Gone off to the factory in the sky...
May. 30th, 2006 02:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellefliesThe ipod is officially dead. I've since discovered as well, that the Apple Care Protection Plan doesn't cover ipod's that are cracked and squashed. I could have spent $250 to get it repaired or bought a new one. I went with the new ipod, as much as it hurt to part with the money, I have a hard time not functioning without it. I have ipod dependency issues. My old ipod was the special edition U2 version and it was oh so pretty, but overall I wasn't all that happy with it. I was on my third version of that ipod in 2 years. It kept having hard-drive issues and I kept having to bring it back to be replaced. Not such a good track record.
I've since been converting my Doctor Who eps to ipod format because the very idea of having Doctor Who eps on my ipod ready to watch at any moment makes me pretty damn happy.
It reminded me of a high school play written by somebody who barely knew the material and had only skimmed the book. I know they had to condense it to fit within the two hour time frame, but some of the choices they made I really didn't understand. I would think, that if you're going to make a movie you'd want it to be better then previous versions and this one was most definitely not.
What's really mind boggling is that Kiera Knightly got nominated for an Oscar for this. I really was not too impressed with her performance. She was reciting lines, and not really putting much effort into it. When she interacted with the other characters there was really no connection there. They said their line, she said hers. I had a hard time seeing her as Elizabeth Bennett. She came off as far too sweet and less sharp at the Elizabeth of the book. Mostly she spent a lot of time staring into space trying to be introspective and the like.
I also don't understand the reasoning of turning Longbourne into a farm. It was never a farm in the book and I also don't understand why there was a lingering shot of a pigs backside. Was that really necessary for the plot when they could have used those seconds elsewhere? Maybe I missed something but it seemed really odd. Donald Sutherland really didn't pull off Mr. Bennett well either, in the book he's most definitely a gentleman, albeit one who enjoys his library and laughing at his very silly family, but he's also a very sharp man. In the movie he struck me more as drunk farmer Bennett then as a gentleman. Actually, the entire family came off more country bumpkinish then I would have thought possible. Mrs. Bennett wasn't nearly as annoying as she should have been, and seeing her run after Elizabeth was really odd. I don't think Mrs. Bennett's nerves could handle running if they were true to the book.
Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy was okay. Nothing all that stunning, especially compared to Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. I was not impressed with Mr. Bingley at all. He reminded me of a 5 year old - in his looks and the way the character acted.
The cinematography was pretty and the locations were gorgeous. Although there was one scene where I was wishing Elizabeth would just throw herself off the cliff in order to make things more interesting. That's a really mean thought on my part...
I did like the dresses a bit better, although the costuming on the whole struck me as not quite true to the times. The dresses at least didn't look like nightgowns, which they had a tendency to resemble in the miniseries.
I suppose I would have liked this movie quite a bit more if I had never read the book or seen the miniseries. What I love about the miniseries is that it practically is the book. They took lines from it verbatim. Scene for scene it practically is the book (with a few minor changes here and there) but they got the characters spot on, the feel, the lines. Everything. After that, a movie which condenses it all, rearranges scenes, takes out characters and is a slave to their own cinematography just doesn't come close.
I think the part of the movie I liked the most was Mrs. Gardiner. Harriet Jones! MP Flydale North!!!
This version is definitely on my "will never watch again" list.
I've since been converting my Doctor Who eps to ipod format because the very idea of having Doctor Who eps on my ipod ready to watch at any moment makes me pretty damn happy.
It reminded me of a high school play written by somebody who barely knew the material and had only skimmed the book. I know they had to condense it to fit within the two hour time frame, but some of the choices they made I really didn't understand. I would think, that if you're going to make a movie you'd want it to be better then previous versions and this one was most definitely not.
What's really mind boggling is that Kiera Knightly got nominated for an Oscar for this. I really was not too impressed with her performance. She was reciting lines, and not really putting much effort into it. When she interacted with the other characters there was really no connection there. They said their line, she said hers. I had a hard time seeing her as Elizabeth Bennett. She came off as far too sweet and less sharp at the Elizabeth of the book. Mostly she spent a lot of time staring into space trying to be introspective and the like.
I also don't understand the reasoning of turning Longbourne into a farm. It was never a farm in the book and I also don't understand why there was a lingering shot of a pigs backside. Was that really necessary for the plot when they could have used those seconds elsewhere? Maybe I missed something but it seemed really odd. Donald Sutherland really didn't pull off Mr. Bennett well either, in the book he's most definitely a gentleman, albeit one who enjoys his library and laughing at his very silly family, but he's also a very sharp man. In the movie he struck me more as drunk farmer Bennett then as a gentleman. Actually, the entire family came off more country bumpkinish then I would have thought possible. Mrs. Bennett wasn't nearly as annoying as she should have been, and seeing her run after Elizabeth was really odd. I don't think Mrs. Bennett's nerves could handle running if they were true to the book.
Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy was okay. Nothing all that stunning, especially compared to Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. I was not impressed with Mr. Bingley at all. He reminded me of a 5 year old - in his looks and the way the character acted.
The cinematography was pretty and the locations were gorgeous. Although there was one scene where I was wishing Elizabeth would just throw herself off the cliff in order to make things more interesting. That's a really mean thought on my part...
I did like the dresses a bit better, although the costuming on the whole struck me as not quite true to the times. The dresses at least didn't look like nightgowns, which they had a tendency to resemble in the miniseries.
I suppose I would have liked this movie quite a bit more if I had never read the book or seen the miniseries. What I love about the miniseries is that it practically is the book. They took lines from it verbatim. Scene for scene it practically is the book (with a few minor changes here and there) but they got the characters spot on, the feel, the lines. Everything. After that, a movie which condenses it all, rearranges scenes, takes out characters and is a slave to their own cinematography just doesn't come close.
I think the part of the movie I liked the most was Mrs. Gardiner. Harriet Jones! MP Flydale North!!!
This version is definitely on my "will never watch again" list.
