Paid subscriber opinion (important): we pay you because we want to support you and your work, not for exclusive content. Don't feel bad about free episodes.
I've been saying for a while that the only proper way to portray Napoleon is to force the audience to sit through a painfully honest portrayal of the Reign of Terror's brutal massacre of the Vendee. By the time Napoleon comes on the scene at all, the audience needs to be desperate for somebody to save France from the psychos in Paris, and they need to understand that only somebody with the force of will of a Napoleon would ever have a prayer of pulling off such a coup.
Hope you resolve this paid subscription stuff. I'll resubscribe when you do. It's strange that substack would come after your sub, as nothing I've heard has been spicy in any way.
Thanks for the in-depth review. I’d been looking forward to seeing this with my teenage boys over Thanksgiving break but it sounds pretty awful. Happy to miss the Josephine stuff so thanks for the heads up there.
Somehow hearing Joe Biden review movies and videogames as well as give me history lessons is exactly what I need in my life.
Will not bother with Napoleon, will seek out Waterloo if I can, and if not, agree with other poster: time for a Sharpe rewatch or reread.
Re this and killers of the flower moon being both apple produced, I think in both cases but more evident here, “artsy” people have gone ok who’s the big name directors, match them up with something hokey and let them go no notes. Wouldn’t be shocked to hear that Napoleon went from tragic romance tale to this mess with battles etc either. The problem with a lot (not all) streaming content is that sometimes the paint by numbers demographic filling is too obvious and it spoils the whole thing.
Somewhat related re your Robocop review: small dedicated team focused on a core vision, whereas as some biiiiig games become a bloated mess due to the haphazard and outsourced production of set pieces (best example is uncharted 3, it just jumps from scene to scene and doesn’t quite gel. Same with every call of duty since Call of Duty 2 from infinity ward.
Nov 22, 2023·edited Nov 22, 2023Liked by Conundrum Cluster
Thanks to your heads up, I steered the family away from Napoleon screening. Hope the substack billing issue is resolved soon. Appreciate the work, which is why I did paid subscribe option (that and I'm a self-respecting, contributing member of society). Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Hey thanks for the tip on Ride With the Devil. You were absolutely right, a great movie, great Western. Full of action but also meditative and deep. I didn’t even find it pro-confederate in any real way, it just was human and not agitprop. Keep those tips coming!
P.s I guess in internet movie culture now this is pretty well known, but you might want to check out Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) as a great conservative movie
Paid subscriber opinion (important): we pay you because we want to support you and your work, not for exclusive content. Don't feel bad about free episodes.
Yeah I don't give a shit if everything is free. I see my payment as a donation, not a subscription.
I've been saying for a while that the only proper way to portray Napoleon is to force the audience to sit through a painfully honest portrayal of the Reign of Terror's brutal massacre of the Vendee. By the time Napoleon comes on the scene at all, the audience needs to be desperate for somebody to save France from the psychos in Paris, and they need to understand that only somebody with the force of will of a Napoleon would ever have a prayer of pulling off such a coup.
Hope you resolve this paid subscription stuff. I'll resubscribe when you do. It's strange that substack would come after your sub, as nothing I've heard has been spicy in any way.
really enjoying this substack. hope you get the payments worked out or get thiel bucks or whatever.
Thanks for the in-depth review. I’d been looking forward to seeing this with my teenage boys over Thanksgiving break but it sounds pretty awful. Happy to miss the Josephine stuff so thanks for the heads up there.
Staying home and watching "Waterloo"
Somehow hearing Joe Biden review movies and videogames as well as give me history lessons is exactly what I need in my life.
Will not bother with Napoleon, will seek out Waterloo if I can, and if not, agree with other poster: time for a Sharpe rewatch or reread.
Re this and killers of the flower moon being both apple produced, I think in both cases but more evident here, “artsy” people have gone ok who’s the big name directors, match them up with something hokey and let them go no notes. Wouldn’t be shocked to hear that Napoleon went from tragic romance tale to this mess with battles etc either. The problem with a lot (not all) streaming content is that sometimes the paint by numbers demographic filling is too obvious and it spoils the whole thing.
Somewhat related re your Robocop review: small dedicated team focused on a core vision, whereas as some biiiiig games become a bloated mess due to the haphazard and outsourced production of set pieces (best example is uncharted 3, it just jumps from scene to scene and doesn’t quite gel. Same with every call of duty since Call of Duty 2 from infinity ward.
Thanks to your heads up, I steered the family away from Napoleon screening. Hope the substack billing issue is resolved soon. Appreciate the work, which is why I did paid subscribe option (that and I'm a self-respecting, contributing member of society). Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Great episode, happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Mystery Grove, you have great taste, but you got filtered hard by Napoleon, it’s easily the greatest film of the year.
Hey thanks for the tip on Ride With the Devil. You were absolutely right, a great movie, great Western. Full of action but also meditative and deep. I didn’t even find it pro-confederate in any real way, it just was human and not agitprop. Keep those tips coming!
P.s I guess in internet movie culture now this is pretty well known, but you might want to check out Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) as a great conservative movie
Happy Thanksgiving CC. Thanks to your movie list (imaginary of course) I'd already seen The Duelists. Great film.
If you think you're being edgy by using the word "shit" in your article, you're not. Just the opposite.
Was really on the fence about this film, but now I know to give this a wide berth. Time to give Sharpe another watch.
Sorry to hear about the paid subscriptions nonsense, Hopefully it'll sorted out soon. But Its worth it for the great substack. Paid subs ftw!
Happy Thanksgiving!