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Anyone have any info on this film? I just heard about it the other day. Looks great. A prequel to "Gettysburg," it covers the first 2 and a half years of the American Civil War.
Robert Duvall plays General Lee, and Stephen Lang plays Stonewall Jackson.
Looks like the film clocks in at close to four hours. I'm sure they won't be able to give many of the stories proper justice, but it's nice to see another big Civil War movie come out.
Thoughts?
Haven't read the book, but I hope the background material is a little better balanced than the material used for "Gettysburg".
The book "Killer Angels" (basis for "Gettysburg") did a great job of using and balancing various sources for the Union side of the battle, but unfortunately only relied on Longstreet's memoirs for the Confederate side -- and considering Longstreet was doing his best in his memoirs to prove that nothing that happened in the battle was his fault, it led to a very skewwed perspective regarding a host of characters in the Confederate army.
OTOH, the movie looked brilliant and my brother loved being one of the hordes of extras in blue in it :)
Four hour film -- hope there is a restroom break in the middle... :rolleyes:
IIRC, the theatrical release of Gettysburg had an intermission; perhaps G&G will as well. I'll let you know Sunday after I've seen it. :)Quote:
Originally posted by Ramage
Four hour film -- hope there is a restroom break in the middle... :rolleyes:
Just a quick note Ramage, being a Renactor myself I am sure in saying that you better never call your brother an "extra" to his face, reenactors get a bit touchy about that. :)
I thought Gettysburg was a phenomenal movie & after reading some interviews with Ron Maxwell concerning what he wanted to do with this film I'm rather excited to see it. Finally, a historical movie not tryng to rewrite history for its own shallow ideological ends.
LOL! Quite true.Quote:
Originally posted by Eric R.
Just a quick note Ramage, being a Renactor myself I am sure in saying that you better never call your brother an "extra" to his face, reenactors get a bit touchy about that. :)
He was a Quartermaster Sergeant and I had better damn well remember that... ;)
On another note Maxwell hjas said that the DVD version will be over six hours long. His point is that there are in fact two Movies one made for the Theater and the other for the DVD he is the first director I know of who has publicly stated this before the movie came out. From my understanding the valley campiagn and the Seven Days are largely looked over in the theatrical version but will be the main part added to the DVD.
If this is accurate, that would be fantastic. Jackson's Valley Campaign is one of the most interesting aspects of the war for me. It helps that I live a hop, skip, and jump from the Valley. :) It would be nice to see it on film if they can get remotely close to accurate.Quote:
Originally posted by Eric R.
From my understanding the valley campiagn and the Seven Days are largely looked over in the theatrical version but will be the main part added to the DVD.
Oh yes the Valley that strange piece of Real Estate where the Blue laws still rule. I remember being at an event for New Market one itme and we all left to fine somthing to eat, now mind you this was at eight in the evening and we could not fine anything open on a Friday night eventually we finally got lucky at a Pizza place which was Cleaning and closing up and agreed to fix us some pizza as long as they got paid in chash. There after they were feeding a small army as other reenctorr on the same mission found there way to this small Pizza joint out in the boonies.
Well, in spite of the generally negative reviews of this film, I'm still going to check it out. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the press it's getting indicates.
And I just heard that there will be a third movie coming out eventually, taking place after "Gettysburg," called "The Last Full Measure."
Very interesting.
Well I have read some of the Reviews which range from poor to mediocure. Most have some legigatmate compliants which I have feared from the start: poor editing, to long, etc al of which I will see for myself.
However alot and I do mean alot review it from the eyes of poor Historical understanding of both the era and events. One actually said that it made the Union Generals "bubbling and inept while the Southern generals are brillant and masterfull" I remaind you that was a compliant! I'm sure with good dialoge and Kevin Costner playing Burnside it could have come across as a brillient but misunderstood Union General :rolleyes: They have no understanding of 19th Century speech patterns and dialoge and there fore critise it. Further alot of the reviewers can not get pass the S word if you now what I mean, I guess giving depth to the Confederacy and her citizens and presenting the more complex situation which faced them is just not Politically Correct these days. Fat Ebert even said "Its a film Trent Lott would love" which exposes his own political Bias and bent.
Whats funny is that ten years ago these guys were canning Gettyesburg and now see it as a "masterpiece". I was afread that this response from a largely liberal review establishment was going to be the result and I have not been disappointed.:mad:
And PS I am glad I am a Sci Fi fan it gives be a harded skin to deal with these friged Idiots.:D
Just saw it this afternoon good and enjoyable, actually saw a lot of people I knew as Reenactors. Steven Lang played a real good Jackson. In the end I have to say that it was a bit too long for a theater movie should have been arond 3 hours, but it was too short for a TV minseries if that makes any sense. Fredericksburg was Fantastic Though not seeing Jacksons portion of the battle a little disappointing. The Commander, I mean Longstreet was underused so the B5 fans will be a little disappointed but I assume he will be seen much more in the extended version due out on DVD and in Last Full Measure.
Just returned from "Gods and Generals"... What an absolutely fantastic movie, brilliant from beginning to end. Lang as Stonewall Jackson is dead on.
Unfortunately, most of the reviews I have read of this film show a serious liberal-bias against the film. Ebert said "it's a Civil War movie only Tren Lott could love." The Houston Chronicle stated that "only warmongers and rigt-wing Christian Conservatives will enjoy this movie."
Very few of the reviews I have read actually criticize the film making itself, but criticize the politics of the film. Unfortunately, most of the reviews I have read demonstrate these people don't know anything about the War Between the States (or Civil War for those inclined) beyond what they were probably spoon fed in public school, or from catching 1 or 2 episodes of "Ken Burns' Civil War." Consequently, most of these "historically inept" idiots don't understand the vast numbers of political reasons for the war...Sorry, it wasn't just Slave Holders vs. Abolishonists, and if you go into this film with that mentality, then yes, you are going to hate it.
Now, is the film perfect... No, it does have some editing problems, which I highly suspect were the result of editing a 6 hour film to under 4 hours... but this is by far the best Civil War film I have seen to date... And besides Gettysburg, is the only Civil War film that actually attempts to accurately portray the events of the time rather than grind some political axe.
Yancy
Quote:
Originally posted by The Transformed Man
Unfortunately, most of the reviews I have read of this film show a serious liberal-bias against the film. Ebert said "it's a Civil War movie only Tren Lott could love." The Houston Chronicle stated that "only warmongers and rigt-wing Christian Conservatives will enjoy this movie."
Very few of the reviews I have read actually criticize the film making itself, but criticize the politics of the film.
Yup...the criticism of the movie is from the same bunch of revisionist yahoos who only want to tear down American history. It was a great flick, that made a real attempt to capture the flavor of the period, and be historically accurate.
We need more movies like this. Ebert can stick his opinion in his fat [deleted].