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Monday, November 7, 2011

"ANONYMOUS" and "FOOTLOOSE"

Did W. Shakespeare write all the plays, poems, etc. attributed to  him?  This question has been asked ever since I can remember.  In "Anonymous," once again that controversy is presented  against the background of Elizabethan England, with the always fine actor, Vanessa Redgrave portraying the elderly Queen herself.  The main credits list her, David Thewlis and Rhys Ifans.  But the most outstanding, memorable performance, and the scene I actually enjoyed the most, was the "Prologue," impeccably pronounced in stentorian syllables (no subtitles required!) by the inimitable Derek Jacobi. Excellent!   His turn was worth the price of admission.  The rest of the film was confusing. Too many characters with too many sub-plots (love affair of Queen Liz and Essex? Illegitimate offspring (or not?)   I can't fault the acting, nor the photography, nor the costumes, all of which seemed fine, but in general, I didn't think it was a very good movie.  But I didn't mind sitting through it.  Whereas, when I went to see "Footloose" a few days later (silly me);  I almost walked out.  It was obviously made for an audience of mostly male,  rebellious teenagers, which I am not. Yes, there were a couple of dance scenes worth watching, but the frantic group stomping around scenes were too wild for me.  And the music, if you can call it that, was way too many decibels noisy! A remake of the story  from bygone days was unfortunately just outdated.  Poor Dennis Quaid cannot be faulted for the good job he did, valiantly portraying the Minister (in the town that had outlawed dancing)  father of Julianne Hough (one of the rebellious dancers). She was really worth watching. The other excellent main dancer, was Kenny Wormald. 

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