billy elliot. i think it may be my favourite film ever - so amazing no description can do it justice. the performances are all superb, the writing and direction are wonderful, the soundtrack's amazing and i love all the beautifully poignant little moments. plus, it features my favourite ever dancer (adam cooper as the older billy), even if he is only in it for a minute.

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^Nice... I liked the dancer who plays Billy Elliot as well! Adam cooper... has he starred in other movies?

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yeah, jamie bell is amazing as billy - a natural actor, and his footwork is amazing.

adam cooper's been in a few random things, but he's most famous for playing the swan in the original cast of matthew bourne's swan lake and in the filmed version of it. as it happens, the swan is the role he's playing at the end of billy elliot.

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I didn't even know their was a filmed version of Swan Lake. I've seen it once in the theatre a long time ago. It was my first ballet experience and it was burned into my memory, as was Cats, which I also saw around that time and was my first real musical experience!
I've got Cats on old VHS, but my video player broke, so I haven't been able to watch it for a while.. *sniffle*

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^ do you mean you saw matthew bourne's version (the one where all the swans are played by men)? or did you see a more traditional version? and yeah, there are a million different filmed versions, though the matthew bourne one is the best, imho.

i saw cats at the theatre too and it was amazing, although i was a little scared when the cats came into the audience and i ended up with one leaning right over me.

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No, I've never seen a filmed version of Swan Lake, and I've only seen traditional ones. Swan Lake is a classic like Hamlet, so I've seen adds for so many different versions; each director wants to add his own personal touch to it, but still I haven't managed to see more Swan Lakes... They are usually sold out...!

I could talk for hours about Cats. I believe it was one of the reasons why I started dancing, and abandoned gymnastics. I was amazed that it was possible to move like the dancers in Cats did, the way they danced, and just moved on stage was fantastic. Most of the times it wasn't really fixed steps in a dance, but a completely feline feeling, they were cats!! It inspired me a lot ,so ever since I've been experimenting with moves and steps that are not really choreography!
[/admiration rant]

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i think i may not have explained things properly - when i said there were filmed versions of swan lake i didn't mean that it had been made into a proper film, i just meant that various stage productions had been filmed. matthew bourne's version is essentially a stage production (it's resurrectd every year, so i hope to see it next time it's staged), which is why i asked if that was the version you'd seen.

it sounds like you feel about cats how i feel about bourne's swan lake - i could talk about that forever. i do know what you mean about cats though - i love watching them even when they're not dancing because they do just move like cats.

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^No, you explained things perfectly clear, however, I may have been expressing things a bit blurred. From your post I understood that you were talking about a filmed stage production of Swan Lake - and so was I! I mentioned 'director' because my lousy brain refused to generate a more specific word for 'a person who directs stage productions'.
When I was referring to Hamlet I mean that Hamlet is not just Hamlet... very few theatres actually set up the classical Hamlet, sticking straight to the Shakespearean lines and in an old Medieval-ish setting. They try to portrait Hamlet as a young confused man trying to find his proper place in life etc. Which is still staying true to Shakespeare's Hamlet, but trying to interpret the play in new ways and adopt it to modern society!

[Look, not a single mentioning of Cats in this post!!]

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^ cool cool, at least we understand each other.

yeah, i get what you mean about hamlet. i've always found it fascinating seeing how different directors interpret things, and shakespeare's plays are so open to interpretation. like i once saw a production of romeo and juliet where they tap danced instead of fighting, and i saw a musical version of the merry wives of windsor. i'd love to be a theatre director myself, and i already have plenty of ideas for macbeth.

and the analogy works perfectly for swan lake - every version os different. i'd say matthew bourne did a little more than add his own touch though - he completely reworked it, and the effect was amazing.

anyhow, we should probably leave this thread to get back on topic.

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I think you'd make a fabulous director!
I actually think Baz Luhrman's movie version of Romeo and Juliet was great (had a temporary crush on young pretty boy Leonardo - bless my soul!). It was a music video and the greatest love story ever for crying out loud, and it's tragic and they die and it's all so beautiful!! lol.
I have only seen a very well-made parody of Macbeth, and I have yet to read the play *glances at Complete Works of Shakespeare on bookshelf*

Yeah, I don't have much more to add anyway, so I'll take my leave in favour of more topic-related err.. topics!

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Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Letters from Iwo Jima... wonderful, absouloutely stunning and so touching, Clint Eastwood is an amazing director.

FotR and in in the middle of TTT, yay for LotR marathon!!

why thank you!


baz luhrman's version is fantastic, but then baz is just awesomeness embodied in a director. and you really should read macbeth - it's my favourite shakespeare play.


and back on topic, i just watched troy (for the first time). it was alright though not something i'd watch again. i don't think brad pitt was as great as everyone made out, but it was nice to see sean bean actually survive a film.

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it was barry Lyndon for school with my French's teacher !!!

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Une porteuse de l'anneau qui vous veut du bien, Mais l'anneau lui me veut peut-être du mal ...

i finshed TTT and RotK yay!

I watched Man of the Year last night. It was pretty good. It was kind of sad in some parts though...I wanted Tom to get to be president. Um, I really liked Tom and Elanor together. I never really thought of Robbin Williams playing somebody who had a romantic relationship but he and Elanor were pretty good together. Allright in short good movie but kind of sad.

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