Napoleon

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[00:00:22] For a schedule of upcoming screenings and membership information, visit the society's Dr. Ridley Scott starring Joaquin Phoenix. It is the historical drama Napoleon. That'll be our review. After we finish our review a little bit later in the show, we will also have a recommendation, courtesy of Chris Fry, a film recommendation. He'd like for you to check out. And I've got a film that I'm going to show a trailer for that I'm extremely curious about.

[00:01:40] I wanna hear your thoughts on as well, Chris,

[00:01:42] about an interesting production coming up

[00:01:45] in the next few months that I do nothing about 886, Ridley Scott has had quite the filmmaking career. His early work includes films many considered classics such as Alien, Blade Runner, and Duhman the Weeds. He's still stranger to large-scale filmmaking with titles such as Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and the Napoleon saga. And it does so in a, I think, relatively entertaining way. Although I'd never found the film to be very extraordinary. I never found anything about the film a sense of Napoleon as an actual person in this film. And that's, I don't know if I don't blame Joaquin Phoenix for that because I think he seemed to be performing with what he was given fairly well. I just wonder if the script really had a good idea of how to really give him a presence on screen

[00:05:42] that we could connect to.

[00:05:43] And I guess that was probably my biggest takeaways.

[00:05:45] I just didn't, but I'm not super high on it. So Chris, I want to hear your thoughts on this film. What do you think of Napoleon? It sounds like you and I are overall on the same page, which could make for a boring review.

[00:07:03] Sorry listeners, but I think I've been in the video.

[00:07:07] I loved it. That's the character that they want to portray. I that's who we're supposed to connect with that I actually didn't mind that as much but then there would be moments where he seemed kind of silly and goofy and kind of just a very different character and it's like,

[00:08:22] okay, I'm not really sure I'm quite getting who we're supposed to believe Napoleon is from this.

[00:09:27] Maybe that's the person but it just just seemed really kind of odd but not in an interesting way, I guess. And we're not saying you were I don't think we're just go ahead.

[00:09:31] No, I was gonna say did you find there to be a lot more humor in the film almost like in a mocking way at times.

[00:09:39] I was really surprised of how kind of it's not silly is not the so yet to see a film that's kind of Showing them as a kind of a bore and not necessarily a good leader And then also as kind of a goof sometimes You're just like what and it yet makes him look silly. So I wasn't expecting that and I just I guess there wasn't enough of it

[00:11:05] To keep me interested I guess but there were some there. Um Maybe Before I get on I want to get to some positives because I do have some but you mentioned something

[00:12:21] So I do want to get some positives that I have but maybe this film does is working for a lot of people. A lot of people really like it. So they get to one of the best of his career, which, OK, so maybe it would have worked better with another director, not saying really he's a terrible director, not saying he did a terrible job, but maybe it would have worked better for me with another director. OK, so now I'm going to get to this.

[00:13:40] Ideal situation, Chris, is you split between two directors.

[00:13:45] Let Ridley Scott direct all of the film hence the name of this battle Waterloo which everybody knows what happened at Waterloo Yeah, I thought that was really engaging and I really like that

[00:15:01] So that's two big standout pieces that I really really liked

[00:15:05] I'll say as well

[00:16:04] and we didn't see enough to give us any true sense of what this relationship was.

[00:16:09] It showed us just the moment you needed to see to advance the plot and to make things happen. But we never, I don't feel like we ever got a sense anything deeper of this relationship.

[00:16:13] And that's important because this relationship drives a fair amount of this movie and fair amount of Napoleon's

[00:16:20] his actions throughout the film.

[00:16:22] But I feel like it was kind of, okay, here's the scene where they meet.

[00:16:25] All right.

[00:16:25] Now here's the scene where they start courting.

[00:16:27] Now here's the scene where they're married.

[00:17:26] to the story, she's really not on screen that much to justify that. So I'm with you on that completely.

[00:17:31] I, you know, not to I don't want to veer away from the pot, but yeah.

[00:17:35] So that was frustrating.

[00:17:37] It seemed to have more to be, but that was possible.

[00:17:38] I did enjoy her.

[00:17:40] Vanessa Kirby in general is a positive.

[00:17:42] Yes.

[00:17:42] I agree.

[00:17:43] Yeah.

[00:17:43] Yeah.

[00:17:44] Um, other attributes of the film, which you, kind of a co-lead Vanessa Kirby? Because I had one that I had one that I'll mention that was kind of a surprise to me,

[00:19:00] but if you have any that you wanted to mention, I wanted to let you chime in on that.

