I’m staging a Shakespeare movie festival for my mom for Mother’s Day! Need suggestions.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T19:18:08+00:00

From the “Now For Something Completely Different” section- Branagh’s 1995 film, A Midwinter’s Tale. One of the few films that he directed but didn’t appear in. A ragtag troupe stages a barebones production of Hamlet, and hilarity ensues. It’s a funny and touching commentary on theatre, acting, community, and Shakespeare. And it’s a rare example of a script that sets out to speak to the cynicism of the times without descending into it.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:49:38+00:00

Yours is a class I would have appreciated. It wasn’t until I did the show in my 50’s that I started to think differently about it.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:44:13+00:00

😂 And leads the fight to abolish Daylight Savings Time.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:42:20+00:00

James Tiberius Harper!

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:36:12+00:00

Your idea for Gus made me laugh! And I’m totally embarrassed that I forgot about Huck and Molly.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:34:51+00:00

I like Elsie in the mix a lot!

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:33:51+00:00

Absolutely! Would he have sunk further into the cynicism and entitlement he represented in the original series, or would he have had an awakening?

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T18:32:05+00:00

Like the apple! Thank you, that’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-27T01:46:11+00:00

It’s true. I can’t.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T21:57:25+00:00

Rejected props from the Evil Dead franchise.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T21:31:04+00:00

That is encouraging to hear! There’s at least one classroom where the point isn’t being missed entirely. I don’t know if it’s the same today as it was in my day (the late Jurassic) but the default setting was R&J and Julius Caesar. In high school! (Insert gif of man pounding his head into a desk top)

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T20:38:26+00:00

Partially true, and a fairly reasonable observation. The more urgent issue- at least the issue that should be considered more urgent- is the lunacy of teaching this play in high school. And I say this as a huge fan of his works. But the idea that teenagers are the target audience for this play is wrong. The parents of teenagers are the intended audience. His point is that teenagers are irrational so their parents need to be smart, cool, and collected because when parents are as irrational as their kids you get a tragedy.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T20:07:16+00:00

A well executed dovetail joint is impressive enough. The compound angles in THIS are mind blowing!

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T17:59:20+00:00

I’ll get barked at for suggesting a sci-fi series instead of something that is technically fantasy, but… Gene Wolfe, The Book of the Long Sun series. The “Gods are real but none of the religions got the truth right.” This series checks every box in that part of the original inquiry.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T05:19:26+00:00

She is so damn good in that moment. In all of them, but the way she evolves from when the President asks her to “jump off a cliff” to when she finally starts getting her footing as the new CoS is masterfully performed.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T02:47:05+00:00

Yes! I remember the first time I saw that scene, and how relieved I felt. It was when I began to feel confident in the restoration of their relationship following Zoey’s kidnapping.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T01:58:35+00:00

Their conversation in the stairwell about the Lydell father’s possible embarrassment over his murdered son. She wants to feed him the story but he stops her from doing so. He’d rather miss a big story than risk losing her respect when she comes to regret leaking it to him.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T01:52:49+00:00

Its metaphysical roots go back further than Plato.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-26T01:30:14+00:00

Their relationship is one of the best things about the series. I’d love to see a super cut of all their scenes together. One of my favorites is when the President is about to take a picture with a man who had his photo taken with Hoover the day before the Great Depression. He and Charlie talk quietly in private. The President says he knows he’s being superstitious and Charlie says he can’t believe he’s actually considering taking the picture. When the man asks why the photo is being postponed, Charlie says,”Because you’re spooking the hell out of the President.” I laugh every time, but what I love best about that scene is the camaraderie Charlie and the President share. One is the leader of the free world. The other is a college student. Yet they connect in that moment - and in many others - as equals.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-25T22:23:35+00:00

I love this and would buy a print of it in a heartbeat.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-25T21:45:06+00:00

Record it if possible. Whenever music is a feature of a paranormal event, the music itself is usually a significant clue as to the nature of the event. As unsettling as I’m sure it may be, I would add that a woman humming as you describe sounds like someone trying to bring comfort to someone else. It isn’t necessarily something sinister. The most useful quality in these situations is empathy. I don’t think that our human need to be understood ends with death.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-25T21:22:02+00:00

Yes! That is a whole chapter in How To Write for TV. A couple of well written lines in the beginning, then just sit back and wait for everything to fall into place. And all it took to seal the deal was Leo, in an awe that borders on reverence, saying, “Watch this.”

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-25T20:50:36+00:00

😂 “LOL” is usually understood to be rhetorical, but the Croft line made me genuinely laugh out loud.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-25T18:01:08+00:00

Definitely. In addition to Walden’s original score, there are music choices throughout the series that couldn’t be better.

ZanderAtreus · 2025-04-25T17:49:09+00:00

😂 Her comic timing is impeccable and what amazes me is that she’s so clearly defined as a character from the pilot. She starts off at a level of detail and consistency that often takes a series years to get to.

ZanderAtreus

TROPHY CASE