Master & Commander (2003) Is a masterpiece only to dads.

Mack Yancy

Mack Yancy

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Yeah Yeah, I'm here to pop the bubble on another film that Gen X considers an unsung masterpiece. Master and Commander.

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Much like my thread on Casino (1995), this film is something that you only see called touchstone of cinema in retrospect. No one, absolutely no one was praising this film that much when it came out. Is it because the movie is bad? No. The movie is fine, I'd even go to say it's pretty good. It was a very watchable home cinema type film, decent performances and some cool set pieces. But is it a masterpiece? No, and nobody thought that at the time. The film just hit cultural lottery of both being set on ship and connecting with post-covid men who start to romanticize the open sea when they don't want to think about politics, and featuring a 'straight men love story' (see Shawshank).

<{titihmm}>

Also it helped that Russel Crowe made an absolute ass of himself arguing with someone who didn't like the film on twitter.

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Which inevitably triggered lionized the armchair internet film community to have a discussion about how modern audiences just don't 'get it'. Because as we all know the movies we grew up with are the true touchstones of cinema, and anyone who doesn't get that doesn't get films!



But go ahead, tell me why this decent book adaptation belongs in conversation with the godfather.
 
Good movie.
I didn't see it in the theaters and it was fun to watch on my at the time state of the art home cinema system.
 
Great flick and great books. Too bad they didn’t make more, which I think they initially wanted to do. Allegedly it was an incredibly expensive movie to make and barely cut a profit.

Right after the movie came out my mom was pretty juiced for Russell Crowe on his historic adventures, and I could tell she had a huge crush on him. I just sent her on a trip to the Galapagos with her best friend and got her the equivalent of a Cameo from him after a ton of leg work—figured it would be a nice thing to do after my step dad passed late last year. I hope every day that she’s happy.

Oh and I love the movie too.
 
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SFMMA said:
Great flick and great books. Too bad they didn’t make more, which I think they do initially wanted to. Right after when the movie came out my mom was pretty juiced for Russell Crowe on his historic adventures, and I could tell she had a huge crush on him. I just sent her on a trip to the Galapagos with her best friend and got her the equivalent of a Cameo from him after a ton of peg work after my step dad passed late last year. Hope she’s happy.
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Call me semantic but I just rate good and great differently. I think Goodfellas is great, I think saving private ryan is great, I think the Terminator is great. But I think films like Master & Commander, Demolition Man, Casino, 3:10 to yuma are just 'good'.
 
Mack Yancy said:
Call me semantic but I just rate good and great differently. I think Goodfellas is great, I think saving private ryan is great, I think the Terminator is great. But I think films like Master & Commander, Demolition Man, Casino, 3:10 to yuma are just 'good'.
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You’re right. I agree with you. That said, 1,2, and 4 you named are great in my book, with 3 being a masterpiece. Can’t explain it (especially 3:10 To Yuma), but I love them all! We must have similar tastes.
 
Your Salad said:
Not sure.
I had wired speakers behind me and a center channel speaker in the front.
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Sick. Right about the same time I earned enough from my job as a cook to buy a surround sound stereo system - a little yamaha with 4 surround speakers, a center channel and a sub. I was feeling like quite the hotshot. Rigged it all up with my 32 inch flatscreen connected to my desktop computer. I remember spending 10 bucks on fridays, looking for DVDs to rent that seemed to have "all-around action" that would make the most of my sweet little 250 dollar system.

Never rented Master and Commander though. Worked with this incredibly effeminate gay dude who looked just like Russel Crowe's character though. Looked like the manliest macho guy in the world and then you'd hear him speak, "HehlllloooOOOOOooooo theeerrre.."
 
SFMMA said:
You’re right. I agree with you. That said, 1,2, and 4 you named are great in my book, with 3 being a masterpiece. Can’t explain it (especially 3:10 To Yuma), but I love them all! We must have similar tastes.
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To me, I try to use masterpiece very sparingly. You'll have dudes on here who will list 30 of their fave films and call them all masterpieces which is kind of juvenile.

I do think The Terminator is a masterpiece, Godfather is too. I'm on the fence about Goodfellas, I lean that it probably is, but I know it has flaws that I ignore because of how entertaining it is. Fight Club is a very good movie but not a masterpiece. I think Saving Private Ryan might be but need to watch again.
 
Stump said:
What's so silly about that? Like, why's that any significantly different than Russel Crowe playing anything else?
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His british accent isn't very good. I've def heard worse though.
 
Stump said:
Never rented Master and Commander though. Worked with this incredibly effeminate gay dude who looked just like Russel Crowe's character though.
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Sounds like you didn't have a reason to rent it then.

<{yearp}>
 
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