Romeo + Juliet - Shakespeare Month the Second

Original upload date: 4/28/2014
"Two households both alike in dignity..."
All third party clips are used under Fair Use.
Follow me on Twitter: / kylekallgren
Tumblr: / actuallykylekallgren
Or see my archive on Chez Apocalypse: chezapocalypse.com/series/brow...
You can support the channel on Patreon: / kkallgren

[@sigh824]

God. I love this movie. This is the first movie that helped me realize that Shakespeare wasn't necessarily highbrow and inaccessible. Also I really liked Mercutio, he was fun.

[@CurlyAndNerdy101]

I remember our year 12 teacher telling the class we would be studying Hamlet and everyone but me and a select few groaning. One girl started to complain that Shakespeare was rubbish if you couldn't understand it and it had no place or relevance anymore. I thought about ripping her a new one, but then I realised something. She was from a broken home. This text was perfect. I told her that it's easier to understand and like Shakespeare if you know the plot first sometimes, and explained to her that once you remove the espionage and supernatural, Hamlet can be read as a young man trying and failing to understand and accept that his mother has remarried. His loyalty is completely with his father and he hates it that he is obligated to love a new father and feels like he has no say in it. As we read through the story in class over the next few days, she got more and more into it, getting extremely emotional in the discussion at some points and actually crying at the end of the play. I thought it was wonderful.

[@goORIOLES236]

Guess you threw a Shakespeare, *puts on sunglasses* through her heart! "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA" I am so sorry. I'll show myself out, now.

[@CurlyAndNerdy101]

You are the definition of dorksome!

[@OtakuAudioRedux]

Helping someone get into Shakespeare through personal context, good work! 👍🏽

[@alexlagunas]

Mind you, Hamlet has a good reason for hating his uncle. (He killed his father and all that.)

[@DStecks]

I swear, the way kids are taught Shakespeare is so counterproductive. The lines are perfectly understandable, they're just worded in a way that makes it hard to understand if you're reading them. Clauses are all over the place, parentheticals have no punctuation to denote them, it all makes sense when said aloud but trying to read it word-by-word is just confusing.

[@ECL28E]

The problem is Claire Danes and DiCaprio hated each other on set. Danes felt DiCaprio was too goofy and immature, playing pranks and shiz. Dicaprio felt Danes was too stuck-up and snooty

[@jbvader721]

+ECL28E Yeah, they are so dull in this movie it is just a shame. Thank God both of their works AFTER this catastrophe are so much better and they can show of their acting chops more.

[@Galvion1980]

Well, DiCaprio is still goofy and immature a quarter-century later, sooooo...Point to Ms.Danes, I guess?

[@claynorth964]

@@Galvion1980 so true. but trying to play the tough guy these days and failing miserably. Dicaprio really is a bro

[@kellan9616]

Her performance seems way too much like she's acting, rather than us seeing her as an actual person

[@orestria]

"quoted by everyone" is my favourite bit

[@EmmaViv]

Hamlet hides from his parents, listens to Radiohead, and recites his own poetry

[@unclegumbald989]

Baz foretold of the Emo Future....

[@Snes_Controller]

I guess I'm alone in actually liking the idea of everybody calling their guns "swords." I think they went too far with pringing the word "SWORD" on all the guns like the audience will have no clue what you're talking about if you don't, but I like the idea of just transposing the old vernacular to modern visuals.

[@swanpride]

+Josh Petticrew Nope, you aren't. I actually like the movie, because it manages to translate what the play actually is - the story about two stupid teenagers - and translating it into something which feels more accessible. It sadly resulted though in the "high brow" people considering it beneath them. I admit, seeing the line in the context was the first time I understood a lot of them (partly because I am not a native speaker).

