planktonrules

The basic plot of "Gosford Park" is excellent...but it also is very tough to follow because there are so many characters. For me, it would worked better as a mini-series or by paring down some of the characters...and I am sure many will disagree because it was directed by Robert Altmann and was written, in part, by Julian Fellowes.

The story is set in the early 1930s and takes place at a mansion where a very nasty piece of work lives, William McCordle. During this weekend, equal time and emphasis is given to the rich muckity mucks and the staff who wait on them....very much a Fellowes sort of set-up. However, unlike his later work such as "Downton Abbey" and "The Gilded Age", the film turns into a murder mystery.

The acting is lovely and it's a who's who of many of Britain's best. The dialog is also very nice. But the characters are often underwritten and the plot confusing simply because there's too much material for a traditional film.

Leonardo Da Vinci was an incredibly interesting man. However, there's one huge problem...the guy died 500 years ago and very few of his paintings exist today. This makes it difficult to imagine a four-hour documentary about him, but Ken Burns did manage to tackle it...four hours and all. For me, this is one of the big problems with the documentary...there's enough material for about two hours and as a result the show seems VERY padded. Additionally, I have no idea why some folks were in the film...especially Guillermo Del Toro. The link between this great director and Da Vinci aren't clear at all. Overall, while Burns made some terrific documentaries, this isn't one of them...being too long, too slow and it actually manages to make Leonardo a bit dull!

"Countdown" is Robert Altmann's first film he directed and it's a very subdued but well crafted story. It is about the supposed first landing on the moon by the Americans and the details behind the scenes.

Instead of using the Apollo program's rockets, NASA is scrambling to retrofit a Gemini spacecraft to land on the moon. This is because the Soviets have announced they're landing on the moon and the USA wants to possibly beat them and the Apollo craft isn't ready. Instead, they'll send one man (James Caan) and he'll remain on the moon until he's returned by an Apollo mission in a year.

The film is low on energy and this is a good thing, as the story emphasizes realism and humanity throughout. The only quibbles are very minor and mostly are about the moon itself and the equipment...which certainly could have looked better and more realistic. Still, for its time, the results are impressive and the film is interesting in many ways. I have no idea why the overall score is so low...perhaps they wanted more action and energy, though it seemed appropriate to me given the film is emphasizing realism as opposed to Hollywood thrills.