Wyrd Sisters

tags: Discworld series, fantasy, humor, parody, Terry Prachett

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

Three witches gathered on a lonely heath.

A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the royal crown, both missing.

Witches don't have these kinds of leadership problems themselves - in fact, they don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax is the most highly regarded of the leaders they don't have. But even she finds that meddling in royal politics is a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe. Particularly when the blood on your hands just won't wash off . . .

Wyrd Sisters is the second book in the Witches series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

Wyrd Sisters is one of the 41 books in Discworld written by Terry Pratchett. It is a parody of Shakespeare's works specially Macbeth and Hamlet and King Lear's Fool. Here, the Fool is a major character. There are several references to other works like Romeo and Juliet, etc.. The travelling theatrical group's playwright is a dwarf named Hwel (William?) and just like Shakespeare is drawn to ghosts, witches, and death themed plays. 

I like the humor throughout maybe because I already like Pratchett's witty fantasies and satires. There is an animated series based on the book which you can watch on YouTube. I haven't watched the entire video but it looks true to the book.

Coriolanus

tags: drama, revenge, Shakespeare adaptation
goose egg

• The citizens of Rome are hungry. Coriolanus, the hero of Rome, a great soldier and a man of inflexible self-belief despises the people. His extreme views ignite a mass riot. Rome is bloody. Manipulated and out-maneuvered by politicians and even his own mother Volumnia, Coriolanus is banished from Rome. He offers his life or his services to his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius.
  - Written by Icon Entertainment

Shakespeare gone Occupy Wall Street. That's not the reason I think the movie belongs to the UGLY category. Modern setting of a Shakespeare play is usually fine with me, but this one definitely is not. The setting and the script adapted to Shakespearean language don't work together and I suspect even the best stage and film actors will not be able to perform well. 

Both RafeRafe (Coriolanus) and Gerry (Aufidius) are awful here. Ralph out-overacted every hammy veteran as well as newbie stage actor in any Shakespearean movie I have ever watched. It's funny and at the same time irritating when he delivers reeeaaally long lines during battle. The enemy would have killed him and his men while he is busy emoting out there. Gerald Butler has this confused facial expression while sounding like he's reading his lines, complete with thick Scottish accent. Such a bad actor. Early in the movie, the two enemies meet and Ralph, the director, decided they should put down their weapons for a hand to hand combat. Big mistake. The fight was laughable because they obviously were not trained properly. They look like ageing fake wrestlers. Utterly pathetic. With their budget, the producers should have at least hired a professional to teach them how to fight or added CGI so as not to make them look lame.

Not recommended.