Thursday, May 03, 2007
To kick off the new direction of the website, I am making my first blog entry that is not about a dvd.
Sherman's March: Here we have a dramatic retelling of Sherman's famous March to the Sea campaign as well as his exploits leading up until the end of the war. It was typical in History Channel fare in regards to its presentation. Edward Herrmann was the narrator, as is typical and they used a documentary and reenactment format common to all their specials.
The reenactments were decent enough although the actor portraying Grant seemed a bit weak. Sherman was passable although for some reason I just didn't feel his acting was genuine.
This aired on the History Channel back on April 22 although I am just now able to watch it.
Sherman's March: Here we have a dramatic retelling of Sherman's famous March to the Sea campaign as well as his exploits leading up until the end of the war. It was typical in History Channel fare in regards to its presentation. Edward Herrmann was the narrator, as is typical and they used a documentary and reenactment format common to all their specials.
The reenactments were decent enough although the actor portraying Grant seemed a bit weak. Sherman was passable although for some reason I just didn't feel his acting was genuine.
This aired on the History Channel back on April 22 although I am just now able to watch it.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Ken Burns Presents: The West - A Film by Stephen Ives: I think that it is no stretch to say that when Ken Burns first released The Civil War in 1990 it revolutionized and changed the documentary forever. It stands today as one of the most celebrated and imitated documentaries ever. After The Civil War, the name Ken Burns became synonymous with the documentary. Here he lends his name and is the executive producer of this film by Steven Ives.The documentary tells the great story of the West from the Indians to the Spaniards to the Americans. It tells of how the land changed but was not so politically correct to rewrite history portraying the Americans as bad and the Indians as saints which is the modern way school textbooks like to tell it.
Ives apparently must be a pupil of Burns in that this documentary is styled very much like The Civil War. In some ways, parts of it act as a companion to The Civil War in that some of the same actors reprise their previous roles which is certainly much appreciated as the original actors were perfect.
In short, this documentary is excellent. I expected it to be great and it was.
Labels: Documentary, History
Monday, December 11, 2006
The Blue and the Gray: In the 1860s when North and South first went to the battlefield, they had no idea that 120 years later, several television mini-series would be made about their experience.After watching North and South and then Gore Vidal's Lincoln, it was obvious that eventually I would have to pick up The Blue and the Gray to complete my collection of 80s mini-series about the War Between the States. This story centers around our young hero, John, who is a war correspondent for Harper's Weekly and his pal Jonas, played by Stacy Keach, who is a bit of a psychic and a scout in the army, among other things.
John has two families. His immediate family lives in Virginia while he works for his uncle in, conveniently to the plot, Gettysburg PA. John wishes to keep out of the whole thing and so becomes a war correspondent for Harpers Weekly sending back drawings. Thus he gets to visit many members of his family on both sides and watches some of them die.
The story is good and it doesn't get too unnecessarily violent or sappy. If I had any complaints it would be the fact that at times things are a little too convenient to be coincidences.
One last note, while he will never equal Raymond Massey's brilliant performance of Lincoln, Gregory Peck was, I believe, the best modern portrayal of the Great Emancipator as one is apt to find.
Labels: Civil War, History, Mini-Series
Saturday, December 02, 2006
The American Civil War: Just when you thought it was safe to buy documentaries on DVD comes this piece of refuse from the trash heap. I have seen a lot of Civil War documentaries in my day but this one takes the Dan Dalton award for being the most boring one ever, which was a tall order after the Blood and Honor tin I reviewed some time back. What we have here is something that might get a B+ for a student documentary from a guy who has a bunch re-enactors for buddies.While I can forgive the shoddy production based on the notion that I could probably do no better, what I can't forgive on this release are the apparent copyright violations in the soundtrack. While the songs of the Civil War are long passed their copyright expiration various recordings are not. This release featured tracks straight from the soundtrack of the Ken Burns Civil War. I'm surprised they didn't use Ashokan Farewell.
To top it all off, this two hour film is completely boring. Avoid this at all costs and don't confuse it with the much superior American Civil War: A Union Divided.
