Word: stiltedness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
The images are only too familiar. The men stare straight ahead, their eyes glazed and puffy, their bodies rigid, unmoving. Their faces, lined with fatigue, show strain and distrust and are discolored by cuts and bruises. "How have you been shot down?" drills a harsh, disembodied voice. "What do you...
Stillman approaches his film with a suitable sense of whimsy; he uses silent film placards to establish the time and place of scenes. "December 25," one reads, "Traditional Christmas celebrated." The stilted editing of the scenes is also reminiscent of a time before talkies. These techniques only heighten the charming...
Portnoff's portrayal of Ligurio in particular suffers from a lack of poison, and the result is a stultifyingly bland performance. His Ligurio is unduly stilted. Portnoff, along with another performer who speaks of "black-guards", mispronounces words and stumbles over his lines on more than a few occasions.
As Stephen Sondheim discovered in his musical Into the Woods, updating a fairy tale presents some prickly challenges. The old-fashioned and sometimes painfully stilted language must be made contemporary and relevant. At the same time, a writer should remain faithful to that sense of enchantment and wonder which underscores...
The king's daughter, Imogen, played by Lyn Wright, has a similarly meager repertoire of gestures. Furthermore, her flat delivery and stilted English accent can only irritate. When Imogen urges her servant, Pisanio, to "plunge thy dagger into the mansion of my love, my heart," the viewer is sorely tempted...