tyburntree.bsky.social
...I am Fortune's fool. Author of The Jesuit Letter, Black Dog and Thieves' Castle. Marketer, writer, cat wrangler, walker of bear-dogs.
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He’s a 125 lbs of huggable floof.
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Kodi says hello!
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"How will you die, Joan Wilder? Slow, like... a snail? Or fast, like a shooting star?"
At the time, everyone was expecting an Indiana Jones clone rip-off, but this movie had such energy, fun and romance, it stood on its own!
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Sounds like an Adrian McKinty book title:
The Detective Up Late
Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly
In the Morning I'll be Gone
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You really want to know?
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Man attempting to re-unite with his estranged wife crashes a holiday party and meets Europeans.
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Oh no, not the McD mosaic - excited about going to Rome!
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Going to Rome for the first time in Sept!
Honestly, I am ridiculously excited about it.
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At what point does Heliogabalus smother them to death with McDonald wrappers?
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You do get around....
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It's like watching two 4-years olds have a slap fight over legos...
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I can almost hear a soldier bitching about the fit or sizes to his centurion.
Some things are timeless.
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I'm thinking you won the internet for today....
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Nope. Self-promote away! No one can speak to your book or your work like you can, and you can't do much about the dumpster fire.
Go sing your song!
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As an added note, the dead boy he is carrying across the field: it’s Batman. By that I mean, it’s a very young Christian Bale, playing Robin, the Luggage Boy, who is slaughtered alongside the other boys and pages when the French loot Henry’s luggage train.
So. Henry V. Definitely give it a watch.
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One additional scene stands out. After the battle, Henry hoists a dead page on his back & carries the body through the muddy aftermath of the battle. This is a 4-minute long one-shot & it is brilliant. It is absolutely terrific cinema.
youtu.be/ZmYcpUtvR9U?...
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As with any Shakespeare work, the crux lies the key scenes & long soliloquies & Henry V is filled with terrific moments, brilliantly delivered, from Henry’s venomous, horrific threats to the citizens of Harfleur, to the climatic finale of Henry’s “We few. We happy few” speech. Branagh nails it...
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Sets and costumes are gritty and realistic and the production for the most part takes the action in-close, particularly in the vicious and muddy slaughter of the climactic battle.
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When Henry tours his lines in disguise the night before battle, it drags the viewer into the small groups of soldiers, huddled around damp and sullen campfires, hungry, outnumbered and wet, awaiting their inevitable death at the hands of the vast French force that has cut them off from Calais.
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The film pre-dates CGI, & budget constraints may have prevented large-scale sets & extras. The tight sets, close scenes & grim realism give the film & characters a strong resonance, pulling the viewer into the scene, focusing on the dialogue & the rich, rolling language.
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The acting is superb & solid, even in minor supporting roles. The film setting is spare, almost stage-like. Interior scenes are tight, dark & highly focused on participants while exterior scenes rarely evoke any epic sense of grandeur, geography or vast armies, even at Agincourt.
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Derek Jacobi as the Chorus serves as de facto narrator, speaking directly to the viewer throughout to introduce new locations, plot points & background. The choice of having him in modern dress while all other characters are contemporaneous, helps to define his role for the audience.
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You now get the first taste of Branagh’s icy and controlled take on Henry, in direct contrast to the King’s reputation as a wastrel & an immature brat. Branagh portrays a Henry with a banked, almost visceral anger that only slips to reveal itself at the most climatic & stressful moments.
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Branagh headlines as Henry V, backed by luminaries such as Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed & Ian Holm. The film opens with Henry’s advisors outlining his claim to France, progressing to the arrival of a messenger from the Dauphin (heir to the French crown) & an insulting gift of a chest of tennis balls.
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"But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?"
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Henry V is the story of King Henry V’s war with France (part of the Hundred Years War), culminating in the bloody triumph of the battle of Agincourt in 1415.
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Directed by Kenneth Branagh, this is a rousing, blood-stirring, powerful (and fairly straight) adaptation of the play and very, very good film to boot.
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Making me cry. My Jakey had the same duck. Miss him!
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I think that’s the part that I have found so baffling: that so many people are just “going along” with the insanity & are compliant and complicit.
They are prepared to throw away all the foundations of their republic in service of selfish potential political ambition. WTF?
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I didn't ask (and, as I had done a lot of archaeology courses, it was very hard to restrain myself). Everyone would just exchange puzzled glances and keep their mouths shut.
Selfishly, we all wanted a passing grade.
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We all just nodded sagely and went along with it (not dissimilar to Trump's cabinet).