John Adams (2008) - Blu-ray Forum

SillyMammo · 02-07-2010, 12:00 AM

John Adams Blu-ray

John Adams Blu-ray Review

Well, I finally finished the John Adams series and I'll have to be honest, I wasn't impressed with it. I thought the acting was excellent and visually it was superb, but the written was lacking.

I felt it never gave good reasons why John Adams was such a great man. Prime example: The Continental Congress sends him off to Europe during the Revolution. The impression I get was he failed miserably in France and the Netherlands and was simply kept over there to keep him out of the way. Then upon his return, he's so well respected by the people, that he gets the 2nd most votes for President only losing out to Washington(a hero of the people!) Why?

We get glimpses of him sticking to his principles, but that doesn't make you a great man. Sometimes you're just stubborn.

I really wanted to like this series and blind bought it. HBO makes some great stuff and I though for sure I'd enjoy it, but alas it was a disappointment (to me). Did everyone like this but me?

tlimof · 02-07-2010, 12:12 AM

I thought it was a great series, wonderfully acted, directed and written. I think is a very good portryal of John Adams the man, with all his virtues and failures. It was a very human portrayal of Adams.

I'I watched on HBO, then bought first day of release in blu, watched it then and I'm currently watching it for the second time.

Maybe you would enjoy it with the historical feature of the blu.

xxJACKRYANxx · 02-07-2010, 12:43 AM

I certainly enjoyed it. Acting was superb.

I think if we were to see accurate portrayals of most anyone from those times they wouldn't hold up to the standards we have today.

Underworld54 · 02-07-2010, 01:23 AM

It's the best blind buy i've ever made. I enjoyed it so much that I just purchased the book that inspired the HBO series.

The partnership that he and Abagail shared was amazing and I would love to read those letters the two of them sent back and forth.

As far as History goes, if John Adams hadn't avoided war from abroad we may not be here discussing this film. We were ripe for the picking and he knew how susceptible we were at that time. He was an amazing man (grouchy a lot of the time) but still a very influential character in our history's past.

Nightshade · 02-07-2010, 01:39 AM

if i saw it in blu i would prob love it even more it was great

octagon · 03-31-2011, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underworld54

The partnership that he and Abagail shared was amazing and I would love to read those letters the two of them sent back and forth.

The miniseries is based on the John Adams biography by David McCullough. He's a very good biographer, very readable and makes extensive use of the letters.

Well worth checking out.

Sussudio · 02-07-2010, 01:46 AM

Exceptional acting and beautiful set design, but the cinematography was horrendous...whoever decided to throw modern-style camerawork into a period TV show didn't seem to have any idea what they were doing. The consistently drastic angles and shaky-cam work were very distracting to me, and while the story and acting is more important to me than the cinematography, the latter was noticeable enough to take me out every time I started to get pulled in. Just my .02 (and I noticed Ken shared a similar mindset in his review

).

wonkavision · 01-06-2012, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sussudio

Exceptional acting and beautiful set design, but the cinematography was horrendous...whoever decided to throw modern-style camerawork into a period TV show didn't seem to have any idea what they were doing. The consistently drastic angles and shaky-cam work were very distracting to me, and while the story and acting is more important to me than the cinematography, the latter was noticeable enough to take me out every time I started to get pulled in. Just my .02 (and I noticed Ken shared a similar mindset in his review

).

I agree completely. I find the horizontal shifts of the background so distracting and sloppy. Yikes.

s2mikey · 01-06-2012, 03:06 PM

Didnt care for it at all. Very disappointed. Boring. Hit eject after an hour and never tried again. Oh well, just my opinion.

HD Goofnut · 01-06-2012, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Didnt care for it at all. Very disappointed. Boring. Hit eject after an hour and never tried again. Oh well, just my opinion.

It was one of the best mini-series I have ever seen and probably Giamatti's best performance. It has a 8.7/10 on IMDB for a reason.

s2mikey · 02-11-2012, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

It was one of the best mini-series I have ever seen and probably Giamatti's best performance. It has a 8.7/10 on IMDB for a reason.

The reason is that some peoples opinions differed from mine. Nothing scientific about it. It was boring and not at all what I was expecting. It takes more than a good performance for me to sit through something.

Chordata · 01-06-2012, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Didnt care for it at all. Very disappointed. Boring. Hit eject after an hour and never tried again. Oh well, just my opinion.

I loved the first 2-3 episodes, but like you I got bored thereafter and didn't watch the rest.

The Boston Massacre-related stuff was awesome.

