Celluloid Heroes

It’s over.

The white flag has flown. The tattered remnants of the Red army have laid down their arms. The bitter conflict that has divided the land is now decided. It is time for the period of reconciliation to begin.

Today, February 19, 2008, the final nails were driven into the coffin of HD DVD. Toshiba, the driving force behind the format, announced that they were ceasing development of new players and technology. Universal Studios, the most stalwart of the format’s supporters, announced that it would start releasing movies on Blu-ray. The dominos that started to fall on January 4th, when Warner Brothers announced their plans to go Blu-ray exclusive, are all now down.

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What would you have me do? Hang half the people in England, or just imprison them?

Some movies are made to entertain us, others to inform, titillate or provoke. This one seems to have been made expressly for the purpose of winning the Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. It certainly wasn’t produced to give us a rigorously authentic account of Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) at the time of the Spanish Armada or a deeply insightful examination of England’s Virgin Queen as a human being. While 1998’s Elizabeth was fairly sober-sided historical drama, director Shekhar Kapur has this time offered up As Ye Olde World Turns.

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