"Cold Mountain" film review

[markj]

Greetings,

Some of you may enjoy (or dispute) this advance review of "Cold Mountain."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/483hdkyg.asp

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Nighthawk Ranger]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

Sounds like a good movie to me. I like movies that make you stop and think. My wife often feels as though I over analyze movies when we watch them. I have learned to try to hold my comments until the movie is over. One good (or bad) thing about watching movies at home is I can always hit the pause button and comment on a mistake in the props, or point out the allagories in the movies. That really makes my sweetie mad. I guess after 10 years she has learned to tolerate me! :p

Jody Sarno
A Co LR

[Strawfoot]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

I was glancing through a civil war mag the other day and caught a review of this movie. It contained some pictures of the Romanian lads protraying the Fed troops.

I must say... Real world Romanian Special Forces/paratroopers that were young, lean and in shape. All with bad haircuts and a certain gleam in their eyes... No farby eyewear... And to top it off it rained for a few days on the set so they were all muddy.

I couldn't really tell about the uniforms. My eye for uniform and gear authenticity isn't quite good enough tell by looking at a couple pictures.

But on the whole they looked darn good. Better than what I saw in that disgrace of a flick, Gods and Generals.

Just my opinion.

Mike Phineas
Arlington, TX

[John of the Skulkers Mess]

Re: "Cold Mountain"

Maybe its just me, but the TV commercials I've seen are curiously lacking Jude Law. They seem to be playing heavily on the two gals.

I think they mention Civil War, but I could be mistaken.....


Haven't read the book,
John Pillers
TSM

[orngblsm]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

Sirs,

Cold Mountain, as a book, does focus heavily on the two women that the trailers emphasize. The fist four chapters are mostly about Ada(nicole Kidman) feeding her chickens. Inman(Jude Law) does take up a large amount of the book, but i feel that like the majority of the book, the camera time will feature the women of Cold Mountain. Remember it's hollywood... Just my humble opinion.

Respectfully,

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

I recently read Cold Mountain again to better familiarize myself with the story. It had been a good 4 years or so since I had last read it. I really enjoyed reading it this second time around and got through it fairly quickly.
I am looking forward to some incidents from the book that appear to have made it into the film. At least from what I have read and seen from previews. As far as the physical description of the characters-I think they're a bit off on the casting with the two main women (Ada as Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger as Ruby). Perhaps they decent job in casting Natalie Portman's character. That is minor stuff though. I think the acting is definitely more important.
I think regardless of the book to film adaptation, it will be an entertaining movie.
I am sure the AC forum will have its usual thread concerning the authenticity (or lack of) in the movie and the usual reviews. I always enjoy reading those!

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

Matthew,

I'm with you on them being a bit "off" on their choices for Ada and Ruby. I caught the trailer a few weeks back in the theater and they've got Nicole Kidman voiced over, obviously from a letter or even some sort of interior monolog, spouting out stuff she never would have dared to say in the book. By far the most frustrating was Renee bawling and crying about how the men make war and then curse it's destructiveness. Ruby as done by Frazier would never have broken down into a sobbing mess over the war. She could have cared less about it if unless it threatened her life directly. I imagine she believed the world was better for it as anyone who wanted to content themselves by shooting one another was better off gone anyway.

Nonetheless, the book is fantastic and short of them completely abondoning what Frazier has written it should be a good flick. When ordering some cloth from the Klines several months back, Mrs. Kline confirmed that the movie folks bought up tons of jean wool to clothe the above-mentioned Romanian extras. Childs' website features some images of frocks and such that he did for some of the main characters and I think that Starbuck did a few kepis, but I could be wrong on that point. Some of the battles mentioned in the book are Fredericksburg and the Crater. From the trailer, it's obvious that they're doing the detonation of the mine. The few seconds of that footage looked pretty impressive.

The important thing to note is that this isn't a "war movie" so if you go into it looking for that you'll probably be somewhat dissappointed. Rather, it's a love story/epic journey/story of survival set during the war.

Just my thoughts...

