Jan 23 movie: Cold Mountain. When I heard this had been directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) I crossed it off my list. But a friend saw it and spoke well of it, so when my friend Patricia suggested it for our evening out last night, I figured what the heck. And I did enjoy it. It's beautifully filmed (although, boo! on them for filming in Romania instead of North Carolina) and I found it emotionally engaging. The best part of the movie is Renee Zellweger (boy I never thought I'd write those words) who saves it from taking itself too seriously. Philip Seymour Hoffman also has a nice small part.
Possibly the biggest relief of the movie was the younger villain, the blonde guy who might have been albino but I think was actually just very fair. He spent most of the movie with this glint in his eye that screamed "I am going to go medieval and scenery-chewing on y'all's asses in Act 3," but somehow was prevented from doing so. whew!
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after checking IMDB, I'm guessing that the almost too crazy blonde villian was Giovanni Ribisi (who's been in several bad movies like Gone in 60 Seconds but was actually pretty decent in that HBO movie about Gary Gilmore). do i win a cookie?
Actually I think Giovanni Ribisi played a different villain, a guy who offers shelter to deserters and then turns them in to the Home Guard for money. I saw him described as a Judas in a review, but I think that's a little harsh. After all, they were strangers. And besides, they should have known from the swelling of ominous music not to trust the guy.
further research suggests that the villain sidekick was played by Charlie Hunnam. I found a review that mentioned him as a weak point in the supporting roles, and since I spent much of the movie fearing an oncoming explosion of scenery-chewing from him I'd have to agree.