Archive for March, 2008
{ March 31, 2008 @ 10:15 pm }
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{ TV Shows }
{ Tags: John Adams, Paul Giamatti }
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In the fourth part of the series, we see John Adams finally succeeds in getting money for the fledgling government of the U.S. but only after the major fighting in the U.S. is done. Where upon he is recalled to France, to meet with Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson whom is to replace Franklin as ambassador to France. Unable to go home, Adams does the next best thing in sending for his wife, and has her arrange schooling for their children. She arrives to a splendor she is not used to, and quickly makes friends with Thomas Jefferson. Congress then appoints Adams as ambassador to Great Britain, and it is shortly after this that we find out how different Adams and Jefferson’s views on politics are. Adams spends the next several months campaigning tirelessly to not only get the British government to honor there peace treaty, but to get the British people to recognize it as well. Eventually Abigail and John Adams tire of Britain and petition congress to have Mr. Adams recalled. Mr. Adams is recalled from Britain and allowed to go home to his family. Before long the question of what happens next in his political career pops up, and Abagail insists he run for nothing less then Vice President of the United States. The episode comes to an end with the swearing in of the President George Washington, with his Vice president John Adams by his side. Overall I’d give this episode an 8 out of 10. It was well acted, and was certainly interesting enough. It has it’s slight points of down time when they go to Britain it is hard not to do some tuning out. But all in all a very good episode.
{ March 30, 2008 @ 6:24 pm }
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A dark comedy about a family whose father has passed away, and his family comes to morn his passing. A very british comedy that wacky hijinks include a future fiance talking drugs by accident, a threat to blackmail the family to unleash sordid details of a love affair with pictures to prove it. The accidental drugging of the blackmailer. Plus sordid other details that only really seem to come out during a funeral of this magnitude. With strong Perfomance’s by the entire cast it’s hard to go wrong watching a silly movie of this nature. I would give it an 8 out of 10, there are some parts that don’t work out quite as well as they could. But all in all a very good movie.
{ March 29, 2008 @ 7:51 pm }
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{ TV Shows }
{ Tags: John Adams, Paul Giamatti }
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The third episode of John Adams isn’t as interesting as the first two episodes for me. Congress has decided to send John Adams to France in an effort to get them to enter into an alliance with the young United Stated of America. Already in France is one Benjamin Franklin, who upon John Adams arrival tells him that the French government has already agreed to help the U.S. but John Adams decides that not enough is being done by the French government. He proceeds to attempt to do things his way despite Benjamin Franklin’s advice that his way won’t get anything done . John Adams eventual insults the French court, and congress decides to send him to Holland in an effort to raise money during the revolutionary war against Britain. The climate did not agree well with John Adams and before long in Holland fell sick. The episode ends with Abigail Adams reading a letter to her children that Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown. Overall i’d give this episode a 7 out of 10. It has it’s moments, but fails to utilize them in an interesting fashion, or to look into them in any way.
{ March 28, 2008 @ 10:48 pm }
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If dark comedy’s about people with principles your kinda thing then you may want to head out and catch In Bruges while you still can or maybe just wait for the DVD which hopeful will have a commentary track. But back to the movie at hand. In Bruge is a movie about a hit gone awry. Starring Colin Farrel as Ray whom manages screws up his very first hit job. Ray is pulled away from the mess by Ken(Brendan Gleason), whom contact’s there Boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) who orders them to go to Bruge until the heat is off. Bruge which is in Belgium is not to Ray’s liking as he being a hyper can’t pay attention to anything that is action oriented kinda guy. The movie has it’s laughs but doesn’t really pick up until we find out that the hit which went wrong and results in an untimely death of an innocent person. Is weighing heavily on ray’s mind. The movie picks up and manages to run to the finish line after that. Though as fair warning the last 10 maybe 15 minutes of the movie are some of darkest in terms of black comedy’s. I would give this movie an 8 out of 10, as Colin Farrel proves that he is indeed a good actor and needs to stay away from big budget movies. The only down side to the movie is how dark it can get towards the end, it is to say the least quite a shock to the system.
{ March 28, 2008 @ 6:46 pm }
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The second part of the seven part HBO mini-series John Adams, is for me anyway slightly more interesting then the previous episode. It opens with the continental congress, and it shows how even despite the young age of congress it still was fairly inept at it’s job. The episode also shows that John Adams was not a patient man by any means, and that when he felt the time for action had come he wanted to act as quickly as possible. This episode also introduces us to the interesting and enigmatic Benjamin Franklin played wonderfully by Tom Wilkinson. Who helps to shape John Adams and his political career in front of congress. This episode also introduces a representative of Virginia Colonel George Washington. Who becomes a general after John Adams does his best to try and win Virginia over to the side of independence. The episode comes to an end with congress reading their declaration of independence for England. All and all I’d give this episode a 9 out 10. It’s acting top notch from Paul Giamatti, to the understated Stephen Dillane as Thoman Jefferson. With High marks for acting going to Tom Wilkinson and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, plus the underrated and ever flexible David Morse who usually plays villians and manages to do a wonderful George Washington.
{ March 25, 2008 @ 7:13 pm }
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{ TV Shows }
{ Tags: John Adams }
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HBO tends to have a lot of good to great shows. All of them tending to be of a high quality. They’ve managed to do so again with the Mini-series John Adams. The first three episodes so far have covered the revolutionary war and some of the events that helped lead up to the declaration of independence, and the events that surrounded Mr. John Adams and his ideas. Though the mini-series does not show his rise in law and his fight against British oppression at first. The series in fact starts with the Boston massacre and the events that followed John Adams. The mini-series of course has taken some artistic license and does so for good reason. As following every second of his life would make an incredible boring television show.
Episode One: Join or Die
John Adams fight to save the lives of the British Soldiers lives after the Boston Massacare. Later he struggles with conflicting sides as his cousin Samuel Adams tries to get him to join the continental congress. While others try and get him to join and help the British keep law in the colony of Massachusetts. Eventually John Adams is forced to chose sides with congress. I’d give this episode an 8 out of 10. It’s an interesting start for the series but feels slow at times but it does give you a lot to think about. It does do a good job with music and keeps things interesting enough for the viewer.
{ March 19, 2008 @ 12:23 am }
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Welcome to Oddballjunk the blog for stuff, I want to write about. Mostly I’ll be reviewing Movies, Books, Games, and music. But I’ll talk about other stuff I find interesting. It might be something that annoys me or something that I just find really funny. I’ll occasionally talk about a novel that i’ve been working on since last year and/or other stuff. I’ll try and post at least once a week though who knows what will happen.
