Monday, October 15, 2007

Weekend Update

Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I could subject you to a long list of crimes against history which this movie commits, beginning with the fact that Elizabeth is portrayed as a mid-30's hottie rather than the 55-year-old Bette Davis lookalike she really was in 1588 (and meanwhile Geoffrey Rush, like Cate Blanchett's personal Dorian Gray portrait, ages twenty years between February 1588 when Mary Queen of Scots is executed and September 1588 when the Armada sails), but what's the point? By the time Blanchett shows up in armor as England's version of Joan of Arc (Cate of Oz?), you've either been swept away or swept aside.

I do have one technical question of minor importance. The camera in this movie does just as much swooping and diving as Michael Bay's camera did in Armageddon, but in Armageddon it was annoying and nauseous -- in this movie, it's sweeping and operatic. And it's not like the plot of this movie is any different from any other Elizabeth I movie ever made (head versus heart, duty versus love, woman versus Queen, my country is my boyfriend, roll credits). Maybe I just like swooping shots of Aussie actresses more than identical zooms around Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton. But then who wouldn't?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

funny stuff