Horatio Hornblower - The New Adventures (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)A&E continues to treat fans of the Horatio Hornblower book series with two new movies. These movies are at least of equal quality, if not better, than the six previous films. Everything from the ships to the costumes to the sets hit all the notes and make you feel a part of the period.
Likewise the stories and acting are fabulous. Horatio is given command of the Hotspur and is forced to deal with a new crew (with some old faces), the French, spies, and rebel Irishmen. Coming through with flying colors, Hornblower tackles the unthinnkable - marriage. This second film, Duty, is the best of the series. The central theme of 'duty' is so thoroughly woven into the fabric of the story that almost all of the relationships in the narrative are faced with the question of duty.
Ioan Gruffud continues to give a truly inspiring performance as Captain Hornblower. He continues to let the character grow and mature, while at the same time maintaining the core identity of Hornblower - an honorable, intelligent, courageous soldier who is wholeheartedly devoted to Britain and her navy. The relationship between Hornblower and Admiral Pellew continues to become more of a father-son relationship. Paul McGann (of Doctor Who fame, among many other things) returns as Lt. Bush. McGann gives a strong performance as Hornblower's second in command, showing that that he is more than capable of both being a leading man and an excellent supporting character.
Something that many may find as a negative is the lack of totally new music. Much of the score seems to be a reworking of the major musical themes found in the first four films of the series. Personally, I find this a 'plus.' It helps establish a certain continuity to the series that is nice. I always find myself grinning when the "Horatio has done it again" theme begins playing across the cheers or astonished looks of the other characters!
For those of you who have seen the Gregory Peck film, Horatio Hornblower, the A&E series is just about to catch up (chronologicall) to the events portayed in that film. Let's hope that A&E continues producing the films until the complete life & times of Horatio Hornblower are done with such excellent acting and production values!
Hip-hip Horay! Hip-hip HORAY! HIP-HIP! HORAY!

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The Triangle (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)(Warning: may contain some spoilers!)This movie is about a group of friends who decide to charter a fishing boat for a day of fishing in the Bermuda Triangle. Then during their trip, the engine breaks down, their instruments go haywire, and they become engulfed in a hazy, yellow fog. Then when the fog subsides, a massive ocean liner, the SS Queen Of Scotts (a cheaply animated, rusty version of the RMS Queen Mary), which disappeared in 1939, appears and the friends find their way aboard to find a radio to get help, to find a machine part for their engine, and one of the men is looking to salvage some gold, jewels, and money from the purser's safe. Then their boat vanishes and they're stuck aboard a rusting old ship, (that looks like the a banquet hall with party stuff and miscellaneous pieces of junk just strewn about, very cheap). The group then tries to find out what happened to the ship, and it is something pretty sinister, though it is not fully explained. Then a ghost boy leads one of the friends away and gives him a heart attack, the evil in the ship drives the greedy, fortune-hunting, friend crazy and he starts trying to kill off the rest of the group so he can take the valubles from the safe. Eventually two of the people kill the insane friend and jump overboard, but the evil in the ship does not want anyone to escape so it drives the ship after them but they are able to get away and give the movie a literally Big, Explosive, ending.
I thought this movie was pretty good, despite its cheesey, tv movie status. It had its small problems, such as plot (which was still good but not too good). And the characters were not that likeable, I don't know if it was their acting or just the character but some of them were just not very interesting.
Overall, though, it was a very good movie, I really enjoyed seeing what the Queen Mary would have looked like if it had been lost in the Bermuda Triangle (at least the exterior). The interior sets looked okay, but were rather cardboardy, as said, and the engine room and bridge were almost as good as new, despite the fact that the ship had been at see for fifty years.
Anyway, the movie was pretty good and I rather enjoyed it, so if you like big ships sinking/exploding, horror, and/or a Bermuda Triangle mystery movie, this one is the one for you.

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