[@caseyj5637]

+swanpride you don't have to be "high brow" to dislike this movie. :P

[@1987MartinT]

+Josh Petticrew The gun sword thing doesn't bother me. My biggest problem is all the LOUD NOISES! Without them I think the movie would have been perfect. If I had a time machine I'd go back in time to the production of this movie and tell the actors: "Guys! You can be intense without screaming."

[@KidSnivy69]

+swampride I'm as low brow as middle class can get and I still don't like this movie, though that main due to our "leads"

[@Xarfax321]

I agree, I had nothing against the "swords" myself! I mean it was kinda stupid, yeah, but it's more important for the actors to actually be able to say their lines! And the SCREAMING..... Good god, why is even Mercutio screaming his monologue about Queen Mab?! What the HELL was that about?! "THIS IS SHEEEEE!!!!!!!1111"

[@jordangreen9201]

One kid in my church group had to read Romeo and Juliet for English class and his teacher said that as a reward for reading the play they could watch a movie version after. It was Romeo + Juliet and this kid hated it so much. Probably because he read the play first.

[@gabe_s_videos]

I also really wish he had included the clip of Patrick Star saying "I DEFY YOU, HEART MAN!" in the montage of all of the movies and shows that quote this play.

[@Forceprincess]

Maybe its because I was a teenager in the 90s, I was just the right audience for this. I personally feel, that what this movie gets right is the "teenage hormone" angle. Out of control, irrational, stupid kind of love that you can only feel as a teenager. This movie nails it!

[@ThierryVerhoeven]

"Remember that time when Donald Trump's chauffeurs got into a knife fight with Warren Buffet's secretaries?" I think you just made a very accurate prediction of year three of the Trump administration.

[@L1701]

And those chauffeurs wore gold suits with giant codpieces.

[@Galvion1980]

@@L1701 Putting the ORANGE in "A Clockwork Orange"

[@simplystreeptacular]

It's year three of the Trump administration and.... it's worse. It's much, much worse.

[@JacksonJinn]

See, the good news is Trump would never be able to say "Give me my longsword, hoe" because he'd be too busy pulling a wimp version of Richard III and fleeing, angry he can't chop off heads.

[@alexthelizardking]

The Donald getting others to fight for him is not news.

[@TheTygre]

13:36 And now, the Royal Shakespeare Company presents: Harmony Korine's Springbreakers.

[@user36able]

The woman who sings "wherefore out thou? Romeo? " in the Wizard of Oz is Adriana Caselotti, aka, the voice of Snow White.

[@nathaniellevesque2782]

One of the few things I remember from my English class in my senior year of high school was my English teacher saying that one of Romeo's biggest flaws was making decisions too quickly and without much thought and one of Hamlet's biggest flaws was taking too long to make decisions and overthinking things. He said if Romeo and Hamlet switched plays, than things would turn out better for the heroes.

[@EmilyLovesBooks]

The use of guns in this movie instead of swords was iconic in my opinion

[@unclegumbald989]

TRU. I loved it, along with the entirety of the movie lol. It’s pretty cool to learn that they knew what guns were back then, tho! =)

[@godzillasaurbuttersworth3176]

I actually love this movie. A lot of people say stuff like "oh you just like it cause you're a 90s kid", but actually, I didn't see it until a while after it came out, like a few good years. Yes I knowledge that this movie has a lot of problems. But, like you said, when the actors are good, they are really good. The cinematography is gorgeous, and I absolutely love the aesthetic of it. That mid 90s west coast/ Miami look. Lots of neon. It's gorgeous.

[@cypherice3834]

+Godzillasaur Buttersworth The actors really never are good because almost everything they say is not justified and they usually just sound like a kid just put some quotes from Shakespeare then made them talk weird.

[@Number9Robotic]

I understand how Shakespearean English isn't hard to read, per se, but I think the major reason why I had such a hard time with it back in high school is because of the poetry itself being really dense and really hard to grasp. There's so many layered metaphors that keep going on and on, and it's really hard to keep track as to "wait, what is normal and what is supposed to be flowery poetry," especially since they tend to be based on allusion that isn't immediately apparent in the context. I admire anyone's ability to understand just exactly how beautifully-crafted Shakespeare's densely-packed wordplay is, but ironically it's the exact reason why I can't get into him. Then again, I have trouble reading anything that isn't pure prose or mildly informal, so eh.

