Beauty and the Beast

After discovering how terribly synced the french audio and subtitles are in English movies and shows, I set out to watch some french media. Most of the language was a little high for me, but this movie was pretty enough for me not to care.

The sets and costumes were gorgeous. The plot was... very different. I'm not sure why it was harder to get behind the romance (spoilers) of a man who's turned into a beast for promising his wife if she bares him a child he'll stop hunting, doesn't and then kills her because she turns out to be a forest spirit who was the deer he was chasing. Maybe it's my traditional up bringing, where it's okay for her to, in the classic, fall in love with someone who threatened the lives of her family and kept her hostage, and was a jerk until she Stockholm-ed. The dogs, rather than the furniture, were a bit creepy, but the statue fight was awesome.

Just never think, hey this french version was good, I'll go watch 'The Beast' because it turns out the description of it being 'controversial' just meant some people didn't love a movie that starts out with several minutes of graphic horse porn. And, fyi, I happen to be one of them.

Beauty and the Beast - ***
The Beast -

Comments

Godless

I watched this because it came up, and the song in the trailer was cool. Honestly, the song was about 50% of my reason. I can't quite recall why I finished it, I think because I'd started it, it was short, and it had the actress form Downtown Abbey in it. The ending was deeply unsatisfying, neither trying a predictably neat bow, or leaving a mystery, and in general the whole exercise felt pointless. I read a few articles about it being a show that evidenced the progression of feminism, but watching that, it felt hollow to me. Yes, more woman shot guns. Yes, several woman were interesting characters. But by and large the male characters were more solidly fleshed out, there was a rape flashback that didn't actual contribute anything to the plot, and a teen actor who got more screen time and less decent script than I enjoyed. I did enjoy the schoolteacher/sheriff sister relationship. On the whole, while not actively bad, it was fairly boring and not the best time I've sp...

Frontier

I'm a fan of Canadian history and Jason Momoa. But this series didn't get me like I thought it would. First, it was more violent than I expected. I get that it was a lawless time, and fur trapping was a brutal game, but I found it a bit wearing and gratuitous. The main character, the Irish boy didn't quite hook me, and his devotion was a little under developed by the time it appeared at full strength. I loved the barkeep though. Momoa was a little restrained in the role (It was certainly no Ronan Dex), and his torture seen felt like something I'd seen in several things too recently (Outlander being the last) for the amount of time it went on. I will likely watch the next season, but if it had been cancelled, I'd've been okay with that too. ***

Marco Polo

I finally started this one on a recommendation I was given this summer. I liked the first season, but didn't make it more than two episodes into the second. Partly, because that's when I found it was cancelled, and partly for the same reason I had to drop Selfridge. I don't like watching main characters make terrible choices that will end badly for them. When the Khan started screwing over the people that meant well and listening to the ones that didn't... That said, I did really like the first season. I need to find a teacher monk. Don't get the big deal with the blue princess. The empress is kick ass. And the foot binding I had to watch through my fingers. ***

Amai Also Watches

Search This Blog