John Adams
Tom Hooper, 2008, 7 hrs (8*)
Emmy for Best Miniseries
This was my Memorial weekend film selection due to the historical tie-in, and I expected a boring seven-hour history lesson about our first VP and second president. I was pleasantly surprised by some action in the early episodes, and an absolutely incredible performance by Emmy-winner Paul Giamatti in the title role, his best performance by far. It begins with a literal bang with the Boston Massacre, when lawyer Adams defends the British, and also includes a well-done naval battle in part 2. This was produced by Tom Hanks, and won five major Emmys and a record 13 overall, so it's not a low-budget PBS series - it's a high budget HBO series!
Laura Linney, also an Emmy-winner, is good as wife Abigail, but she speaks as if giving speeches or elocution lessons, so I'm not sure about her Emmy. Veteran character actor Tom Wilkinson (Emmy-winner for supporting), always impeccable, was a standout as Benjamin Franklin at the royal palace in France; some of the locations in Europe are stunning. The series starts strong and gets a little slow in the Presidential years with some family dinners, and a cotton-chewing David Morse didn't do much as George Washington. However, to cover decades in a founding fathers life still must be done with only important episodes in that life, so that keeps the series moving. A must for history buffs, maybe too slow for the action-adventure, shoot em up crowd.
This was my Memorial weekend film selection due to the historical tie-in, and I expected a boring seven-hour history lesson about our first VP and second president. I was pleasantly surprised by some action in the early episodes, and an absolutely incredible performance by Emmy-winner Paul Giamatti in the title role, his best performance by far. It begins with a literal bang with the Boston Massacre, when lawyer Adams defends the British, and also includes a well-done naval battle in part 2. This was produced by Tom Hanks, and won five major Emmys and a record 13 overall, so it's not a low-budget PBS series - it's a high budget HBO series!
Laura Linney, also an Emmy-winner, is good as wife Abigail, but she speaks as if giving speeches or elocution lessons, so I'm not sure about her Emmy. Veteran character actor Tom Wilkinson (Emmy-winner for supporting), always impeccable, was a standout as Benjamin Franklin at the royal palace in France; some of the locations in Europe are stunning. The series starts strong and gets a little slow in the Presidential years with some family dinners, and a cotton-chewing David Morse didn't do much as George Washington. However, to cover decades in a founding fathers life still must be done with only important episodes in that life, so that keeps the series moving. A must for history buffs, maybe too slow for the action-adventure, shoot em up crowd.
5 comments:
See I disagree with you about Laura Linney's Emmy. The part of Abigail Adams is not easy, because she has to be speaking as if she were writing a letter. The whole point of this is that when she sounds like she's doing public speaking she's really writing a letter to him. Their scenes together, though were very tender and normal. I thought she was great and definitely deserved the Emmy!
She was very good in the more emotional parts, toward the end especially, I just had a problem with her in the beginning - she seemed like an actress on stage, Giamatti never did. and I thought Wilkinson was superb as Franklin, terrific acting without dialogue in places.
13 Emmys, a record - it sure did look just right! Anything Hanks produces now, the Band of Brothers series with Spielberg, the space one.. great stuff for tv!
Everyone sure liked Laura Linney, and I do usually like her a lot - she was overdue for a major award.
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You didn't mention Stephen Dillane's sublime Thomas Jefferson. I think he was better even than Wilkinson as Franklin, who won the Emmy. Dillane created a Jefferson who was not a caricature -- as Wilkinson's Franklin was, sort of -- and was an intelligent enigma. But it's a great miniseries -- stands up to repeat viewings, too!
You're right - he's so good he just blends right in..
I forgot him b/c I don't know the name at all.
Not sure he's as good as Wilkinson, who did a lot with body language and facial expressions without any dialogue, but he was terrific..
I don't think he was a caricurature - Franklin was pretty risque and wacky - one of his quotes is:
"When riding a horse, sit heavy and tight, when riding a man, sit loose and light" (Poor Richard's Almanac, which was on every nightstand!)
thanks for info - Dillane should be in the reviewt! - Jose
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