Gaius Marius · 02-08-2012, 10:17 PM

Just finished watching the series again! I picked it up back in November, but waited to finish reading the book on the Declaration I was reading first

Overall, I was impressed with the series' accuracy. Some details, of course, were lost to Hollywood, but it was, overall, very good. My only two complaints were the cinematography (seriously, shaky cam?) and the fact that it did a lot of jumping around without a good sense of how much time has passed. For example, I knew what was going on due to the book I read, but my brother was a little confused by some things.

As for the Revolution being "me no likey taxes" - I think someone needs to retake American History

Yes, taxes were part of it (really the tip of the iceberg), but the Revolution was really due to England flexing it's muscle over the little colonies. Every time the Colonies spoke out (or rebelled) against an unfair piece of legislation from Parliament, England tightened the noose, taking away essential liberties and freedoms of the American colonists (really, the colonists were Second Class citizens of the British Empire - not even allowed to sit on Parliament). The Revolution was more "freedom and liberty vs tyranny on oppression" - a key lesson for today.

Lincoln6Echo · 02-07-2010, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SillyMammo

We get glimpses of him sticking to his principles, but that doesn't make you a great man. Sometimes you're just stubborn.

No, actually that's what most people like in others no matter what they're political persuasion. If you stick with your convictions and principles, then at least people can say, "He stuck to his guns"....but if you're wishy washy, and waffle on every decision you based on what direction the political winds are blowing, then that tells people that you're not worthy of being a leader.

If you make decisions you start off by sticking your finger in the wind, or reading a poll, or if your triangulate, then most likely, you're gonna end up not satisfying anyone....your base, nor your opposition.

To be honest, that's been the problem with the Democratic Party for the past 20+ years or so when trying to placate one interest group, they end up ticking off one or more other groups.

hostelmovies · 02-07-2010, 02:22 AM

I liked it but could bring myself to watch it once in my life. I would love to see a George Washington one with David Hulse reprising his role as GW. He was without a doubt the best part of the show.

AND: John Adams decaying teeth over the course of the show was gross in HD.

QuasidodoJr · 02-07-2010, 02:47 AM

I really enjoyed it. Enough so that I actually double-dipped on the blu-ray. When it first released it was on DVD only.

ChadFL · 02-07-2010, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hostelmovies

I liked it but could bring myself to watch it once in my life. I would love to see a George Washington one with David Hulse reprising his role as GW. He was without a doubt the best part of the show.

AND: John Adams decaying teeth over the course of the show was gross in HD.

Really? I thought he was horrible as Washington.

ChadFL · 02-07-2010, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lumet

Who is David Hulse anyway?

He must have gotten the name wrong. The guy who played Washington is David Morse not Hulse. He's a fairly good actor even though I didn't like the job he did as Washington.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001556/

tlimof · 02-07-2010, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hostelmovies

John Adams decaying teeth over the course of the show was gross in HD.

Really??? I thought it was awesome the level of detail, I hate when I see perfect teeth in the characters of movies set centuries ago.

kurtlingle · 02-07-2010, 03:28 PM

I just loved this series (rented on Netflix) and so I got it for 22.99 at amazon for my wife for Xmas.

I plan on watching these each 4th of July weekend over the next few years (used to watch the Patriot).

Great series and very well made indeed.

02-07-2010, 12:00 AM	#1
SillyMammo Expert Member Member since:Aug 2008 4K collection:426 Blu-ray collection:1086 Trading Score:2	John Adams (2008) John Adams Blu-ray John Adams Blu-ray Review Well, I finally finished the John Adams series and I'll have to be honest, I wasn't impressed with it. I thought the acting was excellent and visually it was superb, but the written was lacking. I felt it never gave good reasons why John Adams was such a great man. Prime example: The Continental Congress sends him off to Europe during the Revolution. The impression I get was he failed miserably in France and the Netherlands and was simply kept over there to keep him out of the way. Then upon his return, he's so well respected by the people, that he gets the 2nd most votes for President only losing out to Washington(a hero of the people!) Why? We get glimpses of him sticking to his principles, but that doesn't make you a great man. Sometimes you're just stubborn. I really wanted to like this series and blind bought it. HBO makes some great stuff and I though for sure I'd enjoy it, but alas it was a disappointment (to me). Did everyone like this but me? Last edited by Scottie; 04-12-2017 at 08:53 PM.

