Nayden-fan868

I was looking for a She's the Man thread...I KNOW I remember seeing one around here and it got me thinking of the 1990s when they kept remaking Shakespeare's plays in a modern telling.

I'm sure everyone's favorite is Romeo+Juliet....that movie to me was so retarded. It could have liked it but they DID not have to keep the language. Seeing them talk Shakespearian driving hydrolic cars and swinging handguns was stupid.

I loved 10 Things I Hate About You based off of Taming of the Shrew and I flove She's the Man based off of 12th Night..that movie was soo cute

WildAtHeart

that bugs me so much..they also did a "hamlet" movie where they did that, didn't they? i remember julia stiles was in it..i had to watch it for a class..the dialogue in a modern setting is so jarring

GlitterCupcake

romeo and juliet was the best one! leonardo dicaprio was so good in it

taovande

I loved Romeo and Juliet actually. I loved the concept that Baz had. I think keeping the classic language was a good move, as I was at the age of not really caring about Shakespeare and it really helped spark an interest in me and I wound up reading several pieces of his work. It also made the movie really stand out because like you mentioned the 90's had a lot of modernizing of his plays.


As for the worst one---I'm thinking of the movie O starring Josh Hartnett and Julia Stiles--it was a modern telling of Othello. It just did not work at all.

missmin

I loved Baz Luhrman's Romeo & Juliet a LOT. Which really surprised me because I'm more of a purist of Shakespeare - like, do a traditional retelling type, but I thought it ended up working really well together, with the langugae and guns standing in for swords.

I also liked that basically Shakespeare in Love is a working of a traditional Shakespearian comedy format, and I think that movie's amazing, too.

Cereal Killer

I also loved Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet and I agree, it was the right decision to keep the original language, it made the movie much more interesting and special with the modern setting. I think it worked well.

Hmm, what else modern day Shakespeare movies are there? Could someone post a list maybe?

WildAtHeart

thats what i like. I like if they do a whole modern retelling with modern dialogue or just keep it in the traditional way and make it take place in the time period it was written in...i don't like them mixing together lol

jackiehydelover

Gotta go with everyone else and say Romeo+Juliet

-res cogitans-

Romeo + Juliet was beyond brilliant

Nayden-fan868

Am I just weird or something?

I HATED that rendition of Romeo+Juliet. Sure when it first came out I liked it because I was like 11 or 12 and later I was all over Leo so I liked it even more.

But when I got older and knew better and actually read Romeo and Juliet in high school and saw movies and plays on it I realized that that movie was crack

I didn't pay much attention the popping cars and the gangster like gun-totting but good grief.....that movie was so freakin weird.

Baz has balls for being that risky but extremely kooky....he went over that line and made me go WTF???

goodnightboy

Mine would be Romeo+Juliet - I did the play for O Levels so I knew the language inside out and it just made the contrast between the modern-day setting and the original language that much obvious (and the movie benefitted from it). Besides, the Elizabethan English is really good, I don't think it'd've been as good if it had been adapted for current-day English. The English back then was a lot more romantic, it suited the film better. And the soundtrack. 'Talk Show Host'? 'Exit Music'? Radiohead? 'Kissing You'? I love Baz Luhrmann.

You know what was good, too? Even if it is really old. Franco Zeffrelli's Romeo and Juliet, the 1963 play. It was just so good, too.

*BabyBuncher*

i think mine would also have ot be the good old classic Romeo+Juliet , a lot of people odnt like the fact that they modernized everything EXCEPT the language.. but i like it... its kinda modernized for this generation.. but still shakespeare with the language!

forever young

Umm yeah so I hate Shakespeare and the movies from his plays. But Leo DiCaprio made me tolerate Romeo+Juliet and now I kinda love it.

I hate Shakespearen language, I've always had trouble reading and understanding it, but I'm glad they kept it in the movie. Even though everything else was modernized. It would have been too weird of the dialouge was modern. I liked that they did a mix and kept the original dialouge but made the movie modern.