“Master and Commander”

Finally saw “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World” yesterday night. I’m glad it was re-released due to the Oscar nominations, so that I can see for myself if it is good.

And, yes, quite a good movie – a good old fashioned yarn, starring Russell Crowe as British Captain Jack Aubrey of the HMS Surprise against the French ship Archeron during the Napoleonic war. British actor Paul Bettany played Dr. Maturin, Aubrey’s erstwhile sidekick and chief medical officer/naturalist (in the pre-Darwin era). The movie adapted two of the Aubrey/Maturin book series by the late Patrick O’Brien. The movie had it all: ship to ship battles to excite the viewers; graphic violence and major pain tolerance, for those poor early 19th century sailors; loaded with male bonding (although, Russell Crowe wasn’t too bad for the female eyes, even if he had to pack in some weight to play Aubrey).

I haven’t read the books, so it wasn’t like I could make a comparison of accuracy or whatnot. Time magazine had done the rundown on the comparison awhile back (the big quibble for the Aubrey/Maturin fan base was that Maturin wasn’t his spy self, but I thought he was all right anyway; Aubrey wasn’t shown as being bigger (physically) or a womanizer, but this wasn’t that kind of movie). No big heterosexual romance or big debate about how wrong war is – it’s all about fighting the enemy (the French); that the world is black and white and right and wrong; and friendship is grand, in spite of or due to bonding through the hard times.

I don’t know if “Master and Commander” will win the Oscar for best picture, but it’s a good movie.

Weekend newspaper reading…

NY Times’ op ed from Saturday, 1/31/04; should NASA find some way to maintain the Hubble telescope, when the president of the US has asked it to work on the moon and Mars? Not an easy question, when nothing NASA has to do comes cheap. Meanwhile, the little rover Opportunity is on the move in Mars…

Frank Rich’s column in Sunday NY Times on the “sanctity of marriage” – what is it, what’s with the hypocrisy about it in American society today (particularly when reality tv shows keep matching couples and then airing their weddings and so forth makes marriage a farce), and what have we come to in this world when “marriage” is just another item or issue that’s turned into a target for all kinds of pot shots. I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with Rich; I just thought it was an interesting read.

Bring on the Super Bowl; enough with the hype and the articles about how the teams match up and how this is the battle of the ex-NY Giants coaches, etc. And, while it’s nice to read about how Carolina Panthers’ Jake Delhomme is a Cinderella player, finally making it to the ball, and how funny it is that the Carolina Panthers have a player whose nickname on the ex-XFL was “He Hate Me” and how New England Patriots’ Tom Brady is a great quarterback and all that, at the end of the day, it’s about who “Survives”…