John Adams (2008)

[wonkavision]

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]

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]

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.

[Chordata]

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]

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.

[kernel_thai]

With the exception for episode two, I liked it but didnt love it. I dont blame this on HBO, the acting or the writing, I just blame it on John Adams. Episode two featured his determined drive to get the Declaration of Independence written and signed, and this seemed to be accomplished by the mans will alone. It also shows the frustrations of trying to get 13 colonies each with their own agendas to act together while Adam's home and family were under direct attack from the British. The rest of his story was just much less interesting to me. His failures abroad, his presidency, and the on going spat with Jefferson paled to his shining moments in the continental congress. It seemed in the rest of his endeavours, his boldness and tenacity worked against him.

[Wally Q]

Originally Posted by kernel_thai

With the exception for episode two, I liked it but didnt love it. I dont blame this on HBO, the acting or the writing, I just blame it on John Adams. Episode two featured his determined drive to get the Declaration of Independence written and signed, and this seemed to be accomplished by the mans will alone. It also shows the frustrations of trying to get 13 colonies each with their own agendas to act together while Adam's home and family were under direct attack from the British. The rest of his story was just much less interesting to me. His failures abroad, his presidency, and the on going spat with Jefferson paled to his shining moments in the continental congress. It seemed in the rest of his endeavours, his boldness and tenacity worked against him.

I thought if it was reworked a bit, the first and second episode could have been a theatrical film and actually would have been a real awards contender. The whole John Adams miniseries was more deserving of the Academy Awards than The King's Speech which felt smaller and more of an Emmy contender.

[Gaius Marius]

I do agree that Episode 2 is the best of the series, and a streamlined Ep 1-3 could have been a good movie (looking at the Declaration and the Revolution on the whole). I found the rest of the series interesting, but I am mostly pulled towards Eps 1-3.

[kernel_thai]

Originally Posted by Wally Q

I thought if it was reworked a bit, the first and second episode could have been a theatrical film and actually would have been a real awards contender. The whole John Adams miniseries was more deserving of the Academy Awards than The King's Speech which felt smaller and more of an Emmy contender.

Originally Posted by Gaius Marius

I do agree that Episode 2 is the best of the series, and a streamlined Ep 1-3 could have been a good movie (looking at the Declaration and the Revolution on the whole). I found the rest of the series interesting, but I am mostly pulled towards Eps 1-3.

I was very surprised how much of the story I didnt know and that was the best part. If a historical piece isnt teaching u anything they didnt do there homework. I also loved the cast. Giamatti and Linney were perfect. Im surprised so many people didnt like David Morse. I thought he looked like Washington and performed the character in a very interesting way.

[Gaius Marius]

Originally Posted by kernel_thai

I was very surprised how much of the story I didnt know and that was the best part. If a historical piece isnt teaching u anything they didnt do there homework. I also loved the cast. Giamatti and Linney were perfect. Im surprised so many people didnt like David Morse. I thought he looked like Washington and performed the character in a very interesting way.

The series is very good in capturing the history, and I thought the casting was excellent. Morse made a good Washington, I thought. He towered over everyone else (literally, Washington was over 6 ft tall) and conveyed the modesty and soft spokenness that Washington was known for.

[s2mikey]

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.

[Valley Forge]

It's a beautiful Blu-ray. George Washington is my favorite part of this miniseries.

[AmishParadise]

Holy thread resurrection Batman! On sale at Amazon.com for $9.99 for those so inclined.



To each his own. I for one enjoyed this immensely. Own it on DVD and just finished watching it on Blu-ray.
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Related note regarding subtitles...
There are select forced subtitles during Episode 3 for those of us who don't speak French. With the DVD release the forced subtitles aren't displayed unless you access the subtitles option from the main menu and select "none". If you don't do this they aren't shown even though "none" is the option selected by default. With the Blu-ray release the forced subtitles are just not there. Your only option is to turn "English" subtitles on which includes everything.

[HD Goofnut]

Being the history nut I am I loved this show. I just ripped it to my Favorite TV Show hard drive a couple weeks ago.

[Shingster]

One of the best things HBO has ever produced imo.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Shingster

One of the best things HBO has ever produced imo.

I agree. This and Band of Brothers.

[sperezmore]

Originally Posted by Shingster

One of the best things HBO has ever produced imo.

Super agree!!!!!

Get it

Regards,

[MifuneFan]

Amazon is matching BB, who have several HBO shows on sale. This is a great mini-series, one of my favorites for sure.

[freddy=legend]

Watched this series with a friend after we had fallen in love with Hamilton. Found this to be really enjoyable. We both laughed that the scene with Hamilton & Jefferson arguing at dinner was basically the same structure and subject Lin used for Cabinet Battle #1 in the musical.

Great price for the show. May need to finally pick up my own copy.

[BurningAstronaut]

The sale price is for the standard edition of John Adams — not the digipak 1/4 slip version as pictured in the Blu-ray Movie Deals.