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Romeo and Juliet (1996 vs. 1968), a review by goodguy

Romeo and Juliet (1996 vs. 1968)

Romeo + Juliet (1996) Directed by: Baz Luhrmann Starring: Leonardo DiCapiro, Claire Danes DVD: R1-US Fox (2002, SE) My Rating:

Romeo & Juliet (1968) Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey DVD: R2-DE Paramount (2003) My Rating:

It's been a few years since I had watched the 1996 version. I liked it quite well then, I liked it a little less now, but overall I thought of it as a movie where the good outweights the bad. Then I watched Zeffirelli's version.

Gasp.
It is mind-boggling just how much the older movie invalidates the newer one in every single aspect.

Both versions use Shakespeare's original language, and both downsize the play quite a bit to fit into a 2 hour movie. Both versions use young actors for the two lead characters: DiCaprio and Danes were 21 and 17, Whiting and Hussey were 17 and 16 (if IMDb can be trusted on BYs) when the movies were made.

Luhrmann puts the play in a contemporary Californian coast town called Verona Beach, with cars instead of horses and guns instead of swords. Highly stylized, shrill colors, almost comic-like. Zeffirelli chooses a historical setting and a subtle, but nonetheless vibrant color scheme. The costumes are dazzling and beautiful.

Luhrmann plays up the action, the conflict between the houses is more determined and violent. But besides his superficial stylization, which also turns the supporting characters in mere caricatures, he has no way of dealing with it when the conflict becomes deathly and Mercutio gets killed. Instead of a dramatic moment we get grey clouds and a storm, and as Romeo then kills Tybalt... well it starts raining, of course.

Zeffirelli does the opposite. The duel between Tybalt and Mercurio could end without bloodshed; it is an accident that it turns deadly. Since the fighting house members are characterized more subtle and the actors are more capable, they are able to convey the drama without weather changes. In fact, during the entire movie, moving from comedy to romance to drama, it always remains sunny in Verona. Btw, that doesn't mean that Zeffirelli's fight scenes lack dynamic - on the contrary, the camera even goes handheld during them.

A similar difference shows the depiction of Juliet's parents. Luhrmann, maybe in his attempt to appeal to a teenage crowd, makes the mother just a ridiculous person and the father a vile bastard. Zeffirelli treats them as real persons, who mean well for their daughter when arranging a marriage. The father threatening the daughter plays as a momentary loss of temper, not as the determining character trait.

What else? Oh, Romeo & Juliet. In Luhrmann's version, the moment were Romeo first spots Juliet through an aquarium is promising. Unfortunately, it goes all downhill from there. Neither DiCaprio nor Danes (nor most of the other cast) have any grasp of the language. It isn't just the American accent, it is such a forced and uninspired delivery that the romantic scenes never quite flourish. Danes is a little more convincing than DiCaprio, especially when she doesn't have to say anything and can just look dreamily or smile. Oh, and Luhrmann  moving the balcony scene into the swimming pool doesn't help either. Yes, by MTV video rules, wet equals sexy. And by the same rules, one probably has to painfully avoid any nudity when staging the after-sex scene.

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey on the other hand are a revelation. There is really no way for me to describe this adequately. They are so perfect in their roles, it is breathtaking. Stunningly beautiful, passionate and sensual, yet innocent at the same time. And they own every line of dialogue and make it sound just like a natural way to speak. And Zeffirelli matches this by choosing equally natural and beautiful settings. It also doesn't come as a surprise that Zeffirelli and his leads don't have a problem with nudity.

Much more could be said. About the score for example, and about many other things. It doesn't matter. If you have never seen Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, go and get the DVD. It has been around for years and is probably cheap. You can't do anything wrong by buying it. Prepare for an eye-opening experience.



(From Romeo and Juliet (1996 vs. 1968) on June 2nd, 2008)

Late Night Shopping, a review by Jon

Late Night Shopping
3 out of 5



An upbeat, oddball, after-hours comedy about the ups and downs of sex and shelf-stacking in the 21st century. Four friends, Sean, Vincent, Jody and Lenny find themselves at something of a dead-end. Trapped in a twilight world of permanent night shift work they hang out together in the local all night cafe, where their only escape from drudgery is observing Vincent's unwavering success in pulling women. There seems little prospect of change. But then events conspire otherwise.

This confident debut from Saul Metzstein is a little known gem. It's an unassuming comedy about four otherwise unconnected people trapped in a limbo with each other because of the strange hours they work. It's inoffensive, but often hilarious, sharp and strangely moving. Really not much to it at under 90 minutes, but this must be the third time I've watched it now. I keep coming back to it because while they aren't amazing actors, they are very easy people to identify with.

We have Lenny (Enzo Cilenti), the socially inept call centre operator, obsessed by one of his colleagues; Vincent (James Lance), the womanizing supermarket shelf-stacker, who we shouldn't like, but can't help ourselves; Jody (Shaun of the Dead's Kate Ashfield), the insecure factory girl of the bunch; and Sean (Luke De Woolfson), the hospital porter. If there's a lead in this film, it's Sean. He lives with his girlfriend, who he hasn't seen for several weeks because she works days! He's getting the "fear", a boy thing according to Jody, and panicking that she's already left him. He's resorted to even checking the soap to see if it's getting used!

It doesn't hold up to much scrutiny, I know, but it's the premise and it is very funny. The story has a couple of other contrivances, but it never feels compromised. It's refreshing that it is never flashy, sarcastic or smug. All of which a lot of these sort of films can be, especially from first-timers showing-off. Metzstein trusts his characters and I suppose himself, so this just comes across as honest and fun. There's not much to it visually, but the narrative isn't lazy and there's a lot to like in Jack Lothian's lively writing.

I really recommend looking this up. Go into it not expecting much and it'll surprise you. I was trying to use this marathon for unwatched stuff, but when this popped up, I just fancied seeing it again. Can't say better than that.

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 11th, 2009)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The Ori themselves are most likely dead. But their followers continue to fight. Daniel is now "sure" that they will find the "Ark of Truth" in the Ori galaxy. The Ark was build by the Ancients and is capable to show the truth about the Ori to every human being. Thus the Odyssey under the command of Mitchell is going to the Ori galaxy.

My Opinion: On the one hand this movie was very exciting on the other hand several things annoyed me. In my opinion to the tenth season I said that they've re-used old ideas. Now they've done it again and they've even included a huge plot hole. It is most likely that the self-destruction code only works in combination with the Asgard computer core since the program was written in there. If the Odyssey would have been destroyed there would be nothing that could stop the Replicators. And the Replicator zombie was absurd.
And Teal'c has been shot for the uncountableth time since the loss of his symbiote. An extra would lay motionless in the grass yet he travels over the mountains with an energy staff wound directly on the spine.
And the Ori ships in Earth's solar system are graciously waiting with the attack until Daniel can convince them.


That's it. 66 days (February 28th - May 3rd) of Stargate SG-1 are done. I hope you enjoyed to read it a little as I enjoyed to watch it again.

The End.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on May 4th, 2008)