[00:19:06] Not any particular I want to call out. I'm not, I like Rupert Everett, okay. You know, I think he's good in this episode. But I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm a fan and I hadn't seen him in a while, maybe since the Julia Robert days of doing things. So it'd been a while. And I saw his face and his care come like, I recognize this person, but I have no idea who he is. And then like the credits come out like,

[00:20:22] oh, of course that's who that is.

[00:20:24] So yeah, I guess I thought it was good. I thought it was an okay film. I will say, and it was definitely challenged my expectations of what I thought I was gonna get just as a film and then what I thought I was gonna get as a representation of Napoleon himself. And one of the things that you hear about Napoleon, I always thought he was supposed to be this great leader

[00:21:42] in a successful, I guess, war person.

[00:21:46] Yes, he brought upon himself. And it was a little, even near the Waterloo scene, it's like, I mean, watching the Duke of Wellington kind of watch Napoleon lead from the other side. And just, it was a little more satirical. And then, but then you come to a closing where it's like, Oh, but by the way, hundreds of thousands of

[00:23:02] people died under his under his leadership. So,'t know, someone who made a who what was the film that we both really love executed much better. Yeah, I would agree with that. That's a good point, yeah. That would be a much more interesting take on the Napoleon story than this. And this is, it was almost like trying to take, let's take a story that has a lot of issues

[00:25:42] with the lead character, the main character Napoleon.

[00:25:45] Let's take all of his foibles, all of his quirks how his strategies weren't working. So show him as not the great leader that maybe some people think he is and show him as a fool, but not as a buffoon. Show him as not being a good military leader and let that, like his failings come to rise because of how you're showing them not

[00:27:05] making light of it, I guess, the way that would have been more, maybe a better suited Ridley Scott angle. I think so as well. I'm guessing maybe by the end of the month, by the end of December, it might be. But it was still playing in movies or theaters. Okay. And that's, I would recommend if you're interested in it at all, go see it on the big screen because I think it would benefit from the sound and the visuals of everything having this huge screen. Like, you know, we, I mean, we're broken records.

[00:28:23] We're film critics. Of course, we want to encourage you to go to out that way as well. All right. Well, that is Napoleon, again, directed by the great Ridley Scott, starring Joaquin Phoenix in Vanessa Kirby. Chris and I are both saying it's worth a watch, definitely a good theatrical experience. But I think we both came away with some

[00:29:43] some unsatisfying elements to it that just made it kept it from being

[00:29:48] a great film. So I think that's fair to entry, but not one of his finest, I think so. Okay, Chris. Okay, Chris. Last, I will say, after Last Dual, I'm glad that he had this film, which is getting a lot more push, because even though I think Last Dual was a better film, it seemed like that kind of came and went. There wasn't a lot of attention getting into it.

[00:31:00] Critics liked it, but it kind of came and went out of theaters and wasn't that big of

[00:31:04] a deal, whereas this one's getting a much more prestigious treatment, which it's got to take that idea of kind of a quiet and the pulling. Interesting. Thank you for mentioning it. I totally forgot. Yeah. I guess you didn't care for House of Gucci. I don't know. Let me talk about it on the show. I was not not as big on it. Got you. But yeah. Yeah. So that's that is really Scott. He has actually got a couple of projects upcoming. You already mentioned Gladiator 2 is in development.

[00:32:22] I think it's with.

[00:32:23] They don't.

[00:32:24] They don't have an actual title for that, right?

[00:32:27] Gladiator 2.

[00:33:22] I mean, look, he's got, he's all still got it. I mean, press the movie, he put it together, but he's got, he's got two films and then

[00:33:29] two TV series like in production right now that he's attached to.

[00:33:33] I don't know if he's gonna have time to squeeze in a Nailion before too long.

[00:33:37] So we'll see.

[00:33:38] Sure.

[00:33:39] Okay, Chris, that is Napoleon in theaters right now and should be on Apple TV plus here soon, probably

[00:33:46] in the next few weeks, I'm assuming.

[00:34:44] notes during the break, Chris and I had decided we're in the three star category on Napoleon. Three, maybe three and a half for me. Three, three and a half, I think is the right range

[00:34:48] of where we are on a five star scale. I think it's important to have these metrics, Chris,

[00:34:53] that we have to kind of hold ourselves accountable for in numbers. People love the numbers. They

[00:34:57] love the star ratings. So that's where we are. Go on letterbox, follow us, and you'll see any of

[00:35:02] the films we're watching. And Chris normally was another one I'm missing or is that it? That might have been the three that we, the three features are done. Yeah. All three critically acclaimed films. Each, I think, a little, always a little hard to wrap your head around sometimes is films.