[@addisondrake733]

My english teachers and mother says its because of my dyslexia. granted if i’m speaking it or if i’m watching a play or movie its a lot easier but just reading it i dont know what’s going on. And its not just shakespear play’s. which is a HUGE shame because i WANT to know whats going on in Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Odydicy

[@vmgx]

Dude, Leonardo DiCaprio in that "It's not morning" scene was the "oh, I guess I'm into guys too" moment for me. I'll always have a special place in my heart for this movie cuz of it

[@AAmirkhanov]

Thanks for pointing out the difference between Old English and Modern, but Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English, so yes, it is different and takes getting used to.

[@Kat-qe1vk]

This movie is a mess and I love it. Also it does have the best Mercutio of any adaption, the rest of the movie is just a fun ridiculous ride but Mercutio's performance is genuinely brilliant and I will die on this hill

[@supermanlypunch]

I agree with the bafflement with people who think Shakespeare is hard. Yeah, a few way out of date phrases (There's a line in Hamlet regarding a man's 'beaver' that comes to mind) and the rhythm is a bit different. But it's still the same language, using the same words, and grammar rules that we use today, why is is so difficult?

[@LastLaughStudios]

+supermanlypunch I actually think there is a reason most people think it's hard. When most people grow their opinion on Shakespeare, it's usually in school. In school we read Shakespeare, but we rarely HEAR Shakespeare. His plays were meant to be heard, not to be read. Without the full weight of emotion that an actor who understands the words can bring, I can see it being lost on many modern readers. You have to read it like you're putting on a play inside of your head, and hear it within yourself. At least that's been my take on this problem some have. I could be way off.

[@supermanlypunch]

+LastLaughStudios I see where you're coming from, and it's not far off at all. School does have a habit of making all sorts of topics less palatable than they otherwise could be. And there is a big difference between reading Shakespeare and hearing it that you really don't notice until you've heard Shakespeare spoken by actors. Combined with a typical teenager's vast supply of patience I just found it all boring, not difficult, but I guess that's a type of difficulty.

[@AdamYJ]

+LastLaughStudios Usually when you do hear it in school, it's because the teacher has called on someone to speak. So, hearing it is associated with some kid who just wants to fade into the background and get through English class being singled out to say words they don't understand and potentially embarrass themself. But how do teachers try to get around the "words they don't understand" problem? Lots of vocabulary quizzes. So between drilling kids on vocabulary and embarrassing kids by making the stumble over poetry, the relatability of any story element of Shakespeare's plays tends to fall into the background.

[@1redrider100]

I like it, it just sounds reductions hearing people say "Put up your swords" in a gangster film. It's like hearing them say "Put up your phasers".

[@adambesley4455]

+supermanlypunch I think the problem is that most people write Shakespeare off from their experience of reading it in school and breaking it down so much that the rhythm is completely ruined. In my opinion it's always better to see a Shakespeare production or film or act in a Shakespeare production first. Then you can go back and pick it apart.

[@billuraral1870]

"Man, those Trump boys sure can bite thumbs." Welll, this quote aged like milk

[@Jaytheradical]

"Hey there, kid from the 90s," was a pretty risky phrase to drop, there, dude.

[@Targisvear]

High risk of "Duuuuuuuuuuuuude!...".

[@cremetangerine82]

Targi Svear Cue “Smells Like Teen Spirit”!

[@SRLovesPandas1]

followed by "Remember this? Only 90s kids remember this."

[@Pilusmagnus]

His adaptation of The Great Gatsby is of similar caliber. The dialogue in this film is half Fitzgerald text and half SparkNotes commentary explaining the subtext within the dialogue itself. The target audience of the film is literally "Teenagers who have to study the book but watch the movie adaptation instead."

