Change Your Image
Sivesind
Reviews
John Adams (2008)
Very sensationalist and inaccurate.
I'm so glad I read the book before watching this TV-series, or I would have ended up with a completely incorrect and negative view of the 2nd president, John Adams.
While the book makes no effort to disguise that Mr. Adams was struggling with his temper, the TV-series focuses so much on this problem that entire episodes are nothing but mockery of this man, leaving him without the respect that he is due, and certainly gets in the book.
Also, the TV-series makes the general error all the way through, of portraying all events from a modern viewpoint. This causes two main problems:
1. When faced with pain, many of the old heroes stood up and took the pain, both physical and mental, that came with tough decisions. The book gets this across very clearly, while the TV-series have a tendency to portray the same heroic decisions as coincidences and good luck on behalf of those who made them, especially Mr. Adams, but also Thomas Jefferson. George Washington is the only person treated with dignity.
2. Where the book makes it clear that John Adams and his wife, Abigail were best friends and very much in tune with each other, despite some differences, the TV-series highlights all their differences, and mostly the ones where Abigail ends up being right. Sometimes John is left looking like a baby in a way that portrays Abigail almost as a puppeteer, controlling John and telling him what is the right thing to do.
HBO has put a lot of money into making this series, and a lot of effort into getting many details of clothing and scenery historically accurate. So, it's really unfortunate that the main story does not hold the same quality.
Mirakel (2006)
A deep and moving plot, hidden behind a romantic comedy.
This movie has been presented everywhere as a romantic movie, and a couple in love may go to see this movie, enjoy that part of it and have a good experience. BUT, this movie is much more than that: In many ways, it can be compared to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", just forwarded a couple of hundred years through history, and reversed the genders: Rich woman without soul meets poor man, falls in love, but can't get her beloved before she expands her thinking, discovers her heart and learns to respect his way of life.
In "Mirakel", there's another very important subplot, relating to the worth of man. One of the most important supporting characters in the movie suffers from muscular atrophy. In a very beautiful way, the movie portrays how the people around him struggles to take care of him, but also matures as humans.
In my opinion, this movie is a great work of art!
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Nothing new
Let me start this comment by saying that this is a great movie. Probably in my top 20 all time. However, I was not satisfied when I left the theater. Although a worthy conclusion to the movie, which was very much according to the book, there was very little new to this movie.
Where "Fellowship" had the freshness about it that came from being the first movie, and "Two towers" added a lot in the development of the relationship between Frodo and Gollum, the new Gandalf and the battle at Helmsdeep, most of the scenes in "Return" have been seen before. The stupidity of the orcs are starting to get boring now. The battle, although a great scene, was not that different from the battle at Helmsdeep, and even the beautiful scenery is getting a little bit boring now.
That said, there are still a lot of great parts, especially with the efforts of Frodo. We're discovering new sides of Sam and the scene with the destruction of the Ring is overwhelming. Some of my more enthusiastic friends have said that the only negative they could come up with was that the movie had too many endings. However, I don't agree with this criticism, as this is according to the book, and everything that goes on after the destruction of the ring, are necessary to wrap up and bring a worthy conclusion to the epic. We're talking about about 9 hours of film here!
I can't help but wonder what this movie would have been if the scenes with Saruman had still been included. I'm very much looking forward to the directors cut DVD.
Astérix & Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre (2002)
Good translation
I don't know about the English version of this movie, but the Norwegian translation is the funniest movie I've seen in many years. The characters say so many funny things and make so many weird references to current events that I'm amazed they kept having more options, like the architect who can never say the name of the wizard Miraculix correctly. It becomes things like Malcom(i)X and "utenriks", which is Norwegian for foreign affairs.
Like the word "utenriks", many of the translations does not give any meaning in English, and probably not in French either, so the translators must have made up their own jokes, and done so very well. Of course, they have a very good base to build on, with a film that's simply comical from beginning to end!
Recommended in all languages with a good translation!