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muck_a_luckBrownies done, pound cake in the oven. IJS and Sufei will both get treats tomorrow!
Just finished Eagle. And thus ends my mini-Bean film fest. (May have to start over from the beginning next week. *snortle* Or visit my local library. Have a terrible urge to watch Honor again. Husband suggests that all Sharpes are the same, why not just watch the same one over and over. But of course, not all of them have partially naked Elizabeth Hurley to go along with partially naked Sean Bean, so he partially conceded the point.)
Man, you forget just how much abuse poor old Sharpe takes in these things! He's always limping off into the sunset! Makes me think about Sean's little quote in Prophecy Destiny and Design, where he comments that he was wounded about three times per episode of Sharpe and declares Viggo's bullet wound healing nicely. *snortle*
I love that in the romantic scene at the end, when Richard and Theresa agree that they don't want to be alone, Theresa is absolutely armed to the teeth.
So everybody remember the scene where Sharpe teaches the South Essex to fire three rounds a minute? OK, nice as the view was, the first time I saw Eagle I thought it was particularly excessive that he had to get half naked for the scene. We also remember that we first see Sharpe in some sort of hospital tent on the mend from a recent leg wound, and shirtless for about the first 20 minutes of the film.
Well, ha! Not just gratitutious partial nudity after all! :) Though it was much to subtle for me the first time round, we are obviously supposed to be learning, in the early scenes, that Sharpe has been previously flogged, and when he gets all naked in the three rounds a minute scene, he's clearly showing the South Essex the scars. When Dobbs (the guy who got 75 lashes earlier) collapses after firing four rounds a minute and Sharpe rushes to his aid, the camera angle is all weird, and clearly to let us all see the scars on Sharpe's back, just in case we missed them the first dozen or so times! To top it off, Hogan rides by and tells him to stop showing off! *snortle* (And later, Sharpe gets particularly pissed off when the bad boys beat Josefina and leave marks on her back. And thank you, scriptwriters, for leaving the rape out of this.)
So, next time, drop a load of bricks on my head...
But who can blame me for missing the details?Manflesh everywhere...
So, having provoked who-knows-what sort of work-disturbing comments from Uisgich, moving on to LeRoy.
I really liked this character the first time I saw Eagles. Dignified Southern gentleman, possibly from a little further South than myself, but still... Nice to be well represented on screen by a Southerner not played particularly "Southern." (Oh, that was articulately put! Go Heels!) Liked him even better in the books. It's a shame they couldn't keep him as a regular character. Wonder why he didn't work out? I hated what they did at the end. Book!Sharpe respected LeRoy, and LeRoy knew just what an important weapon in the battalion's arsenal Sharpe would be. LeRoy would never have told anyone to steer clear of Sharpe in order to stay alive! (Oh, and didn't LeRoy always outrank Sharpe? They were never captains together, were they? I thought LeRoy got his promotion to major at the same time Sharpe moved up to captain?) Also, dumb script writers got themselves tangled up. I thought LeRoy's early references to cotton, slaves and molassas were ironic and self-mocking. It appears to me that he feels he is the victim of his father's Loyalist stand. He doesn't approve of where his money came from and that is why he spends it so freely. In the end, there are harsh words about black blood filling LeRoy's purse. That doesn't fit, even in the context the movie sets out.
Major problem for me after having read the books is that the movies can't put together a particularly beliveable battle scene. When I read Gold I was floored by how radically they had changed the script. Until I realized the nightmare that trying to blow up an entire city on film would have created. (Also, Sharpe's actions in Gold are borderline warcrimes, I would say, and maybe they didn't want to lay that on the movie audience.) But I now find the lack of "veracity" in the battle sequences very distracting.
Eh. There's really no point in criticizing these things in terms of script, etc. I just need to accept that they are TV movies of modest budget and move on to the drooling.
Stupid brain.
Just finished Eagle. And thus ends my mini-Bean film fest. (May have to start over from the beginning next week. *snortle* Or visit my local library. Have a terrible urge to watch Honor again. Husband suggests that all Sharpes are the same, why not just watch the same one over and over. But of course, not all of them have partially naked Elizabeth Hurley to go along with partially naked Sean Bean, so he partially conceded the point.)
Man, you forget just how much abuse poor old Sharpe takes in these things! He's always limping off into the sunset! Makes me think about Sean's little quote in Prophecy Destiny and Design, where he comments that he was wounded about three times per episode of Sharpe and declares Viggo's bullet wound healing nicely. *snortle*
I love that in the romantic scene at the end, when Richard and Theresa agree that they don't want to be alone, Theresa is absolutely armed to the teeth.
