Cold Mountain with Jude and Nicole--What did you think?

[dzneelvr]

I rented Cold Mountain over the weekend and just couldn't stop watching it!! I absolutely loved the intense acting by everyone--especially the main characters.
It's certainly not a "feel good" movie, but I guess I needed a good cry.
Anyone else think it was a great epic--full of detail and although brutal at times, probably pretty realistic??

 

[Freyja]

I thought it was very good and absoloutly loved Renée Zellweger in it. However, I must say that I didn´t feel that Nicole Kidman lived up to my expectations this time. All in all a great movie, very artistic.

 

[janette]

It was very good, I'd agree that Renée Zellweger was the better actress. I want to watch it again, I read the book a few years ago and need to reread it. I think I'll enjoy it more after seeing the movie, it was a little hard to follow and I have a bad habit of skimming over too much when I read.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I didnt' care for it... I couldn't get into it, just not my thing.

DH and I were glad we didn't see it in the theater...

 

[missypie]

I loved the book so much that I'm afraid to see the movie - I don't think it can live up to the book.

 

[wdwfam]

DD and I went to the theater several times to watch "Cold Mountain". She loves anything with Renee Zellweger in it. I would have past it up if it were just Nicole Kidman and/or Jude Law. It's very intense. We bought it just to watch "Ruby Thewes".

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I thought it was a great movie but couldn't help thinking how disturbing some of the scenes were and wondering if things like that really happened. Don't want to go into any details in case others haven't watched it yet. IMO, Nicole's acting was fine but even though she's very beautiful...she was a little too old to be playing the innocent preacher's daughter.

 

[Tinkbell]

Hated the ending!

 

[Banshee]

Originally posted by calypso*a*go-go
IMO, Nicole's acting was fine but even though she's very beautiful...she was a little too old to be playing the innocent preacher's daughter.

Ha ha ha those were my exact words to my DH!!! I think a younger actress would have fit the role better. The movie was pretty good though and Renee Zellweger was very good!

 

[tar heel]

missypie -- The movie is worth seeing, but it is a pale imitation of the book. Not nearly as thoughtful and the movie has a Home Guard bad guy who torments people on the mountain and ultimately kills Inman. I don't think that adjustment to the story was even in the spirit of the book b/c the randomness of the kid who killed him is important.

 

[2BigKIdz]

I liked it but I had not wanted to see it, just watched it with my husband, I think he thought it was going to be more of a war movie than love story. I really don't like Nicole Kidman but she wasn't so bad in this movie. Yes, she was a bit old for the role and her southern accent waivered often. Zellweger did a great job. Those men definitely deserved what they got a and a lot more, they were beyond revolting. I did not like the end, that sort of ruined the movie. I hate sad movies.

 

[RNMOM]

DH and I loved it. We saw it twice at the theaters. Great music too. I just fell in love with Jude Law. Such a different part for him.

 

[MelessaG]

I guess I won't link you all to the really sarcastic review I wrote about it in my blog. It would get me into trouble. Renee Zellweger was brilliant as Ruby and probably the only thing I truly enjoyed about the movie. I do want to read the book now.

 

[Minniespal]

I enjoyed it but not think that I would watch it again.

 

[hentob]

I wanted to like it. I really, really wanted to like it.

I was soured before I even stepped into the theather b/c I read that it wasn't shot on location. Where was it shot--Romania? The scenery was lovely, but I kept thinking it wasn't even shot in America.

I also thought it was a tad bit long.

Am I the only one who thought Renee Z. was acting "too hard"? It took me awhile to get used to her.

I wish I would have read the book first.

 

[tar heel]

As someone who grew up in those North Carolina mountains and who visits them often, I can tell you that the Romanian ones did not look like they are supposed to. DH and I both laughed the first time they showed them in the movie -- couldn't help ourselves!

 

[JayBee]

I really learned things that went on during the Civil war-back home-that I never realized!Those "Home Guard" guys were a bunch of creepy misfits.yuck. Good movie.

 

[Jynohn]

I saw it at Downtown Disney when I needed a break from DH and the kids

I thought the scenery was beautiful, and I LOVE Jude Law, but I didn't like the movie as much as I hoped I would. I agree that Nicole Kidman was much too old for the role of the ingenue and I don't think they gave it enough time to develop the love story. They basically showed them meeting, sharing one kiss and he was suddenly ripped away to go to war and you were supposed to be caught up in the tragedy of them being torn apart by war.

I wish they would have spent a little more time developing that part of the plot line. All in all it was a good movie, but I won't rush out to buy the DVD. Next time I need a Jude Law fix I'll watch The Talented Mr. Ripley again!

 

[Christine]

Originally posted by Jynohn

I thought the scenery was beautiful, and I LOVE Jude Law, but I didn't like the movie as much as I hoped I would. I agree that Nicole Kidman was much too old for the role of the ingenue and I don't think they gave it enough time to develop the love story. They basically showed them meeting, sharing one kiss and he was suddenly ripped away to go to war and you were supposed to be caught up in the tragedy of them being torn apart by war.

I wish they would have spent a little more time developing that part of the plot line. All in all it was a good movie, but I won't rush out to buy the DVD. Next time I need a Jude Law fix I'll watch The Talented Mr. Ripley again!

Well, that is what happened in the book. They meet, they are very stiff and formal with each other, you see that there is a spark of something there but because of their *proper* upbringings they cannot act on it. Then he gets ripped off to war and they start pining for each other. It is during the war when Inman does all his thinking and the woman (can't remember Nicole's characters name) does all of her pining away, that you start to see them as real people. That is where the movie kind of missed the mark--you didn't get to see their individual thought processes about what was happening to them--these *thoughts* were VERY detailed in the book (almost too much). The finally get back, get over their social requirements and stiffness, and it's over.

Also, in the book, the character Nicole played was very stiff, formal, and quite vapid. There wasn't much to her, at least not until the end of the book. So, in that regard, Nichole Kidman played the role very well; however, I"m not sure she was the perfect actress for the role. But I do think she gets a bum rap for her acting in this movie because that is how the character was in the book.

The other scene that the movie didn't do well was the "goat" scene. In the book, they depicted the old woman very well--nature loving, in tune with nature, healing, and very kind. The spent a lot of time on her in the book, so when she killed the goat, you kind of understand that it how it should be. But the movie kind of made it revolting.

 

[janette]

I didn't think of Nicole as too old for the part, I remember she was kind of a spinster in the book but it's been a long time since I read it. Does the book mention her age?