[Pugs]

Went to see Russel Crowe's new movie, Master and Commander.
Very authentic. Good battle scenes. It's about an English ship that Crowe commands chasing a French warship. Or are the French chasing them??? That you need to see.
Very good special effects and ocean fighting scenes. I believe the movie was based on a novel. If so I didn't see any holes in the story like you see in other movies made from books.
I liked it.


For what it's worth...


Pugs

 

[HugeFish4]

I heard it sucked and had very little action.

 

[Scully]

not what I heard....

Huge

I know three people who went to see it....they raved about it. They usually are right on the money, with what I like in a movie anyway.

Scul

 

[Bink]

I did not care for the book(I read 4 of them) so most likely won't see the film.

 

[houdini]

Well, where to start. The movie is taken from a British nautical series written by Patrick O'Brian. They aren't easy reading and historically, take place in the Napoleanic era or England's wars with France. Not to many americans seem interested in this sort of thing.
Don't confuse the books with the movie. The special effects are very well done and the story screens very well indeed.
It is period accurate. You might want to check out a review; http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/13/sprj.caf03.review.master/index.html

Me, I'd recommend it. Beats hell out of "The Elf" or some such dreck!

 

[JOHN G]

thank you HOudini, my sentiments exactly.....would always rather see a well made history epic than a movie about grown up elves.....

I haven't seen it yet, but plan to......

for me, visually, it will be eye candy as making those type of sailing ships is a big hobby for me.....\

Scully , by the way, for those that don't know, is a big Civil War buff and very well versed on it!

hey Scul: I am currently reading a book about the Lusitania and it is interesting as all hell......

I love reading these modern "fictionalized non fiction".....

I used to read novels many moons ago, but now I am more interested in real life events that are told in a story-like manner....

I read primarily to just learn more about things in the world that I really don't know much about.....kind of like experiencing them vicariously! LOL.......

 

[JohnnyL]

Great Flick

I saw both M&C and the infamous ELF.

Just as some backround, I am big into history and colonial America (WW2 also) so this movie played right into my genre. Some of my faves are Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, the Patriot (a little hokey), and Last of the Mohicans.

Although M&C is not to par with any of the above listed (if Ryan is a 10 on a 1-20 scale, M&C is about a 6.2) it is still a movie worth seeing on the big screen. The battle sequences and the grandiose cinamtography of the film is of epic porportions... it is a timepiece in the details... little things really highlight the time.

Also, the movie is smart-- in an age of goofy comedies and Tupac resurrection, it is refreshing to see amovie that makes people think and does not focus on wham bang special effects to tell the story-- with computer graphics now the mainstay, some classic films have been degraded to obscurity-- AKA episode I and II and III of "the new" Star Wars... also, Lord of teh Rings is overdone-- trust me, I read the books and the the movies focus too much on the effects and too little on the story.

M&C only has 2 or 3 battle sequences, but they are worth the wait (kind of a metaphor of the chase between the 2 ships)...
it also gives you a good look into the imperial Navy of the early 1800s and the life, death and decisions of the flailing English empire post the revolution.

It is interesting and a thought provoking epic... it is long, but worth seeing in theatres... much like Gladiator and Ryan (my favorite, can you tell) it won't have the same effect at home.

 

[Pugs]

You guys are quite the renaissance men!
I don't read nearly as much as I should. The last book I read was called A Dirty War by Anna Politkovskaia. It's about the Russian/Chechan conflict. I do watch a lot of PBS and it seems the older I get the less inclined I want to watch the "Elfs" of the world. Don't get me wrong I have a five year old and really enjoy some of the children's movies. It's just that for my time I'd rather watch something else.
As a kid my father made me sit and watch, "The World At War" with him on channel 9. I hated it then but now I thank him for it.
Imagine that...

 

[houdini]

"Renaissance men"???? No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. You must realize that with all the bass fishermen out there the odds are that some can read.
Things worth knowing are worth some effort. And if one were to attempt to get along with, for example, TV news and movies, we'd be right there along side the balance of the population.