So everybody remember the scene where Sharpe teaches the South Essex to fire three rounds a minute? OK, nice as the view was, the first time I saw Eagle I thought it was particularly excessive that he had to get half naked for the scene. We also remember that we first see Sharpe in some sort of hospital tent on the mend from a recent leg wound, and shirtless for about the first 20 minutes of the film.
Well, ha! Not just gratitutious partial nudity after all! :) Though it was much to subtle for me the first time round, we are obviously supposed to be learning, in the early scenes, that Sharpe has been previously flogged, and when he gets all naked in the three rounds a minute scene, he's clearly showing the South Essex the scars. When Dobbs (the guy who got 75 lashes earlier) collapses after firing four rounds a minute and Sharpe rushes to his aid, the camera angle is all weird, and clearly to let us all see the scars on Sharpe's back, just in case we missed them the first dozen or so times! To top it off, Hogan rides by and tells him to stop showing off! *snortle* (And later, Sharpe gets particularly pissed off when the bad boys beat Josefina and leave marks on her back. And thank you, scriptwriters, for leaving the rape out of this.)
So, next time, drop a load of bricks on my head...
But who can blame me for missing the details?
So, having provoked who-knows-what sort of work-disturbing comments from Uisgich, moving on to LeRoy.
I really liked this character the first time I saw Eagles. Dignified Southern gentleman, possibly from a little further South than myself, but still... Nice to be well represented on screen by a Southerner not played particularly "Southern." (Oh, that was articulately put! Go Heels!) Liked him even better in the books. It's a shame they couldn't keep him as a regular character. Wonder why he didn't work out? I hated what they did at the end. Book!Sharpe respected LeRoy, and LeRoy knew just what an important weapon in the battalion's arsenal Sharpe would be. LeRoy would never have told anyone to steer clear of Sharpe in order to stay alive! (Oh, and didn't LeRoy always outrank Sharpe? They were never captains together, were they? I thought LeRoy got his promotion to major at the same time Sharpe moved up to captain?) Also, dumb script writers got themselves tangled up. I thought LeRoy's early references to cotton, slaves and molassas were ironic and self-mocking. It appears to me that he feels he is the victim of his father's Loyalist stand. He doesn't approve of where his money came from and that is why he spends it so freely. In the end, there are harsh words about black blood filling LeRoy's purse. That doesn't fit, even in the context the movie sets out.
Major problem for me after having read the books is that the movies can't put together a particularly beliveable battle scene. When I read Gold I was floored by how radically they had changed the script. Until I realized the nightmare that trying to blow up an entire city on film would have created. (Also, Sharpe's actions in Gold are borderline warcrimes, I would say, and maybe they didn't want to lay that on the movie audience.) But I now find the lack of "veracity" in the battle sequences very distracting.
Eh. There's really no point in criticizing these things in terms of script, etc. I just need to accept that they are TV movies of modest budget and move on to the drooling.
Stupid brain.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-07 10:25 pm (UTC)Prophecy Destiny and Design - did I miss something?
And totally agree that after the books (and, being honest, even before the books), the stories for the TV series can seem quite lame, but I love the acting and of course half-nekkid Sharpe!
Prophecy, Destiny and Design
Date: 2004-01-08 04:18 am (UTC)Back to PDD, it's a total AU, where nobody is what they seem. I can't really do *any* kind of plot summary without completely spoiling... Whole cast participates. The slash is some straightforward EW/DM and a very, very complicated VM/OB/SB triangle. Told from various POV's. I think I remember usually being highly amused by Billy, though his role was small.
It's posted on Mirrormere.
Go here. Prophecy Destiny and Design
Be prepared for the long haul. I think it's about 400 manuscript pages. And you have to be willing to put up with Elf-boy. ;)
Re: Prophecy, Destiny and Design
Date: 2004-01-08 06:44 am (UTC)Already been and read the first chapter and a half, (in my lunch break!). Had to put it down for now, although will be heading back that way this evening. And so far, not minding elf-boy at all. Strange!
Thanks for an excellent rec :)
Re: Prophecy, Destiny and Design
Date: 2004-01-08 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-08 04:21 am (UTC)Thanks!
Date: 2004-01-08 04:26 am (UTC)Re: Thanks!
Date: 2004-01-08 06:40 am (UTC)Re: Thanks!
Date: 2004-01-08 07:21 am (UTC)Now seriously going to get some work done. Time to fight Timeslips again.
Time
Date: 2004-01-08 04:28 am (UTC)Re: Time
Date: 2004-01-08 06:41 am (UTC)