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Post by lynette on Aug 4, 2017 21:51:44 GMT
One thing I also have to admit that I fear may get some backlash is that I really don't like classic American family drama plays. I have seen the glass menagerie and who's afraid of Virginia would and both of them were just not my cup of tea and they are considered some of the greats so I would hate to see some of the ones that aren't considered as good. Why would there be a backlash? I thought Who's Afraid was completely ridiculous. Who behaves like that? I left August Osage County at the first interval (did see the film later and thought Streep was terrific but no regrets about the play). And as for O'Neill... I've seen all the major ones and I still just don't get him at all. See also Miller. That salesma couldn't die fast enough enough for me. O lovely - who behaves like that? Come to think of it, you are right. All of Shakespeare is behaviourly realistic. Discuss. 😂 |
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Post by lynette on Aug 4, 2017 21:52:27 GMT
Ps Osage is a terrible play. But I like Miller very much.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2017 22:01:47 GMT
One thing I also have to admit that I fear may get some backlash is that I really don't like classic American family drama plays. I have seen the glass menagerie and who's afraid of Virginia would and both of them were just not my cup of tea and they are considered some of the greats so I would hate to see some of the ones that aren't considered as good. Why would there be a backlash? I thought Who's Afraid was completely ridiculous. Who behaves like that? I left August Osage County at the first interval (did see the film later and thought Streep was terrific but no regrets about the play). And as for O'Neill... I've seen all the major ones and I still just don't get him at all. See also Miller. That salesma couldn't die fast enough enough for me. It was more backlash as people really liked both these plays and I found menagerie unimaginably boring and dull and agree I felt Virginia Woolf very over the top and just dated and as much as I love Imelda she felled very hammy and shouty. it was just a play were people were being nasty to each other and lying. I have no idea why they are considered to be so good. They all feel as know they are from a certain time and should stay there!!! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 5, 2017 6:50:05 GMT
Judi Dench has been phoning in performances for the past twenty years.
Oh yes, I'm sure she was marvellous as a younger woman, singing badly as Sally Bowles (but Sally is supposed to sing badly, dontcha know) or washing her hands as Lady M, but since that dreadful, lazy tv sitcom she's basically played herself in everything she's done. You never get a character with Judi. You just get Judi.
Sorry Judi x
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Post by lynette on Aug 5, 2017 7:24:40 GMT
Paulina in TWT? A part Shakespeare wrote for her admittedly 😉 but she was good. That is just from recent parts. She commands a stage.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 5, 2017 9:01:28 GMT
She's made a pretty penny out of giving one facial expression in the Bond movies, and looking at the trailer for Murder On The Orient Express she's doing the exact same one in that. She also bailed out of Cats 'cos she couldn't get the money note in Memory, and no I dont believe the sprained ankle story  |
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Post by tmesis on Aug 5, 2017 9:34:09 GMT
I can't be doing with this 'post-apocalypse' 'dystopian' thing. More so in novels than plays/films. It's most exemplified by Cormac McCarthy's The Road which I rank as one of the most tedious books ever, despite being short.
Ishiguro's Never Let me Go is another borefest of similar ilk.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 5, 2017 10:55:00 GMT
Haha
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Post by andromedadench on Aug 5, 2017 11:00:28 GMT
Judi Dench has been phoning in performances for the past twenty years. Oh yes, I'm sure she was marvellous as a younger woman, singing badly as Sally Bowles (but Sally is supposed to sing badly, dontcha know) or washing her hands as Lady M, but since that dreadful, lazy tv sitcom she's basically played herself in everything she's done. You never get a character with Judi. You just get Judi. Sorry Judi x In defense of my great-auntie, I don't think it's necessarily her fault she keeps playing herself on the screen (she keeps forgetting to send me freebie tickets for her theatre shows, so I've no idea how she's been faring there lately). It appears that film and TV producers reckon people want to see her play the same role of herself (or what we perceive as such), so they cast her and direct her accordingly. The same thing's been happening to Maggie Smith for many a decade. To Helen Mirren since Prime Suspect, too. And I love As Time Goes By  |
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Post by Tibidabo on Aug 5, 2017 11:24:12 GMT
I'm with Burly on Judi and raise you Russell Tovey is the most wooden actor on the planet and I stopped watching Quantico when he went into it. Just do not get the love on here for him.
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Post by d'James on Aug 5, 2017 11:36:04 GMT
I'm with Burly on Judi and raise you Russell Tovey is the most wooden actor on the planet and I stopped watching Quantico when he went into it. Just do not get the love on here for him. Donor get me started on him. (I agree with you.) |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 5, 2017 11:45:15 GMT
It's because he's got a nice bum.
