Titus

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely brilliant piece of film-making
Review: When I first read the review of TITUS in the New York Times I knew I had to say it. When it finally came to my city I rushed to the theater and was simply stunned by what I saw. The acting is amazing, the sets are terrific, and the blending of ancient Rome, the 30's fascism era and modernity makes for an extremely interesting movie visually. What can I say, this is one of the best. A must-see.

Rating:
Summary: Best Acting yet by Anthony Hopkins
Review: You have to see this movie. It's one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Buy it on video when it comes out because you'll want to rewind and watch it over and over.

Rating:
Summary: TITUS--NO NEED FOR CRINGING
Review: Everybody who knows TITUS, seems wary of it. This is decidedly the play Shakespeare wrote to pay the rent. Not the bard's finest, not the bard's deepest but as far as Julie Taymore's rendition, it is definitely one of his wackiest. And for a difficult play, it was adapted excellently. I'd be even bold enough to suggest this play is better suited for the screen than the stage. The events are ten times larger than life and completely overblown. If you're looking for subtelty, see Hamlet. But wait, you say! I hate Roman brutality! I will end up watching this movie through covered eyes! Even if Roman brutality is not your thing, the actual gore/graphic content turned out to be much less than I anticipated and the wonderful dark humor therein makes up for any major scenes of nastiness. The acting was superb on all counts but particularly the role of Aaron the Moor in my opinion. It is a visual amusement park and even the non-Shakespeare fans loved it. It was anything but expected.

As the movie ended, someone in the rear commented "That movie had no point!"

Prehaps not. And it isn't trying to make one. No morals, no deeply impressed tragedy, no understanding even necessary. This movie is a great time and that, to me, is the point.

Rating:
Summary: See it in the theatre!
Review: This film is why I love movies... It is a visual masterpiece, an acting tour de force for all involved ,and overall an entertaining and involving picture. It's such a shame that it is doomed to "art" house predjudice by the masses, who knows how many would have enjoyed if the film had it a wider release. A great film. One that will be spoken of for quite some time...

Rating:
Summary: Titus Andronicus
Review: This is one of those movies that can be viewed multiple times without getting bored. It has great acting and a neat plot. The talk of the extreme violence in this movie is just gibberish. There is more violence in the first 5 minutes of Saving Private Ryan than in watching this movie 4 times. The characters and plot stick in your head and this movie is one to think about.

Rating:
Summary: This masterpiece is excellent, like best, legendary movies.
Review: Tonight, I saw Titus a second time. Although I rated it 5 stars after my first viewing, I'd rate it 10 stars after seeing it a second time. I remarked after seeing it the first time that its acting was "very competent." This second time, not paying so much attention to plot, I could see that the acting of ALL the actors and actresses was superb, worthy of all sorts of Oscars--perhaps even a sweep, maybe for music, too. This movie is heads and shoulders above almost all other movies.

During the first viewing, my impressions were of on-the-fly reactions to plot, anticipation and surprise. With attention to plot out of the way, what I continuously noticed the second time was the extraordinary quality of everything in the movie.

Concerns about violence in the movie are overblown and overstated. The violence was mild compared to most action movies. Instead of violence, emphasis was instead on murderous intent, upon the shocking passions of the men and women for revenge, and not upon the blood, itself.

I believed I understood the movie after my first viewing, which was that it was a morality play taught to a 21st century young boy dragged back into time to witness up close real violence contained in a Shakespearean play. Now, after a second viewing, I'm not so sure I understand the ending (that the boy, really the only "adult" in the movie, learned his lesson and walked away from violence to a new dawn of caring). I'll probably have to see it a third time and listen more closely to the ending dialog.

This is a highest-quality movie. You won't be bored, ever. It deserves multiple viewings. It's visually rich--and that's an understatement--in the best Felini style. The acting performances will always entrance the audience. I had much higher opinions of all the other actors besides the two or three most important ones, this second time around.

This is more than a good movie. It's a masterpiece on a par with only a handful of legendary movies. If you want a high-quality video (when it finally comes out), this is one that will entertain everyone on many different levels. But if you can, see it in the theater!

I'd now agree that the director of this movie is a genius, just like the hype says. This is a director to watch for in the future, like Felini.

Again, don't worry about the violence. Violence is low key compared with modern action movies. What makes the violence much more riveting are the passionate performances of the actors and their focus on unrepentant revenge and viewing some purely evil-minded people. I personally would highly recommend this movie for young-teen audiences, too, as a morality play with a message. This is high-school-class material that teachers should think about showing to kids and talking about it later.

Don't miss the first minute of the movie, or you won't have a chance of understanding this movie adaption!

Rating:
Summary: Brooding, bloody potboiler ... er, art film
Review: I'm still in awe after leaving the theater. "Titus," based on one of William Shakespeare's lesser-known tragedies, has become an amazing and (dare I say?) brilliant film directed by one of the most daring and creative directors known to us. That director is Julie Taymor, who remained in virtual anonymity until her production of a puppet show called "Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass" garnered a Tony nomination for Best Musical. Disney almost immediately snapped her up and put her to work transforming the animated film "The Lion King" into a stage musical. Taymor created a work so intense, so vibrant, and so breathtaking that she received a Tony Award for Best Director, and "The Lion King" was named Best Musical of 1998. Now, Ms. Taymor has proven yet again that she is a directorial force to be reckoned with: her film directorial debut is simply astonishing, a dark and haunting film that is easily one of the best films of the year. And this in the last week of January.

