Cold Mountain (10/10)
Wow. I didn’t expect this movie to be as great as it was. I was really taken back by this movie. Terrific, epic love story - plain and simple. Very Odyssey-ish. The funny part about it though, is that Nicole Kidman wasn’t all that great - Jude Law, Renee Zellweger, and a bunch others had better performances. And some of the dialogue from Law’s character (who didn’t speak much) was very touching.
There aren’t many movies that make me want to watch them again immediately after the ending, but this one did. And as far as the depiction of the Civil War: I’m not sure how accurate it was, but I never gave a thought about how scary it must have been for people at home during that time. You had no men to protect you and the ones that were supposed to exploited their power. The villain in the movie, played by Ray Winstone, was cast perfectly. I really hated that guy. And his accomplice too, he was so weird looking and I hated him too.
Some of the shots in the movie were excellent as well, especially the landscape shots with Law as he makes his trek back home. I highly recommend this movie. Even though it’s about 2.5 hours, you won’t notice.
Add comment July 10th, 2004
It took us two nights to watch Master and Commander because we both fell asleep the first night. Granted, we were both tired from being up late the night before, but that is the problem I had with this movie. It was incredibly slow and boring in the first 3 quarters of the movie, with the exception of a battle sequence 15 minutes into it. The whole film builds up to a final battle sequence and I think the boredom was worth it. I was really nervous to see how it panned out, and I don’t usually fall for that. There’s also some really good character development and not just for the main characters, but also for supporting ones. I was a little suprised at the point in the story where they stop in the Galapagos islands, but it made sense later.
I took off work early to see this yesterday before the big evening rush, and I can honestly say I’m glad I did. Spider-Man 2 is a terrific comic book movie, but not Oscar worthy by any stretch of the imagination. It was definitely dragging in the middle, but I think it had to be done to develop Macguire’s character. The action sequences were, of course, spectacular and I would see the movie again just for that. Maybe it’s just me, but I just loved the chemistry between Dunst and Macquire - and it really made me want to see them together. It also had and ending that I think everyone was hoping for.