IMO, Jada Pinkett Smith, as much as I normally can't take her scenery chewing, was the best part of the whole movie. 

*I'm seriously impressed that Channing Tatum can move like that, but the rest of the routines were just bad or boring.

To add to this, while Matt Bomer is incredibly handsome, I cringed any time he "danced" (in both films).  Maybe he's sexy in his other work, but not at all in these films. 

 

On 9/7/2018 at 2:08 PM, WritinMan said:

Nice to see this. I sometimes think I'm the only person not particularly impressed with Famke Janssen's Jean Grey. She was OK....

I think there was a lot of miscasting with the early X-Men films.  Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart were the main cast choices that made sense to me, and the former was only cast because another miscast (Dougray Scott) had to drop out. Agree that Sophie Turner was a better Jean Grey.  Also, Michael Fassbender made a better Erik/Magneto than Ian McKellen. In truth, whoever handled the casting of the later films did a better overall job.  

Edited September 8, 2018 by ribboninthesky1

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

To add to this, while Matt Bomer is incredibly handsome, I cringed any time he "danced" (in both films).  Maybe he's sexy in his other work, but not at all in these films. 

He's handsome in a suit kind of way. Playing a sleazy stripper type doesn't work for him.

[Danny Franks]

On ‎07‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 7:08 PM, WritinMan said:

Nice to see this. I sometimes think I'm the only person not particularly impressed with Famke Janssen's Jean Grey. She was OK....

Any X-Man not named Wolverine got short shrift in those movies. Bryan Singer just didn't seem interested in anyone but him, but I guess that fits with the way Marvel themselves usually handle Wolverine.

My UO about the franchise, though, is that McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence et al, were uniformly dreadful in their movies, and turned me off ever wanting to watch another X-Men movie. Which is sad, because the X-Men were my entrance into Marvel superhero comics.

[Ambrosefolly]

On 9/22/2018 at 5:30 PM, Danny Franks said:

Any X-Man not named Wolverine got short shrift in those movies. Bryan Singer just didn't seem interested in anyone but him, but I guess that fits with the way Marvel themselves usually handle Wolverine.

My UO about the franchise, though, is that McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence et al, were uniformly dreadful in their movies, and turned me off ever wanting to watch another X-Men movie. Which is sad, because the X-Men were my entrance into Marvel superhero comics.

 

I have said this before and I will say it again, I hate Wolverine and really wish that sweeten the pot for Jim Caviezel to play Cyclops (as I did wish they did for Angela Bassett to play Storm), or hears a thought, make the Boy & Girl Scout type of characters as interesting as the anti-hero type of characters. 

[JustaPerson]

1 hour ago, Ambrosefolly said:

hears a thought, make the Boy & Girl Scout type of characters as interesting as the anti-hero type of characters. 

THIS. Boy and Girl Scout type characters are generally my favorites. The MCU managed to do it with Captain America so it's totally possible it just requires like, caring. It reminds me of a quote from Olivia de Hallivand about playing "good" characters -

Quote

Playing good girls in the 30s was difficult, when the fad was to play bad girls. Actually I think playing bad girls is a bore; I have always had more luck with good girl roles because they require more from an actress.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

5 hours ago, JustaPerson said:

THIS. Boy and Girl Scout characters are my favorites. The MCU managed to do it with Captain America up until the Russos turned him into a hypocrite.

Fixed.

[proserpina65]

I don't care if certain plot points are racist, misogynist, etc., I love Sixteen Candles.

[Blergh]

I loathed A Fish Called Wanda. What can one say when the only vaguely tolerable characters were an old woman whose dogs the protagonists killed for laughs AND a fish. Period.

Also, I thought it maddening pretentious for them to give John Cleese's character the name of Archie Leach when neither the movie nor any character would have been fit to sweep the crumbs from  Cary Grant's English muffins.

