Despite attempts to keep us from the theaters, Cinecultist did attend a screening of the Oscar hopeful Cold Mountain over the weekend. Sidebar: has Miramax won it's war for our brains that something compells CC to mention Oscar-wannabe in the same sentence with Anthony Mingella's new flick? Anyhow, like Master and Commander, CC wanted to dislike the film on Weinstein brother-hater principle alone, more than we did. Well shot, with intense performances and brutal extras-tastic battle scenes, it is tough not to get caught up in its emotional steamroller. Although its difficult not to see Cold Mountain as that tarted up chick with the huge corsage standing around in the corner of the prom (aka the Awards Season). Depending on how cynical you are, either you hope she gets lucky or you secretly wish she's left there alone to cry.
When talking about this movie, we need to acknowledge that Jude Law is a very pretty man. Heck, even one of the characters in the movie calls him a pretty man. If like CC you want to break off a hunk of Jude, might we also recommend renting Enemy at the Gates with his stellar performance in last year's Russian army story. He's good here as well, showing his longing to escape the horrors of war for this promise of a romance. Despite the fact that everyone is saying it, props do need to be handed to Renee "Zelweggs" Zelwegger. We want to hate her with the stupid weight issues but she delivers damn good performances so we begrudgingly appreciate her abilities. We loved seeing indie rocker Jack White on the screen as well in his small but sweet role. Cinecultist has also heard good reviews of the soundtrack album where White's songs written for the film appear.
Posted by karen at January 7, 2004 8:14 AM