07-05-2013, 10:39 AM
You know that recent SNL sketch 'The Californians'? This is like a version of MAaN, done like that...in black and white...with a bunch of TV actors...by the director of the Avengers.
For the 1st half hour, it wasn't working for me at all. Whedon couldn't really handle B&W and to attempt it for this was just pretentious. Plus knowing the backstory that he filmed it at his home in a very short time bothered me. I'm Joss Whedon, super director - I can throw a party at my house and make a movie. They stick to the language of the play, but don't put on any Brit airs, so it's like totally Californian, just like that SNL sketch. But then, that brilliance that is Shakespeare shines through - such dialog, such farce, such insight into comedy, tragedy and the human condition. MAaN remains such timeless entertainment. While the Thompson/Branagh version is in no fear of being unseated as best film adaptation of MAaN, Whedon's take on it works surprisingly well by the end. Special props to Amy Acker as Beatrice (although very much in the shadow of Thompson), and Nathan Fillon as one of my all time fav Shakespeare characters, Dogberry. Those two steal every scene they appear in. Clark Gregg was distracting as I kept thinking 'It's Agent Coulson!' And no sword fights because it's modern, so they brandish pistols.
For the 1st half hour, it wasn't working for me at all. Whedon couldn't really handle B&W and to attempt it for this was just pretentious. Plus knowing the backstory that he filmed it at his home in a very short time bothered me. I'm Joss Whedon, super director - I can throw a party at my house and make a movie. They stick to the language of the play, but don't put on any Brit airs, so it's like totally Californian, just like that SNL sketch. But then, that brilliance that is Shakespeare shines through - such dialog, such farce, such insight into comedy, tragedy and the human condition. MAaN remains such timeless entertainment. While the Thompson/Branagh version is in no fear of being unseated as best film adaptation of MAaN, Whedon's take on it works surprisingly well by the end. Special props to Amy Acker as Beatrice (although very much in the shadow of Thompson), and Nathan Fillon as one of my all time fav Shakespeare characters, Dogberry. Those two steal every scene they appear in. Clark Gregg was distracting as I kept thinking 'It's Agent Coulson!' And no sword fights because it's modern, so they brandish pistols.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse