Classic Movie Marathon Day 8: Hamlet (1948)

Welcome to day eight of the Classic Movie Marathon. Eight movies down, four to go. Next up is The Lost Weekend (1945).

Okay, so this is going to be a very quick review, since I only finished watching Hamlet around four hours ago and I...pardon my naivety...didn't quite grasp this movie as much as I should have. I feel awfully ashamed to even admit that, since I pride myself in having such a 'mature taste in movies' (hey, I have a reputation to uphold now). But Shakespeare + my uneducated mind led to an experience where I felt I really only had a handle on how great the performances were and how beautiful the direction was. The script didn't seem to matter much to me with this one, and a script in a movie always has to matter to me, so I guess that's where I got lost. However, I imagine if I ever read the play 'Hamlet' (which is very likely, as I am a fan of many other Shakespeare plays), I'll be able to look at this movie more in-depth, and appreciate the work that Laurence Olivier did with this even more. Though, I still don't for the life of me know how this movie made it's way into my DVD collection two and a half years ago.

Laurence Olivier directed himself to an Oscar (Best Actor and Best Picture, one of only two foreign films to ever win the award) in William Shakespeare's tale of tragedy of murder and revenge. Claudius (Basil Sydney), brother to the King, conniving with the Queen, poisons the monarch and seizes the throne, taking the widowed Gertrude (Eileen Herlie) for his bride. Hamlet (Olivier), son of the murdered King, mournful of his father's death and mother's hasty marriage, is confronted by the ghost of the late King who reveals the manner of his murder. Seeking revenge, Hamlet recreates the monstrous deed in a play with the help of some traveling actors to torment the conscience of the evil Claudius. In a visit with his mother, Hamlet expresses his anger and disappointment concerning her swiftly untimed marriage. Thinking a concealed spy in his mother's chamber to be the lurking Claudius, he mistakenly kills the meddling counselor, Polonius (Felix Aylmer), father of Ophelia (Jean Simmons) and Laertes (Terence Morgan). Claudius, on the pretext that Hamlet will be endangered by his subjects for the murder of Polonius, sends the prince to England.

I would have given anything to see Laurence Olivier performing Shakespeare on stage, but I guess seeing him on film is enough. He is an actor tailor-made to be tackling such duties as performing Hamlet, and he does so with considerable charm and ill-temper. As someone who spends her time studying such performances as if to gather notes for a drama class, I couldn't help but be in awe of Olivier's talent and the way he can effortlessly wrap himself around the seemingly complicated words of Shakespeare. His directorial effort is amazing, too. It's obvious that the actors are acting as if they were on a stage, as the wider shots require the actors to be more melodramatic and move a lot more. However, when he gets down to the closer shots, he captures every emotion he wants to, and I found that magnificent to watch. One of my most favourite supporting performances was that of Jean Simmons as Ophelia, early in her career, earning her a well deserved Oscar nomination. While I would have rather seen Vivien Leigh take the role as she was supposed to, Simmons was beautiful and lovely in the role. Other than that, I feel like I can't go any further in to Hamlet, as I have to admit defeat to the words of Shakespeare which confuse a young child such as myself.

What I got:

DVD--The Girl Who Played with Fire

or: New director, way different sequel.

One word to sum it up: Inferior.

I, amazingly, really enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for the utterly fearless and brutal film that it was. Even though I don't really get the whole craze over the books by Stieg Larsson (they're average, but not as great as everyone makes them out to be). However, with my enduring excitement to watch The Girl Who Played with Fire, I came out quite disappointed. Mainly because the slight soft-porn theme this movie took on and the detached direction from Tomas Alfredson, who doesn't have a patch on Niels Arden Oplev.

After spending a year abroad, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) returns to Sweden. She calls on her court-appointed guardian to remind him, in her own way, of his promise to submit satisfactory reports on her behavior. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) continues as an editor of Millenium magazine and they are onto a major story about prostitution and trafficking in women from Eastern Europe. When the investigative journalist working on that story is killed, the police announce that Lisbeth is their prime suspect. Lisbeth and Mikael work independently trying to find who is behind the murders. They not only learn the identity of the culprits but also some of Lisbeth's family secrets.

The biggest thing that this series has going for it is it's heroine, Lisbeth Salander. Most heroines we see these days are beautiful and sexy, go around shooting evil and never really have a back story. Lisbeth, on the other hand, is tomboyish and likes goth makeup and clothing; instead of shooting evil, she makes sure they suffer as much as she has; and the more we go into the series, we learn about Lisbeth's painful past and what she has done for female liberation. Therefore, Lisbeth is not only a very interesting watch, she is also iconic and stands for a reason. The perfect thing about Lisbeth is that she was brought to life by the amazing Noomi Rapace. My message to Rooney Mara: you have shoes three times the size of Bigfoot's feet to fill.