Seriously, virtually from the first frame to the last, I HATED this movie and only because I'd happened to see an old friend about to go to this movie who had promised me that we'd catch up after the movie was over, did I not walk out after the first ten minutes (oh, and my old friend just hung around long enough to tell me they loved the movie then blew off any catch up plans).

Edited September 28, 2018 by Blergh
me for them

[festivus]

I just watched 16 Candles the other night. I didn't really care about it back in the day not like I did Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club and it definitely hasn't aged well. So I'm not sure if these are UO's or not. I think the scenes at the church with her sister on muscle relaxers is hilarious. I mean nobody fed them to her or anything, she took them herself, so I don't feel bad laughing my ass off. Second UO is that I don't like Jake Ryan at all. He's skeevy, not dreamy and has all the charisma of a block of wood. I can see why that guy's career never took off.

[methodwriter85]

2 hours ago, festivus said:

Second UO is that I don't like Jake Ryan at all. He's skeevy, not dreamy and has all the charisma of a block of wood. I can see why that guy's career never took off.

He just reminds me of the guy you knew in college who snorted a lot of cocaine and hooked up with a lot girls at his frat's parties, but at the same time pretended he was a good guy, I always liked Molly Ringwald's cameo in Not Another Teen movie where she gets the faux-Jake Ryan to admit what a happy ending for him and Janey Briggs would actually mean.

Edited September 28, 2018 by methodwriter85

[festivus]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I always liked Molly Ringwald's cameo in Not Another Teen movie where she gets the faux-Jake Ryan to admit what a happy ending for him and Janey Briggs would actually mean.

Edited 1 hour ago by methodwriter85.

Oh that was hilarious. I've never seen that movie before. Chris Evans!

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, festivus said:

I think the scenes at the church with her sister on muscle relaxers is hilarious. I mean nobody fed them to her or anything, she took them herself, so I don't feel bad laughing my ass off.

I can't watch the many scenes I find offensive in that movie, but if I catch one of the inoffensive moments while going around the dial, I'll stop and watch, because I think Molly Ringwald gives a charming performance.  And, yes, I can't help myself, but I like the sophomoric humor at the sister's wedding.

4 hours ago, festivus said:

Second UO is that I don't like Jake Ryan at all. He's skeevy, not dreamy and has all the charisma of a block of wood. I can see why that guy's career never took off.

I like to think Sam broke it off with him about two dates in, once she realized the fantasy she'd built up in her head was just that, and in reality the guy was a total dud, and a dick.  I'll give her that she doesn't know about the gross stuff we the audience know about him (that the movie finds hunky dory, so, again, with not watching most of it), so she can still be enamored in the final scene, but she has to kick him to the curb soon after!

[festivus]

9 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I'll give her that she doesn't know about the gross stuff we the audience know about him (that the movie finds hunky dory, so, again, with not watching most of it), so she can still be enamored in the final scene, but she has to kick him to the curb soon after!

Yeah that's why that clip that @methodwriter85 posted was so funny. Molly's eye-roll at the end was hilarious. I'm going to have to watch that movie now I guess.

 

ETA: I guess since I'm still in the UO thread I should probably be posting some. I still love teen movies even though I'm way too old for that shit. I mainline them off Netflix. (Is that a UO? I don't know, I tried!)

Edited September 28, 2018 by festivus

[kiddo82]

Tarantino's acting aside, John Travolta is the weakest thing about Pulp Fiction and the scenes in which he plays a significant role suffer for it.

Edited September 29, 2018 by kiddo82

[Blergh]

I hope it's not too UO for me to admit that, due to disliking and having zero interest in movies that attempt to make drug dealers and other violent criminals heroes, I never bothered to watch Pulp Fiction despite all the wild hype!

[Spartan Girl]

I thought Kenneth Branaugh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was better than any of the other Frankenstein movies, Boris Karloff's included.