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Post by d'James on Aug 5, 2017 11:49:32 GMT
It's because he's got a nice bum. Even that's debatable. |
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Post by Tibidabo on Aug 5, 2017 11:57:17 GMT
No it's not. He hasn't. No debate. |
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Post by d'James on Aug 5, 2017 12:06:55 GMT
No it's not. He hasn't. No debate. Pahahahahahahaha! You're dangerous. I like you! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2017 14:23:33 GMT
I'm with Burly on Judi and raise you Russell Tovey is the most wooden actor on the planet and I stopped watching Quantico when he went into it. Just do not get the love on here for him. I didn't get the Russell Tovey love at all (despite being a huge Being Human fan) until I saw Angels in America, where he finally shows he can in fact act rather well! I don't get the love for his backside though...maybe I was sat too far back to properly appreciate it? |
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Post by lynette on Aug 5, 2017 18:37:55 GMT
Judi Dench has been phoning in performances for the past twenty years. Oh yes, I'm sure she was marvellous as a younger woman, singing badly as Sally Bowles (but Sally is supposed to sing badly, dontcha know) or washing her hands as Lady M, but since that dreadful, lazy tv sitcom she's basically played herself in everything she's done. You never get a character with Judi. You just get Judi. Sorry Judi x In defense of my great-auntie, I don't think it's necessarily her fault she keeps playing herself on the screen (she keeps forgetting to send me freebie tickets for her theatre shows, so I've no idea how she's been faring there lately). It appears that film and TV producers reckon people want to see her play the same role of herself (or what we perceive as such), so they cast her and direct her accordingly. The same thing's been happening to Maggie Smith for many a decade. To Helen Mirren since Prime Suspect, too. And I love As Time Goes By Nice that you do, but no need to defend your great aunt. 😳😳😳😳😳😍😍😍😍😍😍 |
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Post by andromedadench on Aug 5, 2017 21:07:02 GMT
In defense of my great-auntie, I don't think it's necessarily her fault she keeps playing herself on the screen (she keeps forgetting to send me freebie tickets for her theatre shows, so I've no idea how she's been faring there lately). It appears that film and TV producers reckon people want to see her play the same role of herself (or what we perceive as such), so they cast her and direct her accordingly. The same thing's been happening to Maggie Smith for many a decade. To Helen Mirren since Prime Suspect, too. And I love As Time Goes By Nice that you do, but no need to defend your great aunt. 😳😳😳😳😳😍😍😍😍😍😍 I was kind of hoping she'd finally remember to send me the odd freebie if I selflessly defended her honour. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 5, 2017 21:18:35 GMT
Dream on, she's too busy handbagging millions for her next expressionless performance in a blockbuster movie.
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Post by crowblack on Aug 5, 2017 21:58:40 GMT
I can't be doing with this 'post-apocalypse' 'dystopian' thing. I think it's publishers / film studios playing safe in the marketplace. If your villain / opponent is a futuristic dystopian government, zombies, vampires or comic book supervillains, no nationality or people gets offended and the product can be sold everywhere. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2017 7:57:54 GMT
The fantastic villain du jour is usually a reflection of the world currently being lived in. There's a lot more political metaphor in the horror genre than cynical/safe production decisions. (Seriously, how can you read the news one day, read a book about a dystopian government the next day, and *not* see a metaphor?)
It's a bit early to go rummaging for articles on the waxing and waning popularity of vampires and zombies and nuclear-created beasts, but this bit from Tumblr is a reasonable illustration of the theory:
"Star Wars is particularly good at tailoring its villains to what people of the time fear most: in the late 70’s/early 80’s, it was faceless, militaristic dictators, in the late 90’s/early 00’s it was shady politicians who seize power questionably and then immediately start wars with murky ulterior motives, and in the 10’s, it’s twentysomething white men with no self-control."
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Post by viserys on Aug 6, 2017 8:11:35 GMT
I don't care for the horror genre at all, including vampires and zombies and the endless fascination with either is beyond me. I managed a few seasons of The Walking Dead because my best friend was soooo into it and I kind of wanted to do him a favour. While I was mildly intrigued by the interactions of the human survivors I immediately tuned out when zombies appeared for yet another ridiculous blood-spattering violence orgy. Handy for quick trips to the loo or fridge only. Gave up after season 3 or 4.
As for the dystopian thing - it depends. I don't care for "post-apocalypse" stuff when everything has completely broken down, but I find some of the nearly-realistic-dystopian stuff like The Hunger Games or The Handmaid's Tale very chilling and intrigueing because it makes me think about our world. Manipulation of the masses was a huge topic in the Hunger Games and let's not get started on the parallels between religious fanaticism in Gilead and the real world.
The superhero thing went to pot for me when Christopher Nolan started taking it seriously with his oh so dark Batman movies. Men in spandex spider or bat costumes flying about gloomy cityscapes just can't be taken seriously and it all felt so overwrought and pompous. Only recently I've been able to enjoy them as mindless fluff again when they stopped taking themselves seriously in Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool.
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Post by crowblack on Aug 6, 2017 10:57:46 GMT
(Seriously, how can you read the news one day, read a book about a dystopian government the next day, and *not* see a metaphor?) This long predates Trump. I'm writing from my experience nearly a decade ago with a large publishing house and the comments about allowable types of baddie made by their sales team: their publications at the time seemed to bear this out. Interestingly, Trump and co have grown out of popular culture: when they came out, the Hunger Games books and films were seized on by the American Tea Party Right Wing who thought they were great - they portrayed the 'metropolitan elite' and the state as effete and evil and the people of the flyover states as a heroic resistance. Terry Gilliam's Brazil was similarly loved by the American far right a few decades ago - the Oklahoma Bomber used de Niro's character's name as his pseudonym. |
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Post by crowblack on Aug 6, 2017 21:38:58 GMT
(Off topic, but for some reason the search function doesn't seem to be working - I enter Hamlet or something big like that and this evening get 'no posts found' - is it me, or the site?)
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Post by Backdrifter on Aug 6, 2017 23:50:43 GMT
I don't care how good they are or which famous musicians started out as such, I detest buskers. And speaking of music, Led Zeppelin are massively overrated, and I don't get all the fuss about Nick Drake. There wouldn't be any if he hadn't died.
Pandas are total rubbish. Even as a child I had no interest in the updates on whether various pandas were going to mate. And they just sit around eating one single thing with virtually no nutrition. And as for monkeys... they're not cute or funny.
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