Legend: very quickly

Because I won't get to do the actual big post for a few days...

Legend is interesting because it's the forerunner for a few rather notable things.  First of all, of course, it's one of Ridley Scott's earlier films and, even though it got severely watered down(I'm being nice...even though the movie we got is excellent, the difference between what Scott started with and what came out weas apparently enough to get him to swear off fantasy films forever because the studios at the time weren't willingly to invest in something of the scope he wanted for Legend) it has heavy influences on his later work, especially Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, particularly in cinematography.  Also, though much higher tech, a VERY large amount of  the visuals and imagery in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is from Legend(when I first saw Fellowship of the Ring, there were several scenes that, in terms of visuals, almost seemed to be directly lifted from Legend.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't remotely a slam against LOTR...half the things that make good movies good is taking what's come before and putting it to good use.  And LOTR certainly isn't alone...there's a scene in Mirrormask where Helena transforms that is eerily similar to Lily's transformation in Legend, and the transformations share thematic and character progression similarities, too.

Then there's the final scene.  Now, while I love Legend, it's not necessarily one of my absolute favorites...it's not in my top 10 movies but might hover around the top twenty.  But the final scene?  One of the best, most beautiful and romantic movie scenes ever, and there's barely any dialogue.  In fact, the only dialogue is Jack's "I love you."  It's about the beauty and innocence of youth and love and the young's idea of fairy tales, without letting you forget the darker reality.  Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a decent video of it on youtube, or I'd post it(all I found was one of those where someone pointed a video camera at their TV.)  So instead, I bring you a video.

   

ETA:  Also of note is that while Tom Cruise has a few other movies that I like, this is one of only 2 where I like Cruise himself.  The other is The Last Samurai.

Legend: very quickly

Because I won't get to do the actual big post for a few days...

Legend is interesting because it's the forerunner for a few rather notable things.  First of all, of course, it's one of Ridley Scott's earlier films and, even though it got severely watered down(I'm being nice...even though the movie we got is excellent, the difference between what Scott started with and what came out weas apparently enough to get him to swear off fantasy films forever because the studios at the time weren't willingly to invest in something of the scope he wanted for Legend) it has heavy influences on his later work, especially Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, particularly in cinematography.  Also, though much higher tech, a VERY large amount of  the visuals and imagery in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is from Legend(when I first saw Fellowship of the Ring, there were several scenes that, in terms of visuals, almost seemed to be directly lifted from Legend.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't remotely a slam against LOTR...half the things that make good movies good is taking what's come before and putting it to good use.  And LOTR certainly isn't alone...there's a scene in Mirrormask where Helena transforms that is eerily similar to Lily's transformation in Legend, and the transformations share thematic and character progression similarities, too.

Then there's the final scene.  Now, while I love Legend, it's not necessarily one of my absolute favorites...it's not in my top 10 movies but might hover around the top twenty.  But the final scene?  One of the best, most beautiful and romantic movie scenes ever, and there's barely any dialogue.  In fact, the only dialogue is Jack's "I love you."  It's about the beauty and innocence of youth and love and the young's idea of fairy tales, without letting you forget the darker reality.  Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a decent video of it on youtube, or I'd post it(all I found was one of those where someone pointed a video camera at their TV.)  So instead, I bring you a video.

   

ETA:  Also of note is that while Tom Cruise has a few other movies that I like, this is one of only 2 where I like Cruise himself.  The other is The Last Samurai.

2 more Powell and Loy classics: I Love You Again and Love Crazy

Finishing up the Powell and Loy collection before heading out to the parents for the weekend.  

Both of these movies feature Powell and Loy as a married couple with Loy about to leave him and Powel doing every insane thing humanly possible to keep her.

In I Love You Again, Powell plays a former crook who's had amnesia for nine years.  During those nine years, he was a milquetoast doormat and a moralistic community leader.  However, on a trip he get hit in the head with an oar, causing him to remember his earlier life, but forget the last nine years.  Thinking he had money in his other persona, he plans to get the money and disappear, only to find himself falling for the wife he doesn't know(Loy) who was fed up with the boring persona and wants to divorce him, and is already engaged to another man.  In Love Crazy, they play a happily married couple, but when Powell encounters an old flame on the elevator on their fourth anniversary, Loy's mother uses the opportunity to convince her that he's cheating and she leaves him.  The day before their divorce hearing, he learns that she CAN'T divorce him if he's insane, so he feigns insanity hoping to buy himself time to win her back.  Unfortunately, while she's not remotely fooled, everyone else is, causing all sorts of troubles for him.

Both movies were very good and very fun, but didn't seem to have quite as much effort put into them, scriptwise, as other Powell/Loy movies have.  I guess the execs  realized that they could have powell and Loy read off their grovery lists in the same room and it'd be entertaining.  STill, both movies are very much worth watching.

2 more Powell and Loy classics: I Love You Again and Love Crazy

Finishing up the Powell and Loy collection before heading out to the parents for the weekend.  

