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I'd never even heard of either of these films until I rented them.Pharaoh's Army is a Civil War story about a small band of Union soldiers scavenging supplies at the Kentucky farm of a woman whose husband has gone away to fight for the Confederacy. Complications ensue. ;-) I rented this one because Chris Cooper, a favorite of mine, is one of the leads. He'll never be a superstar, but he's a damn fine actor and been in many excellent movies.
Up at the Villa is set in pre-WWII Florence, Italy and is an old-fashioned romance starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn. Rented this one figuring I'd take the good(KST, yum) with the bad(SP, yech). I've assiduously avoided Penn for years(with the exception of Dead Man Walking) for no other reason than that I think he's obnoxious. He was good in this film even...uh... [cough]...uh...likeable. Interesting performances in some of the lesser roles, particularly Derek Jacobi and Anne Bancroft. Engaging film based on a W. Somerset Maugham story. Oh yeah, Kristin was good, too.
Follow Ups:
...but made for educational TV. Even better is Ride with the Devil, which takes the politically-incorrect viewpoint of Southern soldiers -- the Missouri Men. The excellent Tobey McGuire stars.Hey didya know? Black guys fought for the South! It's true and all in the movie too -- which perhaps help explain why the major media critics never paid it much attention.
clark
I was watching the BRAVO program on Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" last night and his screenwriter for "Ride With The Devil" said that the studio basically abandoned that film during its release in Holiday season last year. It also suffered from some scathing reviews of folksinger Jewel's acting debut (I wouldn't know, haven't seen it, but can't imagine it being more painful than Madonna's "Body Of Evidence"). Thanks for reminding me about Ang Lee's lost film.
I had no problem at all with her, perhaps because I was not aware of her other line of... work.I can think of two other criticized actresses in the same "amateur" bag: Coppola's daughter in GFIII (I thought she was fine) and Bjork more recently in... what?... I didn't see it.
As to "Ride", by all means see it on the largest screen you can muster. While it's generally an intimate film focussing on the characters, there're a couple sequences that generously fill the screen with detail, notably the Sack of Lawrence. (Huh?)
clark
I've never heard of "Ride with the Devil". I'll try to find it to rent. There doesn't seem to be a large number of good Civil War films. Have any more suggestions?
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