We have mentioned in the past how the adaptations of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol are a favourite to watch at Christmas. Well this season we have a different suggestion, not a serious one but a “just for laughs” kind of thing. It’s Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol, a different twist on Dickens’ story and that you can watch on You Tube. Particularly fun are the bits set in Queen Elizabeth II’s time and during the Regency.
 
Have fun watching it and have a… Very Messy Christmas!

Catching up on not so recent movies we recently watched the epic – Troy. We already knew what to expect from friends’ comments but this is one of those movies where you just had to see it to believe it. Clearly Hollywood producers don’t let history (ok classical literature) get in the way of good melodrama.
 
First of all, we have to say that they simply butchered Homer’s Iliad and we are being nice here. The gods were completely forgotten, when they are essential in the story. Without gods, Paris would never have eloped with Helena and this means no war between Trojans and Greeks. This is already disturbing enough, but then the movie goes on and everything gets worst.

Achilles smart mouth attitude was a bit annoying, we know he is the best, no need for him to keep repeating it. The way he flexes his muscles and pouts constantly doesn’t give him much credit either… The lack of chemistry between him and Rose Byrne (Briseis) is almost painful to watch.
Then  Paris! Is this wimp the warrior that conquered the most beautiful woman in the world? Hard to believe. He spends most of the movie looking guilty but not doing much. And why was he playing  Legolas again with his arrows and arch at the end trying to look like a hero?!  Paris is not a very sympathetic character in the Iliad but here he becomes even more irritating and we all wonder why the hell Helena left her husband for him. Well, until we met the charming Menelaus…
Since the Helena shown here was a bit insipid and not at all the woman capable of convincing us she brought two nations to the brink of war and destruction, we say she and Paris are good for each other. Of course, we couldn’t care less, since again there’s absolutely no chemistry between Orlando Bloom and Diane Krueger.
Agamemnon was such a bad character, he is the true villain and frankly, after watching this we wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley at night… or day, by that matter. At least Brian Cox seems to have fun! On the other hand, his brother Menelaus was pathetic… War! War! Revenge! Fight! It’s all he talked about and after some minutes, we just ignored him as much as possible.
Were we the only one to think that Andromache was about to faint during the all movie? Well, with a husband like Hector, it’s almost understandable.
The two saving graces were Sean Bean and Eric Bana, they were trying to make their best and manage to deliver a convincing and agreeable performance, which was certainly not easy in the middle of this chaos. Odysseus is witty, brave and wise and Hector becomes the only Trojan who seemed to have the notion what was happening and what needs to be done, without betraying his beliefs and his honor.

The dialogues matched the rest of the movie, boring and witless and it seems that Pitt was given the worst of it.  There’s some exceptions, especially for Odysseus and Hector who again are the only interesting performances in this movie.

By the way with so many individual combat’s we were worrying the would be no wooden horse in the end, fortunately it wasn’t that bad. But it was close! The horse was pretty good (and rather artistic!) and gave us some moments of fun.

If you are looking for an epic full of adventure, good dialogue and wonderful acting performances, this is not for you. This is probably one of the worst movies we ever saw. Obviously, we do not recommend it unless you see it with a bunch of friends all slightly drunk. Now, that can be fun!

[youtube=http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9oPseyKCE&feature=related]