[@MalenkyGoblin]

I disagree, I personally love Baz's films. I think he understood the source material more than people give him credit for; "Our philosophy has always been that we think up what we need in our life, choose something creative that will make that life fulfilling, and then follow that road. With Romeo and Juliet what I wanted to do was to look at the way in which Shakespeare might make a movie of one of his plays if he was a director. How would he make it? We don't know a lot about Shakespeare, but we do know he would make a `movie' movie. He was a player. We know about the Elizabethan stage and that he was playing for 3000 drunken punters, from the street sweeper to the Queen of England - and his competition was bear-baiting and prostitution. So he was a relentless entertainer and a user of incredible devices and theatrical tricks to ultimately create something of meaning and convey a story. That was what we wanted to do." Luhrmann has cited Italian grand opera and Bollywood films as big influences on his work, neither of which is known for their subtlety. Bollywood studios will heavily promote the soundtrack (which often has big name stars) to a new film because they believe if the soundtrack is a big hit than the film will be a big hit. Both soundtracks to Romeo + Juliet sold over 8 million copies, the film went on the gross $147 million. The art and set decorators did receive Oscar Nominations for their work too. I can tell you when my high school English class watched this we were all hooked. Some were even misty eyed afterwards but too embarrassed to admit it.

[@tatehildyard5332]

I'm with you. Whether or not you like his style, you have to admit he knows how to world-build which is something I feel that a lot of critics ignore when critiquing a movie.

[@terab513]

Honestly, I feel like this film still speaks to teenagers. It's the only outdated thing I've ever seen that didn't completely miss on today's teenage audience. It's gone from nostalgiac to... retro? I'm not sure the proper word for appealingly cheesy, but the message still lands and my 9th grade english class loved it.

[@hickorymccay2994]

Tera B Narm Charmy?

[@DarcOfTheShadows]

I've watched this video I don't even know how many times, and I never fail to crack up at "El Mariachi versus the Burger King Kids Club."

[@RRyleM]

I saw this movie while we were studying it for school. Though I begged my teacher that we watch the 1968 version, I guess she disagreed with me. I think my class was laughing more than actually watching.

[@jillybellies]

Actual best version of this play. Not even joking. It's most accurate, captures the tone of the feud and translates it for a modern audience the best, and actually plays the jokes as the jokes they are and not as serious dialogue (looking at you bite my thumb scene)

[@JW-dg9gf]

Omg. Thank you for speaking old and middle English. So much lolzing.

[@frankrtwiw]

This has to be one of the most bizarre movies I've seen.

[@quibily]

I thought the two leads' almost monotonous delivery of the lines was to show a stark contrast between them and everyone else. Like they are "the smartest kids in the room," delivering their lines in quiet, almost inflection-less tones--and the friends and family members are all crazy and don't see The Truth that they see.

[@roarkthehalf-orc6598]

The part where he speaks old English cracks me up lol

[@dafne2001]

Every single time i finish a movie and have complex feelings about, i run to your channel.. and there it is. You never disappoint ✨ thank you thank you thank you

[@ViveLRoi]

Apparently the guns in the film are from a line of commercial firearms that are actually named after sword types. Wasn't just done for the movie, which blew my mind.

[@Laylabelle97]

4:31 This is basically like saying "Well if you're used to a modern sewing machine, why are you having so much trouble using this Singer from 1919?"

[@MorriganAtwood]

Probably a good thing for Friar Pete that in this modern day retelling, Juliet's parents didn't decide they needed an autopsy done to find out why their kid died so suddenly.

[@Laylabelle97]

7:39 well it does deliver the text faithfully, and the way the scenes play out it can give kids context for what it means. Oddly enough, SOME people can't just read something written hundreds of years before they were born and understand all the vintage slang terms and turns of phrase.

