Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon Awards Part 2


Welcome back for part two of the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon Awards.  Part one is over and done with.  I’ve gone through the awards for the worsts of the marathon, as well as the surprise cast member award and a few other rapid fire awards.  The awards will be continued with the best movies and acting, the most interesting adaptation, and a few other rapid fire awards.  Shall we commence?

First up is the award for Best Actress.  If I had to toss some actresses into the runner up section, they would be Isuzu Yamada for her work in Throne of Blood, Signe Hasso and Shelley Winters for their work in A Double Life, and Larisa Oleynik for her work in 10 Things I Hate About You.  That leaves one person to win the category.  A few minutes ago, I was thinking Yamada had this one, but you know...Julia Stiles just...she’s perfect for her role in 10 Things I Hate About You and there is no beating that.   So Julia Stiles wins it.  Congratulations Julia Stiles and 10 Things I Hate About You.

Quickly, I’m going to go right into the Best Actor for the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon.  This was an interesting category because in one or two movies, the supporting actor was, in my opinion, better than the lead or leads.  If I were to have a runner up from 10 Things I Hate About You, I’d be angry that I didn’t have three.  That is why all three of the following actors get recognition for it: Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and David Krumholtz.  This is a large bunch of runners up since so many people deserve recognition.  Leslie Nielsen in Forbidden Planet, Rick Moranis in Strange Brew, Russ Tamblyn in West Side Story, and River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho all deserve the recognition I am presenting them with right now.  There’s only one actor that can win, however.  That distinction goes to Toshiro Mifune for the role of Washizu in Throne of Blood.  Once again, it’s the best casting I could have imagined for the part.  Without Mifune’s performance, the movie wouldn’t have as much emotion to it as what he brings.  He makes it what it is.  Mifune wins the Best Actor award for the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon.

Before I get into the final two major awards of Most Interesting Adaptation, and Best Movie, I’m going to shoot off some more rapid fire awards.  These are just a few quick awards to help highlight some of the good and bad of the marathon.  Here they are:

Got Into Two Movies award – Andrew Keegan
Biggest WTF Moment – the end of A Midsummer Night’s Rave
Best Non-Male or Non-Female Actor – Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet
Most Earth Traveling in a Movie – My Own Private Idaho
Most Traveling in a Movie – Forbidden Planet
Most Canada Traveling in a Movie – Strange Brew
Most Tripping in a Movie – A Midsummer Night’s Rave
Best Song in a Movie – Heath Ledger singing in 10 Things I Hate About You

That’s enough of that.  It’s time for the award for the Most Interesting Shakespeare Adaptation.  There are three runners up and one winner for this.  Strange Brew is a runner up because it takes the story of Hamlet in an interesting direction, using Bob and Doug Mackenzie as a set up to the story.  It puts comedy into the tragedy.  The next runner up is Forbidden Planet, which turns The Tempest into a science fiction movie.  There’s something about the change that just makes it more appealing.  The final runner up is A Double Life which has a person acting in Othello get so deep into the character that their life becomes that of Othello.  Who wouldn’t find that at least the smallest bit interesting?  The winner was a clear choice for me though.  My Own Private Idaho took elements from three different Shakespeare works, which were a trilogy of plays, and combined them in a modern male prostitution setting.  What made it even more interesting was that we see the story unfold through the eyes of a character that I’m not sure was even in any of the plays that the movie was based on.  The character is like a surrogate for Shakespeare himself.  My Own Private Idaho deservingly wins the award for Most Interesting Shakespeare Adaptation.  Which brings us to our final award.

The final award is an award that few movies receive.  In fact, only three movies have received this honour from me so far in my blogging days.  This is the Award for Best Movie.  More specifically, this is Best Movie in the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon, and this movie will be the only movie to ever win this specific version of this award.  The nominees are...10 Things I Hate About You, Throne of Blood, and My Own Private Idaho.   One of these three films was a rather entertaining teenage romantic comedy of sorts.  The second was a royal military tragedy set in feudal Japan.  The third was about two teenage male prostitutes coming to terms with what they are and what they will become.  Only one of these movies will win the award.  The winner is...

...

...

Throne of Blood.  Congratulations to Throne of Blood for slaying the competition and coming out triumphant, if only for a short time.  There is another marathon going on, you know.

The Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon was filled with much more good than bad.  It was a fun time, and the awards, I hope, represent the movies well.  With the final award given out, there is nothing left to do but say my goodbye.  I’ll see all of you around as I continue to watch movies.

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