The Count of Monte Cristo

[Jedi Master Carr]

This Dumas epic debutes in the US on Friday, anybody interested in seeing it? I am looking forward to it, I actually like Dumas and Monte Cristo is his best book (it is way better than the The Three Musketeers) so I am hopeful for the film. It has everything you want it a movie, Greed, lust, swordfighting, and revenge, it looks terrific and I hope that Disney didn't screw it up. Also I find it strange it is only opening on 1800 screens?? This is the best movie coming out this weekend so you would think it would be pushed more. I am thinking it was suppose to go wide next weekend, but that is the Super Bowl and they decided to go a week early which could be the reason. I would have thought it would debut at #1 but know I think Black Hawk Down will stay #1 one more week, but the Count should be #2, I think the FOTR will be 3 followed by that A Beautiful Mind, Snow Dogs, The Montham Prophecy's (which doesn't make any sense from the previews) Kung Fu Pow (crap) (probably the worst film of the year well at least so far), A walk (not to) remember (another singer, this time Mandy Moore, trying to act, I am sure it will stink).

[JonathanLB]

I'm with you man, I cannot wait to see this film. The first preview I saw, wow, I was thinking, "I am SO THERE!" Haha, looks good.

I'll be there this weekend for sure.

[Jedieb]

The commercials for TCOMC really haven't stirred any interest in me to go out and see the movie. In fact, I'm actually more apt to head down to the library or bookstore and get a copy of the book. Does anyone know of how many times Dumas's story has been filmed?

[Jedi Master Carr]

Not very much here in the US suprisingly, there hasn't been a film version since the 30's (now in France is a different story I think there has been several in the last 20 years), while the Three Musketeers have been filmed countless times here in the US, France, Britain and else where (I know because I did my Thesis on Cardinal Richelieu in Popular Culture and I saw most of the movies). I find that suprisingly since The Count of Monte Cristo is the better book by far, it is Dumas best book easily and I have always wondered why it hasn't been turned into very many films.

[Mu Satach]

There was a TV version with Richard Chamberlain in 1975.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0072824

There was an animated cartoon in 1973.

There was another TV movie in 1964.

There was a movie in 1961 staring Louie Jourdan.

There was yet another TV version in 1958 which was directed by Sidney Lumet.

In 1955 there was a U.K. TV series which starred Princess Anne.

Then there was the 1934 movie, the 1913 silent movie, and a 1908 silent movie.

I've only seen the Richard Chamberlain and Louie Jourdan ones and they are both excellent. Though I prefer Louie's.

I'm with ya all on that the Count is much better than the 3 M's. This is one of my favorite books on my shelf. :)

I got goose bumps all over when I saw the first trailer last fall. I was spazzin in my seat so much as soon as the first pics hit the screen and I realised what the story was even before any titles. My date asked me what was wrong and I couldn't talk until after it was over. :)

I am so at the theater this weekend to see this.



:crack

[Jedieb]

Thanks for all the background info guys. I think I'll see if I can dig up that Louie Jordan version. I've always been a big fan of his. Why he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for his riveting work in Swamp Thing is beyond me. ;)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah I didn't notice those TV movies though most of them seem to be British though I think the 1975 one is American, but it looks pretty bad, Tony Curtis played the villain, Mondego. Donald Pleseants and Jourdan are in it, but Curtis as villain doesn't sit right with me. The Jourdan version is probably the best of those (though it is french) There was a French Mini-series that was given high praise back in 98 I think it won a couple of awards.

[Mu Satach]

You know... I didn't remember that Tony Curtis was the villian... didn't stand out as "eew!" so... *shrugs*

but then... it's been quite a while since i watched that version...

but on the other hand... that's the version that made me read the book.

[JonathanLB]

This movie is unbelievably awesome!!!

I admit I am a sucker for 1) movies with trippy endings (The Game, Fight Club, Vanilla Sky, yadda yadda yadda) and 2) revenge movies, of which this is obviously one (and you would know that from the trailer).

Of course, with category 2, I'm not the only one: apparently the Academy is too as both Braveheart and Gladiator took home best picture trophies.

That's something that obviously The Count of Monte Cristo won't, not because it's not that quality but because it's just not got the hype, that's all. It's still not as good as Braveheart or Gladiator, but darn, it's a very good film.

I am ever reluctant to hand out my four star rating because I used to reserve it almost exclusively for films that I think are meaningful on many levels and will have a lasting impact, but then I realized that four stars is still not perfect and should be bestowed on films which are almost as enjoyable as they come (such as a low-brow comedy like Road Trip, even).

