Silver Screen in a Red Envelope: A Diary of Time Wasted

 Okay, so I tried to watch this movie. I know - an epic tale. I have to admit, it's definitely better than Romeo & Juliet , which I truly despise. I got about fifty minutes into it, and realized where the story arc was headed. I hate tragedy. Tragedy mixed with dramatic irony just ties my stomach into horrible knots. I gave up, and now I'm watching Eloise at the Plaza . More about that later. What I did see of the film struck me in a couple of ways. Firstly - COLOR!!! The thing was certainly shot well enough for the blood to look warm enough, and yet it had no color. I know that those camera things are sort of en vogue at the moment, but it really didn't work for me here. They're in the British Isles (or are supposed to be), and the trees weren't green, the soil wasn't brown, and the people weren't circulating blood. It looked like Hershey's syrup. I love Sophia Myles, and whatshisname - the guy - is just fine, thanks (although I always think his...

 Anne Hathaway managed not to ruin this particular film, but only because she wasn't in it. Although I never really found Madeleine at all sympathetic, this iteration was as unobtrusive, even in her acting, as Dickens wrote her. I liked it. It didn't scream "I'M FAKE!" . James D'Arcy as Nicholas managed his role quite well, although I'm afraid I compare him at moments unfavorably with the RSC giant Roger Rees. Where Rees played Nicholas as one truly headstrong, if not outright violent, D'Arcy underplays that part of his written character and so comes off as just slightly misunderstood. The director amped up the violence and sexuality of this film to reflect our no-longer-Victorian times. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I understood completely. It did not detract from the film as a whole, but rather supplemented interpretations for a current audience who may not fully sympathize otherwise. This version seemed a little abrupt. I felt that...