The film chronicles the public life of Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley) from her ill-suited wedding to the Duke (Ralph Fiennes), through her life in high society, her role as wife and mother, and her struggle with finding love.
Outside of her marriage Gerogiana is the life of the party, with a talent for fashion and a passion for the cause of women’s suffrage.
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Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) is the kitchen helps son and in love with Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) the head of household’s daughter. Cecilia is a stuck up rich brat who plays hard to get, but conforms to her one true love in the end, Robbie. Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), the youngest daughter has a huge crush on Robbie and finds herself in a very jealous predicament, in return she lashes out and lies about whom she caught accosting her cousin in the woods.
Briony’s lie sends Robbie away to war and trashes his name forever making it impossible for Robbie and Cecilia to be together. Cecilia leaves the family estate and makes a go of it on her own as a nurse for the effort, running into Robbie one last time before he is sent off to the front, they agree to find one another after and marry.
Briony (Romola Garai) grew out of her impish childhood and into guilt and a need to correct all that she had wrong. Believing she was paying for her lies, she signed up as a nurse to help the wounded in an effort to ease her mind. She hunted down her sister, Ceclilia, but was never forgiven.
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Excalibur. Arthur and Guinevere. Camelot. The Knights of the Round Table. Merlin. Everyone knows these names, and each conjures up images of magic, grandeur, tragedy, and action. With another new Arthur flick on its way to theaters this Friday, The Last Legion, we take a look back at four of Arthur’s more memorable experiences on the big screen.
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Here are four distinctly different takes on the King Arthur legend. Another, The Last Legion will be released in theaters everywhere this Friday.
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King Arthur’s tale has never been so well done. The classic love triangle that brought about the end of Arthur’s (Nigel Terry) reign and the downfall Camelot is beautifully told here by director John Boorman. The movie tells the tale of Arthur’s origins and birth including Uther’s (Gabriel Byrne) mad lust for Igrayne (Katrine Boorman) that leads to his death and the birth of Arthur. The movie’s main focus is on Arthur’s Camelot, his wife Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi) and his best knight and stalwart friend Lancelot (Nicholas Clay). The consummation of Lancelot and Guenevere’s love along with the scheming of Arthur’s half-sister Morgana (Helen Mirren) bring Camelot crashing down and lead to Arthur’s death. Not the happiest of tales but an unbelievably romantic one nonetheless. |
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Director Antoine Fuqua gives us a dirty, brutal, and more realistic look at Arthur (Clive Owen), Guinevere (Keira Knightley), Merlin (Stephen Dillane), and the Knights of the Round Table: Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen), Gawain (Joel Edgerton), Galahad (Hugh Dancy), Bors (Ray Winstone) and Dagonet (Ray Stevenson). For those who love the magic and the mystery of the Arthur legend you should look elsewhere, but for a different take which tries to place the characters of legend in the real world it’s an entertaining adventure. The Director’s Cut DVD includes extra footage, alternate and deleted scenes, featurettes, and commentary from the director. |
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In this regrettable, and better off forgotten, take on the legend an aging Arthur (Sean Connery) prepares to marry the younger Guinevere (Julia Ormand) who falls for the dashing and troubled Lancelot (Richard Gere). Gere and Ormand bat eyes at each other before stealing a kiss that brings down the kingdom. King Arthur was never so much a soap opera as it is here. And to make it worse the film ends with Arthur’s death, Camelot’s ruin, and Lancelot and Guinvere living happily ever after??? Seriously, WTF!! Not worth the film stock which was used to shoot it, and don’t even get me started on the spotlessness of the entire movie! What, there was no dirt in Camelot? A long way from director Jerry Zucker‘s best film. |
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Disney does T. H. White’s King Arthur. One of the most lasting Arthur tales, even for those (like me) who aren’t in love with White’s Arthur, is this animated 1963 take on the young boy known as Wart (Rickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman) and his fulfillment of destiny as he pulls the sword from the stone. Mostly memorable for its music and Merlin’s (Karl Swenson) battle with Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth) as the pair transform into every creature imaginable to a young child. Far from Disney’s finest hour, but a good film to introduce the legends of King Arthur to younger children, and sweet and memorable in its own way. The “Gold Classic DVD” includes a deleted song, a scrapbook, short animatics, featurettes, and sing-a-long versions of “Higitus Figitus” and “That’s What Makes the World Go Round.” |
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Arthur, King of the Britons Read More »
The film begins, after a bizarre introduction about singing coins and eight pieces of nine (don’t ask) which is never satisfactorily explained, with Will (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in Singapore.
Their visit has two purposes. The first is to gain the maps and ship necessary to travel to Davy Jone’s Locker and rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). The second involves a poorly thought out, and even worse explained, plotline about a meeting of pirate lords, mysterious artifacts, and a goddess which Barbossa wants to use to fight back against Norrington’s (Jack Davenport) control of the seas.
After making a deal with Captain Sao Fang (Chow Yun-Fat) the group sails to rescue Jack (who doesn’t make his first appearance until more than 20 minutes into the film) who is lost in a bizarre land where he is haunted by mirror images of himself and stones which turn into crabs.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Trainwreck at World’s EndRead More »
Pirates of the Caribbean: Trainwreck at World’s End Read More »
It’s July, and the most exciting movie to have come out this summer has been The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Don’t get me wrong, I was along for the ride when it came out last month; but this is summer, and we should be bombarded with more action than the Playboy Mansion. Where’s that movie that you can’t get yourself to leave for the restroom after drinking a gallon of Cherry Coke from the consession stand, even though you’re pretty sure it will cause some sort of internal combustion by the time the credits role?
Now it’s here, and it’s called Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It doesn’t quite threaten audiences’ bladders like you might hope it will, but in this summer of Poseidon and X-Men: The Last Stand, it feels pretty damn good to be able to escape to the cinemas from the dead heat of summer into a decent action flick for the first time this year.
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Dumb but fun “Pirates” Read More »