Well, the script for Monte Cristo is the most enjoyable part of the film, honestly. I obviously notice when a script is good, but it does not always stand out if the movie is very well produced and the script is just "good," which could be true of something like Brotherhood of the Wolf, for instance (just saw it). I really liked the movie though there isn't any dialogue I thought was really quotable nor did I believe the script was ingenius, just sufficient to serve the plot of the film and allow for a very entertaining film.

I wish there were a specific word for this technique, and possibly there is one of which I am not aware, but when one character in a film says something earlier on and the other, possibly the protagonist instead of the antagonist, repeats it or says a similar line with a few changes.

To use something that won't spoil any of the movie, because I'm obviously not going to do that, the priest in this film says he lied once, and the Count (not yet a count) says, "You father?" The priest says, "I'm a priest, not a saint!" Later in the movie, under circumstances I will not say, the Count says, "I'm a count, not a saint."

Then one time the antagonist says simply, "It is complicated." At the end of the film, the protagonist says, "It is complicated, ..." and continues.

Then there are lines such as, "I planned my escape with great difficulty. I planned my revenge with great pleasure," or something along those lines (sorry if I messed that up a little).

Then a great line from the Count about weathering the storm (that can be life sometimes) and I forget how that went, but I want it badly. It was very appropriate to my situation and I liked it a lot.

I just thought in general the screenplay was brilliant.

I will tell you this now: during multiple instances in the film, there was absolute widespread applause throughout the theater. I think it was three occassions and you may be able to guess when they are when you see it, but needless to say it's the good triumphing over the bad type of scenes and a specific line, even that triggers the audience :) It was really neat. Perhaps it is just because I was in LA on opening night here and saw it, but my audience was quite impressed.

There wasn't really applause after Brotherhood of the Wolf, a few people, even though I really enjoyed that movie too. It was very good, so just so that I don't get criticized for saying the film I did not like had no applause. (That is what I typically notice about TPM bashers; for some reason ALL of them say at their theather, everyone hated the movie, when ironically of course at every other theater in the nation applause followed the film and when I saw TPM on July 3rd at my theater, it still drew applause 6 weeks after release and that's no BS). Still, there just seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm over The Count of Monte Cristo.

With 74% positive reviews, how could you not want to go see this? Unless you are perhaps too busy or too broke, but come on, this is a must see film!!!

The Count of Monte Cristo is less about the action and more about the Count using his wits and intelligence to get revenge. He doesn't need to go killing everyone like William Wallace in Braveheart and he doesn't face an entire army like in Gladiator really either. He plans his elaborate revenge in a wise and perfect way so as to ruin his opponents not by killing them, but by taking away everything that is precious to them. It's quite a site, really. :) The variation makes this not just an inferior ripoff of Braveheart or Gladiator, but a new film with its own unique plot structure and events. (Yes I do realize this was based on a book, I am just commenting that the film is not attempting to immitate those past best picture winners I don't believe).

The action in The Count of Monte Cristo was not extremely impressive. If you want that, go see Braveheart or Gladiator, seriously, those films cannot be topped, but the plot was nonetheless quite enthralling and I always love the revenge story, but this one had a twist, I thought.

This is not really a spoiler but could be considered one if you REALLY are going to be picky about it, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK:





The Count is struggling between his complete desire for revenge and his desire for love. He also is struggling with his faith and believes that God has turned his back on him, even though he was a very religious person before what happened to him (that required him to get revenge). So he must come to realize that his love is more important than his hatred, which is his own internal struggle between the dark and light side of the Force, if you will, haha. Something like a Vader really, but he is a good guy and never does anything bad, yet he does nearly let his hate consume him.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Thanks Jon, now I want to see it even more. It sounds like they kept a lot of the novel intact especially the dialogue, Dumas is known for his witty dialogue. And while not a great writer (Dumas has been called a hack by a lot of modern critics) this novel is a best and probably work probably because it is so different from everything else he wrote. Most of his stories were escapist novels (The Three Musketeers) this one was dark dealing with revenge trying to pry into the human mind. He also like you said didn't show him go out and kill everyone, instead he craftly went after those who had betrayed him.

Also I am curious how was the acting of Pierce, and the actor who played Dantes(The count)? It seemed from the previews they both did a pretty good job.

[JonathanLB]

I thought the acting was quite good. I definitely think everyone did a good job, or at least it definitely worked for me. The Count, Dantes, is awesome :)

Well for a "hack," he sure has written some of the best books around that have become pretty awesome movies.

