Belated Review: Secretariat

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to see this film.  I had heard some mixed reviews and I had mixed feelings about Seabiscuit.  I didn't want it to be a replay of that film.

However, I do like horse racing plots (I'm a huge fan of Dick Francis), and I do remember hearing about the Secretariat as a child.  Also, I was curious as to why Craig Ferguson had a fake horse by that name on his talk show.  So that was enough to take the chance.

Overall the film was well done and very engaging.  I found the story to be interesting and it held my interest throughout.  I think as an overall story it flowed much better than Seabiscuit, which seemed to assume that the audience had read the novel or educated themselves enough ahead of time to excuse the lack of exposition at the beginning of that film.

John Malkovitch is only marginally better in this than Dangerous Liaisons.  Here he plays a French-Canadian named Lucien Laurin.  His French-Canadian accent was terrible, especially his pronunciation of his own name.  Considering how proud he was, you'd think he'd get that right.  It's not "Looshun".  It's "Loo-See-En".  And it's not "Lawrenn".  It's "Law-Ran" with the "N" being almost silent at the end of both names.  I can accept the American characters' mispronunciation, but not his own.

Still, aside from that he had some bright moments, and it was a well done film.

Oh, and I think I figured out the whole Craig Ferguson thing.  Very funny.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TV Detour - Midsomer Murders: The Decline and Fall of Ben Jones

Growing up watching TV most of my life, I've often noticed and pondered why producers and writers do things to characters that are inconsistant, thinking that audiences won't notice. Many times I've seen shows change the background of a character in such an obvious way that viewers notice.  And yet in this day and age of DVDs, DVRs, computers, and any other technology in which we can rewatch episodes (even reruns that were in place as far back as the 1970's), producers and writers forget this aspect and assume the audience won't notice for the sake of entertainment. News flash:  We do notice.  We notice all the time and we comment and critique it in message boards all over the internet. I want to talk about one such instance that's been becoming more and more obvious recently.  And this involves a regular character named Ben Jones who is in the British murder mystery called Midsomer Murders. For those of you who don't know Midsomer Murders is a show ...
Read more

Review: Pope Joan

Film:   Pope Joan Starring :  Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham, John Goodman, Ian Glen, Edward Petherbridge Director: Sönke Wortmann   Screenwriter :  Donna Woolfolk Cross (novel), Heinrich Hadding (screenplay), Sönke Wortmann (screenplay) Although not released in the US yet, I was able to obtain a DVD from Germany and see this film.  Mired in controversy, Pope Joan is about a woman (played by German actress Johanna Wokalek) who apparently became Pope without anyone realizing that she was female until she gave birth to a child. The film and the novel carry the story a bit further by introducing a love interest named Gerold (David Wenham), who would do anything for her, including keeping her dark secret. The film depicts Joan's life from childhood through to adulthood where she is often met with resistance from her peers when she demonstrates her knowledge for the Catholic teachings.  The idea of a female going to school, especially a Catholic one,...
Read more

Film Review: On the Road

Another admission:  I've never read On the Road by Jack Kerouac.  At times I wish I had, being an English major and always enjoying the exploration in novels.  Sadly, I have yet to read this one.  I would like to. So it was with a blank slate that I saw the film adaptation by Jose Rivera . Sitting in a crowded theater prior to the film commencing, I was keenly interested in knowing who had read the book, as the question was being posed to the audience.  A decent amount of hands went up.  When people were asked whether they had liked the book or not, they were divided.  I thought that was interesting. Then the critic who introduced the film, Godfrey Cheshire, agreed that many people are divided by their feelings over the book.  To this day you either love it or hate it.  To give us an idea of what was going on during the era depicted in the film (late 40's/early 50's), he mentioned that the interstate highway system was brand new then...
Read more