[@disconnected22]

Saw this in the theater back in ‘96. Still remember when that TV came on the screen in a darkened room. Then that glorious first 5 minutes 🔥

[@isobelduncan]

I've always seen Romeo and Juliet as more of a cautionary tale of prejudice.

[@mistertea603]

Actually I always saw the montagues and capulets in this version as sort of shell companies for two rival gangs...

[@jdprettynails]

This film came out the year I was studying Romeo and Juliet in high school. Honestly? It really fucking helped! Usually Shakespeare sounds like very pretty poetry. Like when you listen to a song for the very first time, you're listening more to the beat and the melody rather than the lyrics. So this version of Romeo and Juliet got 14 year old me to actually pay attention to the story. Plus I had a huge crush on Leonardo Dicaprio at the time. I was 14! We all did! Especially when Titanic came out! But now as an adult, I appreciate Shakespeare so much more than most people my age, because this version was my gateway drug. Hell, even by the time I was 16 studying The Merchant of Venice, I was genuinely excited! Another thing that was popular round this time was Jerry Springer. So my class had to create a sketch where Juliet was essentially the Cash Me Outside girl LONG before that was a meme.

[@pj9525]

I always took the 'trailer in the movie' as a visual complement to the verbal prologue.

[@Account_Not_Applicable]

Harold Perrineau stole my heart when I first watched this and still does. He delivered the words so naturally and with actual energy lacking from the leads I was upset once his character was killed. Like dammit, now i have to sit through the rest of this madness without this beautiful man

[@Laylabelle97]

At least this movie can give a modern context to teenager and help them get a better visual of what's going on. Again, not everyone can read old text from a book and perfectly imagine what's going on.

[@nathaniellevesque2782]

The lack of chemistry between DiCaprio and Danes can be explained by the fact that they hated each other on set. They didn't want anything to do with each other. Danes thought DiCaprio was too much of a goofball and DiCaprio thought Danes was too stuck up. Side note, I read that Natalie Portman was the original choice to play Juliet, but the producers thought the age difference between DiCaprio and Portman was too distracting, so Claire Danes was brought in to replace Portman.

[@equusquaggaquagga536]

Your crazy. John leguizamo as tybalt is casting genius.

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

I'm actually really looking forward to reading this when I get back to school from break

[@mikethegrunty5968]

I can't bring myself to hate this movie. I loved the hell out of it in high school and it served as my introduction to Shakespeare .

[@gabe_s_videos]

"Man those Trump boys sure could bite a thumb!" Turns out he wasn't wrong. Although in his case, his grudges are about as ancient as five seconds. XD

[@alexthelizardking]

The Donald getting others to fight for him is not news.

[@gabe_s_videos]

@@alexthelizardking it was three years ago, when I made that hilarious comment.

[@justmanic9673]

The 1968 is my fave version of the play. Brilliant.

[@AgentExile]

Totally agree with you, I've always found this movie to be kind of overrated even back when I was in the target audience for it.

[@Number9Robotic]

8:54 Hey. Hey. I see what you did there in the closed captions.

[@fallingcrane1986]

I was so confused at first because I didn’t have my drumpfinator on XD

[@PoisonZeth]

OMG, is that one Romeo and Juliet movie adaptation that was recorded in Veracruz, México? my parents told me about it (the thing the remember the most about it is the characters calling the guns 'swords'), told me is the worst Romeo and Juliet adaptation ever made (or at least that they've watched) XD

[@wess9900]

between my first time watching this and now, I have memorized the first 18 lines of the Canterbury tales it's a good party trick

[@snowcherryleopard]

We saw clips of this in English and everyone in my class literally went "....WTF"

[@nublessed8993]

i've always thought it was terrible but i love the art direction lol

[@PrincessBunhead]

Freshman English, 1996. My teacher somehow had a VHS copy, and used it to teach us the play (since those of us who remember, VHS release took over a year once the film left theaters). My class, as much as we didn't want to watch an Elizabethan era version of the play, found ourselves so confused by this version. I mean to be fair there are parts that heavily cater to teenagers, and wonderful symbolic cinematography, but as for a teaching device? This film shouldn't be used. Six years later (2002) my brother took the same class, with the same teacher, and he was just as frustrated lol By the way, I like Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet. It far surpasses Mel Gibson's version :P

[@nickkurtz512]

Yes we got it back!