I loved The Musketeer from last year, though everyone else pretty much hated it. I heard it called "the worst Musketeer adaptation yet." Well, lol, whatever. I thought it was very well done, the plot was a nice twist too, the action was awesome, music was good, everything about it was good I thought. I have to wonder what the critics hated so much. I even had a friend who said it was absolutely terrible, "Do not go whatever you do." I am glad I didn't listen.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I don't think he is a hack, some critics do, but that is there opinion. I think he is a good writer. I think he is hated because he is a popular writer whose books I would compare maybe with Tom Clancy (who writes political adventure novels).

I haven't seen the Museketeer so I can't say, from what I heard I had some reservations about it, mostly that they changed some things from the book and Stephen Rae playing Richielieu, it was suppose to be Gary Oldman, but he backed out of it, he would have made a great Richelieu. Still, this version couldn't be worse than the 1993 one. In that one actually I like the casting of the three Musketeers (Sutherland, Sheen, Platt) but they did a really bad job casting D'artagnan (Chris O'donnell?) and then they made Tim Curry's Richeleiu way too evil and menacing and even did some historical revisionism. Louis XIII was shown decking Richelieu at the end, which was like what? Louis was a coward and did not care a bit about politics without Richelieu, France would have fell a part. I am sorry I get on this rant about this, it was my thesis and I just getting picking about that one scene. Really though I think the best Musketeer movie is the Two by Richard Lester staring Charlton Heston, Michael York, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, Richard Chamberland, and Raquel Welch. It did a good job capturing the book and kept to the plot, it also had some great acting, even by Heston (suprisingly) who played Richelieu more as a machievillain figure instead of some evil villain.

[JonathanLB]

Well I didn't see the 1993 version, so I don't really know, but yeah I heard it blew chunks. I wonder if I would like it, haha. I tend to be somewhat forgiving at times, but if it is that bad I bet I wouldn't.

You know what film I think has just an awesome cast and actually is a very good movie that nobody else noticed much except for the fact it has our favorite punching bag in it?

The Man in the Iron Mask! I actually really liked that movie. I think I saw it on a plane the first time. Aside from Leonardo, who is very well cast in it still, the actors are all excellent! It's a really good film, IMO, but obviously not in a lot of other people's either.

I bought it on DVD new for $9.44. That is so nice ;)

By the way, I went to four movies this weekend; each cost $10.50 for my ticket. So, uh, I have a lot of DVDs I got cheaper than that.

I spent $135 in two days seeing four movies and having dinner out twice. Ah well, not my money, so what do I care. ;)

Plus it didn't help that I tipped that hot waitress 35%. What can I say, I'm a nice guy when it comes to tipping with my mom's money. Hahaha.

The Mothman Prophecies was good, not that wonderful, but good. Not maybe as good as I had thought, but perhaps pretty close I suppose. I enjoyed it, I just don't think I would buy it on DVD. I'd buy it on DVD used, though, so for like $10 I'd buy it. Black Hawk Down is tight. I saw that Saturday too. Wow, sweet movie. I love the way they depicted almost everything about that entire firefight. Ok I guess it's pretty easy to do when it was only about 18 hours or something, not like a World War battle where the thing could have lasted for a period of weeks including planning and all of that.

I still personally enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo more than Black Hawk Down, even though that is practically blasphemy because I love Ridley Scott. He is absolutely the man, but war movies have nothing on revenge stories. A "war" movie revenge story sorta like Braveheart is even better, though, obviously. ;)

[Jedieb]

Charlton Heston is a much better actor than people give him credit for. He was a major B.O. star in the 60's and has some great films to his credit, including POTA, The Ten Commandments, A Touch of Evil, and Ben Hur. Plus he's got that great voice. Even at his age, he can still give you some great voice over work. Yes he fell into doing cheesy disaster movies, but he he still has some great work to be proud of IMO.

[JMK]

Not to mention a hilarious cameo on friends! :D

[Mu Satach]

I'm in love. :)

I really enjoyed the Count of Monte Cristo the other night. Visuals good, acting good, story good, *sigh* And the smugglers were F****** awesome! :D

I only have one slight beef... but I need to reread the story again. But I think they fiddled with the ending... but it's been so long since I read it I'm not too sure.

Not that I really mind at this point cause the rest of it was so damn well done. :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Cool, now I really want to go see it.

[JonathanLB]

I am not the only one who likes it.

The film did well Sunday compared to the other films in release and since it hadn't been that high during the rest of the weekend. It also averaged an A grade from audiences according to CinemaScore, which is very good.

