Twitter users like The Eagle film from The Eagle of the Ninth book
Month: February 2011
B+ for ‘invigorating, cool-toned movie The Eagle from ‘ripping novel’ The Eagle of the Ninth | EW.com
Lisa Schwarzbaum, film critic for EW, gives The Eagle film a B+.
It is (an) invigorating, cool-toned, action-filled Roman historical adventure … Millions who have read Rosemary Sutcliff‘s ripping 1954 historical novel named after that eagle already know the stakes. Anyone else ready for rugged action involving swords, sandals, designated savages, and bonding between political adversaries is bound to fall in happily with the mood of this handsome, lean production. The story and setting may be ancient, but under the direction of Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), and with a nicely textured screenplay by Macdonald’s Scotland co-screenwriter Jeremy Brock, the vigor is fully modern. The director’s documentary background informs his almost reportorial attention to landscape, fighting technique, and especially the wild, fascinating otherness of the peoples beyond the reach of Rome. The characteristically rich grain of the (often handheld) cinematography by Slumdog Millionaire‘s Anthony Dod Mantle adds to the you-are-there feeling.
The Eagle film due to be released in more than 40 countries
The film distribution world, I have discovered, talks in terms of ‘territories’ where a film is released. Over the coming months The Eagle can be seen in the following territories:Read More »
Rosemary Sutcliff can write for children | Brain impaired Martin Amis cannot
Rosemary Sutcliff often said she wrote “for children aged 8 to 88” or sometimes “9 to 90”. She once said:
“The themes of my children’s books are mostly quite adult, and in fact the difference between writing for children and for adults is, to me at any rate, only a quite small gear change.”
It is a change of gear clearly beyond author Martin Amis! Read More »
‘The Eagle’: Review Revue – Wall Street Journal says critics are generally taking to The Eagle
The film The Eagle, based on Rosemary Sutcliff‘s The Eagle of the Ninth was released yesterday in the USA and Canada, and of course I (as well as the film-makers) are anxious to see what people make of it. Speakeasy is a Wall Street Journal site covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. It is produced by a senior editor with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others.
They review the reviews:
What do you get when you hire a first-rate director to helm an old-fashioned swords-and-sandals movie? A “rip-snortin’” adventure, in the words of Roger Ebert. Indeed, critics are generally taking to “The Eagle,” which was directed by Kevin Macdonald (”The Last King of Scotland”) and stars Channing Tatum as a square-jawed Roman soldier.Mercifully, “The Eagle” also contains no CGI. Points for that alone. Read what other critics are saying. Read More »
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 