Have you ever noticed this - Page 2

ourmaninBusan · October 22nd, 2005, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tulip

well, if everyone had mossy teeth, it would be the norm, so no one would think anything about it

I heard something even worse about the "dark ages".

Back then, in England anyway, they pretty much took a bath
once a year.

This usually took place in May.

This is how we got the tradition of the June wedding, because
they were still relatively fresh for the wedding night -- they'd only
been accumulating dirt for a month.

SVZ · October 22nd, 2005, 12:47 PM

I was watching a Jesus movie...I can't remember what it was called, but there was a scene where they are at a party and Jesus turns water in to wine.

They pour it with plastic pitchers, into plastic cups....the rest of the movie was biblical times...so it was kind of weird seeing...blue see thru plastic cups.

barbiedoll25 · October 22nd, 2005, 12:51 PM

All I have to say is there was a time before plumbing and sewars. Enough said. Can you imagine walking thru the streets with human feces and urine? Let alone the not bathing and brushing of teeth. Yuck.

tulip · October 22nd, 2005, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVZ

I was watching a Jesus movie...I can't remember what it was called, but there was a scene where they are at a party and Jesus turns water in to wine.

They pour it with plastic pitchers, into plastic cups....the rest of the movie was biblical times...so it was kind of weird seeing...blue see thru plastic cups.

Hilarious! Stuff like that just cracks me up -- those totally obvious anachronisms.

tulip · October 22nd, 2005, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

I hated 'The Last Samurai'.. firstly, it was historically incorrect to an insane degree.

Secondly, it had Tom Cruise in it. Anytime I see Tom Cruise in a movie, It's just Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. He never seems to create any kind of character, or lose himself in the role.. it's just him playing dressup.

Thirdly, we're supposed to feel sorry for the Samurai who are made out to be 'protectors' of the population.. which is just utter crap. Japan had a caste system, with Samurai at the top who were brutal oppressors of the lesser castes.. they could chop you down in the street simply to test out a new blade if they so chose. When the poor little samurai gets his hair cut by the 'evil' new soldiers with their guns, I mostly laughed.. the guys with the guns were peasants who had been under the Samurai boot heel for 2 thousand years. Go them.

Thirdly, why is it that it takes an American to come to a foreign country to show the indigenous population how wonderful and magical their own culture is? Gawd, it's such jingoistic crap.

I don't know much about Japanese history, and I had very low expectations of the movie, so I think that's why I was pleasantly surprised. I totally see your points. I did, however, think Ken Watanabe did an excellent job.

HWBL · October 22nd, 2005, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ourmaninBusan

I heard something even worse about the "dark ages".

Back then, in England anyway, they pretty much took a bath
once a year.

This usually took place in May.

This is how we got the tradition of the June wedding, because
they were still relatively fresh for the wedding night -- they'd only
been accumulating dirt for a month.

True. Remember the miniseries "Shogun" starring former hunk Richard Chamberlain? Well, they're stranded in Japan and as soon as he wakes up he is directed by this tiny Japanese guy to a bathhouse and he protests saying something like 'No, baths make you sick!" and wants to leave. And then this tiny guy does some move on him and floors him, hurting him like hell. He later learns how to enjoy the baths and is disgusted by his fellow shipmates when he meets up with them again.

Other anachronisms: I think I read somewhere that someone was wearing a wrist watch in "Ben Hur"

Also wrist watches in several old Knight movies. Full contemporary eye make up in costume dramas. Zippers in costumes of costume dramas etc. etc. etc.

ourmaninBusan · October 22nd, 2005, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barbiedoll25

All I have to say is there was a time before plumbing and sewars. Enough said. Can you imagine walking thru the streets with human feces and urine? Let alone the not bathing and brushing of teeth. Yuck.

It's worse than that! I read that at the turn of the last century,
when everyone rode around in horse-driven carriages, the horses
crapped all over the streets and the gutters. Hence, there was
horsedung all over the place. How sanitary was that? The child
mortality rate from typhus was staggering.

Can you imagine a movie like The Age of Innocence with Michelle
Pfeiffer tiptoeing around big splotches of horseshit? How romantic!

HWBL · October 22nd, 2005, 01:03 PM

What's also always funny in any movie, not just costume dramas, is when they are in a darkened room and light ONE candle, and the entire room lights up with 1000 Watts

ourmaninBusan · October 22nd, 2005, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

I hated 'The Last Samurai'.. firstly, it was historically incorrect to an insane degree.