And I am forever bitter that that the first movie credited Shelley as "Mrs. Percy Shelley." I don't give a flying fuck that it was 1931 -- none of the actresses were credited by their husband's names! The AUTHOR wasn't good enough to be listed by her first name just because of her gender?! She practically INVENTED science fiction, you sexist bastards!

[kiddo82]

Never seen Branaugh's version but the original version is God awful.  Don't get me wrong, I respect it and deserves its fame as it created a ton of influence still seen to this day, but watching it through a modern day prism?  It's terrible.

[Amethyst]

On 9/27/2018 at 10:07 PM, festivus said:

Yeah that's why that clip that @methodwriter85 posted was so funny. Molly's eye-roll at the end was hilarious. I'm going to have to watch that movie now I guess.

I recommend it, and not just for Chris Evans.  Unfortunately, the movie bombed because there was a glut of spoofing movies then, and a lot of them sucked.  But NATM is hilarious.  Chris Evans, Jaime Pressley, Eric Christian Olsen, Deon Richmond...everyone is great in it.

 

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I thought Kenneth Branaugh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was better than any of the other Frankenstein movies, Boris Karloff's included.

I enjoyed it too, although I haven't seen Karloff's version.  But I thought Branagh did a solid job in the role of Victor and casted the film beautifully.  Especially with Helena Bonham-Carter.  

[methodwriter85]

2 hours ago, Amethyst said:

I recommend it, and not just for Chris Evans.  Unfortunately, the movie bombed because there was a glut of spoofing movies then, and a lot of them sucked.  But NATM is hilarious.  Chris Evans, Jaime Pressley, Eric Christian Olsen, Deon Richmond...everyone is great in it.

It's just so honest about teen movies that came out during the John Hughes era and the She's All That. A good satire needs to know it's material, and they did, and they nailed it.

[Morrigan2575]

20 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

Never seen Branaugh's version but the original version is God awful.  Don't get me wrong, I respect it and deserves its fame as it created a ton of influence still seen to this day, but watching it through a modern day prism?  It's terrible.

Branaugh sticks close to the source material. It wasn't a hit and I really don't know why but, if you read the book it's fairly faithful, IIRC. I quite enjoyed it.

10 hours ago, Amethyst said:

recommend it, and not just for Chris Evans.  Unfortunately, the movie bombed because there was a glut of spoofing movies then, and a lot of them sucked.  But NATM is hilarious.  Chris Evans, Jaime Pressley, Eric Christian Olsen, Deon Richmond...everyone is great in it.

I watched it when it came out, it was funny. I had no idea that was Chris Evans until the clip was posted and, I had to do a double take. LOL

Edited September 30, 2018 by Morrigan2575

[HunterHunted]

18 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

It's just so honest about teen movies that came out during the John Hughes era and the She's All That. A good satire needs to know it's material, and they did, and they nailed it.

Not Another Teen Movie is honestly one of my favorite films. One of the things that I really loved is that they tackled some of the more messed up racial issues in teen movies by having Sean Patrick Thomas run into Deon Richmond's character and them discussing which one if them was going to be the sole Black guy at the party or explicitly calling out the magical Negro trope with Mr. T as a character who is only referred to as "Wise Janitor."

[katha]

Whenever Andrew Davies does yet another literary adaptation, he tends to crank it up and want to make it more daring!sexy!dramatik! And yeah, it's a bit ridiculous, but more often than not, he IMO actually gets the books. Which isn't all that usual, considering how many beloved books get butchered on screen. He understands what's at the heart of them and holds them together. And sometimes, even in his lesser efforts, he manages to find some new aspects that are illuminating: His Emma is rather severe in tone and pretty harsh on the title character, but there's this one scene that's always stayed with me: An unhappy Robert Martin and Jane Fairfax in despair passing each other in a field somewhere. Yes, it's a sledgehammer of a visual metaphor, but it drives the point home: Emma's self-rigtheous and thoughtless meddling in other people's lives has been cruel and if it weren't for a lot of happy coincidences, she would have played a big role in the misery of these two characters who can't defend themselves against her because they are lower in social status.

