teachers should be barred from inflicting their celebrity crushes on students. I had to sit through at least 2 Richard Gere movies in my first year Cinema Studies class because my lecturer just couldn't help herself. Ugh.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:01 (ten years ago) link
Due to the raging Peter O'Toole obsession I had as a teenager, which I put down to 'beautiful man who is really good at enunciating profanity', I edited Becket down to a classroom-friendly 90 minutes for extra credit in a European history class when we were doing a church v. state unit and persuaded the cinema teacher (who didn't need a ton of persuading TBH) to add The Ruling Class to his syllabus.
― on the sidelines dishing out sass (suzy), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:16 (ten years ago) link
We had JUST finished the novel and we all watched that movie just openly dismayed at how soft-focused and pastel and uggggggh it was, and the main cast were so wooden. We all yelled at her afterwards and she just hung her head and said, 'But Redford was pretty cute, right?"
ha ha a part of my argument was that Farrow was awful & unnuanced and 90% of her performance consisted of biting the back of her hand, and the teacher was like "she's an Oscar-winning actress, you can't say that she's bad"
if only I had known she was not an Oscar-winning actress
― why does Kanye say he was based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire? (sic), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:28 (ten years ago) link
suzy, Becket is one of the great homo-lust movies.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:28 (ten years ago) link
Farrow was actually well cast as Daisy! She was just badly directed.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:29 (ten years ago) link
yeah never seen the coppola gatsby but mia as daisy works for me, makes more sense than dipsy mumford or whatever
― balls, Friday, 17 May 2013 02:34 (ten years ago) link
but her voice sounds money, it doesn't sound LIKE money
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:36 (ten years ago) link
Somehow, my English teacher didn't know that Romeo & Juliet had been turned into a modern-day musical until I mentioned it one day.
So I apologize to the next 15 grades that came through her room and had to watch West Side Story.
― pplains, Friday, 17 May 2013 02:36 (ten years ago) link
west side story is awesome. at first i thought you mean william shakespeare's romeo + juliet which is also pretty awesome. i think i pretty much like any movie of romeo & juliet, i'm just a big romantic i guess. justdudethings.
― balls, Friday, 17 May 2013 02:41 (ten years ago) link
<3 West Side Story, hate the film of it, could go on forever, won't.
― resulting paste of mashed cheez poops (silby), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:46 (ten years ago) link
love the West Side Story movie
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:48 (ten years ago) link
you're testing my commitment to not ranting about this at great length
― resulting paste of mashed cheez poops (silby), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:49 (ten years ago) link
i would love to hear your rant! tbh I've never seen the stage version, I just have nostalgia for watching the movie with my Mum
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:50 (ten years ago) link
yeah go for it silby i loved it when i saw it too
― you are not a better writer than f. scott fitzgerald. you are not a b (k3vin k.), Friday, 17 May 2013 02:56 (ten years ago) link
Well my core objection to the film is that it casts adults to play the teenaged/maybe early 20s characters, which doesn't play on film like it does on stage, where you can suspend disbelief. It wrecks the whole hotheaded lovesick teenage-aimlessness theme of the show.
Other objections include casting mostly Anglos to play the Jets, and dealing with it by painting them all an identical shade of brown, and the repurposing of "Somewhere" from an anonymous soprano solo sung during the nightmare sequence that unites the warring gangs in a hopeful dream for a more humane future into a fucking SEX DUET.
In sum America is a land of contrasts and West Side Story is great when performed by high school students or Schlong.
― resulting paste of mashed cheez poops (silby), Friday, 17 May 2013 03:24 (ten years ago) link
Same English teacher showed us the 60s version of Romeo & Juliet, and jumped up to stand in front of the screen during the (5-second?) scene with nudity.
― pplains, Friday, 17 May 2013 03:54 (ten years ago) link
Also the prologue to West Side Story is like 20 minutes long.
Our teacher just fast forwarded the nude scene.
― tokyo rosemary, Friday, 17 May 2013 04:09 (ten years ago) link
sex duet <3
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:11 (ten years ago) link
our teacher screwed that up, to our stunned satisfaction
― j., Friday, 17 May 2013 04:14 (ten years ago) link
As he sings, the walls of the apartment begin to move off, and the city walls surrounding them begin to close in on them. Then the apartment it self goes, and the two lovers begin to run, battering against the walls of the city, beginning to break through as chaotic figures of the gangs, of violence, fail around them. But they do break through, and suddenly-they are in a world of space and air and sun. They stop, looking at it, pleased, startled, as boys and girls both sides come on. And they, too, stop and stare, happy, pleased. Their clothes are soft and pastel versions of what they have worn before. They begin to dance, to play: no sides, no hostility now; join, making a world that Tony and Maria want to be in, belong to, share their love with. As they go into the steps of a gentle love dance, a voice is heard singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80-DtChQ39U
― resulting paste of mashed cheez poops (silby), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:15 (ten years ago) link
there's probably a better thread for this
― resulting paste of mashed cheez poops (silby), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:19 (ten years ago) link
wow Silby that just made me cry. what a voice!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:20 (ten years ago) link
THEEEERE'S AAAAAA THREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD FOR UUUUUUUUUUSSSS
WEST SIDE STORY motherjumping sountrack poll!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:21 (ten years ago) link
skip here for more versions of this song that are mostly better than the one in the film, including possibly the Barbara Streisand one
― resulting paste of mashed cheez poops (silby), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:30 (ten years ago) link
60s version of r&j is awesome, espec if you're in middle school and your teacher's bad at remembering when to fast-forward
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 17 May 2013 04:54 (ten years ago) link
the botched fast forwarding of that scene is like a universal experience among american middle schoolers
― Treeship, Friday, 17 May 2013 04:58 (ten years ago) link
otm
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Friday, 17 May 2013 12:27 (ten years ago) link
No Zefferelli for us, sob. Our R&J experience was delivered by an irritating dumpling who used to shout 'this is MY TIME' when we stopped paying attention to her. We stopped paying attention to her because correcting her mistakes was tiring after the first fifty times it happened.