Secondly, it had Tom Cruise in it. Anytime I see Tom Cruise in a movie, It's just Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. ... it's just him playing dressup.

I actually badmouthed this movie without bothering to go see it,
because I just thought it was (a) Tom Cruise's annual "I'm still here!"
movie and (b) an attempt to steal the audience of Quentin Tarantino,
whose Kill Bill movies were getting a lot of press.

A friend of mine was appalled that I dared cast judgment on a movie
without going to see it -- "How can you judge a movie without having
seen it! Don't you realize you shouldn't judge a book by its cover!?
You should judge a book or a movie by its CONTENT!" -- but nowadays
they construct movies without a thought to content.

E.g.: (threadjack!)

Two executives went to see The Mummy Returns a few years ago.
They saw the Rock playing The Scorpion King and immediately
decided to put him in a movie of his own. (I read this in TimeAsia.)

They worked on the merchandising first.

One decided that he would make arrangements for lunchbox tie-ins;
the other would handle T-shirt sales and stickers. The first would
handle the Burger King collectible cups with the Rock's face on it;
the second would market something else.

Then they decided that one of them
should hire a writer and order a script.

See? The content came last. It was unimportant to them. Yet they expect us to fork over $8, see their movie and be
fair about it.

So -- samurai swords are hot. So Tom Cruise calls someone and says
he needs to make a samurai film, one that will appeal to the Japanese
market and the American one, and there needs to be a romance,
plus plenty of action, blah blah. It's like he's ordering a pizza.

So why shouldn't you trash a filler movie like The Last Samurai?
They didn't care when they made it.

"But wait!" my friend says. "Tom said he's been planning this movie
for five years!"

And if you believe that, you'll believe in the magic of TOMKAT.

stargazer · October 22nd, 2005, 01:52 PM

I understand wanting things to be authentic, but remember that these are movies, made by people who are acting in costume.

Do you really wanna see Cruise or whoever with yellow teeth?? I don't.

pacific breeze · October 22nd, 2005, 02:17 PM

^^I don't want to see Tom Cruise at all. But if you are making a period piece, it should be reasonably authentic.

Most people don't actually have yellow teeth. And yes, I know that some do. But if you've ever been to a dentist's and looked at the colours of teeth on the little wheel, blindingly bright white is nowhere on that spectrum. So anything less than that is going to look a little "yellow." Most people have natural teeth that match their skin tone.

I realize that verisimilitude is not something the majority of cinemagoers want taken to extremes. But there are lots of films out there that at least make an effort -- e.g. Persuasion, Queen Margot.

Hollywood has gotten away with a lot of shit in period movies. That doesn't make it right.

tulip · October 22nd, 2005, 04:13 PM

No, I don't think we all want to see yellow teeth on the screen, but these teeth are SO white and SO perfect, it's ridiculous and totally distracting. Like Ross on Friends when he got his teeth whitened and they were so white when he turned out the lights he glowed. Tom's teeth were just gleaming and sparkling

ohmygoodness · October 22nd, 2005, 04:29 PM

I think it was Elizabeth I that I was told was known as very concerned with being clean ... and she bathed TWICE A YEAR! Omg, I could never do that! I mean, I miss a shower one day and I feel gross!

olivia720 · October 23rd, 2005, 03:25 AM

yes, this has bugged me from time to time. nobody had decent teeth back then. let alone hollywood perfect veneers bleached four times too white.

lennonfan · October 25th, 2005, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tulip

I was watching The Last Samurai the other night and Tom Cruise plays a civil war soldier. He had the costume, the hair appropriate for the period...but when he opened his mouth he had these huge, sparkly, pearly white teeth. It was so distracting. People back then didn't have shiny white teeth. I've noticed this before in other period movies -- they seem very authentic until the actors open their mouths...and their teeth light up the screen. Isn't there a way they can dull up their teeth a bit for the role? It is so irritating and totally distracting.

By the way, I have to admit I liked The Last Samurai, even if Tom was in it. I heard it referred to as "Dances with Sushi" -- which is pretty accurate -- but I thought it was a good movie, and I didn't expect to like it at all.

That is a constant issue for me...oversize Chiclet-white teeth in period movies. It totally breaks the spell.