[JonathanLB]

If you have not seen this movie, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! This is one of the best movies of 2002, I absolutely guarantee it. This movie will make my top five list for the entire year unless 2002 ends up being one of the greatest years ever. At the very least, Count of Monte Cristo is going to be a top ten film for 2002.

Aside from having 60 positive reviews and only 20 negative ones at Rotten Tomatoes, audiences feel much more strongly about the film than even the critics, who dismiss it only as "fun entertainment" and not as a classic movie, but I think time will prove them wrong. One remarked that you'll probably not remember it long after you see it. Well I've been thinking about it every day and if I were back home in Portland with my car, I'd have seen it three times already. Instead, I'm stuck at one and I'm going this weekend to make it two. I would literally kill to get this movie on DVD right now, although I'd only kill a fly, no worries ;)

Check this out if you don't believe me:

http://newyork.citysearch.com/user_review?fid=12&id=11484395

Of those 69 people who commented about the movie, 62 of them gave it FOUR STARS out of four. How could you NOT like this movie?

I think The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the 100 greatest movies of all time. Many people who responded at the link above called it "better than Lord of the Rings" and two said it was one of the "best movies ever."

I see 50 to 75 movies in theaters every year and I rent a bunch more too, yet I still thought Monte Cristo was one of the best films I've ever seen (at least, top 100).

I went in hoping that it would be a good January film, as in a solid 3 star movie, and I came out thinking, "Oh my god, not only was that a definite four star, A+ film, but it was one of the best movies I've ever seen!"

If you're waiting, just go see this movie. There's not going to be anything better out during February and nothing better came out during January either. I personally think Black Hawk Down, while a very good film too, pales in comparison to The Count of Monte Cristo. That is hard for me to say too because Ridley Scott is one of my favorite directors and I still thought Black Hawk Down was freakin' awesome. It's a solid A too, maybe a 93/100, but Monte Cristo is more like a 97/100 in my book.

I cannot wait to see this movie again. The only serious challengers this year for being better than Monte Cristo are Episode II (and it will be a perfect 100 I have no doubts), Spider-Man (it is looking very good), Minority Report, Blade 2, and The Two Towers. Blade 2 is an outside shot. I doubt it'll be as good as The Count of Monte Cristo. I'd be incredibly surprised if it is, but I love Snipes and I love Blade. I didn't mention MIB 2 because it's just going to be a really fun blockbuster, not a masterpiece...

[JonathanLB]

Monte Cristo had a great decline on Friday. This movie will definitely be a surprise hit, although of course at this season it cannot make that much...

[Jedi Master Carr]

I will defitently go see probably next weekend. As far as how much money, I'm guessing 70-80 sounds right.

[Mu Satach]

Originally posted by JonathanLB
I think The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the 100 greatest movies of all time. Many people who responded at the link above called it "better than Lord of the Rings" and two said it was one of the "best movies ever."



I don't know about one of the greatest of all time... it's good but really only time will tell if it will stick in the public's conciousness...

as for LOTR... I'm waiting for the entire trilogy to come out before I make up my mind about that one...

[JonathanLB]

LOTR: FOTR is in my top 100 for sure and The Count of Monte Cristo is probably somewhere just maybe 10 ranks back at most.

I don't expect people to agree with me, but I didn't say Count is one of the best 10 movies ever or 25, or even 50, but I do think if I took the time to sit down and really craft a top 100 list, Count of Monte Cristo would be as high as maybe number 80 or 85, somewhere around there, and that is really incredibly good overall.

One project I will embark on when I launch my new movie site on February 20 is to begin to see every one of the AFI's top 100 films. I probably will not like all of them or even a huge percentage of them, but they all at least are culturally significant films or have some other importance to the film industry. I've not seen all that many of them really because I've never had the opportunity to go out and rent all of those older movies. In fact, video stores now seem to carry mostly newer movies and the absolute classics, leaving a lot of those AFI movies off the list at the smaller stores like one that is near my house. Fortunately there is a bigger store just the opposite direction and I'm guessing they have a fair selection.

I'll just start at #1 and fill out the entire AFI list, reviewing the films one by one as fast as I see fit. I imagine it will take a year to get through them all really, but you never know, I might be able to do it by the end of summer 2002...

It would be a great thing to have on the site, reviews of every AFI top 100 film, plus all of the newer movies and my entire DVD collection eventually. Whew, what a project.