― on the sidelines dishing out sass (suzy), Friday, 17 May 2013 13:02 (ten years ago) link
my sophomore english teacher held a cardboard box in front of the screen during the sex scene(s?) in the fishburne/branagh othello and i made some big deal about how it was absurd and typical that we were censoring the sex but not the violence. didn't make much sense cuz the fishburne/branagh othello isn't exactly peckinpah but it did at least waste a little class time.
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 17 May 2013 13:45 (ten years ago) link
I've still never seen the Zeffirelli R&J.
As for WSS, stage musicals belong on the stage, esp when an otherwise talented director has no facility for giving them visual rhythm (hey Robert Wise), and oh the lead actors aren't doing the singing.
also YOU KIDS MAKE THIS WORLD LOUSY
― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:13 (ten years ago) link
― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Friday, May 17, 2013 10:13 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:18 (ten years ago) link
i used to say that line all the time. i need to add that one back to my repertoire... freaking kids
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:19 (ten years ago) link
Zeffirelli is boring, but my roommate had me giggling when he MST3K'd the moment the maidens were throwing their flowers in Juliet's grave: "Here you go. Plug it up."
― Not Simone Choule (Eric H.), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:20 (ten years ago) link
Would love to see WSS get the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern treatment with Morbius as Doc.
― Not Simone Choule (Eric H.), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:21 (ten years ago) link
if u wanna do the original I look good in friar's robes too.
― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:24 (ten years ago) link
we didn't watch the zeffirelli but we watched the lolmann. god high school was weird. we did heart of darkness my junior year and spent like four class periods watching apocalypse now. boomers.
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:24 (ten years ago) link
when we were doing ancient greece in world history class we watched spartacus cuz our teacher thought it was about sparta.
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:27 (ten years ago) link
lol
btw the WSS Doc was a ubiquitous character actor on TV when I was a kid, and I just learned he was in a buncha classic 3 Stooges shorts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Glass
― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:30 (ten years ago) link
i still love luhrmann's r+j, i blame nostalgia
― a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers (elmo argonaut), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:30 (ten years ago) link
so when will Gatsby be musicalized? inevitable, no? propose song titles.
i think danes+posthelwaite+especially leguizamo are all really good, and leo's ridiculously pretty. kinda hard to sit through for me tho. particularly remember it making a total hash out of the parents' parts. xp
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:33 (ten years ago) link
postlethwaite. dunno why i thought i could get away with not googling that.
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:34 (ten years ago) link
luhrmann's r+j is pretty good. insane-o production design and costuming. johnny leguizamo's a great tybalt
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:38 (ten years ago) link
luhrmann's last good movie imo
"I Remember Yesterday," Donna Summer"Barely Breaking Even," Universal Robot Band"I'll Play the Fool," Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band"Weekend," Phreek"I Love New York," Metropolis"High Steppin', Hip Dressin' Fella (You Got It Together)," Love Unlimited"A Little Bit of Jazz," Nick Straker Band"Love Hangover," Diana Ross"Standing In The Rain," Don Ray"Hit 'n' Run Lover," Carol Jiani"Car Wash," Rose Royce"Running Away," Roy Ayers"You Saved My Day," Cheryl Lynn"Goin' To A Showdown," Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rhumba Band"Last Dance," Donna Summer"Was That All It Was," Jean Carn"The Red Light," Green Velvet
― Not Simone Choule (Eric H.), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:42 (ten years ago) link
High frame speed Paul Sorvino. Pretty much all I remember.
xp
― pplains, Friday, 17 May 2013 14:43 (ten years ago) link
it is pretty good. it's about romantic love, which is i guess where he excels. i do not think danes is that good. baby dicaprio a perfect romeo imo. leguizamo kills; i can't read the play without picturing him now.
xp luhrmann's romeo and juliet, i mean
― horseshoe, Friday, 17 May 2013 14:45 (ten years ago) link
Natalie Portman had been chosen for the role of Juliet, but after production began, it was felt that the footage looked as though DiCaprio was "molesting" her.[4] Eventually, Luhrmann agreed that the age difference between the two actors was too great. Filming was halted to find another actress for the part.
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:47 (ten years ago) link
whoa
― a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers (elmo argonaut), Friday, 17 May 2013 14:49 (ten years ago) link