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Ko-Ordin-8 chimes in on LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
Hey there musical lovers, Harry here with another look at Branagh's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. I'm dying to see this as it is a noble experiment and I'm rooting for Branagh to pull it off... But I have to admit that I really don't care for Alicia all that much, and... well, I'll just have to hold my tongue till we get to the other side of all of this. Here's the review...
LOVES, LABOUR'S, LOST. Advance Review.
"Loves, Labour's Lost" is Kenneth Branagh's ambitious cinematic adaptation
of the William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The story is a simple
tale of love, passion and the things that come between them. The King of
Navarre (Alessandro Nivola - Face/Off, Best Laid Plans) and his three
friends, Kenneth Branagh (Othello, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein) as Berowne,
Adrian Lester (- Up On The Roof, Primary Colors) as Dumaine and Matthew
Lillard (- Serial Mom, Scream) as Longaville. All swear a very public oath
to enter a strict period of education and enlightenment, a binding element
of their oath states that they must renounce women for three years. Their
agreement to this is immediately challenged however with the arrival of the
Princess of France, played by Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Batman and
Robin) and her three elegant companions; Natascha McElhone (- The Devils
Own, The Truman Show) as Rosaline, Emily Mortimer (Elizabeth, Scream 3) as
Katherine and Carmen Ejogo (Metro, The Avengers) as Maria.
Its easy to tell that a lot of effort and thought went into the planning of
this film by Branagh, but it just doesn't seem to work and through much of
the film I felt uneasy as to what I was actually watching. Non of the
actors, with the exception of Nathan Lane (The Birdcage, Mouse Hunt) as
Costard and Adrian Lester seem at all comfortable with the very epic
Broadway-esq material. Indeed the only time I felt happy with the film was
when Lane was onscreen. Lillard and Silverstone just seemed really out of
place and it has to be said that Branagh's acting is much finer tuned than
his singing. That said the set and costume design is beautiful and very
eye-catching, it's just a shame that the other elements of film didn't come
together. You feel that there was a really great idea in there somewhere, an
idea that was lost in a jumble of miscast parts and a montage of styles. I
think the film could have benefited too without the inclusion of the black
and white newsreel plot-explanation segments, the presence of which seemed
only to serve those that couldn't understand what
was happening onscreen.
Loves, Labour's Lost" is a beautifully designed and photographed piece of
cinema, that is let down by an uncomfortable juxtapositioning styles and a
miscasting of most parts. It should find an appreciative limited audience,
but its odd nature and feel well restrict its access to the mainstream
viewers.
Call me Ko-ordin-8
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Cause I'm definitely looking forward to this. Even if it falls short of its aspirations, it's always heartening to see this kind of risk being taken, especially with the classics. I think (to pompously misquote) Orson Welles said something to the effect that "if you're not going to do something new with the material, you should just leave it alone." end misquote. Anyway, Shakespeare's what Branagh's best at, and it seems that, ever since Henry V, Branagh's been the best lately at Shakespeare. I'm there.
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Okay, I LOVE Kenneth Branagh's work. For my money, he's one of the greatest directors alive today. And it goes without saying that nobody can do Shakespeare like him. When I heard about a kinda sorta musical version of this play, I was skeptical, but not too much. Shakespeare's comedies have always had a bit of the Broadway nuttiness to them, so I was willing to tenatively accept it. And then- Matthew Lillard? Alicia Silverstone? I have no real problem with either of these actors, even though Alicia was in the Batman film which shall remain nameless, but come on. You'd think he'd have learned his lesson with Keanu in Much Ado About Nothing. But whatever. I know I'd go see his new movie even if he cast Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in a version of Romeo and... Oh, shit.
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Nuff Said!
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hmm... i don't give a damn about this flick. but the "21 Days To A Flatter Belly" banner ad on the top of this site is pretty damn ironic... funny... whatever. it's my job to keep punk rock elite.
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Guys. Have faith in the man!!! The movie is elegant, funny and astonishingly really moving in the end!!! Even Alicia holds up her end!!! If you'll pardon the expression..... ;-)
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This film opened in the UK only a few weeks ago and I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that it has already closed. That said, I saw it on the first weekend and loved it. The cinema was nearly empty, but given the complete lack of publicity for its release, that was hardly suprising. But enough of that -- to the film: Here is my short and sweet review :- "It was short and sweet." End of review. But I loved it. For me it proved that that Alicia Silverstone was not a one hit wonder. The woman has charm and she can actually act. I'm not saying she's going to win an award anytime soon or anything, but her particular variety of cute and perky worked a treat with the approach Branagh has taken to the film. The music and dancing were a lot of fun. It was all played tongue-in-cheek without having to resort to any no-brainer cynicism. Everyone left with a smile on their face. See it if you can.
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lillard does bite the big one - ever since 'scream' i've gone out of my way to avoid films this lame cocksucker has contaminated with his dreadful overacting. two words, matthew: desk job.
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ALICIA SILVERSTONE IS THE SECOND SEXIEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD!!! Right behind my fiancee... :)
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A good percentage of people hate all musicals anyway, so I would take TalkBack criticism with a Morton can of salt. For those who do enjoy a well-done song & dance flick now and again, I'm excited about this project. Woody Allen's musical venture was enjoyable, but he's not exactly a classic "visual" director, his skills being mainly in the screenplay area. Branagh, like him or not, is an old-fashioned type of director. Even Dead Again (which was a lot of fun) and Frankenstein (which was a misguided nightmare) were done old-school. I think the idea of combining these certain songs with one of Shakespeare's lesser-praised works is a great idea. Hey, experimentation worked for Titys, one of the most imaginitive films I've seen in a long time. Maybe this one won't succeed on all points, but I'd wager it's worth seeing. Branagh's Hamlet was robbed of Academy Awards and attention in general, being a pretty ballsy undertaking and about as unboring as a 4 hour film could be. Some amazing filmmaking in there...not to mention some audacious interpretation of famous scenes. *** As for Alicia Silversone, while Excess Baggage was quite...excessive, her performance in Clueless was not the work of some untalented dumb blonde. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt before I cast judgement on her work here.
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What are all these "scoop" LLL reviews doing on AICN? I saw this movie around a month ago and it's been on general release in the UK for longer than that! What's next? A test screening review of Battleship Potemkin? Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed LLL -- the musical numbers are well choreographed, even if the songs are rather trite choices. I went to university with Emily Mortimer and she is as GORGEOUS in real life as she is on film.
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For those who can suspend their modern day cynicism for 90+ minutes, you're in for a real treat! Branagh goes out on a limb to pay homage to all of the great musicals filmed in the middle of the twentieth century and does a fine job of it. Laughs are plentiful, slapstick is rampant, and the actors actually perform their own song and dance numbers - quite a feat in this post 'Flashdance' era. Unfortunately LLL doesn't open stateside until the early part of the summer - but I, for one, can't wait to see it again!
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For those who can suspend their modern day cynicism for 90+ minutes, you're in for a real treat! Branagh goes out on a limb to pay homage to all of the great musicals filmed in the middle of the twentieth century and does a fine job of it. Laughs are plentiful, slapstick is rampant, and the actors actually perform their own song and dance numbers - quite a feat in this post 'Flashdance' era. Unfortunately LLL doesn't open stateside until the early part of the summer - but I, for one, can't wait to see it again!
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