O happy day

[fajrdrako]

I just discovered that The Lion in Winter remake with Patrick Stewart will be available on DVD on July 20. I am thrilled!

Comments

[raelan.livejournal.com]

Yay!!!!

Now it just needs to be released over here so I can buy it. I want to see it so badly.

[sparklebutch.livejournal.com]

squee! it rules quite a lot. even got me writing some drabbles.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So do I! Patience is the key... but it's hard, in the face of such anticipation.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Drabbles are good things. Writing is good. Writing about Plantagenets is excellent!

[kathyh]

Yikes! I didn't even know there was a Lion in Winter remake with Patrick Stewart. Glenn Close and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers too. What a treat!

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

Very cool. It's a surprisingly good production, considering it's Hallmark. Might have something to do with the faithfulness to the original production, maintaining it as a character and dialogue play rather than effects play. :) I love good historical plays. And Plantagenets are indeed a treat to watch, although horribly dysfunctional as a family.
Personally, I prefer Hepburn's Eleanor, but I really like Patrick Stewart's Henry. (And I couldn't not recall, for a moment, that he was Richard Lion-heart in Robin Hood Men in Tights.)
Who's your favorite monarch?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's very recent - just from last month, I think. I wouldn't have known about it except that American friends who saw it were talking about it. Picture me green with envy. I can't imagine any better casting that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Philip Augustus in that movie. (Though Timothy Dalton in the old version was inspired casting as well.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The original script was so good, as long as they're faithful to it - and have decent actors - it has to be good. I love good historical plays too, and there aren't a lot of them. Um... Amadeus. L'Alouette by Jean Anouilh. Becket. What else? There aren't enough of them! I suppose there's the Shakespeare history plays, and The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Plantagenets are fun to watch because they are so dysfunctional.

My favourite monarch is Henry II, but I'm also very fond of Richard I, and I love Philip Augustus as he is in this play. I also find William the Conqueror fascinating, and recently read a few books that renewed my interest in Alfred the Great. I also like Federigo Secundo (a.k.a. Frederick II Hohenstaufen) and Aimery II of Jerusalem, not to mention Baldwin IV (the Leper King), and - oh, dear, I should probably stop there. I like way too many monarchs. Really.

That's without even mentioning Hatshepsut of Egypt and Theodolinda of the Lombards.

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

The original script was so good, as long as they're faithful to it - and have decent actors - it has to be good.

Granted, but that's a huge 'as long as'. Hallmark productions tend to emphasise special effects and visuals in their adaptations, and lose sight of characterisation. That's why I didn't like their production of Moby Dick, although it was Patrick Stewart.
I'm glad they were so faithful to the Lion in Winter :)

Plantagenets are fun to watch because they are so dysfunctional.
At a distance, yes - but when i get to like characters, I empathise, and then it's so disturbing. [And let us NOT go into Luthor comparisons...]. I would have loved them for their intelligence and strengths even if they hadn't destroyed each other and themselves so thoroughly through short temper and vengefulness.

Monarchs - you go further than I do, both geographically and chronologically. I love Henry II and Richard III (Shakespeare play included, although it's heavily biased - having been written for Tudors), but my absolute favorite has always been Elisabeth I, well, since I was 8.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That's why I didn't like their production of Moby Dick, although it was Patrick Stewart.

I didn't like it either; I thought it was just that I don't like Moby Dick - though it sounds so good when quoted in Star Trek or X-Files.


when i get to like characters, I empathise, and then it's so disturbing.

Yes. I enjoy that. Don't know what it says about me.... Though Plantagenets were dysfunctional they were so in an intelligent manner. They had breadth and depth and most of them had courage. (Possibly not John, but he was an aberration in numerous ways.)

I hve no real sense of what Richard III was like. For a while it was fashionable to make him a villain - just as these days I find a lot of people want to make a villain - or, worse, a nonentity - of Richard I, which horrifies me. Then in the 20th century Richard III's reputation has been restored and I am unconvinced of his virtue, just as I am unconvinced of his vice. The result: he doesn't seem very real to me, more of a fictional compendium - which problably simply reflects my sources, since most of what I know about him is from novels rather than historical sources. Of course, he is not from the period I studied (12th century) so my level of commitment is less.

I liked Elizabeth I too. There aren't enough really successful queens! What did you think of the Cate Blanchett movie about her?

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

I hve no real sense of what Richard III was like. [...] I am unconvinced of his virtue, just as I am unconvinced of his vice.
I assume the truth is somewhere in the middle. Historically he was probably a good monarch in terms of policies and the like, but never had much time to establish anything. His villainous image stems from Tudor times, which makes it automatically suspect, but doesn't mean he was pure as the driven snow. He must have been intelligent and loyal, and coupled with all the disinformation - makes him interesting to me. Which novels have you read about him and were they any good?

just as these days I find a lot of people want to make a villain - or, worse, a nonentity - of Richard I,
I never thought about him too much, really. He has this glorified image which I assume is not entirely deserved, just like I assume Richard's bad image isn't. (To me, images are always suspect unless you check lots of sources yourself.) He obviously wasn't too interested in his monarchial duties, and I seem to recall he was a good warrior. Want to tell me more about him and Phillip of France?

I liked Elizabeth I too. There aren't enough really successful queens! What did you think of the Cate Blanchett movie about her?
Successful and powerful. She was a Tudor monarch in a way that Mary never was and never tried to be.
I remember I enjoyed the movie as a movie, it was well made and very beautiful, but it didn't impress me much historically (I no longer remember why) and I didn't have any desire to see it again.