Rome: The Complete Second Season (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought Rome Season 1 was excellent. Season 2 I didn't think was as enthralling, but when you come from 'excellent', the next place down is 'very, very good' and that's what this is.
Others have expounded on inaccuracies as to the history. As a student of history myself, I can understand the frustration. However, these things do not bother me generally as I watch series like these to escape. All I generally ask is that I be entertained. (NOTE: I admit that my 'laidbackness' did not extend to the massacred 'Troy' which was so very inaccurate in so many particulars and not even that entertaining).
So that entire paragraph above was meant to convey the following: Put aside your history books, forget the 'true' story and allow yourself to be immersed in the grandeur and sumptiousness that is this BBC/HBO production.
I believe that you will love many of the characters (notably Atia) - and love to hate others (notably Atia). You will be sad and happy and yes - horrified at times, but you will not say that you were not invested in some measure. Note that even those not as enamoured of the series as I, watched every episode AND took the time out to write reviews. That must tell you something. Rome is something to witness and talk about, whatever your view.
WARNING: If the DVD is the first time you are watching this, clear hours of your day. You will be captivated in one way or another and that smell wafting through your living room will be the forgotten pot on your stove.
I highly recommend this series and enthusiastically give it 5 stars (wish there were 6).

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The year is 44 B.C. Julius Caesar has been assassinated and civil war threatens to destroy the Republic. In the void left by Caesar's demise, egos clash and numerous players jockey for position. The brutally ambitious Mark Antony attempts to solidify his power, aligning himself with Atia, but coming to blows with her cunning son Octavian, who has been anointed in Caesar's will as his only son and heir. Meanwhile Titus Pullo attempts to pull his friend Lucius Vorenus out of the darkness that has engulfed his soul in the wake of personal tragedy. For once again, the fates of these two mismatched soldiers seem inexorably tied to the fate of Rome itself.

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Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)...but considering the minimal budget (20 million dollars American) and the genuine Mongolian (some areas so isolated that new roads had to be built to get the film crews there) locations filmed, this was a fantastic movie that was well-paced for an introduction to the life of Temudjin, who would become the Genghis Khan.
Despite the low budget, nothing in the movie looks cheaply filmed; everything looks like that of a big budget film six times more expensive, from costumes to makeup (and the craggly dirt buildup on Temudjin during his time in captivity). I don't speak Mongolian, so I can't tell whether the accents spoken are accurately Mongolian, but for an American audience, it was great for authenticity (rather than having them speak Russian or Kazakh).The movie excels in two particular aspects which really make this one more than just a casual ancient-world flick; the battles and the people.While Genghis Khan is demonized in the West as a barbarous conqueror, he is seen like a hero in the East, and this movie serves to show him as both and neither, making him more than just black or white, but a fully fleshed out person with ambitions to uniting all the Mongol tribes as one beneath him. He is utterly believable as a human being, fallible, and seemingly very much driven by his love for his wife and children, whom he nevertheless must leave constantly to fulfill his dream.
There is also Jamukha, who manages to be both a piggish, slothy figure, and a noble, loyal friend to Temudjin, when their dreams conflict and they become enemies, with a very painful and realistic portrayal of just why Jamukha would betray Temudjin, and his lack of joy in facing his opponent on a field of battle.Then there's the battles. As any Ancient/Medieval war movie to be expected, it is bloody. My only annoyances in a puritanic-historian way were the suits of armor, which seemed not to be made of much metal as they would have been in Mongolian times.
Another minor thing that becomes a little excessive, and arguably rather like a recurring joke is shots of blood, showing them being spilled in thousands of thick drops rather than in fountains or bursts of liquid.The final battle sequence manages to both utilize the Mongolian expertise in archery and cavalry and innovate with something both insanely risky and never before seen in Medieval battle depictions. Likely seen in the trailer, as Jamukha sends the bulk of his cavalry force at Temudjin's center, he unleashes a very small number of thickly armored cavalry, armed with double curves swords, which then rush through the enemy cavalry, using the swords to slash at the enemy's sides like Scythed Chariots.
The armored cavalry is a kamikaze force, as after brutalizing the enemy cavalry, Temudjin has his archers unleash a flood of arrows on the force, killing the cavalry on both sides down to a man.Overall a great movie, which doesn't sacrifice the macro-story of Genghis Khan and his dream of a Mongol empire for the micro-story of Temudjin's love life. Of which I wrote virtually nothing about.

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Princess Kaiulani (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm happy that someone did take the inspired action to make a movie about Hawai'i, that isn't all about the sexy hula girls and mai tai's. This movie has meat to it. The reason I say this is a must see movie for Hawaiians and Hawaiians at heart is that it makes you think. It makes you want to read and research your Hawaiian geneaology and Hawaiian history. The movie makes you to want to learn the TRUTH! As Hawaiians we must unite to move forward, we must educate our children like our ancestors did. We had a 90 percent literacy rate in the 1800's and early 1900's, our ancestors would be ashamed of us wasting our intelligence and not cultivating our youth to learn. I'm saying this to all people, educate your children!
The movie was very moving, a love story, with a beginning, middle and end. When we describe love, we tend to look at just the best parts and skip the ugly. Although the movie wasn't completely factual, it was a good depiction of how the time was and the politics of the day. How can you summize a person's life in 120 minutes? It's just a brief moment in time that is covered. Some of the facts were missing in the story, she did die on the Big Island and maybe that should have been shown, but there was enough sadness that we all know and understand.

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