Hi folks - yes, I'm back and will explain my absence later...

But Lordy, Lordy, Lordy -

I'm watching Hannibal right now and repeating "Oh, Sid - Sid - Sid - "

Fabulous.

And oh yes...the eyes...



Love Dee XX

And the acting isn't bad either

Sorry. Getting carried away...

Love Dee XX

Just watched it...

*Sigh*



Feeling quite proud, like a mother hen. *cluck, cluck*

Hi Dee


I just loved this show and fingers crossed this will lead onto other things for Sid.

He was incredibly charasmatic, the production values were very high and gave you a real insite into the ancient world.

A worthy and well deserved round of applause to all concerned.


Jude

I thought that it was a very well made film, and the effects looked really good, especially the battle scenes, considering the budget constraints. I'm glad they made it so graphic, in keeping with what it must have been like in those days. I'm not blood thirsty, honest!!

I'm happy for Sid, that he had the opportunity to do this, and do it well too

Let's hope he'll have many more opportunities to have lead roles in the future!

Rika

Totally irrelevant, but I'm watching it again on video and can't believe how deep his voice is! (No, it isn't a VCR fault )

He could make a fortune doing voiceover work...and we could all listen.

BTW, I'm watching it again because Chas was working tonight and didn't see it first time round, so he's playing catch up. It's so hard for me .

Love Dee XX

Oh, I just bet it is .

You lucky birds .

I can't wait to see it! (There's really no emoticon that can adequately convey my level of excitement ).

::sigh:: And over here in the US, all we got was the repeat of Family Guy "Patriot Games" with Sid's voice.




Does anyone know when it will get over here?

Dee I was also surprised just how deep Sid's voice was.

Jude

Wish I could say that about the voice. Can't wait now for the dvd so that I can watch it in english again. (Let's have the voice talk again, then. )

Ulli

I'm glad we finally got to hear Sid's voice with Sid's accent. He was talking slightly deeper than normal, but that was definitely his "normal" accent.

Dee, you longsuffering woman. I hope Chas appreciates your sacrifices.

Fortunately, nobody could recall how a native Carthagian would pronounce English!

I had the chance to enjoy the documentary in English as well and was delighted! I've always loved Sid's voice, his speech pattern, and thus I'm happy they let him be himself... okay, with a slightly darker note:).

"The old Hannibal" was intriguing, imo. Makeup was good, body language excellent.
Hopefully, a DVD will show us something about the "aging".

Sorry I didn't post this as soon as I watched it, I started watching the other Hannibal programme that followed it (about the man, the myth, the legend...unfortunately not about Sid himself!) and I was so tired I nodded off halfway through. Recently I have had this habit of nodding off to sleep every night, if I am watching TV, at exactly eleven o'clock - how weird it that? Anyway luckily I recorded it in case something like that happened, so I will catch up with that part.

In the meantime, the actual real Hannibal documentary - amazing! I swear I forgot it was Sid (I know it is a crime in Sidcity to forget him, so lock me up and throw away the key! ), Sid is multi-talented when it comes to different roles - he just seems to fit each role like a glove. Like you all say...the eyes! They really emphasised that towards the end, the producers must have realised that was his strong point (or they must have known that we would be watching Sid!). Pity his other eye had to be covered up towards the end, well worth it though because it just proves he can act really well with or without his eyes (everyone gasps, "without his eyes, you're mad Roxi!" ).

Always

I did notice that Sid's accent has changed a bit since I last saw him at Page's 2002. For some reason, a little more "mid-Atlantic" than it used to be. But I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think his voice was deliberately (?) deeper.

As for the "older" make-up, I commented to Chas that all they seemed to have done was use a red paint in his normal horseshoe frown lines! (I have a thing about Sid's frown lines...they form a beautiful little upside down horseshoe shape between the brows...sorry, I'm heading for a squee moment )

Oh dear. I may have to watch it again just to reply to your comments!!

Love Dee XX

Ahhhhhhhhhh you lucky ducks who got to see it...

*Whining* -- When is it coming to the US??

Hugs, Josie

WOW!

Considering this was effectively a feature film on a documentary budget, the result was amazing. Sid was, needless to say, excellent in the rôle. His performance was thoughtful and well-paced, reminding me of a slightly more restrained version of Kirk Douglas in "Spartacus". I hope this leads to more leading parts for Sid as it demonstrated his ability to carry a major rôle with confidence - this guy's acting just gets better and better.

Two things niggled me slightly: of necessity, a lot of the crowd shots were quite tight, partly because big wide shots would have been either too expensive or impractical. This made it harder to get an impression of the scale of the enterprise (no pun intended ) and tended to make the scenes look "cluttered". The other thing that did irritate me was the constant slight reshifting of the frame a la "NYPD Blue", (although not so intense) which was, I presume, intended to give it a "documentary" feel. Where is does work in some places, in others, such as during conversations between characters, it felt forced and out of place.

Two particularly nice bits that caught my eye first time round: when Hannibal is talking to Gaius Terentius Varro at the beginning of the film, the cuts to successively closer shots on Sid when he spits out the name of his adversary - lovely piece of editing and acting; you can almost see Sid thinking "Vescere bracis meis!". The other, the fabulous shot at the end of the battle of Cannae which pulls up from Sid and then pans up to reveal the aftermath of the battle. Just a pity the budget didn't allow them to use Massive for the battle scenes, although they were superbly done nonetheless.

Nice also to see Shaun Dingwall as Scipio, most recently seen in the new Doctor Who.

All in all a damn fine film - well done to all concerned

=:~)

Hello Chas

I spotted the actor who plays Rose's father in Dr Who as well. That was something else I should have mentioned. The calibre of the supporting cast was top notch, great to see Ben Cross back on our screens.

I must ask Chas what you thought of the make for Hannibals infected eye as I have to admit it was so good I felt physically ill.

Best Wishes

Jude

Oh yeah, the eye. That was...ick! But it got us to the eyepatch, and for that I'll stomach a few seconds of infected eye.

It always amazes me what can be done in the make-up department these days. Icky, yes, but very effective.

And yes, Jude, a superb supporting cast!

=:~)

I've lived with a videographer too long! Yeah, I did the icky thing, but I just went close to the screen and tried to figure out what the make-up people had done!

Chas and I have been known to discuss lighting, make-up and sound to the point where a/ we've stopped enjoying the movie and b/ so has everyone else and we've been thrown out of the theatre ...

Love Dee XX

I guess i wanted to see more of the rampaging elephants. But thats just me.
More carnage please! You could just imagine how freaky it'd be facing a group of angry charging elephants. Memories of Asterix cartoons coming into my head.

I quite liked the fight scenes overall considering the budget situation.

Icky eye? Bloody battle scenes? The weak-gut female side of me is shivering. Another movie I'll have to watch between my fingers. I hope Sid appreciates what I go through for him.

Whilst us blokes were going, "...go on, my son , get in there..." at every blow and "Ooh - good shot!" whenever a particularly tasty item of swordplay found its mark. Oddly, Dee was of similar mein and having previously done battle re-enactment, therefore well versed in the art of giving it the Full Monty to the enemy with a wide variety of sharp, pointy things, she was able to appreciate the battle scenes with a certain professional eye. This charming effect was somewhat countered by her occasional (read: frequent) lapses into feminine mush at any close-up on Sid's eyes.

Decorum prevents me from saying what she was like when himself was flexing his pecs - oy!

=:~)

Okay, now the peck-flexing is definitely a redeeming quality. As is the close-ups. And Chas, that gives a pretty funny visual!