It was actually OK (I torrented it - yeah I know I'm a bad person). They took some liberties with history but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I watched Monster the other night... brilliant film! I did go to see it at the cinema when it was out, at the time I hadn't seen Charlize Theron in any films before so when I saw what the actress looked likt I couldn't believe it was the same woman!

I think my dissapointment with it is that at least from the clips in the trailers, the characters do not seem very realistic--Anne Boleyn seems like a modern day Valley Girl in fancy dress. I am not that fussed with the liberties about history ( could anything have taken more liberty than the Showtime show Tudors? but it was more enjoyable in that there was some depth to the characters...) but with the rather one dimensional aspect to the characters in the film. I am not going to waste £8 to see it.

I say wait for the DVD, Olivia! I really was willing to give it a chance as I'm a huge fan of the book and quite enjoyed Philippa Gregory's 'inventiveness' with the historical facts...but a few scenes in the film had me fuming, and I'm not easily offended.

Y Tu Mama Tambien and Science of Sleep - both amazing -Ooooh Gael! I swear, that boy does something to me! Very much like Johnny Depp used to before Sweeney Todd - that's he first time I've ever actually walked out of a cinema.

Control was beautifully shot. Very depressing though, even though you know the outcome!
B.x

That is a good idea, Catchianthe! I will look forward to the DVD, wonder how soon it will be out? In the meantime, I am slobbering over the few clips I can find of the Showtime Tudors 2008 series...its started in the US, and Showtime put 2 full length clips out of the first two episodes, but you cannot view them outside the US apparently. =( The few clips and adverts about this look stupendous! Yes, it makes a mockery of historical fact, but the characters are so much more compelling! THIS Anne Bolyen is complex and conniving, THIS Henry is regal and arrogant and appealing at once, this Katherine of Aragon sympathetic and infuriating...

Catchiane, do you by chance read any of the Sharon Penman novels of English history!? I really enjoy her books, even more than Phillipa Gregory's.

http://www.rlslog.net/the-other-boleyn-girl-repack-r5-line-xvid-bald/

The Tudors...I haven't seen any of the 2nd series yet but I thought that promo poster of Henry with his hands round Anne's neck was horrible. Although it did convey the horror of what's going to happen to her! It's an entertaining show but I wonder why they've deviated from fact SO much - as a Tudor history nut I really think those events were exciting enough just as they happened! (the marriage of Charles Brandon to Henry's sister for instance...)

It's spooky you should mention Sharon Penman, as somebody else recommended her books to me just today! I haven't read any yet but they're definitely going on the list now, thanks :)

The Tudor history is such, I agree, that there is no need to mess about with it--it was far more complicated and dramatic than anyone could make up. That said, I have heard that the facts got changed around because the producers thought that the American audience would get confused by too many Mary's and Margaret's. So the reality was dumbed down I suppose for a TV audience. The messing about with historical fact does annoy me on one hand, but on the other, taking it for what it is, a dramatic production, it really is highly entertaining.

Johnh: Conan the Barbarian is an incredible film! One of the first films I watched when trying to settle in here when I started my PhD. Classic.

Just watched The Blob last night (the '58 version with Steve McQueen). The guy on TV said before the movie that it was old so the effects weren't great - what an idiot! Even in this old version the blob was pretty scary!