I’ve really been a movie slut lately haven’t I? One might be tempted to think that’s all I ever do.
One would not be far off the mark.
Saw Cold Mountain this week. Back when the book came out my mother borrowed the audio version to listen to on a trip out to Indiana. I think we got through maybe half of the first chapter before popping the tape out. Probably the most boring thing ever written and compounding the problem was the writing style: always indirect, third person, uninvolved.
Fortunately the flick didn’t suffer from the same failings. The Home Guard was sufficiently malevolent, the War was sufficiently horrid, the characters were sufficiently believeable. In fact, the only bothersome thing about the whole flick was Nicole Kidman. She just didn’t blend – but then again, she probably wasn’t supposed to.
Naturally, given my extra-curricular interests I paid particularly close attention to the costuming and the staging of the battle scenes. Looked at in those terms it was probably the most correct Civil War period film ever made. Filmmakers still have problems getting the overall look just right (particularly the hats) but at least they’ve finally settled on spending the dough for the righteous kit made by knowledgeable folks. It makes a big difference.
Finally, I’ve got to bow to general consensus and admit Jude Law is one hell of a good looking dude. I’m more and more delighted with his acting as well. If he keeps picking good roles and keeps from falling into sinkholes like Enemy at the Gates and A.I. he might rank up there with Johnny Depp one day. Oh yeah, Jack White scares me. What a freaky looking cat.