5 Things I Liked About Watching the Movie “Napoleon”
As an AMC Stubs A-List member I can see up to three movies a week for just over $20 a month, and I try my best to get my money’s worth in terms of movie quantity, if not always quality. Take the movie Napoleon, for instance.
There are plenty of in-depth reviews out there about this movie that ask interesting questions like, “Is this movie French enough?” and “How historically accurate is this movie?” and “Is this movie good at all?”
But this blog is a place where we look on the bright side of things people, not judge them harshly. Was it my favorite movie? No, no it wasn’t. Even so, here are 5 things I liked about watching Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.
1. The “Scott Free Productions” Opening Credit
Since 1995, Scott Free Productions has been the production company of Ridley Scott and his late brother and fellow director Tony. I have a positive Pavlovian response to this awesome intro by Italian artist Gianluigi Toccafondo because a) I think it’s cool, and b) it precedes the following movies: Gladiator. Man on Fire. Unstoppable …
I’m sorry, in researching that list I just learned about Gladiator 2 for the first time, so I’ll be right back …
“Gladiator 2 is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 22, 2024,” and I am pretty sure that this credit scene will still psych me up then even after Napoleon.
2. The Siege of Toulon
This first battle scene was really well done. There were beautiful and interesting camera shots that also told a rich story of the event, from the reconnaissance to the planning to the brutal reality. Joaquin Phoenix seemed to play this scene with emotions at the fore, whereas later in the movie he seemed more stoic and jaded. For me, this scene was the high point of the movie.
3. “I enjoy my meals. I do.”
I laughed out loud at this line.
He sounds like Jay Cutler in “Very Cavallari”. I’m going to be saying this for years just to make myself laugh.
4. The Hats
As a bald man, I love hats, and there are a lot of hats to love in this movie. I learned that the hats Napoleon wears are called “bicorns,” but I learned that from reading about the movie, not from watching it. I also learned from reading that Napoleon had a preferred hatter named Poupard. They should name a costume-designing award after Monsieur Poupard and give it to the people who worked on this movie.
5. Comparing the number of times people put their fingers in their ears to block the sound of dozens of cannons firing compared to the number of times people don’t put their fingers in their ears next to those same cannons firing again
I think it’s 75 / 25 fingers in the ears, but I’m not exactly sure. There were a lot of cannons.
Seen any good movies lately?