arabian nights

[tipou]

******* spoiler alert ********* spoiler alert ***********

i am through the 1st hour - ali baba/rufus hour, and this is hoot!

i always liked jim henson's world, but this is too much. the whole production looks very serious and polished and everything, but one line out of three is a ROTFL joke, or at the very least a cheeky or clever comment.

(example: a hunchback jester is called Bacpac, and, indeed, he is carried around quite a bit.)

i love it, i love it, i love it.

the costumes, the sets, the music, every sight and sound is a delight. i never expected so much fun from this, i had thought i had just bought another rufus pics source. i got much for my money, believe me.

the cast is totally mind boggling. ALAN BATES!!! i had not seen him in years. TCHEKY KARYO!!! one of my fave french actors of all times. JAMES FRAIN!!! i love him. plus dougray scott yum yum, and the irresistible john leguizamo which i have not seen yet, can't wait. mili avital is just right for sheherazade, beautiful, and a brainy babe too. even andy serkis has a small role as ali's brother. amira casar, i did not know her, but she was very good as ali's servant.

we all know the story: in order to survive her wedding night, sheherazade has to weave the most outrageous tales to charm her husband the sultan, going crazy from lack of sleep after his tragic previous marital adventures.

so enters ali baba, and i quite remember they presented him as a resourceful and bright young man when the story was first known to me. only here, as rufus himself said, he is not the sharpest note in the symphony. even his camel is more intelligent than he is.

which is a very clever twist of the whole tale. sheherazade needs to prove herself useful, so she brings in a pretty, very loyal, and quite brilliant female servant to ali. he was lucky enough to find the awful Black Coda's cave with its treasures, but morgiana might prove to be his most precious find after all.

and so sheherazade survives yet another night.

i can't wait to see the remaining 2 hours. they probably are sadly rufus-free, but since dougray scott is playing the sultan, ther is still much eye candy to watch, and the screenplay is so much fun i will probably be smiling for the rest of the evening, which can'T be a bad thing.

oh, and rufus is throughly gorgeous and adorable, evidently he had a blast playing the adorable simpleton. if you watch it, pay attention to the sequence where morgiana dances for him... he left me quite dreamy...

i may be back for more comments after i see the rest.

[peach]

Bless you, I couldn't sit through this, it was on cable but there wasn't enuf Ruf in it for me unless I caught it towards the end.

[tipou]

oh, please, have a second look! its amazingly entertaining, with or without rufus! its one of my good surprises of the year so far.
i cant finish it tonite, since i have to sleep at some point! but i'll probably wrap it up after house md tomorrow. cant wait!

[catdishy]

Its one I've never seen but obviously it sent you over the top, tipou, so I think I'll get me a copy somehow.

[rueful]

I saw it in a sneaky fashion on the internet, and my connection was poor, so I couldn't see the whole miniseries--I did see all of Rufus's part (of course--I wasn't going to give up on that one) as well as all of the "Bacpac" one and the one about the 3 brothers. I saw a lot of the Sheherezade segments as well. It was tons of fun, and I think I would have been entertained by the whole thing.

The whole Rufus segment was in one storyline, so if you see the whole Ali Baba story, you've seen all his scenes. His Ali Baba was a bit of a dreamer, but very sweet (an Arabian Ross) and in the end not stupid or cowardly, as he knew just how to deal with the thieves. And I've probably mentioned once or a million times that the facial hair just does it for me, so I think he is utterly beautiful in this show.

Proof:





and many others www.roofsewell.com/AN.htm

[tipou]

Feb 16, 2009 15:08:00 GMT rueful said:

I It was tons of fun, and I think I would have been entertained by the whole thing.

His Ali Baba was a bit of a dreamer, but very sweet (an Arabian Ross) and in the end not stupid or cowardly, as he knew just how to deal with the thieves. And I've probably mentioned once or a million times that the facial hair just does it for me, so I think he is utterly beautiful in this show.

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an arabian ross! funny, but i liked ali better than ross. much more fun. and he looked niiiiiiiiiiiiice indeed. i liked the bit where he took a big tough voice to trick the hidden thieves, he was so funny in this scene.

this whole project is great, totally entertaining. rufus being in it is a bonus.

[rueful]

I agree, Ali is more appealing to me than Ross, even though I love Uncorked and Ross, very very very much. But I can't decide if that's because of character traits or just the beard, because, to quote a wise woman,

he looked niiiiiiiiiiiiice indeed

[lizap]

Thanks for the fun review, tipou! I still have a few more Rufus DVDs to buy, and I will definitely put this one on my list.

[tipou]

ok now i watched the whole thing, and i confirm: **recommended buy**.

john leguizamo: another underrated actor, if you ask me. his genie in the bottle is a total comedic masterpiece.

the whole project is a miracle in this day and age when mediocrity too often creeps in, one way or the other. there are so many genius ideas in this 3 hours, so many witty lines, so many astounding special effects, so many splendid images, so many perfect performances, that it leaves me truely floored.

and it has rufus too! i watched his ali baba scenes once more. in two words: ***eye candy***. hey, he's good to, so what's to complain about?

i wish this would had been made for movie theaters. this is the kind of stuff that made me love cinema in the first place.

[GreenEyesToo]

Photo #2 above.......

Thudalicious, as Uke would say!

[tipou]

GE2, i'm telling you, during this whole sequence, my heart was going boom boom booom. the way he looks at this girl dancing... someone find me a window to open.

[rueful]

Bless whatever brilliant costumer chose that shade of green to frame his eyes. I hope she/he won an award.

[tipou]

the whole movie is full of details like this.
it just could not be more beautiful.
i'm telling you, its a pure delight.

[Famke]

Ooohhhh Tipou, You have me so excited for this one!

Rufus + Facial Hair = YES YES YES

I must find this!

Oh here is a bit about it with yummy Roof pics:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/729714.stm

[nycfan]

Feb 16, 2009 15:08:00 GMT rueful said:

I saw it in a sneaky fashion on the internet, and my connection was poor, so I couldn't see the whole miniseries--I did see all of Rufus's part (of course--I wasn't going to give up on that one) as well as all of the "Bacpac" one and the one about the 3 brothers. I saw a lot of the Sheherezade segments as well. It was tons of fun, and I think I would have been entertained by the whole thing.

The whole Rufus segment was in one storyline, so if you see the whole Ali Baba story, you've seen all his scenes. His Ali Baba was a bit of a dreamer, but very sweet (an Arabian Ross) and in the end not stupid or cowardly, as he knew just how to deal with the thieves. And I've probably mentioned once or a million times that the facial hair just does it for me, so I think he is utterly beautiful in this show.

Proof:





and many others www.roofsewell.com/AN.htm

Let's not ignore that scrumptious peek of chest hair!!!