June 16, 2004
Teenage Wizards and Hotbod Greeks
No prizes for guessing
which movies I've seen recently... Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban and Troy.
HP3 was pretty enjoyable, and very true to the original plot. I think they managed to get most of the extremely-thick book inside without making it an overly-long movie, but then again, the last time I read the book was a few years back. Emma Watson is really growing up to be a real stunner, I think. I just hope that Book 6 will be out soon; J K Rowling is fast losing her fan base with long delays between book launches.
As for Troy, well it's tough to enjoy a movie when you know the story pretty much by heart and the ending is pretty tragic. As the movie wound down to its inevitable conclusion I kept thinking that a deviation from the story wouldn't be that bad. The battle scenes reminded me of LOTR, and in this era of cost saving, I like how they recycled Orlando Bloom's archery skills. But wow, Brad Pitt's abs are a sight to behold. Too bad that there was only one clear shot of him bare-chested, and even then he was caked with some mud/grime. I don't recall Briseis being in the Iliad, but if she wasn't, then her addition added some needed depth and humanity to Achilles' character. All in all, it was not a bad way to spend $6.50 :)
P.S.: If Agamemnon really pissed you off, you might be happy to know that his come-uppance was way more painful and drawn-out than getting stabbed by Briseis. At least, that's my hazy impression from taking Classics 28 in Cal.
Posted by scrabbyfoo at June 16, 2004 12:30 PM