[@NickersonGeneral]

Kyle I love your videos, and I completely agree that actors completely drop the ball when they don't take the time to understand Shakespeare's text before performing it, but let's be real here. A FEW antique words and poetic rewordings? Shakespeare's plays are LITTERED with antique words and poetic rewordings. Is it really difficult to understand why people have trouble reading lines like "Look here, upon this picture, and on this,The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See, what a grace was seated on this brow; Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;" without a lot of effort?

[@someonerandom8552]

Oh that's easy. "Look here upon this picture and on this" roughly translates to Here take a look at this pic (painting) "The counterfeit presentment of two brothers" roughly translates to A painting of two "brothers." Pff brothers, yeah right *snorts* "See, what a grace was seated on this brow; Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself" roughly translates to Look at this awesome guy, he's hot af with awesome hair. I could understand needing to google the line "Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself." But the rest? Seriously? I was in remedial high school English (which admittedly was less intellectually stimulating than watching paint dry) and even I can read Shakespeare. Besides there's mass market productions of study guides which practically tell you exactly what is being said. They've been around for literally decades and are barely 10 buck each. Hell there's free versions online even. People are just fucking lazy.

[@darynvoss7883]

Haha, Leo has an Oscar now

[@gabe_s_videos]

Next Shakespeare Month: Gnomeo and Juliet!

[@timothymclean]

I saw this movie in high school right after studying the play. Someone pointed out how dumb the Sword- and Longsword-brand guns were, and the teacher pointed out that the text itself--the specific lines Shakespeare wrote, his very words--were basically the only original thing about the play. Makes me wonder what the point of adapting Shakespeare is... ...aside from prestige, I mean. Stupid teen romances aren't artistic unless they were written centuries ago.

[@MeganKoumori]

Queen Mab's drug trip. This man directed "Moulin Rouge"? I'm shocked!

[@MsDjessa]

The forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet would be perfect in an LGBT story. Two boys or two girls in love, or a regular man or woman in love with a transgender person of different genders would really flesh out the forbidden love aspect. Speaking as a cynical member of the "LGBT community" who believes romantic love only exists in fairy tales. : 3

[@charlierose5744]

+MsDjessa When I studied Romeo and Juliet in school, my teacher gave us the assignment to rewrite one of the scenes in a different setting. My group chose to do a modern-day lesbian romance. We did the scene where Juliet's parents tell her that she is to wed the Prince, and changed it to a coming out scene gone horribly wrong. I played Juliet, who we decided to portray as butch since it seemed like the typical thing to make her the "girl" in the relationship, while Rosemary was the "guy." We also included some lyrics from bare: a Pop Opera as dialogue, since my best friend and I love musical theatre. It turned out really well, and my class loved it, so now I'm considering making my own movie of it, just for fun. :)

[@Cybermat47]

I think it works better as is. The vast majority of people these days are fine with people being gay.

[@MsDjessa]

Cybermat47 Not so sure about that. There are still plenty of countries were homosexuality is punished with death and even countries which has progressive laws like South-Africa has things like so called corrective rape happening.

[@Cybermat47]

+MsDjessa CORRECTIVE RAPE IS STILL A THING IN SOUTH AFRICA?! SOUTH AFRICA IS DOING WHAT THE NAZIS DID?! WHAT THE FUCK?! Shit, that's messed up.