On the other hand you have someone like Joe Wright. Who makes lovely movies out of books, yet it seems like he somehow always misses the point...

[wallflower75]

5 hours ago, katha said:

Whenever Andrew Davies does yet another literary adaptation, he tends to crank it up and want to make it more daring!sexy!dramatik! And yeah, it's a bit ridiculous, but more often than not, he IMO actually gets the books. Which isn't all that usual, considering how many beloved books get butchered on screen. He understands what's at the heart of them and holds them together. And sometimes, even in his lesser efforts, he manages to find some new aspects that are illuminating: His Emma is rather severe in tone and pretty harsh on the title character, but there's this one scene that's always stayed with me: An unhappy Robert Martin and Jane Fairfax in despair passing each other in a field somewhere. Yes, it's a sledgehammer of a visual metaphor, but it drives the point home: Emma's self-rigtheous and thoughtless meddling in other people's lives has been cruel and if it weren't for a lot of happy coincidences, she would have played a big role in the misery of these two characters who can't defend themselves against her because they are lower in social status.

On the other hand you have someone like Joe Wright. Who makes lovely movies out of books, yet it seems like he somehow always misses the point...

Funny story: my mother and I watched the Davies version of Sense and Sensibility, which opens with Willoughby's seduction of Eliza.  My mother turned to me and said, "This is Jane Austen?"  I explained to her that although the seduction actually takes place off-page, it did occur.

As for Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, having Lady Catherine show up in the middle of the night, and the Bennet family receiving her in their nightclothes, was just ridiculous.  OK, OK--Davies had a disheveled post-swim Darcy meeting up with Elizabeth, but that wasn't planned.  As rude as Lady Catherine might have been, she was too high a stickler for propriety to show up the way she did in Wright's version.

[Ubiquitous]

I caught The Great Gatsby on TV over the weekend (the original with Robert Redford) and OMG, Family Guy was so right about it. I had to bail about partway thru b/c frankly, it bored me and I didn't find anyone in it particularly sympathetic.

[methodwriter85]

I had to watch the 1970's version in English class. What the hell was Mia Farrow doing with her voice?

[Wiendish Fitch]

20 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

What the hell was Mia Farrow doing with her voice?

Funny, I always ask that about Mia Farrow. She always sounds like Marilyn Monroe if she banged her head on a table.

[raezen]

11 hours ago, Ubiquitous said:

I caught The Great Gatsby on TV over the weekend (the original with Robert Redford) and OMG, Family Guy was so right about it. I had to bail about partway thru b/c frankly, it bored me and I didn't find anyone in it particularly sympathetic.

Yeah, the thing about the book is it makes its point rather quickly, but the film is still, , film length. 

[Morrigan2575]

On 10/5/2018 at 4:52 PM, katha said:

His Emma is rather severe in tone and pretty harsh on the title character, but there's this one scene that's always stayed with me: An unhappy Robert Martin and Jane Fairfax in despair passing each other in a field somewhere. Yes, it's a sledgehammer of a visual metaphor, but it drives the point home: Emma's self-rigtheous and thoughtless meddling in other people's lives has been cruel and if it weren't for a lot of happy coincidences, she would have played a big role in the misery of these two characters who can't defend themselves against her because they are lower in social status.

Clueless is the only version of Emma I can watch without hating Emma (Cher). 

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 10:12 PM, wallflower75 said:

Funny story: my mother and I watched the Davies version of Sense and Sensibility, which opens with Willoughby's seduction of Eliza.  My mother turned to me and said, "This is Jane Austen?"  I explained to her that although the seduction actually takes place off-page, it did occur.

Is that the version where Col. Brandon is completely struck by Marianne while she's chewing?  If so, that's pretty much as far as I got before bailing.

