• Gettysburg (1993) -- Incredible dramatization, but painfully long, 4/10. TWEET a review with the #JPMN hashtag, and have it featured! WATCH full episodes of Movie Night -- http://bit.ly/JogJPMN ~~ Movie Night Reviews ~~ Your host, and film critic Jonathan Paula reviews everything from opening day releases, recent DVDs, upcoming trailers, and classics from years past, with an interactive format that integrates audience comments into a polished presentation. Along with your votes, each film is scored on the "Rate-O-Matic" for a 1-10 ranking. A "Five Word Summary" quickly encapsulates each review while "Factor Facts" highlight a film's best and worst features in ten key categories. Each "Quick Review" is an excerpt from a full episode, which airs on the Jogwheel channel every weekend, except during the summer. ~~ Watch More Reviews ~~ Browse By Year ----- http://bit.ly/MNYear Browse By Rating --- http://bit.ly/MNRating Trailer Reviews ------- http://bit.ly/MNTrailers ~~ Channels, Social Media, & More ~~ Jogwheel (Main channel) --- http://bit.ly/Jogwheel Jon's World (2nd channel) - http://bit.ly/JonWorld The Microwave Show -------- http://bit.ly/TMSArchive Twitter ----------------------------- http://bit.ly/JonTW Facebook ------------------------ http://bit.ly/JonFBFan Instagram ------------------------ http://bit.ly/JonInsta ~~ Technical Credits ~~ Created by ------ Jonathan Paula Camera ---------- Panasonic HMC-150 Microphone ----- Sennheiser ME 66 Software --------- Adobe Premiere Pro CC Computer ------- http://bit.ly/JAV010 • Jogwheel Productions © 2014 • ~~ Review Script ~~ This biographic war drama saw limited released in October of 1993, where it managed to only earn back $10 of its $25 million dollar budget. Originally conceived as a six-part miniseries for television, this sprawling epic was foolishly left unedited, and released as a feature film, becoming officially, the longest American film ever made. At over four and a half hours, this watered down, PG-rated experience is quite nearly a real-time depiction of the Civil War's deadliest battle from which it borrows its namesake. Director Ronald F. Maxwell's unfocused story feels more like a low-rent dramatization from a historically accurate Discovery Channel documentary than a true Hollywood movie. There are no true protagonists or an actual plot, but Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, Stephan Lang, Sam Elliot, a host of other character actors, and a dozen battalions of amateur war re-enactors float in and out of the script as history's events allow. They all doing a fantastic job sporting ridiculous facial hair, and recreating the unimaginable emotions of such a turbulent time in America's history. Daniels' especially puts forth a remarkably inspiring and emotional performance, breaking down in front of his brigade when professing the importance of fighting not for freedom, or slavery, but for each other. As a last-minute replacement for the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Sheen remarks, on the requirements of war, "To be a good soldier you must love the army. To be a good commander you must be able to order the death of the thing you love." Based on the novel "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara, this movie meticulously recreates the strategy, intrigue, and heartbreak surrounding those three July afternoons in a Pennsylvania field - and should be required viewing for all school children and Civil War buffs. The wide, and patience visual style allows for ample time to appreciate the scenery, understand the cluttered battles, and the grand landscapes filled with thousands of dueling soldiers. Randy Edelman's patriotic and moving score thankfully lends a great deal of legitimately and mood to the film, but is hardly enough to keep things interesting. The climax of the movie, faithfully depicting the famous Pickett's Charge contains, and I kid you not, EIGHT full minutes of soldiers marching to music... no fighting, no gunfire, no dialogue... just a few thousand people walking across a field to their certain death. It's sequences like this, and a dozen other entirely extraneous scenes that make this film's laborious pace entirely inexcusable. At a more traditional length, and a tigher edit, this would be a compelling, engaging, well-acted, and moving story of the Battle Of Gettysburg, but at 271 minutes it's excruciatingly insufferable to actually sit through. I set out to watch this film last July 1st on the 150th anniversary of the battle, but because I kept falling asleep watching the movie (in the middle of the day, no less), I didn't finish the film for two days. Meaning my viewing experience literally lasted as long as the three-day battle itself. It's unlikely I'll ever watch this again, or its equally lengthy prequel, "Gods And Generals" -- but on a single viewing, there are some important and redeeming qualities. "Gettysburg", "Incredible dramatization, but painfully long." ~

• published: 09 Jun 2014
• views: 2673