\nTitus (1999)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nGenre(s): <\/b>Drama, Suspense, Fantasy
\nScreen Archives | R \u2013 162 min. \u2013 $29.95 | January 21, 2014
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Julie Taymor
\nWriter(s): <\/b>William Shakespeare (play); Julie Taymor (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/b>Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Colm Feore, James Frain, Laura Fraser, Harry Lennix, Angus Macfadyen, Jonathan Rhys Meyers<\/p>\nTheatrical Release Date: <\/b>February 11, 2000<\/p>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>3 Audio Commentaries, Featurettes, Trailers, Isolated Score Track
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>1<\/p>\nAudio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), English (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English
\nDisc Size: <\/b>46.1 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" "\\"*\\"")
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THE MOVIE<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\nPlot Outline: <\/b>Julie Taymor\u2019s cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare\u2019s first tragedy, Titus<\/i><\/b> stars Anthony Hopkins as a noble but misguided Roman general who finds himself ensnared in an unwinnable war of vengeance with an implacable barbarian queen (JESSICA LANGE). With its time-bending mix of elements from Ancient Rome, Fascist Italy, Fifties America, and Punk Britain, this reimagining of a theatrical classic offers a dark vision of violence, murder, rape, and revenge.<\/p>\n
Quick Hit Review: Titus<\/i><\/b>, like most out-of-the-box Shakespeare adaptations (see: Baz Luhrmann\u2019s Romeo + Juliet<\/i>, O<\/i> and 2000\u2019s Hamlet<\/i> with Ethan Hawke), it has its moments of glory while other parts are pretty dull. Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange both turn in brilliant performances that almost makes the 160-minute running time bearable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nAs with other Twilight Time releases this comes with a 6-page booklet.<\/p>\n
Audio Commentaries<\/span><\/b> includes 1) Writer\/Director Julie Taymor, 2) Composer Elliot Goldenthal and 3) Actors Anthony Hopkins and Harry Lennix. Each of these tracks offers a different perspective with Taymor giving the production side, Goldenthal breaking down musical cues and Hopkins and Lennix giving the actors\u2019 perspective. It should be noted that the actors\u2019 track is scene-specific and there are long periods of silence.<\/p>\nPenny Arcade Nightmares (5:16)<\/span><\/b> takes a look at the nightmare sequences in the movie and how they were filmed with commentary by Kyle Cooper from visual effects company, Imaginary Forces.<\/p>\nThe Making of Titus<\/i> (49:09)<\/span><\/b> is an extensive behind-the-scenes featurette looking at every nuance of how the movie was made and features interviews with Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, director Taymor and others in the cast and crew. If you\u2019re a fan of the movie, or even if you\u2019re not, this is well worth watching.<\/p>\nQ&A: Columbia Focus Group (34:33)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Director Julie Taymor answers questions from a group of film students following a screening of the movie.<\/p>\nAlso included are two Theatrical Trailers (2:31 ea.)<\/span><\/b>, a selection of TV Spots (2:08)<\/span><\/b> and an Isolated Score Track<\/span><\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
VIDEO \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nTwilight Time releases Titus<\/i><\/b> with what they admit was a 15 year old master given to them by the studio. No work has been done and while it probably is a modest step up from the DVD version, it\u2019s not exactly impressive. The detail levels are slightly better here and colors do seem to be distributed well enough. However, there are instances of dust marks and the picture itself has a blotchy appearance at times.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
AUDIO \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nOn a similar front, the disc comes with both a 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track and although they\u2019re serviceable, the 5.1 channel one in particular is quite soft to the point of being too quiet with some of the dialogue-heavy scenes. There are scenes of action and even there this is hardly a resounding and depth-filled lossless track.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
OVERALL \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nOverall, Titus<\/i><\/b> is most certainly an ambitious film and while I didn\u2019t particularly enjoy it and doubtful I\u2019ll ever revisit it, it\u2019s not a complete waste of time, well worth seeing for Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has its own issues. Although the bonus material is extensive, the audio and video are utilizing older transfers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Published: <\/b>01\/24\/2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Titus is most certainly an ambitious film and while I didn\u2019t particularly enjoy it and doubtful I\u2019ll ever revisit it, it\u2019s not a complete waste of time, well worth seeing for Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[981,2629,835,1919,2257,2411,202],"class_list":["post-6685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-alan-cumming","tag-angus-macfadyen","tag-anthony-hopkins","tag-colm-feore","tag-harry-lennix","tag-jessica-lange","tag-jonathan-rhys-meyers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6685"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27606,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685\/revisions\/27606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Titus<\/i><\/b> is most certainly an ambitious film and while I didn\u2019t particularly enjoy it and doubtful I\u2019ll ever revisit it, it\u2019s not a complete waste of time, well worth seeing for Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/reviews\/2014\/titus-bd.jpg\" "\\"Buy")
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