[@MsDjessa]

Cybermat47 I'm afraid so. It is happening in other places too like Uganda. : (

[@VTPPGLVR]

I find it hilarious that one of my favorite parts of the movie is what you hated the most. Also, in regards to the delivery of DiCaprio and Daines, I see where you're coming from. But to me, it also helps to give the impression that they really don't know what they're doing, as such ignorance makes their stupidity a little easier to believe. At least to me, anyway.

[@tatehildyard5332]

Well that and a lot of Shakespeare actors spend years training and studying Shakespeareian acting and is emphasized much more in English culture than in American culture. Leo and Claire were in their late teens/early twenties and likely had little to no training aside from reading the book in the high school.

[@Nionivek]

While I didn't care for this film... I will say I found their "substitutions" (Dagger is a type of gun) to be smart to me. Heck even your example of sending a text while your line says letter is something I enjoyed.

[@nicholashurst780]

Funnily enough that joke from The Simpsons turned out to be true when researchers actually tested how people rated the smell of roses without knowing what they were smelling and being told they had different names

[@TiliaCordata]

The T-Rex always gets me! :-D

[@misseli1]

Has he ever reviewed the 1968 adaptation?

[@kestreldomann2787]

Not me shouting "THAT'S PAUL SORVINO" at my phone while sitting alone in my office 😅

[@troyschulz2318]

I have a great deal of nostalgia for this movie. I understand it's pretty stupid, but I feel like it perfectly encapsulates this sort of late-nineties, head-trippy insanity that I can't help but love. I mean come on, they had Thom York and Shirley Manson do the soundtrack.

[@msnorringtonsims6536]

Oh Kyle, I love this review. I really enjoy how you think about movies and dissect them. My younger brothers and I were the target demographic when this came out and it hit its mark like Katniss with a bow. My brothers discovered that Shakespeare could be cool and had something valid to say that had relevance to their lives. And I too felt validated in all my young, whimsical romanticism. Past renditions of R&J always made them seem foolish and overly adult in a way that didn't speak to me but this movie spoke my late 90s language. Their love felt as deep and dramatic as I felt love was at that age. Though it's sad that this movie, despite reaching its audience as I'm sure Bahz intended, wont be as timeless as other renditions. i still applaud him for sprinkling his insane magic all over the story and telling it in a different way. I think there are still audiences that this rendition will touch despite the 90s being long gone. Like all his work, Bahz clearly makes it a point to make his version of a story stand out as something unique, whether good or bad. I adore this movie, it's my favorite version of Romeo and Juliet. Most likely because of my age when I was first exposed to it. Hell, I even wore my high school sweetheart's ring on a chain so we could act out the final scene together. Wow, that's a shame based memory haha. Oh to be seventeen again :D

[@teallineart8805]

7:36 Spot on, sir. I actually was learning romeo and juliet in 9th grade english. haha

[@austinsmith538]

7:31, That is, exactly​ me.

[@whyologist]

Are there any videos on this channel about the Great Gatsby? Love the novel but always felt that Fitzgerald's prose not the story itself that made it a classic. Thus the 3 movie versions I've seen range from boring to flawed. Entirely my opinion, my background isn't in the humanities. Would love to hear his thoughts on the book & 4+ films.

[@jbvader721]

No, he hasn't done an analysis of "The Great Gatsby" and why when it's adapted to film it's either boring and/or flawed. He should though, it's great material. I'd recommend going to his Patreon page and requesting that he do a video on that.

[@JoeKerr019]

What are your thoughts on neil gaiman's Sandman? most precise the shakespeare story?

[@HollowedEyeHounds]

I absolutely love that the guns are called swords. It's so dumb and good!

[@Jillbles]

Harold Perrineau was always my favorite part of this film.

[@EngineerLume]

2:45 He had a character called Pistol, if that's not proof enough he knew what guns were.

