Benjamin Whitrow
Occupation
Actor
Pride And Prejudice (1995) Review
Excellent
Most film adaptations of classic books are inferior to the books they are based on. This is partly because the written word allows more nuance than the camera, but also because great books don't always have enough plotting or action to make great movies, and film adaptations often overcompensate by rewriting the book in a quest to make it more cinematic. The most obvious recent example (speaking of quests) is The Lord of the Rings: Peter Jackson omitted key scenes, changed others, and generally jacked up Tolkien's fanatically-loved bestseller for no good reason.So it's an achievement when a famous book makes it to the big screen, or the small screen, intact -- and kudos must go to the A&E/BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice for flawlessly recreating the classic Jane Austen novel. This production is as faithful to the book as Cliff notes (though at five hours long, it's not much of a time-saver -- you might as well read the book). The filmmakers fill in the off-camera scenes of the book so seamlessly that Austen might have written them herself.
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Chicken Run Review
Essential
Since the beginning of time (or at least the domestication of animals), the chicken has been man's feathered enigma. Like so many of its feathered friends, it has fallen into the realm of the metaphor (i.e. "He's a chicken."). Unlike so many of its edible counterparts, it has survived the hassles of religious communities unscathed (no one will persecute you for eating a chicken wing). It has found its way into the realm of ontological questions (which came first: the chicken or the egg), as well as into sanguine curiosity (why does a chicken continue running around after you cut its head off?). It has become the basic standard for all foods (tastes like chicken). It has changed with the times, entering the debate about genetic engineering (see the accusations against KFC using frank-n-roosters). It has even, through its progeny, entered into the world of our children (I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am). As long as civilization has existed, the chicken has haunted our collective hubris with its often-charming idiocy.
Amongst both edible entrees and feathered friends, the chicken is the idiot God...
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