Movies: Shrek 2 and King Arthur
Went to the movies to celebrate codym's birthday, with redchristoph and marsden_online. We saw Shrek 2 and King Arthur. Warning contains spoliers
SHREK 2: Very enjoyable film that contained some very amusing gags and clever spoofs of other films. Although I found it funnier than the first film, I think some of the gags held up the story, whereas in Shrek 1 the story appeared to be a higher priority.
I had one philsophical quandry. Given that the 'happy ever after' potion changed the reciepent and their one true love I did wonder if it would also affect the offspring. We never got to see the effect on the dragon. Did it affect the mutant babies too? :)
KING ARTHUR: I had been warned that the film did not have much to do with the legend, but was an attempt to tell a more historically accurate story of what the real King Arthur could have been. The idea intriged me.
The best way I can describe the film is that it is an intelligent war film, that nearly pulls off being an epic. Apparently the film was subject to some pretty savage cuts in order to bring the rating down from R. I suspect it was probably cut for length too.
The most impressive thing about the fight scenes is that most of the strategy is clear to see, without some ego needing to explain it beforehand. Not sure if the siege weapons (although they were pretty simple) or the English longbows (extra long range) were completely period, but it had a believable dark ages look nonetheless.
But 'King Arthur' is not a war movie in an action sense, as it approaches war more like a shakesperian historical play, with questioning throughout of how actions are motivated by identity, beliefs, where one belongs and the duty of empire verses its realities. The slow start allows for some good character development, but done in such a way you would like to know more about the characters if time had allowed. Some more on Arthur's backstory would have been good, especially if it showed how he came into the Roman army.
For some reason I though the actor playing Lancelot looked evil - probably because he reminded me so much of the actor playing Sherrif of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Thevies! The goatee beard just looked evil!
SHREK 2: Very enjoyable film that contained some very amusing gags and clever spoofs of other films. Although I found it funnier than the first film, I think some of the gags held up the story, whereas in Shrek 1 the story appeared to be a higher priority.
I had one philsophical quandry. Given that the 'happy ever after' potion changed the reciepent and their one true love I did wonder if it would also affect the offspring. We never got to see the effect on the dragon. Did it affect the mutant babies too? :)
KING ARTHUR: I had been warned that the film did not have much to do with the legend, but was an attempt to tell a more historically accurate story of what the real King Arthur could have been. The idea intriged me.
The best way I can describe the film is that it is an intelligent war film, that nearly pulls off being an epic. Apparently the film was subject to some pretty savage cuts in order to bring the rating down from R. I suspect it was probably cut for length too.
The most impressive thing about the fight scenes is that most of the strategy is clear to see, without some ego needing to explain it beforehand. Not sure if the siege weapons (although they were pretty simple) or the English longbows (extra long range) were completely period, but it had a believable dark ages look nonetheless.
But 'King Arthur' is not a war movie in an action sense, as it approaches war more like a shakesperian historical play, with questioning throughout of how actions are motivated by identity, beliefs, where one belongs and the duty of empire verses its realities. The slow start allows for some good character development, but done in such a way you would like to know more about the characters if time had allowed. Some more on Arthur's backstory would have been good, especially if it showed how he came into the Roman army.
For some reason I though the actor playing Lancelot looked evil - probably because he reminded me so much of the actor playing Sherrif of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Thevies! The goatee beard just looked evil!