[@wildcatste]

The entire Romeo and Juliet story is so over the top I think this version captures that well. It's a flawed film but I still love it(and I was not a teenager in the 90s lol)

[@Laylabelle97]

12:26 Romeo and Juliet is about two teenagers screwing their lives and the lives of others because of teenage rebellion and young love. Romeo and Juliet has people acting irrationally.

[@nateds7326]

As soon as this film opened I knew instantly who directed it. The same guy who directed moulan rouge. And it shows SO MUCH in this move.

[@n.d.m.515]

You couldn't know it was the same guy as Moulan Rouge. The only movie he made before this was the brilliant, to me, Strictly Ballroom (itself a Romeo and Juliet story).

[@nateds7326]

I could easily tell! It has the same insane off the walls editing!

[@n.d.m.515]

So your meaning was representative and not literal. Timelines do matter unless you have a time machine. The only way you could know, if you actually saw it at the opening, was having watched Strictly Ballroom.

[@L1701]

I remember seeing this in school as a kid. I never got why they didn't update the dialogue with the setting. It looked very out of place.

[@noemiecansier8466]

DONT SLANDER THE SWORD GUNS THEIR CAMP AND I ADORE THEM. 😊.

[@frostrose8222]

My class had to sit through this movie. Almost everyone thought it was boring or hated it.

[@independentowl5986]

This was actually the very first theatrical release that my Parents did saw a long time ago when they started dating. My Dad nearly fell asleep and My Mom had to watch through the rest. Of course, she didn't like the ending but this is one of my Favorite Adaptations of the Play itself.

[@dusktomidnight7207]

the gun thing is one of the best parts lol

[@Laylabelle97]

4:26 very flowery, old English. There is a reason there are books entitled "No Fear Shakespeare" that translate the lines in modern English.

[@PrincessSybilla77]

I miss Shakespeare month

[@GooberFace32]

I remember seeing this movie when it first came out in 1996. My friends and I were 19 at the time. We left in the middle of the film. We all thought it was so terrible for all of the reasons you mentioned! We'd have asked for our money back but we had free tickets. I wish I could have gotten those 45 minutes of my life back. I enjoyed your review.

[@darkservantofheaven]

I may be a minority on this, but I love the guns in this flick. I dont care for guns in reality, but I do love guns with artistic custom grips. Especially Tybalt's Rapier 9mm Series R (which is either a Taurus PT99 or a Berretta 92F...my personal favorite for asthetic reasons) I mean its got the Virgin Mother on the grips....fucking love it

[@spookyspice596]

"Sprrring break! Sprrring breeeaaak! Sprrring break forevermore!" XD

[@xentoip]

4:32 to 5:07 could be used in classrooms...

[@redjenny8652]

Wrt how well it did/didn't age, as someone who watched this in class around 2013, the extreme 90s-ness only increased the fun that is the main selling point of the film; it was a bit like a glorious ridiculous parody of a culture that we were vaguely aware of and saw the remnants of growing up

[@TheJalipa]

I always liked this movie - it is fun.

[@EverythingFan02]

I kind of love this movie for its amazing camp value; it's hard to believe that everyone was actually taking it seriously. That said, and I feel petty for it, I can't stand pandering to kids or teens. To be fair, Luhrmann seems to be genuine in his desire to reach his audience, rather than just wanting to hold their attention so that the studio can get money from them and their parents. And this direction doesn't feel that out of sync with Moulin Rouge or The Great Gatsby. On a side note, I never would have guessed that he directed Australia. ...Except maybe that early scene where Hugh Jackman, through a bar fight, ends up laying in Nicole Kidman's undergarments strewn out on the street.

[@Austin_Soares]

So Shakespeare was a 1500's to 1600's John Huges? Wow

[@Gingerm0nster]

I miss this version of Kyle

[@KyleKallgrenBHH]

Me too. Me too.

[@mysteryperson1976]

Finally saw it. I think that although there is definitely a lot of corniness in it, I think it's quite well done.

[@johnnyringo5777]

I actually thought that tybalt was pretty good in this version