Not only does Noomi Rapace continue to give good performances in the series, she also has great chemistry with Michael Nyqvist, who plays Mikael Blomkvist. This, unfortunately, is part of the undoing of The Girl Who Played with Fire, as they spend most of the movie apart. Though learning of Lisbeth's background does make up for that, the sex-trafficking story seems so distant from the rest of it that I couldn't help but feel a little bored. It's not just the deficiencies in the story which keep this movie from being as good as the first. It's the strange direction from Tomas Alfredson, which at points felt either very doco-style or very home video style. He fails to pack to punch that the first one had, and I don't know if that's whether the material was just better, or if it's because of the big change. Despite all this, Rapace and Nyqvist keep things going, in a sequel which can't live up to the first one, but still proves worthy.


THE VERDICT: The Girl Who Played with Fire is a fine installment to the Millenium series, but the new director and slightly mediocre material.

6/10

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when I was probably six years old, and it's fair to say, I wasn't a very good movie watcher back in those days. Because I didn't remember any of it. Which probably has something to do with the fact that it was way over my head when I was just a young six year old. But now, and I think I'm crazy for doing it, I'm going through all of The Lord of the Rings to see what I have been missing, all in a matter of three days. That's probably not as crazy as the people who watch them all at once.

In a small village, a hobbit named Frodo (Elijah Wood) is given an ancient Ring that was thought to have been lost but is found. The Ring in fact belonged to the Dark Lord Sauron, and Frodo must embark on an epic journey across the Middle-Earth to the Cracks of Doom to destroy it. In this quest, Frodo is not only hoping to destroy the Ring, he is also hoping to end the Dark Lord's reign.

I have never read the books, nor do I want to (because, despite what teachers think, I dislike reading immensely). But there is just something so magical about this film which sets it apart from other adaptions of classic books. Fans of the book would have obviously been hoping for a lot, and I'm pretty sure Peter Jackson delivered to their high expectations. That's another thing: Peter Jackson, or should I say Sir Peter Jackson, was absolutely the right person to handle the mammoth task. Even if before this, he only directed gorey slasher films and Heavenly Creatures. For people who think that New Zealanders aren't entirely capable of making it big in Hollywood, that little guy from Pukerua Bay (one of the few places in the North Island where I haven't been) made some of the best films the world has ever seen.

But it's a bit too early to be judging the greatness of one great New Zealander, isn't it? I've still gotta watch the rest of the series.

What do I have to say about The Fellowship of the Ring? A solid start to what I'm sure is something great. And I could totally tell it was filmed in New Zealand (Americans, are you jealous? You should be.) It has some amazing special effects...and is more 'epic' than Avatar could ever be. I don't really know what more to say, it was pretty grand, even if some points did induce some boredom. But that's just me.

Fine first installment. Movies don't really get much better than this.

8/10

Alice in Wonderland

I don't know what to think about Tim Burton. While he seems to excel in making dark and moody films such as Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Ed Wood, he makes some pretty mediocre children's films. Yes, that's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a.k.a the worst movie I have EVER seen. So, Alice in Wonderland was looking pretty average for me. Let's just say, it's a major improvement on Charlie and the Chcoclate Factory, but then again it is WAY too dark to be a genuine kids movie.

Okay, so you probably know the story of Alice (Mia Wasikowska), who falls down a rabbit hole and ends up in 'Wonderland'. There she meets some interesting characaters, including the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the evil Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and various other weird and wild creatures. Alice gets caught up in this world, and must choose the path in which she wants to take.

While, at first glance, the casting seems spot on, it really isn't. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter seem forced into their roles because of their once successful working relationship with Tim Burton. Johnny Depp is by no means the star of this movie, but passes as a lesser version of Heath Ledger's the Joker. I was pretty excited when I heard that Anne Hathaway was going to play the White Queen. Sadly, despite her best intentions (and her being my favourite actress), she dismally fails to be pure and regal--whether that be because of her white hair and black makeup or just her general appearance on screen. However, Mia Wasikowska is perfect as Alice, and really carries the film from start to finish.

This version of Alice in Wonderland is not one you'd want people under 10 years of age watching. It is way too violent for it's PG rating, and will probably scare little kids to the point that they will have nightmares about the Cheshire cat. Despite this, it is quite an entertaining and admirable adaption that will hopefully be popular among fans. It is a true visual masterpiece.

It's an average movie, with some amazing special effects and scenery, but the cast lets it down.

6/10