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All rights reserved.Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy (2005, DVD)
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Very romantic, pyrotechnic movies with abundant DVD bonus featuresReview created: 05/24/08
by: Ricardo_Ramos -- a member of Epinions
Pros:
most of the performers, the songs, the dances
most of the performers, the songs, the dances
Cons:
the jumpcuts make some viewers dizzy, Clair Danes as Juliet
the jumpcuts make some viewers dizzy, Clair Danes as Juliet
Baz Luhrmann's (1996) "Romeo +Juliet," entertainingly updated Shakespeare's imagined Renaissance Verona to a "Miami Vice" pastel hallucination of Miami Beach, added a punchy soundtrack (that included Prince's "When Doves Cry," Wagner's "Liebstod," and haunting Radiohead exit music), and kept Shakespeare's lines -- well, at least the ones that are included are Shakespeare's, many were cut.
More than Renaissance period music of a setting (that Shakespeare surely never saw), the playing of the title characters does matter a lot, so as entertaining as the Luhrman extravaganza machine is and as John Leguizamo (playing Tybalt_ and Harold Perrineau (playing mercutio) are (I'd also laud Jesse Bradford's Balthasar and Vondie Curtis-Hall as the Captain/Prince), I could only give the movie 3.5 stars because Claire Danes is unconvincing (prematurely zombified and looking too old for the part, even though she was only 17 at the time).
The commentary track is very interesting, and the segments in the "Director's Gallery" are fascinating to anyone interested in how movies are sold -- and pitched --, or in Baz Luhrmann's high-flying aspirations. The "Pitching Shakespeare" segment includes the video made with di Caprio that led to the project being green-lighted and increases my respect for the actor (not that I disrespected him, even with the titanic "Titanic" hoopla). The DVD extras deserve 5 stars.
The movie deserved a better Juliet, however. In contrast, "Moulin Rouge" (2001) has a great Camille in Nicole Kidman and an embarassing turn by John Leguizamo as Toulouse-Lautreac. After initial misgivings about "The Sound of Music" and getting used to the very jumpy cutting of the movie, I loved it, and I also loved the version of the Ugly Duckling story in "Strictly Ballroom" (1992). Tara Morice is the plucky (unplucked) Ugly Duckling who is turned into a swan/princess but the brooding, beautiful, princeling Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio -- I'd like to see more of him in more than one sense...)
The set has great DVD bonus features. I only wanted to review "Romeo + Juliet," but finding it in the endlessly unhelpful epinions database, this category was the only one where it fit at all.
More than Renaissance period music of a setting (that Shakespeare surely never saw), the playing of the title characters does matter a lot, so as entertaining as the Luhrman extravaganza machine is and as John Leguizamo (playing Tybalt_ and Harold Perrineau (playing mercutio) are (I'd also laud Jesse Bradford's Balthasar and Vondie Curtis-Hall as the Captain/Prince), I could only give the movie 3.5 stars because Claire Danes is unconvincing (prematurely zombified and looking too old for the part, even though she was only 17 at the time).
The commentary track is very interesting, and the segments in the "Director's Gallery" are fascinating to anyone interested in how movies are sold -- and pitched --, or in Baz Luhrmann's high-flying aspirations. The "Pitching Shakespeare" segment includes the video made with di Caprio that led to the project being green-lighted and increases my respect for the actor (not that I disrespected him, even with the titanic "Titanic" hoopla). The DVD extras deserve 5 stars.
The movie deserved a better Juliet, however. In contrast, "Moulin Rouge" (2001) has a great Camille in Nicole Kidman and an embarassing turn by John Leguizamo as Toulouse-Lautreac. After initial misgivings about "The Sound of Music" and getting used to the very jumpy cutting of the movie, I loved it, and I also loved the version of the Ugly Duckling story in "Strictly Ballroom" (1992). Tara Morice is the plucky (unplucked) Ugly Duckling who is turned into a swan/princess but the brooding, beautiful, princeling Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio -- I'd like to see more of him in more than one sense...)
The set has great DVD bonus features. I only wanted to review "Romeo + Juliet," but finding it in the endlessly unhelpful epinions database, this category was the only one where it fit at all.
Review ID: 10000000007283179
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