[katha]

On 9.10.2018 at 3:11 AM, Morrigan2575 said:

Clueless is the only version of Emma I can watch without hating Emma (Cher). 

IMO a faithful adaptation of the book (meaning keeping it in Regency England) has to make Emma's actions obnoxious. It's Austen's great mastery as a writer that makes her such a complex character and gives her amiable traits as well, but she's behaving in nasty and cruel ways and it could have all gone terribly wrong and really ruined several peoples' lives (Jane Fairfax, Robert Martin and Harriet Smith)...just because she was bored, snobby and thought she could play puppet master. Attempts at "softening" her just make the film jarring (like the Paltrow version; the cast is quite good and would have done even better with a stronger script IMO).

"Clueless" gets the essence of the book, while also successfully creating circumstances that make Cher's actions more forgivable (she's younger, she's living in the 20th century, no one is so wholly dependent on her whims as people in Emma's society were).

[Athena]

1 hour ago, katha said:

IMO a faithful adaptation of the book (meaning keeping it in Regency England) has to make Emma's actions obnoxious. It's Austen's great mastery as a writer that makes her such a complex character and gives her amiable traits as well, but she's behaving in nasty and cruel ways and it could have all gone terribly wrong and really ruined several peoples' lives (Jane Fairfax, Robert Martin and Harriet Smith)...just because she was bored, snobby and thought she could play puppet master. Attempts at "softening" her just make the film jarring (like the Paltrow version; the cast is quite good and would have done even better with a stronger script IMO).

Emma is probably Austen's longest novel. She spends a lot of time developing Emma the character. There are definitely times you want to shake her, but the writing makes her believable and not an altogether pill. This is why the best (non Clueless) adaptation of Emma is the BBC's 2009 four part mini series starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller. Garai is charming and the script softens Emma up, but nowhere near as much as the Paltrow or even the Beckingsale versions. In a couple of scenes, you really see how spoilt Emma has been her whole life and that entitlement gets her into trouble. She at least learns to not meddle anymore in the end. 

[wallflower75]

On 10/9/2018 at 2:06 PM, proserpina65 said:

Is that the version where Col. Brandon is completely struck by Marianne while she's chewing?  If so, that's pretty much as far as I got before bailing.

Not sure, but if I had to place money on a version of S&S where that happened, it would be this God-awful version from the 70's that included Marianne saying goodbye to the Norland curtains as they left.

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:55 PM, wallflower75 said:

Not sure, but if I had to place money on a version of S&S where that happened, it would be this God-awful version from the 70's that included Marianne saying goodbye to the Norland curtains as they left.

No, what I described was from the version with David Morrison as Col. Brandon.  He first sees Marianne when he arrives late to dinner at Sir John's, and appears transfixed by her chewing.  As contrasted with the Emma Thompson version where Brandon's first sight of Marianne is her singing and playing the pianoforte after dinner; a scene made completely and utterly believable by Alan Rickman's performance.

[methodwriter85]

Seriously, am I the only person who doesn't get why Hollywood is so determined to make Chloe Grace Moretz a thing? She's fine enough but she's had so many flops that I just don't get it. Her latest movie The Miseducation of Cameron Post had the bad fortune to be in the same year as Boy Erased, which seems to be getting the awards buzz/push instead. The fact that she's reportedly nice and easy to work with seems to have enabled Hollywood to keep giving her roles, I guess.

[HunterHunted]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

a scene made completely and utterly believable by Alan Rickman's performance.

The duct tape of actors, except in Dogma and Love Actually. In both, he's not in enough scenes to knit together the mess; though Dogma is better.

I just think that Love Actually has this underlying layer of misogyny that is inescapable and unpleasant. There are a number of "nice guy" characters who somehow luck into either relationships or validations of their feelings despite never having any or a meaningful conversation with the women they are interested in or treating the women who love them terribly. If that's my unpopular opinion, I'll state it proudly. Love Actually is terrible. It's "nice guy" propaganda bullshit.