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12-02-2003, 10:56 PM
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#1 of 75 
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HBO airs the first installment of ANGELS IN AMERICA this Sunday night.
http://www.hbo.com/films/angelsinamerica
The original plays--which won everything from Tony awards to the Pulitzer Prize--were subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes." In a nutshell, they're about AIDS and politics during the Reagan Eighties.
It's guaranteed to offend, so we should not get into the politics here. But having seen the plays on Broadway, I am looking forward very much to seeing how they transition to the small screen (well, the 65-inch HDTV screen, but hey.  )
Is anyone else going to check this out?
- Steve |
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12-02-2003, 11:31 PM
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#2 of 75
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I'm definitely going to watch. I saw both plays a few years ago and they were extremely powerful. It looks like Nichols has assembled an amazing cast for this.
I've read a few reviews of this (Time, TV Guide, NY Times, Wash. Post) and they have been unanimous in their high praise for this production.
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12-02-2003, 11:42 PM
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#3 of 75
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I thought it was an HBO movie, not a series. I'll definately be watching.
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12-03-2003, 12:34 AM
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#4 of 75
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Michael Reuben
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Quote:
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I thought it was an HBO movie, not a series.
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Nichols has filmed it in two three-hour segments, which mirrors the way the plays were originally presented -- as two separate plays, each lasting over three hours. Part I is subtitled "Millennium Approaches" and ends with something of a cliffhanger; Part II is subtitled "Perestroika" and picks up exactly where Part I left off.
No one can know for sure, but I believe these plays will endure among the canon of great 20th century American plays, right up there with classics by the likes of O'Neill, Williams and Wilder. I read recently that, since they were first performed on Broadway, there hasn't been a time when there wasn't a production of one or both of them going on somewhere in the country.
Kushner adapted his own plays for the screen. I'm eager to see what he and Nichols have done with these works, which are so rich in character and incident that they're almost impossible to summarize.
M.
"Most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time and the right place, they're capable of anything." -- Chinatown
"What kind of movies would there be if everyone in them had to do what we thought they should do?" -- Roger Ebert
HTF Beginner's Primer and FAQ
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12-03-2003, 12:58 AM
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#5 of 75
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I begged and begged but I couldn't manage to get an invitation to a screening of this last night. Some friends of mine who were invited are raving today that the movie does right by the two plays and then some, with praise for all the actors right down the line and shock that these dense, highly theatrical plays have been so well adapted for television.
I know what I'll be doing these next two Sunday nights.
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12-03-2003, 07:33 AM
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#6 of 75
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My wife is desperate to see this series, right since the first teasers for it appeared on HBO many months ago. It better be good or she'll be pissed! 
high resolution ipod featuring dlp hd programming is the best, almost as good as playstation 2 with wega windows media on a super cd! ps2 and tivo do dolby tv with broadband hdtv!
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12-03-2003, 07:55 AM
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#7 of 75
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The first time I saw a teaser, I got chills. I had *no* idea they were making it into a miniseries. Indeed, I thought there would be no way they could *ever* film it--primarily because of the length. A miniseries solves this.
Reading a few of the reviews make me wish it were Sunday night already! I may have to go re-read the plays to make it through the week!
By the way, there will be multiple airings--IMO, the way to see this will be to mirror the 2-play structure, hence my next two Sunday nights are booked (even with the Fab 5 in town one of those nights). But HBO is also showing it in individual hours, and at one point will be showing all six hours on one night. The schedule at the link above has the details.
- Steve
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12-03-2003, 07:59 AM
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#8 of 75
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This takes me back to seeing both plays in New York in one marathon day right after "Perestroika" opened. It was electrifying onstage and, after having seen a different theatre company's production of it 3 years ago, I'm incredibly excited about this mini-series.
The ads, at least, capture the look and feel of Mr. Kushner's words and I was doubly excited when I found out that Jeffrey Wright (reprising his Broadway roles), Emma Thompson and Meryl Streep will be playing multiple roles, as it was in the show. 
Rafael |
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12-03-2003, 09:06 AM
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#9 of 75
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John Co
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I caught a bit of a preview for this and was interested in seeing it. Although I am a little disappointed to read that it's about gays and AIDS, etc. Not that I'm specifically anti-gay or anything like that, just that I thought it was a much more supernatural/theological story about actual angels. You know, sort of like TAKEN, only about Angels insted of Aliens.
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12-03-2003, 09:18 AM
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#10 of 75
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Can someone tell me what this movie is about?
Bring back John Doe! Or at least resolve the cliff-hanger with a 2hr movie or as an extra on a dvd release.
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