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fxlafferty
Reviews
Gettysburg (1993)
Somewhat Entertaining But...
Lots of pretty, gentlemanly Southern dialogue interspersed with battle scenes where hardly anyone dies until close to the end. No mention of Dan Sickles, or much at all about General George Meade. Yes, the fight scenes become more intense during the final 60-90 minutes, but this was the bloodiest battle on American soil, 620,000 plus American lives lost, yet this reminded me of a Disney production. It should be remade in a grittier style, like Saving Private Ryan, then we'd see what it was really like.
Better still, want to learn about the Civil War? Go to Gettysburg!!!
Gettysburg (2011)
Too Disney for my taste
Though I liked the cast for the most part- I did think Robert E. Lee was best portrayed by someone other than Martin Sheen- this movie was mostly 4 hours of gentlemanly Southern dialogue lightly intermingled with actual battle scenes, during many of which I saw very few soldiers fall... on either side. This was the bloodiest battle on American soil, over 600,000 lives lost, yet I barely saw any blood in this movie. The fighting only picked up in the last third of the movie- actually, soldiers were falling and dying for the entire 3 days.
To state it simply, it's no Saving Private Ryan caliber representation of war. It's way too squeaky-clean for my taste, I like a lot more authenticity in these types of movies. If this film were made today, we'd all have a better idea of what really took place. Also left out were some key participants like Daniel Sickles, General George Meade, who was hardly a blip in this movie, even Jenny Wade, the only civilian killed, was left out. Speaking of which, where was the part of the battle that raged in the town of Gettysburg in which Jenny was killed? Seems to me they could have covered more in a 4 hour movie, and left out some of the pretty speeches.
San Andreas (2015)
Another expensive dud! NOTE:Spoiler contains no names.
This film should be renamed "Outrageous and Predictable". I've never uttered the phrase "Oh, please!" so many times during any movie. Alexandra Daddario is the only thing worth watching!
Slight spoiler alert: The CPR scene in the end is way too long, the victim would have suffered severe brain damage after only 4 minutes and been dead after about 4-6 more. The individual applying CPR was at it for what seemed to have spanned at least 5 minutes, maybe more.
Just another big budget special effects extravaganza with no substance, I had to suspend disbelief one too many times.
I give it a 3 overall, but a 9 for special effects, and a 10 for Alexandra Daddario.