John Adams BD

[j_garcia]

I hadn't heard of this series, but I was watching cable one day and stumbled across an episode and found it interesting so I have been watching the series on BD from Netflix and it is pretty good. There's quite a bit in there about the early days of our nation and government that I didn't know and I find it quite interesting. It focuses on behind the scenes vs what most of us have been taught in history class and it is very well acted by most of the cast; I've been a fan of Paul Giamatti, though he takes odd roles sometimes, overall his movies are good. Worth checking out IMO.

 

[Alex2507]

I watched this with my girl and both of us enjoyed it. I didn't learn anything about American history in school so this to me didn't overturn any previously held beliefs. Paul Giamatti is one of my favorite actors and the only reason that I watched this. I'll pretty much watch anything he acts in.

Who knew that Ben Franklin was such an @ss?

Washington an elitist?

 

[j_garcia]

Giamatti is the main reason why I started watching it as well.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Great series. I picked it up on BD instead of Generation Kill which I had meant to buy that very day. I had never heard of it. Apparently there are some very high quality mini-series hitting some of the premium cable networks these days. I'd love to get some recommendations.

I trust you're watching Pacific, it's the best mini-series since Band of Brothers, Rome and Deadwood IMHO.

 

[j_garcia]

I've been DVRing Pacific, but I haven't started watching it yet.

 

[aberkowitz]

The series, obviously, took a number of liberties with the characters... you have to remember that it's being told from John Adams' point of view. While Ben Franklin was a known philanderer, to a man as pious and self-righteous as Adams Franklin seemed like the devil. Same thing with the treatment of Washington- who was actually a relatively humble military man who had no desire to be President, but whom Adams believed was ill-suited to be President since he was not a classically educated politician.

That aside, I thought it was an interesting take on our early history and very entertaining. If you're interested in learning more about Adams, I highly recommend reading David McCullough's books (John Adams), from which the story was based.

 

[j_garcia]

No doubt that it is not historically accurate, but it is still quite interesting in the perspective it presents. I am wrapping up the last disc tonight. Definitely an interesting mini series.

 

[Ron Temple]

I tried watching this on HBO and couldn't get into it. I tried the first disk on NF and gave up. I'm not usually put off by slow, but I am by stilted pontification and self righteousness. I couldn't get past the quiet moments. I generally enjoy premium cable mini-series and series, but not this one.

 

[Wayde Robson]

The series, obviously, took a number of liberties with the characters... you have to remember that it's being told from John Adams' point of view.

Definitely a strong point in the film. I appreciated that fact. I don't know how historically accurate it is, but I don't tend to try and hold historic pieces to such high 'text-book' standards.

I think there is a lot more to learn from and about history than whether or not the Worthington Lantern shown in episode 4 was actually even invented yet... (I totally made that up).

I think context is important. John Adams did a great job of showing us that context of the time from his particular POV.

Franklin will always be a bit of a hero of mine. I'm no staunch supporter of cheating on your wife in France but ... hey, flaws make people who they are at the time. I long for a day when we can accept flawed but principled politicians that stand for something other than market-data.

 

[Alex2507]

I'm no staunch supporter of cheating on your wife in France ...

How about when you're in Kitchener?

 

[jostenmeat]

Bump. I just finished this series, including the "making of" and McCullough extras. I found this series to be very fascinating! I highly recommend it!

Giamatti and Linney just killed it with really superb performances. I didn't know Giamatti was that good of an actor, and Linney I've always liked in everything I've seen. I am a very big fan of Wilkinson, and I think he is one of the better actors there are who does not get talked about much.

The PQ of the BD suffers greatly at times, though other times it was acceptable. DNR was obviously applied quite often, and in my eyes, it was most offensive at Versailles. Like Ronin bad DNR.

The extras were very interesting to me as well. I find McCollough to be a most interesting man. It didn't surprise me that there was so much attention to detail with the style and architectural changes with time, down to the buttons they used, or the firemen-protected homes designated by plaques, with Franklin's version shown. The correspondence between John and Abigail, I think it was said to be on microfiche, but whatever the format, it is said to reach 5 miles long. This is how they know so much about the 2nd President.

I had no idea that so much CGI was used for backgrounds and crowds, and I will say that I thought it was extremely well implemented.

Adam's particular involvement with the Boston Massacre, I had no idea, and just as surprising was that he died on the same day as his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson, on the 4th of July, exactly 50 years to the day after they both (supposedly) signed the Declaration of Independence. How crazy is that? Ok I just looked at wiki, and this is getting crazier, the 5th President James Monroe also died on July 4th. So the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Presidents all died on the same date, Independence Day.

 

[j_garcia]

Giamatti doesn't always choose the best roles (we've all gotta make a living), but when he is good, he is really good and I'd say this was one of his better roles. Linney is also very good in this series.

I was floored by that fact also and had to look it up to see if it was in fact true about them passing on the 4th. Crazy stuff.

I noticed some PQ issues, but it was completely washed out by the fact that I got so wrapped up in the story itself that the issues weren't so bothersome to me.

 

[jostenmeat]

Giamatti doesn't always choose the best roles (we've all gotta make a living), but when he is good, he is really good and I'd say this was one of his better roles. Linney is also very good in this series.

Yessir, he blew me away. I really had no idea. Just his diction alone, I guess it's no wonder why some of these actors have earned their jobs. I can understand that some people may not enjoy his self righteousness, but how diminished would his chances of success be without wholehearted conviction in his beliefs?

I was floored by that fact also and had to look it up to see if it was in fact true about them passing on the 4th. Crazy stuff.

Yeah. Of course I wonder if the true dates were otherwise, and that someone lied to make these things seem mythical or something, but I guess I give the benefit of the doubt.

I noticed some PQ issues, but it was completely washed out by the fact that I got so wrapped up in the story itself that the issues weren't so bothersome to me.

Yes, as I said, I highly recommend the series, even with some very offensive DNR at times. They shouldn't have used so much for particular scenes, but there is nothing I can do about it.