[00:36:23] There's a lot going on.

[00:36:24] There's a lot to process, especially in men. actual civil war, warring between the two sides, people trying to, I think, apply the film has to do with the lead actors, played by Kristin Dunst is having to try to travel to the White House or to get to the White House for some reason, having? Okay, all right. So here's the trailer for civil war. 19 states have succeeded. The United States Army rams up activity. The White House issued warnings to the western forces as well as the Florida alliance. The three-term president assures the uprising will be dealt with swiftly.

[00:39:01] Let me know if you want to try anything wrong.

[00:39:02] I'm doesn't wear this like a very pointed film from Alex Garland.

[00:40:21] Not that when he makes his film, he doesn of an American are you? And you're like, okay, so it is troubling. Obviously the movie is troubling. I am interested to see it. It does look like it's gonna have some things going on, but it looks like it'll be what they refer to as a tough sit. At least for me at this moment,

[00:41:42] a lot of people would say, why do I wanna go?

[00:41:44] I mean, granted, this is hopefully,

[00:41:46] as you alluded to, something that is an extreme version, So yeah, so what what are you thought down? Well, I know I was curious about it because I It's not a film. I expected Alex Carlin to make I mean even when he did a quote like Some element of an action movie. I guess you could say a nyla nylation had some elements of that at times There was still a lot more going on beyond just it being a

[00:43:04] Action thriller this one the premise of look again. I could see any

[00:44:03] I hope this is not Garland doing a paycheck movie. I guess is what I'm just trying to say.

[00:44:05] Hey, let's tap into something in the zeitgeist right now,

[00:44:08] the social commentary, and let's make an action movie out of it.

[00:44:12] And people will come see it and pay money to see it, and that's it.

[00:44:17] So.

[00:44:18] So something that I think, which, yeah, just a general movie that's going to be dark and

[00:44:23] depressing, an action movie that's going of point he's trying to make is not, oh, this is inevitable. It's going to happen. You know, get depressed, see what you can do to rent. It's like, hey, look how, look how we have become what we have tried to help other countries not endure. So I think that could be there could be what he's trying to go for.

[00:45:41] I do have there's something, something deeper there.

[00:45:43] I got a feeling recommend a documentary. It's about Jim Baez. It's called Jim Baez, I am a noise. And we know we talked about Napoleon being a documentary or not documentary, but a biopic

[00:47:04] of this person.

[00:47:06] Jim Baez is, in the documentary extensively. Probably had, you know, she's maybe a producer on the film. No, she's not a producer on the film. But anyways, she obviously had a lot to do with it, you know, we had a hand in it. They feel like it puts this person up on a pedestal and idolizes the melod. You know, that can be a kind of a come down of a documentary or, you know, the bravery of being willing to let this documentary come out of it was like a wort and all type thing. I thought was pretty interesting. So I'm going to recommend it. It's not, you can rent it, it's on for VOD. The directors are actually three directors, Karen and Connor, Mary Nove in a lot of ways. But I found it to be very interesting as just an extremely well-made documentary. Yes, maybe it's lacking in showing, you know, how she wrote songs or why she became famous or some of her, you know, letting me know. Like, I still don't really know a lot of, like, I could maybe

[00:51:02] only name one or two songs. And that's how many songs I could name going into the film. This is a lot digging into her family relationships. The impact those relationships had on her later on as an adult and some of the struggles she found herself facing later on in life. So it's a lot more about that. But I mean, it's still very interesting from that regard. Just I do want to kind of caution. It's not your typical musical music bi some of the icon building of this film. And it's done in a very subtle way. But it's like, she, my understanding from the film, at least, is that she actually kind of helped him kind of get his start and stuff. And I had no idea about that. So that was, that was interesting. And it wasn't like rammed in your face like, Oh, if it wouldn't have been for her, he

[00:53:41] would have known, no, no, no, she's very complimentary about his

[00:53:44] talents. But it's so that that is something that I did learn in Joan Byers, I'm a voice. As always Chris, if anybody has any feedback for us, thoughts, questions, anything they wanna comment on, how can they get a hold of us here? So you can send an email to info at footcandal.org. You can follow us on Twitter at footcandalfilm, Facebook, footcandalfilm society, Instagram threads,

[00:55:01] just simply footcandalfilm.

[00:55:03] Alan did mention earlier, we are on Letterbox,

[00:55:05] and that's with that little E there at the end, Round four, wash notes out of the reverence of the heritage of an art. Wash notes through the courtesy of the candle. No film society. Special thanks to Carpal Tuller for the show theme music.

[00:56:20] For more about Carpal Tuller, visit www.carpaltuller.com.