Movies, Movies, Movies!

I read it long long ago, but it was so long ago that I don't remember it. Except that yes, the book was incredibly thick. It was when I was visiting my dad, who lived in Texas at the time. I had little to do, so I picked it up and started reading. In fact he gave it to me to take home, it lasted longer than my trip there did. I was like 15, and he wanted to get my head out of sci-fi books I think.

 

Never read Shogun but man I loved the 70’s?80’s? miniseries as a kid. Quite grim as I recall.

 

I, too, read Shogun many years ago. Like Xoic, I can't remember much of the story, but it was a good read.

 

This clip came out for the upcoming Napoleon movie and whoo this is bad. Even if it's a condensed version of the full scene it's just... stupid. I'm not even saying it needs to be historically accurate or whatever, just something resembling Napoleonic warfare and conveying the grandeur and strategic drama. Sigh. Well at least the uniforms look great.

 

In some ways it's a good thing not to have a specialist's knowledge on a subject when a movie comes out that you would otherwise enjoy. I remember when Black Swan came out I loved it for the psychology, and I contacted a friend who was a ballet student thinking she'd appreciate it, but she absolutely hated it because she could see how bad Natalie Portman was at the ballet.

 

I'm not a Napoleonic specialist by any means, I just know the general outline of the battle, the major events, etc. and this looks nothing like it. And to be fair, these battles are huge and complex events- I would not expect an "accurate" cinematic depiction, especially not when it's crammed into a 3-hour movie about the man's entire life (maybe that's the root problem here actually). Bondarchuk was able to do something approaching that for Waterloo only because he was able to get a couple Soviet divisions to work as extras. But something of the flavor can still be conveyed. Unfortunately people will see this and think, "Napoleon won Austerlitz by luring some Austrians onto an icy lake" which is not even a vague caricature of what happened.

 

My knowledge of Napoleon was essentially zilch, so I dashed around the internet reading some summaries of Austerlitz. The general consensus of the writers was Napoleon exaggerated the holes in the ice incident. My twenty minutes of research combined with a trip to Waterloo thirteen years ago qualifies me as a Napoleanic expert, right? Based on my expertise, I will now trundle off to write a new 1,000 page biography entitled, "The First Napoleon Complex."

 

I’m not very optimistic about that movie. The soundtrack seems like it will be very “sound design.” If they don’t play Eroica I’ll really be disappointed, but they probably won’t. The fact that they even felt the need to contract a composer for this film is very interesting to me. You’re not going to get better music than you already have available from the time.

Sometimes I wish they would shoot in Technicolor again. It’s a question of tone. I doubt the tone will be right. I have a feeling that Napoleon needs to be drawn in certain colors.

 

Not only that, but even by his account it happened at the end of the battle, when the coalition was already in retreat.

This battle also seems to missing another major component... the Russians.

 

Speaking of historical/not necessarily historical/grand epics, does anyone have any recommendations? It would be cool if we could get a couple lists in here.


For me, The Leopard is absolutely incredible.

I watched another Italian Technicolor drama by focusing on the nobility at the time of reunification, Senso, but it really wasn’t as good. I didn’t realize they were by the same director until now. Makes sense.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp isn’t in the same vein since everything was made within living memory, but that’s another expansive, extremely affecting drama, probably my favorite ever.

 

Current geopolitics maybe. Although I don’t know what the moral valence is for the Allies/Napoleon in this movie. It will be interesting to see how much it valorizes Napoleon.

 

Tsar Alexander (played by some pretty boy) along with burning Moscow make an appearance in one of the trailers so I don't think they are trying to write the Russians out. It probably has more to do with simplifying everything.

 

The Hornblower film series are excellent if you have not seen them.

 

I had a copy of the Criterion DVD of The Leopard and it disappeared before I can finish it. Darn.

I think most of the historical grand epics I like are pretty fast-and-loose with the history. Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev for instance.

For more realist films I like Ken Loach's movies on the Spanish and Irish civil wars respectively, Land and Freedom and The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

The Admiral: Roaring Currents is a very enjoyable if occasionally absurd depiction of the Battle of Myeongnyang, arguably the most impressive naval victory in history.

 

it’s true…i wonder why they chose someone so young and with such a jawline.

already this movie has inspired me before i’ve even seen it…i want to make one about the Congress of Vienna starring Timothee Chalamet as Metternich and Ryan Gosling as Talleyrand with a soundtrack featuring Falco and Münchener Freiheit.

 

Wow, I just discovered this amazing little animated short film, and it left me blubbering like a baby. It's been a while since something moved me like that. Bravo, creators. It takes real skill to pack something profound into a few minutes and some cute, silly characters.



Actually, it reminded me of this classic from the early 2000s. I think I cried for like half an hour the first time I watched it, a big, complex mix of joy and sadness that still gets me nearly 20 years later.

 

Wow, that first one is powerful. Really pulls at your... heart STRINGS (get it? ). Oh behave!

It reminds me of this one:


And a little bit of this:

 

Forget the foundering MCU, here's a real-life superhero:

 

Though it might not be quite on par with Napoleon, I saw Five Nights at Freddy's yesterday, lol

 

Rebel Moon on Netflix.

Brooding, reluctant former soldier (female, natch) leads a rag-tag band of misfits against The Power (in this case, The Motherworld, whose officers seem to dress like Nazis, though the main villain wears a white dress shirt and skinny black tie throughout).

Set design - 9 out of 10. GGI - 8 out of 10. Story - well, it's obvious Hollywood has completely run out of original plots, and if we continue to watch this kind of derivative dreck, we deserve it. (How many times are movie makers going to steal the Star Wars bar scene?)

 

Gran Turismo on Netflix.

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