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Klondike (2014)
KLONDIKE: a few Promising Nuggets, but no Mother Lode of Gold Here! :(
Discovery climbs aboard the premium drama train with "Klondike", its first scripted miniseries - about hunting for gold in the Yukon - and delivers some promising nuggets, but not the mother lode. I don't recommend intentionally skipping this one, but manage your expectations and accept the need to suspend some disbelief and tolerate historical inaccuracies in pursuit of the bright & shiny parts!
The series is based on the true tales of some of the men and women who were caught up in the Dawson City gold rush of the late 1890s, culled from Canadian historian Charlotte Gray's 2010 book "Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike".
Richard Madden, who played Robb Stark (RIP, King of the North!!!) in "Game of Thrones," stars as Bill Haskell, an adventure-seeking college graduate who, with his pal Byron Epstein (Augustus Prew), goes west to see what entrepreneurial fortunes await. During a chance encounter in Denver, a stranger in a bar pays their tab with a fat gold nugget, and that's all it takes: The young men buy into the hype and head for the far, far northwest.
"Klondike" is not going to win awards for its lackluster screenplay and penchant for melodrama, but it does have some of the plucky energy you'd enjoy at one of those faux-saloon dinner theaters, where the gradations between good and bad hardly exist. It comes across almost like a musical without any songs, and before long, you're swept up in its crisp visuals and steady pace.
You can't really tell a story of the Yukon gold rush without portraying the inordinate amount of suffering that went on. "Klondike" starts out strong in aiming for an accurate 19th-century period report but gradually lapses in detail. As bad as life gets, the characters still look a little cleaner and healthier than the old photographs depict — the winters are harsh but not harsh enough; the starvation is too painless; the teeth are too pearly white...
Still, it's a strong cast delivering an honest effort. "Klondike" has a solid spirit and a moral underpinning, which contrasts sharply with Discovery's increasingly-desperate prospectors of the 21st century as portrayed in its hit reality shows "Gold Rush" and "Bering Sea Gold"...
Klondike's six hours might not be well worth your viewing commitment, however. After rewatching segments, I feel like this entire mini-epic production could've been repackaged much more effectively into a stand- alone 2.5hrs (max).
Lone Survivor (2013)
#1 reason NOT to waste $$$ on "Lone Survivor" theater ticket (+8 reasons it should NEVER have been made)
Summary: I convey 8 reasons why this movie should never have been made, and highlight the #1 reason why you shouldn't waste your money seeing "Lone Survivor" in the theater:
Reason +1: It's Not Worth the Price of Admission
Quite simply, having been based on a factually dubious "memoir" that has more in common with fiction than any genuine biography, "Lone Survivor" movie fails to deliver significant value in exchange for the cost of admission. This film should be avoided until it's available on DVD for a fraction of the cost.
Eight reasons why "Lone Survivor" should not have been made into a movie, based on violence dot com:
Reason 1: Luttrell got his facts wrong.
Marcus Luttrell exaggerated the importance of his target Ahmad Shah, totally misunderstood why the US went to Iraq & Afghanistan, and even over-estimated the number of fighters in the ambush. How can you take seriously a movie based on a fictionalized war memoir after reading mistakes like these?
Reason 2: The backlash could be gigantic.
Remember the backlash from Soldiers against the Hurt Locker? Lone Survivor will get a full blown tidal wave, and from more than just the mil-bloggers. Liberals will think it is too ideological, and Soldiers will think it is too over-the-top. Based on what some people wrote in our comment threads, even SEALs laugh at Luttrell.
Reason 3: Lone Survivor is too political.
The character of Luttrell is nauseatingly partisan & political, when war stories (in print or celluloid) shouldn't be political, they should be honest. "Black Hawk Down" worked because it ignored politics. It told the story of Army Rangers in an awful situation, but it told it forthrightly. Lone Survivor doesn't come close to this level of honesty, and unfortunately this movie mirrors the SAME DISHONESTY that characterized Luttrell's horrible book.
Reason 4: There were better stories.
The battle of VPB Wanat. The attack at COP Keating. Operation ROCK Avalanche. The Pat Tillman Ambush/Incident. Peter Berg could have told countless stories w/ more honesty and importance than Lone Survivor, without the political rants or exaggeration.
Reason 5: Lone Survivor will get soldiers killed if they follow its implicit advice.
Simply put, Luttrell doesn't get counterinsurgency. If Soldiers followed Luttrell's advice, they would either get themselves or innocent civilians killed in Afghanistan (or anywhere, really)
Reason 6: Luttrell needlessly vilifies Muslims and Afghans.
Luttrell (the "author" and the character) labels all Muslims--Shia, Sunni, Persians, Afghans, and Middle-Easterners--as hate-filled terrorists. This is ignorance at its best. First, not even 1% of Muslims are terrorists, and two, terrorists can be from Africa, Japan, Pakistan, or even America (think Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber or Eric Robert Rudolph). Only lust for money could lead a director or a studio to validate and promote Luttrell's hate- filled propaganda.
Reason 7: "Lone Survivor" the Movie corrupts and impedes political discourse - you won't "learn" anything from it (Except how to die)
You can't call liberals evil, hold them responsible for the death of your friends, like Luttrell terrible book, and then have a courteous political discourse. Afghanistan shouldn't be a Democratic issue or Republican issue, it should be an American issue. Letting partisan politics get in the way of serious security issues is disgusting (but apparently the American way).
Reason 8: It will ruin the history of Afghanistan for years.
Many Vietnam veterans don't like Vietnam war movies because the twisted reality they promote is often how most Americans who see them remember Vietnam. Many active service members hated "The Hurt Locker" because it misrepresented the experience of War in Iraq. Lone Survivor movie does the exact same for Afghanistan. And Hollywood makes the same mistake again.