View single post by connyankee
 Posted: Tue Mar 4th, 2008 01:37 pm
PM Quote Reply Full Topic
connyankee
Member


Joined: Sun Sep 4th, 2005
Location: Colchester, Connecticut USA
Posts: 82
Status: 
Offline
Mana: 
 As far as I'm concerned, the only reason to watch G & G and gain anything from it is to make a study of Stonewall and forget about the rest of the movie.  I thought Stephen Lang was supurb in his portrayal of Jackson.  Jackson's biographer, James I. Robertson, served as an advisor for the film on the General and I have to believe that if the portrayal was anything but accurate, he would have had nothing to do with it.  I'm glad I read his book before seeing the movie.  I was waiting for Jackson's litter bearers to drop him on his head after his wounding - not once, but twice.  Lo and behold...

But the movie was based on Sharra's novel - not Jackson's biography, and there lies one of the problems.  As one poster already stated,  we missed out on a lot of Jackson's accomplishments prior to Chancellorsville.  The movie was poorly edited and tried to cover too much ground, even for a long film.  Heck, as a movie-goer, I would have rather seen "Gettysburg" in three parts rather than one long one.  Same here.

One of the problems that will continue to linger in film-making is the extensive use of reenactors.  In the movie biz there are two types of extras:  union actors that belong to the SAG, or some other union and then there are non-union actors that are dreaming of one day becoming a union actor.  Now, I love civil war reenactors.  They are the best at what they do, especially if you are to make a film.  There is no other choice for the part, according to me, but I'm just a movie-goer.

A number of people I know who are not as interested in the civil war era as I am were turned off by G & G for both it's length and the extended amount of time the players spent praying and gazing upwards.  That's Jackson. Couple that with Maxwell, a genial conservative director and you've got a mix that dosen't fit too well in today's Hollywood.  It's no wonder that this film was beat up by the critics before it was even released. I think Maxwell is finished, but that's just an opinion. I think he's an ok guy. My favorite movie is still "Ride With the Devil."  

Regards to all, Connyankee