The Lion in Winter
December. 26,2003 PG
King Henry II (Patrick Stewart) keeps his wife, Eleanor (Glenn Close) locked away in the towers because of her frequent attempts to overthrow him. With Eleanor out of the way he can have his dalliances with his young mistress (Yuliya Vysotskaya). Needless to say the queen is not pleased, although she still has affection for the king. Working through her sons, she plots the king's demise and the rise of her second and preferred son, Richard (Andrew Howard), to the throne. The youngest son, John (Rafe Spall), an overweight buffoon and the only son holding his father's affection is the king's choice after the death of his first son, young Henry. But John is also overly eager for power and is willing to plot his father's demise with middle brother, Geoffrey (John Light) and the young king of France, Phillip (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Geoffrey, of course sees his younger brother's weakness and sees that route as his path to power. Obviously political and court intrigue ensues
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Reviews
Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Great Film overall
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Eleanor and King Henry II were the parents of the King Richard A.K.A Leon Heart. The King of Leon Heart wasn't great at all. He hadn't been interested in women. Someone were saying that' d been a gay, but the truth was that he'd been only a butcher and blood-thirsty maniac, who'd tried to bring back The Holly land from Saladin ( King of Egypt ). He'd killed every single man and woman at Akra ( The capital city of Turkey ), but Saladin'd succeded to keep " The Kingdom of Heaven ) and Richard'd been killed in France, tryng to rob as much as he could from Phlip II, who was the Crusader, too in that stuped war who nobody could win.
I enjoyed this film a lot. I watched it for itself and didn't care to compare. I like the plot and the actors, and neither disappointed me. It doesn't matter whether the original was better, I like both. The story of this family is definitely a 12th century reality show. I would like to see them interviewed by Dr. Phil, or or playing on the "Family Feud." They are their own version of "Survivor." This is about relationships and feelings. There are self-esteem issues, great sibling rivalry, and a love/hate marriage of two strong characters. These same things are present nowadays. We can compare these similarities from then and now. Of course, now we do have modern plumbing - thank the heavens for that! And lastly, we are in the same position of trying to pick our leader, McCain (Richard), Obama (Geoffrey) and Steve Carell (John!). If you can't stand this remake, go to the library and try reading a book instead! Pj
i couldn't believe how bad this movie was. i think the biggest frustration for me was that it was created as an imitation of the original, rather than a reinterpretation. the shots, the costumes, the script, even the line delivery differed very little from the original. after cringing through half of the movie, i finally turned it off. i think a new examination of the story and the characters could have been really interesting, but this is just a pale imitation of a terrific film. the only thing i like better in this was the casting of john. rafe spall did a fantastic job in this role, much better than nigel terry in the original.
This version of Lion in Winter, aside from being horrible, also failed to convey any of the humor from the original movie or play.There's plenty of dark humor in the original movie and play, but the actors and director took it all way too seriously, missing all of it in the script.The lines were there, they just blew them.Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close are no substitute for Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn.All this version did for me was make me want to watch the 1968 version.Thumbs down.
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