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02-07-2010, 12:12 AM	#2
tlimof Senior Member Member since:Jun 2009 Location:Lima, Peru - Gaithersburg, MD, USA Home Theater Gallery:24 Blu-ray collection:234 Blu-ray reviews:5	I thought it was a great series, wonderfully acted, directed and written. I think is a very good portryal of John Adams the man, with all his virtues and failures. It was a very human portrayal of Adams. I'I watched on HBO, then bought first day of release in blu, watched it then and I'm currently watching it for the second time. Maybe you would enjoy it with the historical feature of the blu.

02-07-2010, 12:43 AM	#3
xxJACKRYANxx Member Member since:Aug 2009 Location:New Hampshire Blu-ray collection:108	I certainly enjoyed it. Acting was superb. I think if we were to see accurate portrayals of most anyone from those times they wouldn't hold up to the standards we have today.

02-07-2010, 01:23 AM	#4
Underworld54 Blu-ray Count Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Albany NY Blu-ray collection:163 Blu-ray reviews:4 Trading Score:15	It's the best blind buy i've ever made. I enjoyed it so much that I just purchased the book that inspired the HBO series. The partnership that he and Abagail shared was amazing and I would love to read those letters the two of them sent back and forth. As far as History goes, if John Adams hadn't avoided war from abroad we may not be here discussing this film. We were ripe for the picking and he knew how susceptible we were at that time. He was an amazing man (grouchy a lot of the time) but still a very influential character in our history's past.

02-07-2010, 01:39 AM	#5
Nightshade Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Dec 2009 Location:Atlantis Home Theater Gallery:8 4K collection:35 Blu-ray collection:147 DVD collection:14 Blu-ray reviews:27 Trading Score:81	if i saw it in blu i would prob love it even more it was great

02-07-2010, 01:46 AM	#7
Sussudio Blu-ray Champion Member since:Sep 2008 Blu-ray collection:1 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:11	Exceptional acting and beautiful set design, but the cinematography was horrendous...whoever decided to throw modern-style camerawork into a period TV show didn't seem to have any idea what they were doing. The consistently drastic angles and shaky-cam work were very distracting to me, and while the story and acting is more important to me than the cinematography, the latter was noticeable enough to take me out every time I started to get pulled in. Just my .02 (and I noticed Ken shared a similar mindset in his review ).

01-06-2012, 03:06 PM	#9
s2mikey Banned Member since:Nov 2008 Location:Upstate, NY 4K collection:130 Blu-ray collection:303 Trading Score:40	Didnt care for it at all. Very disappointed. Boring. Hit eject after an hour and never tried again. Oh well, just my opinion.

02-08-2012, 10:17 PM	#13
Gaius Marius Power Member Member since:Apr 2009 4K collection:36 Blu-ray collection:594	Just finished watching the series again! I picked it up back in November, but waited to finish reading the book on the Declaration I was reading first Overall, I was impressed with the series' accuracy. Some details, of course, were lost to Hollywood, but it was, overall, very good. My only two complaints were the cinematography (seriously, shaky cam?) and the fact that it did a lot of jumping around without a good sense of how much time has passed. For example, I knew what was going on due to the book I read, but my brother was a little confused by some things. As for the Revolution being "me no likey taxes" - I think someone needs to retake American History Yes, taxes were part of it (really the tip of the iceberg), but the Revolution was really due to England flexing it's muscle over the little colonies. Every time the Colonies spoke out (or rebelled) against an unfair piece of legislation from Parliament, England tightened the noose, taking away essential liberties and freedoms of the American colonists (really, the colonists were Second Class citizens of the British Empire - not even allowed to sit on Parliament). The Revolution was more "freedom and liberty vs tyranny on oppression" - a key lesson for today.

02-07-2010, 02:22 AM	#15
hostelmovies Senior Member Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Rochester, MN Home Theater Gallery:52 Digital collection:1 Blu-ray reviews:17 Trading Score:2	I liked it but could bring myself to watch it once in my life. I would love to see a George Washington one with David Hulse reprising his role as GW. He was without a doubt the best part of the show. AND: John Adams decaying teeth over the course of the show was gross in HD.

02-07-2010, 02:47 AM	#16
QuasidodoJr Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Sep 2007 Location:Cincinnati, OH 4K collection:614 Blu-ray collection:1649 DVD collection:152 Trading Score:267	I really enjoyed it. Enough so that I actually double-dipped on the blu-ray. When it first released it was on DVD only.

02-07-2010, 03:28 PM	#20
kurtlingle Expert Member Member since:Jul 2007 Blu-ray collection:82	I just loved this series (rented on Netflix) and so I got it for 22.99 at amazon for my wife for Xmas. I plan on watching these each 4th of July weekend over the next few years (used to watch the Patriot). Great series and very well made indeed.

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