Fred Baker

[DougCooper]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

I am most hopeful they capture the struggle in the mountains of NC between the Home Guard, Unionists and folks who just want to be left alone. I admit to really struggling to finish the book 4 years ago and was somewhat surprised to see it had won the Pulitzer. My problem is I was looking for it to be something other than what it was. I picked it up again last year and was more intrigued - it really is not a CW book, not will it be as a movie I suppose. I was shocked at Kidman's selection, and of course with that, the selection of Tom Cruise for the male lead was doomed - double whammy. Zellweger apparently can do anything - a true actor's actor. Jodi Foster would have been ideal for Kidman's character. Jude Law was a good Russian sniper, so I guess that played well for CS infantryman. Another actor who can do most any role.

The uniforms are good - and if you are wondering why Charlie Childs has begun to charge per garment made from his patterns for commercial purposes... What would you do if a foreign concern bought thousands of yards of cloth and all your patterns to make the threads for the movie? The close-up hats and close-up uniforms were made by the best, so no worries there.

Is anybody going to do the theatre set-up thing for this movie? Having been so badly burned by GAG, the local theatre owner may not want to see my face. But this may be the long awaited historically correct CW movie, if not a movie specifically about the war itself.

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

I was watching a commercial preview of this movie with a non-reenactor friend of mine....... and I have to say, I was extremely embarrased with what I saw. (lamp shade hats comes to mind)

I'm sure the book is good though.

[Tom Ezell]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

I saw the trailer on TV several times this weekend, and it didn't seem very inspiring...

but then, I thought the book sucked, too... Others' opinions and mileage may vary widely...

Tom

[Miche_Todd]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

[QUOTE=HOG-EYE MAN]I was watching a commercial preview of this movie with a non-reenactor friend of mine....... and I have to say, I was extremely embarrased with what I saw. (lamp shade hats comes to mind)


I know! The trailer drives me crazy becuase of the ladies clothing. The hats, the V necked bodices, curls. Yuck!!!!

[natchezborn]

Re: "Cold Mountain" film review

Looking at the trailers and having not read the book, the movie looks like a love story set during the War Between The States.

The way I look at it is I have sat through enough chick flicks that were not set in the period, so I suppose I can sit through one that will at least have me paying attention to the costumes and dialect.


Of course if the movie is good, I may go back and read the book. Sort of "reverse engineering" if you will.

[Mike Ventura]

It's a MOVIE!

YES. "Cold Mountain" is a love story set with a WBTS background. What it does do (fictionally) is give a picture of the "life back home" in the south - one of worthless money, subsistence living and marauding bushwackers. These are topics that we really don't expose through our regular living history events. Charles Frazier's book won several fiction awards when it was published in 1997.

And, yes, we can knock the costumes, the accuracy, etc. But those too close to any event or profession are always disappointed by the way Hollywood portrays it. Golfers didn't like the golf in "Tin Cup" or "Baggar Vance;" sailors hated the sailing in "Wind" and cops will tell you that nothing depicted in "Bad Boys II" ever happens in the real world. The producers/director make no statements that they were attempting to portray historical accuracy. They are telling a story.

BTW, it was filmed in Romania, but there really is a "Cold Mountain" in Western North Carolina.

It's a MOVIE - what did you expect? Anything with both Nicole Kidman and Renee Zelwegger can't be all bad, now can it?

[Old Cremona]

Where's Stobrod?

I don't see anything in the trailers about my 2 favorite characters, Stobrod and Pangle. If they leave them out, they passed on the Jagger/Richards of fictional 1860's North Carolina.

Carl Anderton

https://www.gumspringsserenaders.com

[LWhite64]

Soundtrack

I picked up the soundtrack for CM today, it is produced by the same folks that did the Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack, and I must say it has some good stuff on it, the Sacred Harp choir is very good and I highly recommend hearing it, especially to get a grasp on what was sang at a lot of rural southern churches at the time. As far as the clothing, etc goes, I think its going to be the best so far, not perfect but a heck of a lot better than we have gotten before.