Labels: Civil War, Documentary, History
Thursday, November 30, 2006
The American Civil War - A Union Divided: In my most recent order from Deep Discount, I ordered for myself a bunch of low priced documentaries, mostly on the Civil War, for review and for something to put on to fall asleep to (nothing soothes me to sleep like the sound of talking heads.) In reviewing them I am watching them pretty much all at the same time as you will see in upcoming reviews. Some are crap but this one I have to say is worth looking at.After Ken Burns released his epic documentary, The Civil War to PBS all those years ago, everyone from The History Channel to fly by night companies have attempted to make
something that serves as somewhat of a replacement or companion to the 11 hour documentary. Clocking in at just over three hours is this release from British based Eagle Media.
A Union Divided is done more in the style of the History Channel documentaries than the Ken Burns style. There are plenty of photos and talking heads mixed in with the usual re-enactment footage and live action scenery filming. The re-enactment footage tries to keep brief but I for one am no real lover of using it as documentary padding. CGI animation is used on the maps to illustrate battles. If I have any real complaints on the cinematography it would be that some shots show modern day cities like New York and Washington when plenty of vintage photographs would work just fine.
The extras are quite nice with dramatic readings of letters home and songs of the Civil War being the best features. All in all I would say this is a good documentary and definitely worth picking up when you can get it under $10 like I did.
Labels: Civil War, Documentary, History
Monday, November 27, 2006
Adventurers: Masters of Time: After watching the silly Altair in Starland and the mediocre but passable Shadow of the Elves, BFC delivers a cartoon series I actually want to see more of and I am disappointed that more is not available on DVD. To my knowledge the show is not on American TV but if I am wrong, I would like to know what channel and time this is on.The show is about a few multi-cultural (token) kids who chase around a mad scientist through history thanks to a super computer made by their computer science professor who has become trapped by the villain known as "Hacker." They travel to Pompeii in 79AD and then in the other episode to Boston 1775. The show gives a quick History lesson without being too boring for kids.
The plot is familiar as it has been done several times before. The time travel aspect is always fun despite the fact that the same setup was done much better in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd.
The animation is first rate in terms of Saturday Morning cartoon fare. The music I actually found to be above average and I found myself jamming a bit to the theme song.
My only complaint was that the history wasn't thoroughly researched. For example the computer system said that John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence in Boston. He did sign it but it was in Philadelphia not Boston. Also, Sam Adams NEVER rode a horse but then, I suppose they just wanted kids to get the gist of it all.
Labels: Cartoons, Cheap DVDs, History
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Gettysburg: After seeing Gods and Generals this summer I have been anxious to see the other film made by Ronald F. Maxwell. Featuring much of the same cast as his later film Gods and Generals is the story of how three days changed the course of history.The subject of Gettysburg is one that has been argued, discussed, debated and reflected upon countless times since those so many thousands of men gave "the last full measure of devotion." Just condensing that into a film is a task which many would believe to be impossible and yet, Maxwell not only did it but he did so in an enjoyable film which makes history come alive.
I believe that this film should be required viewing in schools for the battle of Gettysburg and in a way also to get a fairly accurate view of what it all may have looked like. I cannot recommend this film enough. It was fantastic!
Labels: Civil War, History, Live Action
Friday, September 08, 2006
The Last Days of the Civil War: Here is a collection of Civil War documentaries in a package supposedly about, well, the last days of the Civil War. Strangely enough, that is not entirely the case. While it does include the magnificent documentary April 1865, it also includes some episodes of Civil War Journal, Biography and Civil War Combat. While I normally would not complain, I had already bought the Robert E. Lee documentary as well as the episode of Civil War Combat on other previously released (and still in print) History Channel collections.I was also disappointed to find the Civil War Journal episodes were the redubbed versions without the narration and host segments with Danny Glover. I am no fan of Danny Glover and this narrator is much easier on the ears than Glover, I do like to keep things original.
What this set does have going for it is April 1865. It is a fantastic day by day approach to, as the documentary rightfully put it, "the month that changed America."
I suppose it's not bad for the reduced price of $9 I paid but I wouldn't pay much more.
Labels: Civil War, Documentary, History