The plot of "Titus" reads like a bloody, Shakespearean soap opera. Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) returns victorious from war, having defeated the Goths and their Queen, Tamara (Jessica Lange). He arrives into a period of unrest: Caesar has just died, and Titus is offered the throne. Rather than accept power, Titus defers to Caesar's son Saturnius (Alan Cumming). Saturnius takes the crown and almost immediately declares that he will take Titus' daughter, Livinia (Laura Fraser), in marriage. Little does Saturnius know that she has already fallen in love with his brother, Bassianus (James Frain). The plot starts to get confusing here, so pay attention and I'll try to make it as simple as possible: Titus' sons guard Livinia and Bassianus, secreting them away so that they can be married. Titus, convinced that he has now been dishonored, slays one of his sons. Saturnius marries Tamara, and Tamara sets to work plotting the undoing of Titus. That undoing includes murdering Bassianus, raping Livinia, and framing two of Titus' sons for the crime. Titus, however is not stupid, and realizes that Tamara and her two sons are behind his many, many, many troubles. The play ends in a typical Elizabethan bloodbath, with everyone dying at the dinner table. (I hesitate to reveal the main course of this fatal meal; undoubtedly you could discover it for yourself in just about any other review about this movie, but part of the "fun," ho-ho, of the movie is this surprising plot twist.)

The performances are sensational. Hopkins brings a sort of lewd dignity to Titus Andronicus, espousing the sort of tragic hero that Shakespeare so loved writing about. We know that MacBeth and Titus would get along great - and probably end up trading war stories. Jessica Lange's Tamara is sexy, devious, and utterly irresistible - one of the best villainesses since Lady MacBeth. Actually, "Titus Andronicus" was written before "MacBeth," but at least now I know where Willie got his practice for those characters in. However, the best performance in the movie is Alan Cumming's as Saturnius. Cumming goes right over the top and stays there, teetering on the brink of madness. All three main performances are Oscar-worthy, but Cumming may find this to be a star-making role. After conquering Broadway as the Emcee in "Cabaret," he'll now be conquering Hollywood with this movie.

One of the best aspects of "Titus" is the wildly inventive production and costume design. Neither a portrait of ancient Rome nor a true updating of the story, "Titus" instead chooses to evoke a feel of the oldest literary phrase in the world: "Once upon a time." "Titus" exists in a fantasy world somewhere in between: a place where men in togas watch men in motorcycles go down the street, where the villains gather together to play video games and smoke cigarettes and where the heroes shoot arrows inscribed with prayers towards the heavens, begging for divine intercession. As decidedly anachronistic as the setting is, it works. The opening shot, of a small modern boy staging a war with toy soldiers sets the stage for a film that is blindingly original, even while retelling a story hundreds of years old.

There are few adaptations of Shakespeare's plays that have been translated well into film. Most play like a filmed version of a play, and while not an inappropriate medium for Shakespeare, it is rare to find a director and cast willing to take that leap and transcend the written word in order to provide a true film experience. Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" and Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo and Juliet" both had the required genius and innovation required to make Shakespeare come alive on the big screen, and Julie Taymor has the same magic touch. "Titus" may not be one of Shakespeare's more popular works (in fact, most Shakespearean scholars view it as one of his worst) but after seeing this film, one wonders why. True, it's almost pure melodrama, but potboilers existed long before "Independence Day" and "Cats." In any event, this "Titus" is a brilliant (there's that damn word again) film directed by one of today's most inspired directors.

Rating:
Summary: Titus interruptus
Review: Don't get too comfortable, and put away your popcorn. It's a two-hour and forty minute LSD trip with a truckload of nightmarish visions and hellish scenes. Excellent art direction, but this least-performed play of Shakepeare exhausts the senses. A real quirky treat for Hopkins and Lange fans. Johnny Carson would call this "weird, wacky stuff". Forget about renting a copy, this one was made specifically for the big screen.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Brutal
Review: Sometimes art must be endured rather than enjoyed. Titus is a harsh story, with little sympathies to be given to either hero or villain. This is the first movie I have seen for along time that made me flinch at the sheer brutality of its characters. Every conceivable crime manages to make it's way into this film. Rape, mutilation, murder, cannibalism, war, lies, and betrayal are all dished up in liberal portions.

And yet, Julie Taymor has taken this play and made something amazing. The characters exist in a blended world of Rome under Caesar and Mussolini. It is a visual masterpiece. Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) is a military man, who trusts in the divine right of the emperor. When that trust is betrayed in the harshest way possible, Titus begins a slow descent into madness and revenge. Tamora (Jessica Lange) is the conquered Queen of the Goths who finds a new seat of power as the wife of corrupt Emperor Saturninus. And most impressive is Aaron the Moor, who has no loyalties other than his own love of evil. A villain who can be said to be the only winner in this sad tale.

Rating:
Summary: Julie Taymor is brilliant!
Review: If you liked Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, you'll love him in this. This was a truly disturbing and draining film. The special effects and costumes were breathtaking. I won't give anything away... After this film you'll need time to recover.