Both of these movies feature Powell and Loy as a married couple with Loy about to leave him and Powel doing every insane thing humanly possible to keep her.

In I Love You Again, Powell plays a former crook who's had amnesia for nine years.  During those nine years, he was a milquetoast doormat and a moralistic community leader.  However, on a trip he get hit in the head with an oar, causing him to remember his earlier life, but forget the last nine years.  Thinking he had money in his other persona, he plans to get the money and disappear, only to find himself falling for the wife he doesn't know(Loy) who was fed up with the boring persona and wants to divorce him, and is already engaged to another man.  In Love Crazy, they play a happily married couple, but when Powell encounters an old flame on the elevator on their fourth anniversary, Loy's mother uses the opportunity to convince her that he's cheating and she leaves him.  The day before their divorce hearing, he learns that she CAN'T divorce him if he's insane, so he feigns insanity hoping to buy himself time to win her back.  Unfortunately, while she's not remotely fooled, everyone else is, causing all sorts of troubles for him.

Both movies were very good and very fun, but didn't seem to have quite as much effort put into them, scriptwise, as other Powell/Loy movies have.  I guess the execs  realized that they could have powell and Loy read off their grovery lists in the same room and it'd be entertaining.  STill, both movies are very much worth watching.

randomly

• I have stared going back through and tagging all my book and movie posts for the years with 'books" and "movies" for maintenance purposes.  Done with March...only 5 months to go...
• Catsitting again this weekend from tonight through Sunday.  Only thing I'm really taking to watch is the Last Exile anime, though I plan to unearth and watch their copy of Overboard while I'm there since I plan to watch Fantasy Couple next week, and it's based on Overboard.
• I also watched the first two episodes of Last Exile before work.  Not sure what I think of it, yet.  On the one hand, it's very, very pretty, but I don't really have a good hold on the plot yet, and so far the main characters, Klaus and Lavi, don't really interest me.  Actually, Lavi's energy seems really out of place in the series.  So far the only character that's really jumped out at me(I only know Klaus and Lavi's names because they were both said 50-60 times...) is the dark haired ship captain, but I don't know yet if he's a good guy or a bad guy.
• I also tried reading Terry Brooks's Genesis of Shanara: Armageddon this week but...uhm...he's tying Shanara into the Knight of the Word world, and I disliked the fir book of that when I tried reading it a while back.  And, sadly, it wasn't very good the first 30 or so pages.  Of course, since Shanara was my first fantasy series, and what got me reading fantasy (particularly Heritage, which remain one of my favorite fantasy series and Wren is one of my favorite heroines ever) I'm kinda stuck and will eventually have to read it as I'm sure I'll be expected to know it in future books...but why oh why couldn't it have been even half as good as grianne's series?  Now that's a good series...

randomly

• I have stared going back through and tagging all my book and movie posts for the years with 'books" and "movies" for maintenance purposes.  Done with March...only 5 months to go...
• Catsitting again this weekend from tonight through Sunday.  Only thing I'm really taking to watch is the Last Exile anime, though I plan to unearth and watch their copy of Overboard while I'm there since I plan to watch Fantasy Couple next week, and it's based on Overboard.
• I also watched the first two episodes of Last Exile before work.  Not sure what I think of it, yet.  On the one hand, it's very, very pretty, but I don't really have a good hold on the plot yet, and so far the main characters, Klaus and Lavi, don't really interest me.  Actually, Lavi's energy seems really out of place in the series.  So far the only character that's really jumped out at me(I only know Klaus and Lavi's names because they were both said 50-60 times...) is the dark haired ship captain, but I don't know yet if he's a good guy or a bad guy.
• I also tried reading Terry Brooks's Genesis of Shanara: Armageddon this week but...uhm...he's tying Shanara into the Knight of the Word world, and I disliked the fir book of that when I tried reading it a while back.  And, sadly, it wasn't very good the first 30 or so pages.  Of course, since Shanara was my first fantasy series, and what got me reading fantasy (particularly Heritage, which remain one of my favorite fantasy series and Wren is one of my favorite heroines ever) I'm kinda stuck and will eventually have to read it as I'm sure I'll be expected to know it in future books...but why oh why couldn't it have been even half as good as grianne's series?  Now that's a good series...

(no subject)

Just because I'm away from  my hard drive with hundreds and hundreds of pics stored on it does NOT mean anyone gets to escape.  As long as the obsession is at the forefront, you must all suffer.



 This is just a list with a few pics for each of my favorite fantasy movies(and yes, I just reused some pics).  The only order is alphabetical.

( clicky )

(no subject)

Just because I'm away from  my hard drive with hundreds and hundreds of pics stored on it does NOT mean anyone gets to escape.  As long as the obsession is at the forefront, you must all suffer.



 This is just a list with a few pics for each of my favorite fantasy movies(and yes, I just reused some pics).  The only order is alphabetical.

( clicky )