Site launch is schedule for February 20.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I finally got to see it, I saw it was playing in two theaters near me, and I figured that if I didn't go see this weekend, then I probably wouldn't see until it came on video. I have to say I loved it, it was a great film. First I thought the acting was great especially by Caviezel he was terrific and playing first a very naive character and then becoming dark and brodding. I also enjoyed Pierce's role as villain, he was terrific doing a great job as usually. Richard Harris was also great as the old priest. I also liked Luis Guzman who had some of the funniest lines in the movie. Another thing I liked was how well they adapted the book. I hadn't read it in a while but from I can remember they didn't make any huge changes (I think they changed slightly that Pierce's character was his friend I think they added that, I still think he did it to him because he wanted Mercedes) the rest of the script followed the book quite well from what I call and that I think is why I liked it even more they didn't destroy Dumas work or make a mockery of historical events, like they have in the recent Three Musketeer movies. There was this bit about Napoleon but they only showed him for a few minutes in the beginning (even though his role was important to why he was senteced to the Chateau D'If) and then later they said he had escaped Elba, they did have this old Napoleon loyalist who was trying to find ways to bring him back, but even those instances they didn't really do any changes in the historical scene and I liked that. I also liked the fact they didn't have any huge actions scenes execept for a couple of sword fights, which I expect in a Dumas based book, but instead they concentrated on the story. Overall, I thought it was a great movie and really did justice to the book.

[Mu Satach]

:)

Yeah those were my feelings too. I'd be rereading the book right now except my copy is at my mother's house... but I'm planning on rereading the book. And I have to buy this movie when it comes out.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think I am going to reread it too, its been a while since I read it last, it is easily Dumas best novel. I also might buy it when it comes out on DVD.

[JonathanLB]

My friend Sean saw The Count of Monte Cristo too and he loved it. That makes just about everyone I've talked to, hehe.

I have seen it twice, but I may see it again this week. I would like to do so, but I have so much to do I almost feel guilty for seeing a movie three times now. It was that good, though, it deserves another viewing in theaters for me.

By the end of Sunday, I will have seen 12 of the top 14 highest grossing films on Friday. I've currently seen 9. So, I'm basically trying to see every new release to review for my site. Not especially fun right now really, darnit, some of these movies just suck or at least they're not that good.

Today is Dragon Fly and Crossroads and boy are they going to suck. Then Sunday Big Fat Liar, which I heard is good from a few people, but we'll see.

[CMJ]

Well, I rented this sucker today(almost 11 months after it's initial theatrical release). Yes I know it's rather late, but you know it just fell though the cracks.

ANYWAYS, I must say I really liked this. I didn't think it was great, but I did find in surprisingly good. The dialogue was supurb and everything was pretty first rate(from acting to sets, to costumes).

I did find the ending to be a bit of a let down. I don't know...after the terrific plan Caviezel had for getting his revenge on the people who had wronged him, I felt he really kinda let Pierce off the hook. When like the 5 main characters ALL showed up near the climax, I couldn't help but roll my eyes a bit(I felt they went a tad over the top). The ending duel between the two bitter enemies, while well performed, didn't work as well for me as the brilliant materplans Caviezel HAD used up until then.

Nonetheless a really solid film. I'd say 3.5 stars for me.

Now I'll await my thrashing by Jonathan. ;)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well you can blame Dumas there that is the way he had it in the book. I really liked the movie, I thought it was a well done, very well acted movie.

[Sejah Haversh]

Nobody's mentioned the costuming! That movie had excellent costuming and sets, too. I really loved this movie, so much so that I actually went to it with my dad. If you knew how me and my dad get along, that's saying a lot.

*goes off to watch the DVD again...*

[JonathanLB]

"Well you can blame Dumas there that is the way he had it in the book. I really liked the movie, I thought it was a well done, very well acted movie."

Well said.

To each his own, CMJ, you enjoyed it, that's good enough. I don't expect everyone to feel as I do about it. Probably most people felt it was 3 to 3.5 stars.

Actually I said back when I saw it that it was in my top 100 favorite films, I'd put it more like in my top 25 to 40 to be honest. It's a 99/100 film to me, A+. I just love it. I had to consider whether I really like The Two Towers more, that's how good I think The Count of Monte Cristo is! lol.

Granted, having seen many AFI films since that time, it's not that I would put the film in my top 100 most significant movies, I mean, no. It wouldn't even be top 500 in that case. It's just a personal enjoyment factor. It is a movie *I* love, even though it means nothing to the film industry, was not revolutionary, and isn't famous. It's still, to me, an absolutely great movie that blew me away. I was only expecting a good, fun time. What I got was much more than that.