'o' - remake of othello with josh hartnett and julia stiles

[cimorene]

it seems like you can't go wrong with shakespeare, but for some reason, something was just giving me a bad feeling about 'o' from the moment my mom bought it almost a year ago. the fact that they wrote their own script for the modernization further endangered their quality, like think ten things i hate about you instead of romeo + juliet (and don't think clueless because i don't want any rule-disproving here).

the first ten minutes was enough to tell me how awful this movie is. it jumps in with stiff acting, weird setting, predictable plot and no exposition beyond martin sheen favoring othello over josh hartnett to explain the latter's evilitude. julia's acting might have been alright, but it wasn't shining in the midst of the dross. the badness overpowered even her--even martin sheen! my god. i had to stop watching after othello was accused of raping julia and she didn't actually deny it, and then we found out he was a druggie, and then he went and beat up josh's henchman. please, people. the pain.

wax_jism recommended the bounty, but nothing except someone i really, really like is worth watching mel gibson for me. if mom hooks the dvd player back up, i have bonfire of the vanities and cleopatra and south pacific to watch (not to mention the ever-present alternatives singin in the rain, pirates of the caribbean and finding nemo.)

Comments

[wolfsage.livejournal.com]

you know, i actually like 10 things i hate about you. just, as itself, not as a shakespeare remake. because i haven't actually read the play it's based on, so i just figured it was some random teen movie. and i have a thing for heath ledger. oh, and that third rock from the sun kid. he's cute.

is clueless a shakespeare remake? i've never heard that one before.

but i agree with you on O's badness. i never even bothered watching the whole thing. i thought julia stiles did a pretty good job on hamlet, not great, but alright, but O just sucked... argh. and, speaking of hamlet, kenneth braunaugh's version was WAY better than ethan hawke. even though that one did have some cool modern scenes that i liked.

[wax-jism.livejournal.com]

Ten Things I Hate About You! I quite like that one. O, though... I haven't yet seen, although I actually own it. Ahem. I've been afraid of the badness.

There's this Hamlet version with Ethan Hawke they keep rerunning on the movie channels and I just. Can't. Watch. Aie.

I didn't really recommend The Bounty! I just said... ships, mmmh. No, really. Disclaim, disclaim. Also, I didn't realise it was with Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson did a remake of The Bounty? I was thinking Michael Caine.

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on O. All of the Hollywood attempts at Shakespeare over the last decade or so have proven profoundly unsatisfying for me at any rate--the one notable exception being Looking for Richard which is less a movie than a "hey, gang, let's dig these costumes out of our trunk and have a little fun!" film where Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland are Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey. I've been somewhat curious to see Ethan Hawke's corporate Hamlet--but I fear it will go the way of the other two recent Hamlets and all the rest.

But really this is just an excuse to say "there is nothing like a DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!" at you loudly.