Beowulf
I saw Beowulf last night. I was not very familiar with the story, but the names were at least familiar to me, and a little about the battle with Grendel. I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to Dungeons and Dragons and/or Neverwinter Nights enthusiasts. The animation and story telling are both excellent.
Been meaning to see this - read a childrens version of the story when I was young and loved it. Heard mixed reviews, but kene t ocatch it anyway.
ReplyDeletewhat I am holding out for is the Golden Compass - absolutely loved that series of books
I think D and D fans would enjoy Beowulf. Great stuff. Lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear. Me & wife are planning to take a trip south to see it. After the film monopoly was introduced here one have to travel a lot so see the movies I wait for.
ReplyDeleteWow. That sounds like a pain in the neck. I really enjoyed it. It wasn't exactly my wife's cup of tea but she said it was well done.
ReplyDeleteI'm with our wife on this one. Actually, not only was it not my cup of tea, but someone seems to have also spoiled the crumpets, broken the china, and turned mindless flesh-eating zombies loose in the house where the tea party was supposed to take place.
ReplyDeleteI recommend finding a good translation and reading the original - it's only like 70 pages. I'll even recommend John Gardner's existentialist Grendel, but that movie is the exact opposite of what it was supposed to be.
I don't know the original story so I couldn't compare it, but I though it was very good fun.
ReplyDeleteNow it's not like me to point out typos, because I am the ultimate champion of typos and spelling errors, but in your post you mentioned you agreed with 'our' wife.
It's nice to know we have something in common. (the same wife).
Laugh. I really enjoyed that.
Seriously, thanks for the post.
hahaha - touche! Perhaps I should change it to 'our (respective) wives' since Mindy didn't like it either.
ReplyDeleteMy central issue was this: the original illustrated (intentionally) all that was *good* about 7th century Danish viking society - leaders and heroes were supposed to be strong, compassionate, loyal to their people, generous, and humble.
The movie turned all that upside down- I have little sympathy when bad things happen to bad people, and after the first five minutes of film I had zero compassion for anyone in Hrothgar's hall except maybe the queen. Additionally, having had noisy neighbors in the past, I was more sympathetic to Grendel than anyone else.
Tolkien based much of his mythos on Beowulf and stories from that period. If he'd had Gaiman's movie version as source material the hobbits would all be drunken idiots enslaved by Gandalf while Sauron would be the innocent wizard just trying to recover a lost piece of jewelry... Heh, that movie got me really worked up for some reason.
Cheers! And again - great interview on the podcast!
I understood it's background, and didn't have quite the same issues, I felt sympathetic for the queen, and only disliked the adviser. It's hard not to dislike someone who kicks a kid.
ReplyDeleteFor my wife, it was the loud soundtrack, and intense violence. There are times she can handle these things, but I think she didn't 'get it', she didn't have the background I did, and perhaps failed to pick up on the things you pointed out.
I haven't seen this.. but I'm still holding out hope for a Hobit movie.. and maybe they could use this technology to do the Hobit keeping Bilbo looking the same as in the other movies..
ReplyDeleteHollywood.. are you listening.. please?!!
I haven't seen this.. but I'm still holding out hope for a Hobit movie.. and maybe they could use this technology to do the Hobit keeping Bilbo looking the same as in the other movies..
ReplyDeleteHollywood.. are you listening.. please?!!
Sorry.. looks like I'm gonna get a reputation for spamming comments.. Goggle didn't log me in.. made me sign up under another e-mail address.. then posted me twice while saying I still needed to log in.. great.. sorry.. and feel free to delete this and the dupes!
ReplyDeleteDave
And eat2Surf makes the leap from the neverwinterpodcast forum to my blog. I read your posts their frequently and it's nice to have a post from you here.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of talk about the Hobbit movie. For a long time there was a dispute between Peter Jackson who director LOTR and New Line Cinema, but it sounds like they are patching things up and there is hope. There was also discussion of New Line Cinema doing the Hobbit, with Sam Raimi of Spiderman and Evil Dead at the helm. We'll see!
Thanks for the nice welcome.
ReplyDeleteI'm still.. I dunno.. bummed? that Peter and the gang got awards for "adaptation".. it seems obvious to me that they took the old animated movies and used them as story boards..
He even picked actors that look like the animated characters.. Don't get me wrong.. I love the movie.. but they are getting some credit for someone else's work.
He hired to graphic artists early on who did a lot of paintings based on LOTR. I think that's why a lot of it LOOKED right.
ReplyDeleteI really am fan of the movies, but with that said they don't hold a candle to the books. Not one lick.
The books were more had more humor and didn't seem quite as dark.
That explains how the actors look the same.. but if I was a college professor and they submitted it to me.. I'd say.. nice work taking the animated series and filming it.. but I'd never say they did any of the adaptation work.. that was already done for them.. and those had a dark feel to them..
ReplyDeleteNot that I'm jaded on Hollywood.. (I have a friend that was a long time grip and "best boy".. living in SoCal you get to know way more than you'd ever want to 'bout the movie biz).. I'm betting they even stole the dark mood.. I think they believe they got the movie "right" because it matched the animated movies.. I hope they read the books... maybe..
I shouldn't get started down this path.. *jumps off the soap box*..
Hopefully I'll find time to see Beowulf... 3D doesn't always work for me.. even with my glasses.. I have an eye that my brain doesn't like to listen to.
Enjoy!
Dave
I actually didn't get to see the 3D version, but still enjoyed it. :-)
ReplyDelete