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Reviews
Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020)
Lavish production
I have been waiting my entire life for someone to make a movie about the fall of Constantinople ever since I first read about it decades ago in junior high. If you don't know the story, this is a good overview. But bear in mind that it is a TV series not a documentary.
Many of the other commentators have pointed out discrepancies, but I think most of them, while important for historical completeness, do not really harm the story.
My criticism is that the intro says (or implies) that the city had never been taken by siege. This is a major omission. In 1204 Constantinople was captured and pillaged by the Christian army during the fourth Crusade. The crusaders remained for about 50 years before being pushed out by another Byzantine force. When the Crusaders left, they sacked the city taking everything that could be moved. For the next 200+ years, Constantinople was a sad shell of the magnificent city it had once been. Large areas within the walls were open fields where no one lived. Monuments and buildings had collapsed because they could not be maintained. The jewels in the crowns were glass because the actual jewels had been pawned. The emperor and the court ate on pottery because all the real gold and silver plates had been sold years ago.
I understand that diminishing the importance and power of the Byzantines would make the Ottoman conquest a bit less miraculous, but it makes the story of the fall of the tired, old, city much less poignant and tragic.
But the Byzantines got the last word. In 1492, 39 years after the fall of Constantinople, new trade routes were opened that drastically reduced the importance of Constantinople's location
Scandal (2012)
Sigh1 -an evil oil CEO with a twangy George Bush accent
Now THERE's an original plot device for you. So creative. Never been done before.
sigh2 ....and the evil and demonic Evangelical Christian Vice President
sigh3 - and the evil National Security person carrying out waterboarding interrogations (although I suppose they should get points for making him black)
sigh4 - the integrity-less (although gay and married to another man) Chief of Staff . Think Dick Cheney lite.
I guess there's only one thing to do next season - crank up the time travel aspect
Khozhdenie po mukam (2017)
Red eyes!
No, not from crying (although I am sure there was plenty of that from other viewers). No, red eyes from lack of sleep. This is one of those multi-part series where I had to tell myself multiple times - "it's 5AM, you MUST stop watching and go to bed. You can pick it up again tomorrow."
Production values are incredible. Sets! Costumes! Characters! I have been doing a lot of reading about WWI and the Russian Revolution lately, and that series transported me back to that time, place, and atmosphere totally. In this era of cynicism and jadedness, who of we viewers didn't roll our eyes a few times at the naievte of the poetry?
I have no negative comments. However, I can speak a little Russian, and I should warn anyone who has yet to view this wonder that there are a LOT of characters and sometimes it's tricky to keep track of eveyone's name and relationships. You might want to keep a list. LOL
The Comfort of Strangers (1990)
Amazing
I saw this film on the strength of an NPR review. This was decades ago before I had even heard of Rupert Everett or Helen Mirren. When I came across something (I forget what) that said Helen Mirren was in the movie, I had to go rent it and watching again because I couldn't figure out who her character was. It was such an un-Helen Mirren-esque part but she stilled nailed it.
And the movie has that car wreck vibe - you don't want to watch it play out, but you can't help yourself. Definitely one of my favorite movies.
Okkupert (2015)
Fremragende!
I started watching this movie on Netflix just to practice my Norwegian (which I don't suggest since many of the characters speak in different dialects, mostly Nynorsk), but after the first episode, I was hooked.
You can easily see the hand of Jo Nesbø in crafting the plot line. And it is wonderful (and unusual unfortunately) to see a political thriller that doesn't sink under the weight of its own ideology. One of the compelling things about the series is how all of the characters change over the course of the season.
A warning though: much like Nesbø's books, this series is addicting. On more than one occasion, it resulted in my staying up until 3am or later (and paying for it the next day at work) simply because I HAD to see the next episode, so be sure to clear large blocks of time once you start watching.