The Lion in Winter
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Movie Reviews of The Lion in Winter
Movie Review: The Lion in Winter Was Asleep
Summary: 2 Stars
I gave this version of this excellent play two stars solely for the quality of the staging but this film is SLOW. While it is well acted, with excellent cinematography and set design, the director has done a very poor job because it drags and drags and lacks any of the crispness of the original. In fact I didn't even finish watching it. Close and Stewart played Henry and Eleanor as truly estranged enemies who were sincerely plotting each other's destruction. This may have been closer to the historical truth (but who really knows?)but it simply wasn't fun or interesting. The play rests entirely on the repartee between Eleanor and Henry and the rapier wit of the two but alas this was missing in this version. The entire film was stagey and filled with pregnant pauses which killed the pace and wit. The Hepburn O'Toole version is much better because it is filmed in a more intimate way plus Hepburn and O'Toole play the characters as truly loving each other but people who cannot stop being King and Queen with totally different agendas. The Lion2 was a big disappointment.Movie Review: A let down
Summary: 1 Stars
I'll admit that I'm a huge fan of the original. Having said that, I did try to watch Lion2 without prejudice. However, it was so bad that comparisons were just inevitable. One disclaimer: I couldn't finish watching this movie. It was that bad.
The plot itself: Yes, there were some changes but nothing major. Some of the speeches were done in different places in the original (most of Geoffrey's lines). I didn't find anything wrong with that at all.
Patrick Stewart as Henry II: I really only got this movie because of him. I love him as an actor and his roles are always played well. Except for this. His lines were delivered flippantly. He played it like it was a tongue-in-cheek rendition.
Glenn Close as Eleanor: Her acting was just bad. She didn't seem to care about anything either. It was as if she memorized the lines but didn't understand what they meant, so the delivery was flat. The lines needed a underlying venom or bite that was sadly lacking.
The boys: Richard was just bad casting. He was a weasely looking guy and he just came across as mean and surly. There was no range with this character. Geoffrey was close to right. In his case it was just that he wasn't John Castle. Prince John was just plain bad. You could actually tell that he was trying to act. He was supposed to be a snivelling schemer, but the guy who played him in Lion2 played him as a buffoon.
Actually, throughout the movie the actors were either quoting their lines by rote or they were fumbling along. There was no FEELING anywhere or for anything, yet the events that transpired were supposed to be vitally important to all of them.
In the original, you could feel the love/hate between all the characters, especially Henry and Eleanor. It was palpable. In Lion2 there really is no emotion.
As some have already stated, you could see that this whole production was done on a hollywood set. The original was dark and dank, like you would expect a medieval castle to be. In Lion2 everything was fairly bright and cheery. It set the wrong mood.
To sum up, on it's own Lion2 is just not very well acted. Compared to the original, however, it's a travesty. I would suggest skipping this one and seeing the original.
Movie Review: Atrocious remake of the best film ever
Summary: 1 Stars
I try to evaluate a movie like this on two sets of criteria: 1. Is it a good adaptation? and 2. Is it a good movie, in and of itself?
The answer to both questions, in this case, is no. The original movie's dialogue was delivered with such impecible timing and sarcastic, sharp wit that you could actually believe these folks WERE Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. The onscreen chemistry between Peter O'Toole and Catharine Hepburn was off the charts, and the supporting cast, including a very young Anthony Hopkins, was superb.
In this remake, Patrick Stewart (who I always regarded as a great actor) and Glen Close (who I never did) seem to have about as much interest in their dialogue as a toddler in a calculus class. They sound so scripted and deadpan that it's hard to believe they weren't actually reading off of cue cards (perhaps they were). They barely, as far as I could tell, even make eye contact with one another.
Disappointing all around.
Movie Review: LOGIC EVAPORATES
Summary: 1 Stars
There are times in the world of movies when it seems that all logic evaporates. A remake of THE LION IN WINTER, the 1968 masterpiece starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn, is such time. Nothing in this movie comes remotely close to the original. In taking the role as Henry II, Patrick Stewart continues a line of miscasting messes that have included his trying and failing to best Gregory Peck's Ahab in a remake of MOBY DICK, and trying and failing to make a credible Ebenezer Scrooge while falling well short of George C. Scott's masterful portrayal in A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Glen Close is just awful! When compared to Katherine Hepburn, Close is like having a tuna sandwich when lobster is on the menu!
The rest of the cast is equally abysmal. How do you replace Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, John Castle and Jane Merrow? You don't as evidenced by this film. How can you think that you can? That remains the mystery!
THE HORSEMAN