Word: legendizing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...poem. The kingdom of old Hrothgar (voiced and modeled by Anthony Hopkins) is troubled by the predatory sorties of Grendel (Crispin Hellion Glover). Accompanied by his "14 brave thanes," Beowulf (Ray Winstone) comes across the sea to slay the monster and, not incidentally, add another laurel to his own legend. He repels a Grendel attack on Mead Hall, severing the beast's arm. Grendel limps back to his lair, where his mother - she has no name, so we'll call her Grendma - watches him die. When Beowulf discovers the lair, Grendma reveals herself in the form of a beautiful seductress...
...Similarly, Beowulf is a flawed hero. His bravery and resourcefulness in battle are unquestioned, but he's a bit too comfortable as his own legend-maker. In an attack by the Frisians, he humiliates one warrior but doesn't kill him; "Give him a gold piece and send him home. He has a story to tell." Before confronting Grendel, he strips himself naked. (Battling in the buff is a major motif this year, in 300 and Eastern Promises.) As Beowulf leaps from one end of the Hall to the other, the movie treats you to more cutesy-poo hide...
...turns to water, even as his resolve melts away at her caress. Ulysses may have resisted the sirens, but Beowulf's self-regard leads him to think he can bed Grendma and then best her. All of which leads to the illuminating observation that even a hero of legend is first and always...
...With gloomy polls haunting him for months, if John Howard can pull off his fifth consecutive election win he will become a Liberal legend. And if Nov. 24 turns out to be Howard's night, here are a few of the ministers he'll have to thank...
...hard to think of an epic more dazzlingly splendid, and strangely forgotten, than The Adventures of Amir Hamza. Although it is some 10 centuries old, the work's first major English translation was published only at the end of last month, finally bringing to the world the legend of the reputed uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. A radiant warrior who saved kingdoms, wooed princesses and journeyed to fantastical realms, Amir Hamza was cherished in the courts of India's Mughal emperors and celebrated in places as far flung as present-day Georgia and Malaysia. But of late, his memory...