Cold Mountain
9 July 2004, early afternoon
Cold Mountain was a movie I had absolutely no desire to see. When the commercials were running on television many months ago I thought it looked like an unimpressive civil war film. Even when it started getting all sorts of accolades it never struck me as a film I’d want to watch. Steph rented the film yesterday, and her and Raylene watched it with Gary, Shima and I. I would have to say I am glad I got a chance to see it. The film is quite deserving of all the praise it has received. Cold Mountain reminded me a bit of the Odyssey by Homer. Jude Law’s character is fighting in the civil war, but decides to desert to return to Nicole Kidman’s character. The acting is superb, as is the general look of the film. The cinematography is great. The movie is a pleasure to watch.
Okay, of course I have to comment on this. :-)
Cold Mountain made me expect something that never came. Frankly, I think the marketing campaign really sold me. When it was out, they pimped it EVERYwhere. So, being human, I thought, “Well, heck. It MUST be good. Besides, how can you go wrong with Kidman and Law?!”
Well, honestly, it seemed like it could have been about 40 minutes shorter. I think it lost some of its power with the lack of editing.
But, then… I know others who completely loved it. So, what do I know?
by Tim on July 9 2004, 4:33 pm #
Too much hype can ruin the best of movies. I would agree this film was a bit on the long side, though I don’t know what I would have cut from it. I don’t know if I noticed the length since we must have paused midway through 3 or 4 times so people could go to the bathroom. (Everyone seemed to have drunk too much bubble tea before watching the film.)
by ramanan on July 9 2004, 9:34 pm #
Maybe you’re right. I’m sitting here, thinking about it and can’t quite remember any parts that were “long-ish” and could stand editing.
I think, for me, it was just one “not-quite-dramatic-enough” part after another that seemed to make the movie take forever (the war scenes were the exception for me).
But, then, I saw it in the theater. So, no pauses for bathroom breaks. :)
On another movie note, I forced myself to stay in last night and watch a REALLY great movie: “Before Sunrise” with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It was all in preparation for what is about to happen in 2 hours… I’m going to see the long-awaited (by me, at least) “Before Sunset.”
WooHOO!
by Tim on July 10 2004, 4:58 pm #