yay, and pew
Yay: I got an acceptance! It’s a market I like a lot, too - JMWW. My story will be published in their summer issue. Very excited and pleased!
Pew: BF and I watched King Arthur (of 2004) tonight. Stinky. LOTR unfortunately inspired a lot of dumb attempts at epic films, or retellings of epic stories anyway, and this was one of them, precisely in the vein of Kingdom of Heaven or Troy. Also written by the guy who wrote Gladiator, which for me is not a mark of quality (I need to see that film again, but I really disliked it when I saw it – it seemed disorganized, ugly, unsure of its own existence). The music was overbearing, the actors really didn’t do so well (and I know the talent of some of them), the battle scenes were long and overly bloody, and the whole thing was cobbled together from three parts Braveheart and two parts LOTR. The script had me rolling my eyes often. Not fine family fun.
It did make me realize how little I know about very old history – pre-1000 AD. Pretty much nothing, in fact. BF said early on, “Isn’t that Hadrian’s Wall they’re talking about?” and I said “I don’t know…wasn’t Hadrian’s Wall, like, somewhere else? Not in Britain?” Of course, Wikipedia proved me wrong. Sarmatia was actually a country, too, as fake as I thought it sounded. Whenever it occurs to me that British schoolchildren have to learn, like, 1800 more years of history than we do, I simultaneously smirk for their misfortune and feel totally ignorant.
Anyway, the movie was dull and long and bloody and for some reason Fuqua enjoyed cutting back and forth between characters’ faces about four more times than necessary during every scene of meaning. And the music was overbearing. And did I mention the acting? Some terrific people were in this movie – Mads Mikkelsen, whose charisma is completely exotic and engaging to me; Stellan Skaarsgard, whose slow burn was largely wasted in a near-farcical barbarian-dad role; Keira, who did pretty well with what she had but who didn’t have nearly as much guidance as I think she needed; and dear Clive Owen, whom I love, who seems to be just terrible in period pieces. He was totally made of stone in that second Elizabeth movie that came out earlier this year (goodness, what a horrendous movie that was. Very entertaining in its terribleness, though), and in this one he was all jaw and voice. But he was utterly transcendent in Closer (I could watch the scene with him in the strip club about 80 times – mesmerizing) and of course he propelled Croupier into cult territory, and the status of a film worth watching more than once, with his performance.
I should add about King Arthur that BF and I agreed on the excellence of one battle sequence, because the way it was set up (on the frozen lake) was inspired. Other than that, though, it’s a yawn.
Today was a good day, although I could not stop falling asleep over my textbook. Classes are over WEDNESDAY. I have to buy some flashcards before then and learn my court cases and my FRE. And do an assignment. And read 150 pages of text at least. Gaaaah.
