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The Summer of Much Ado
Jul. 21st, 2013 06:37 pmSo in a rather delightful way, this has been a summer of Much Ado About Nothing for me. It was the local amateur Shakespeare troupe's choice, so I saw it in a local park for free - reset to the 1980s, with parody pop songs and a bunch of cheerful actors doing their best outdoors in the humidity.
Then, of course, I got my DVD of the Branagh version and rewatched it. I am a pretty unabashed Branagh-Thompson fangirl, so you can imagine how beloved this movie is by me. There are a couple of tiny hammy bits, but that's ok (I saw someone say the movie was now dated, which I don't quite get, but ok) and in all other things...I just love it all. The banter, the scenery, the vast majority of the acting (I kind of adore Keanu personally, and he's not in the movie enough to slow it down too badly, but if the role had been bigger it would have not been great) and the music are all superb. And Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh just...nnngh. I get weak in the knees.
So I'm a Whedon fan, too, essentially. I came late to his stuff, and backwards - I saw a trailer for Serenity in a theater, thought it looked interesting, and so started out with Firefly and then back to Buffy and Angel, and of course rounded things out later with Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible and The Avengers. Seeing one of my favorite plays done in such an intimate manner - literally in his house with all his friends - I knew I'd at least see it. And since it has been making the film festival rounds, it was nice to get a sense of the film early - that it was good, that it wasn't something where I'd slide down in my seat and feel embarrassed for everybody concerned. And when it finally, this week, came to the local arthouse theater, I knew I'd want to see it at least twice, once on my own and once with my friends in the playreading group I'm a part of. (It's kind of in hiatus now, but this will hopefully kickstart it back into life.)
I saw it on Friday, and came away very happy, in a kind of...well, warm and snuggly fashion. It is very low key, at times perhaps a little bit too much so - I wish Alexis Denisof had been a little bit more, well...what's the word I want? Animated? He's very understated and a little snide through most of the movie, and so some of the crackle that Amy Acker was putting out there got muted when it crashed up against him. Then again, he had a purely delightful bit of slapstick that made me so very happy.
The music is great, and I've been playing the interpretation of "Sigh no more, ladies" a lot.
Amy Acker was just. Mmmph. So good. So solid. And by and large the rest of the cast did great jobs, with Sean Maher's role becoming a little bit more interesting when given a female Conrad to bounce things off of. Nathan Fillion played Dogberry so straightforwardly that I actually got more of the wordplay and watching him run around with his buddy playing CSI: Messina was delicious. Clark Gregg and Reed Diamond were, as expected, lovely, and as somebody who actually liked quite a lot of Dollhouse but who did not watch Cabin in the Woods (don't do horror movies), Fran Kranz was a delight. (Although next time, go ahead and cut the "Ethiope" line. Just...cut it, Whedon.)
It didn't reach quite the emotional pitches that the Branagh version does, where I get teary with how happy I am with everything. But it's a movie that can be described as delightful, not in a patronizing way but in the simple fact that it brings delight. Looking forward to seeing it later in the week with my playreading group.
Then, of course, I got my DVD of the Branagh version and rewatched it. I am a pretty unabashed Branagh-Thompson fangirl, so you can imagine how beloved this movie is by me. There are a couple of tiny hammy bits, but that's ok (I saw someone say the movie was now dated, which I don't quite get, but ok) and in all other things...I just love it all. The banter, the scenery, the vast majority of the acting (I kind of adore Keanu personally, and he's not in the movie enough to slow it down too badly, but if the role had been bigger it would have not been great) and the music are all superb. And Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh just...nnngh. I get weak in the knees.
So I'm a Whedon fan, too, essentially. I came late to his stuff, and backwards - I saw a trailer for Serenity in a theater, thought it looked interesting, and so started out with Firefly and then back to Buffy and Angel, and of course rounded things out later with Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible and The Avengers. Seeing one of my favorite plays done in such an intimate manner - literally in his house with all his friends - I knew I'd at least see it. And since it has been making the film festival rounds, it was nice to get a sense of the film early - that it was good, that it wasn't something where I'd slide down in my seat and feel embarrassed for everybody concerned. And when it finally, this week, came to the local arthouse theater, I knew I'd want to see it at least twice, once on my own and once with my friends in the playreading group I'm a part of. (It's kind of in hiatus now, but this will hopefully kickstart it back into life.)
I saw it on Friday, and came away very happy, in a kind of...well, warm and snuggly fashion. It is very low key, at times perhaps a little bit too much so - I wish Alexis Denisof had been a little bit more, well...what's the word I want? Animated? He's very understated and a little snide through most of the movie, and so some of the crackle that Amy Acker was putting out there got muted when it crashed up against him. Then again, he had a purely delightful bit of slapstick that made me so very happy.
The music is great, and I've been playing the interpretation of "Sigh no more, ladies" a lot.
Amy Acker was just. Mmmph. So good. So solid. And by and large the rest of the cast did great jobs, with Sean Maher's role becoming a little bit more interesting when given a female Conrad to bounce things off of. Nathan Fillion played Dogberry so straightforwardly that I actually got more of the wordplay and watching him run around with his buddy playing CSI: Messina was delicious. Clark Gregg and Reed Diamond were, as expected, lovely, and as somebody who actually liked quite a lot of Dollhouse but who did not watch Cabin in the Woods (don't do horror movies), Fran Kranz was a delight. (Although next time, go ahead and cut the "Ethiope" line. Just...cut it, Whedon.)
It didn't reach quite the emotional pitches that the Branagh version does, where I get teary with how happy I am with everything. But it's a movie that can be described as delightful, not in a patronizing way but in the simple fact that it brings delight. Looking forward to seeing it later in the week with my playreading group.
