Thursday Movie Picks: The Renaissance
1) A Knight's Tale
I love Heath Ledger in this movie about a poor man who enters a jousting tournament. All the actors had fabulous chemistry, I always sit down to watch this whenever it's on TV.
2) The Crucible
My favorite thing to yell when when I'm having an argument with someone is "I saw Goody Procter with the devil!" It's an excellent tension breaker.
3) Pocahontas
I was obsessed with this movie when it came out. Then later on when I read the real story of her I was kind of horrified by the whole thing. Disney made it seem so pure.
Bonus: My favorite Pocahontas gif
Damn, I wanted to go with three Pocahontas movies but I wasn't sure they would fit.
ReplyDeleteI had to check the years on them. lol
DeleteA Knight's Tale is a fun film that gets its mix of adventure and humor right. Ledger, with the mischievous gleam in his eye, was the right actor to carry it as well.
ReplyDeleteI didn't love The Crucible as much as I wanted to but I think I went into with too high expectations because of both the source material and the cast. All the actors/actresses were terrific, LOVED Paul Scofield's phlegmatic judge, but I don't know if it was the pacing or just the relentless misery of the story but something kept me at a distance.
As with all animated movies Pocahontas is something I've never watched start to finish but loved that you picked it, I never thought of it taking place during the Renaissance, I think of that only taking place in Europe, but it does.
Like I said I think of this time period as only occurring in Europe so that's the setting for all of mine.
The Advocate aka The Hour of the Pig (1993)-Richard Courtois (Colin Firth) a lawyer in 15th century France tired of the chicanery and lawlessness of Paris moves to the small rural town Abbeville along with his clerk Mathieu (Jim Carter) when he’s offered a job as a public defender. This being a period when animals were held accountable for crimes with the same punishments handed out to humans he soon finds himself defending a pig accused of murdering a Jewish boy. Pitted against a determined prosecutor (Donald Pleasance) and Catholic priest (Ian Holm), Richard defends the animal and becomes enamored of its owner, beautiful gypsy Samira (Amina Annabi). Along the way he finds out about the strange goings on behind the doors of the seemingly tame townspeople. The medieval justice system and local superstitions mingle as the case plays out. A strange and quirky film this is based on the journal of an actual barrister of the period.
Queen Margot (1994)-Dark and dire tale of the 16th century religious battle between the Catholics and the Huguenots for control of France. King Charles IX and his mother the dower queen Catherine de ’Medici (a simply sensational and scary Virna Lisi as a merciless woman whose soul has turned to dust) offer the Princess Margot (Isabelle Adjani-brilliant) to the Protestant King of Navarre in marriage as a political pawn. Trapped and unhappy Margot soon starts an affair with a soldier (Vincent Perez) as her mother orchestrates the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of thousands of Huguenots as well as murderous intrigues to place her other son on the Navarre throne. Blood splattered revenges and double crosses follow.
Quentin Durward (1955)-Plush version of Sir Walter Scott’s tale of a Scottish knight, the Quentin of the title (Robert Taylor) sent to France by his cash strapped uncle to propose to a wealthy and titled lady, the fair Isabelle (Kay Kendall) who is at the moment at the castle of King Louis XI (the amusing Robert Morley-owner of the stupidest looking crown in any movie ever). Once arrived there is intrigue aplenty with attacks and sword fights including one where the protagonists dangle from bell tower ropes inside a burning church. Entertaining derring-do was one of the few leads that the luminous Kay Kendall had before leukemia claimed her at 33.
I haven't seen any of your picks! I love Colin Firth though, I'll have to look into the first one.
DeleteI didn't see A Knight's Tale when it came out, so when I finally saw it years later, the cultural moment had passed and I was kind of underwhelmed. I like parts of it a LOT, but the whole just doesn't work for me.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE The Crucible. Every actor is a perfect choice and the source material just can't be beat. I know people have lots of problems with it, but I don't, even though I can acknowledge it's not perfect.
OH Disney's Pocahontas. Colors of the Wind is one of the best sequences in any Disney animated movie, but the rest is rather miscalculated. This is NOT a story for Disney's target audience lol.
No, no it wasn't, but damn did it work at the time lol. At least for me, who was too young to know the actual story yet.
DeleteThe Renaissance is bascially when people weren't as stupid as they were in the Dark Ages, they started finding stuff out and became good at building things again.
ReplyDeleteFrom this list, I haven't actually seen any of the films but The Crucible sounds good.
lol That's a nice way to explain it!
DeleteYou can never go wrong with A Knight's Tale as that is just a fun film. I also like The Crucible a lot as I think it's underrated. I've seen Pocahontas which is alright but if you see my list. I went on a completely different route.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the Crucible in so long, I'd like to watch it again.
DeleteI can't resist A Knight's Tale either. I feel somewhat embarrassed about that. And though I wouldn't have thought of Pocahontas as Renaissance, I do love her to bits. I had a Pocahontas watch when I was a kid, and the minute and hour hands were leaves ticking in the wind.
ReplyDeleteAhhh I would've loved that watch. I was her for Halloween. lol
DeleteWhat would say if Disney made a Live Action version of Pocahontas.
ReplyDeleteMay it not be as pretentious as Terrence Malick's.
DeleteA Knight's Tale was pretty fun, although I wish he didn't end up with the princess. I love Pocahontas but after knowing the actual story, I can't look at it the same way anymore.
ReplyDeleteI would not have complained if he had ended up with the blacksmith. lol.
DeleteThat is a great Pocahontas gif, lol. The movie itself...meh. So so untrue it actually bothers me. Haven't seen either of the others.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize it was untrue until much later in life lol. I prefer the sugar coated romantic, not rapey version.
DeleteI just love A Knight's Tale soundtrack I wish Robbie Williams didn't turn to pop so much in the last 15 years his 90's early 00's music was so awesome
ReplyDeleteI liked how they used modern music even in a medieval setting.
DeleteI've s even a Knight's Tale and love Heath. It not the movie. I haven't seen the other 2 but knew about the real Pocahontas so not surprised they changed it up to make it disneyfied.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect I'm surprised they picked that story in the first place.
DeleteI really want to re-watch Pocahontas... people say it doesn't hold up these days :/
ReplyDeleteI saw it probably 5 years ago and didn't have an issue with it, but I'd need to watch it again.
DeletePocahontas - yeah and never mentioned John Rolfe the guy she married...but I guess they did have him in the sequel.
ReplyDeleteThat sequel was soooooooooooooooooo bad.
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