[traboule]

*Thanks to Hank_Venture for the banner!

This thread has been some months in the making. The idea had been floating in my brain for a while, but in June of this year, I finally started what would become a months-long 'marathon' of miniseries. My goal was to have watched enough to review at least 20 miniseries for the thread.

The TV miniseries is a great format for cinematic storytelling. Longer than a feature film, it has the time to develop characters, settings and situations with great depth and nuance. In the best miniseries, the viewer will feel fully immersed in that world. Similar experiences can happen with TV shows, but unlike the majority of TV shows, the creators of miniseries have sketched the story from beginning to end and know that they will be able to air the end.

This is not to say that the TV miniseries is superior to other mediums, only that it allows for a type of storytelling not possible with the other types.

In my time here, it has not been common to see reviews of miniseries. The obvious reason is the length, the long running time that I reference in the title of this thread. It can be daunting prospect. I know it was for me.

But with this thread, I hope to convince you to watch at least one of these miniseries.

Note that this is not a best-of list. It is also not a comprehensive list. Please keep in mind how much time these take to watch. I would have loved to watch more, but then there wouldn't be a thread for another year or so.

Thanks for reading!

List of Reviews:
1. Rich Man, Poor Man
2. Best of Youth
3. Band of Brothers
4. Generation Kill
5. I, Claudius
6. Five Days
7. Ultraviolet
8. Arabian Nights
9. Anne of Green Gables
10. The Singing Detective
11. Angels in America
12. Our Mutual Friend
13. Bleak House
14. Little Dorrit
15. Into the West
16. Joan of Arc
17. The Way We Live Now
18. The Corner
19. Jane Eyre
20. Pride and Prejudice
21. Long Way Round & Long Way Down

[Epistemophobia]

I like.

[Philip J. Fry]

I'm watching.

Select the black box below with your cursor to view the spoiler text

Though I really doubt it, I hope to see a review from Epitafios.

[traboule]

Originally Posted by Wolf of the Winter

I'm watching.

Select the black box below with your cursor to view the spoiler text

It was on my list of possible miniseries to watch, but no, not this time around anyway.

[traboule]

I waited to start this thread until I had seen the first TV miniseries ever aired: Rich Man, Poor Man. This miniseries will be my first review.

A quick note: most of my reviews will feature screencaps in the reviews, but this was not possible with Rich Man, Poor Man. The DVD is not available in the States so I bought it from the UK which means it can't play on my computer but only on my region-free player.

[traboule]

Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)



Originally aired on: ABC
Length: 566 minutes (9 hours and 26 minutes)
Episodes: 12
When I saw it: Just finished it today.

Who you may recognize of the cast:
Peter Strauss
Nick Nolte
Gloria Grahame (in a small role)

In a nutshell:
Rich Man, Poor Man follows the tumultuous lives of two brothers, Rudy and Tom, as well as the life of Rudy’s high school girlfriend, Julie. The film starts at the close of WWII and ends in the late 1960’s. Rudy is the good son, aiming for college and making lots of money. Tom is a troublemaker but likable nonetheless. Julie is a restless spirit with her own ambitions.

Framework: The film typically stays with one of the three main characters. Episodes usually begin a few years after the previous episode has ended. The episodes always end with a rather dated ‘freeze-frame’ shot.

Impressions:

The hokey theme song had me braced for similarly toned acting and storylines, but I was pleasantly surprised by the freshness of the characters, particularly the character of Julie (Susan Blakely). And the dialogue was good, though later episodes would see some sappy groaners creep through. The overly exuberant score doesn’t help the series' melodramatic tendencies, as it punctuates dramatic moments with unneeded musical exclamation points. However, there remain a number of great poignant moments unspoiled by such heavy-handed tactics. Tom's relationship with Clothilde jumps to mind, along with some other scenes.

As indicated earlier, Julie was one of my favorite characters, with some of the best lines and moments. Susan Blakely was superb in the role and it’s a shame that she later didn’t get a comparable career to that of her co-stars. Rudy (Peter Strauss) is the least likable of the central characters – kind of a snake, really, but he is interesting all the same. Tom’s transformation throughout the series is well-handled by the script and by Nick Nolte. The aging of the characters is completely believable, by the way. Nicely done.

Final word: Rich Man, Poor Man was a must-see for me because it is - by most accounts - the first TV miniseries. But it has plenty of merit besides its historical significance and holds up well after 30+ years.

[Hank_Venture]

Nice.

I'm looking forward to more!

[Hank_Venture]

... and 20 miniseries is quite the undertaking. I applaud the effort.

[traboule]

Originally Posted by Hank_Venture

... and 20 miniseries is quite the undertaking. I applaud the effort.

Thanks! I'd seen seven before June, but yeah, it's been a lot of miniseries since then. I'm ready to take a break for a little while ...

[traboule]

It looks like I left my notes for the next miniseries' review at work, so unfortunately this will be all for tonight as I really want to get the next review right. It is one of my favorites.

[Sammael]

My favorite:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/s...&postcount=405

[Hank_Venture]

Originally Posted by Sammael

My favorite:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/s...&postcount=405

That seems interesting...

edit: is it worth blind buying for this ?

[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]

I really need to see Rich Man, Poor Man.

And yay Best of Youth is coming up.

[Trione]

Love you Traboule

Select the black box below with your cursor to view the spoiler text

dislike Best of Youth

[IrishRoseDKM]

I love your threads Trab...all the way back to the epic "Movies I Watched While Unemployed" (my personal fave RT thread).

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/s...d.php?t=532038
Linked above!

[traboule]

Originally Posted by Epistemophobia

I like.

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I really need to see Rich Man, Poor Man.

And yay Best of Youth is coming up.

Originally Posted by TripZone

Love you Traboule

Select the black box below with your cursor to view the spoiler text

hey polar bear, hey Wolfy, hey Trip! I feel like I've gone into deep lurker mode lately on RT and been out of the loop.

Trip, I'm sure that will be just the first of several disagreements in the thread. I know of at least two others on which we will disagree.

[traboule]

Originally Posted by Sammael

My favorite:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/s...&postcount=405

I'm interested in this simply because it was filmed near where I was born in Maine.

[traboule]

Originally Posted by IrishRoseDKM

I love your threads Trab...all the way back to the epic "Movies I Watched While Unemployed" (my personal fave RT thread).

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/s...d.php?t=532038
Linked above!

Thanks for the compliment! "Movies I Watched While Unemployed" was I think my first long-lived thread and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. A couple of the miniseries that will be reviewed here were in that thread too.

[IrishRoseDKM]

Originally Posted by traboule

I'm interested in this simply because it was filmed near where I was born in Maine.

Awesome! I remember a couple of those and one

Select the black box below with your cursor to view the spoiler text

Into the West

is one of my faves!

I was hoping those would be reviewed again.

[Philosophe rouge]

I'll be following, though, outside of Fanny and Alexander, I don't think I've ever managed to finish a miniseries. I don't have the will power.

[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]

*waves to Trab* Hi.

I hope to see the likes of I Claudius, The Singing Detective, and Brideshead Revisited.

[Trione]

Riget is the best.

I watched the first part of Bleak House and it irritated me, didn't finish.
I watched the first part of The Singing Detective, it was OK but I couldn't be bothered with the rest.

[GILZENBOS]

I'm partial to the miniseries of the 70s and 80s.
Roots (1977)
Centennial (1978)
Salem's Lot (1979)
Shogun (1980)
Masada (1981)
Chiefs (1983)

Although some of the more recent cable miniseries have been quite good.
From The Earth To The Moon
Band Of Brothers
John Adams

I look forward to seeing traboule's choices.

[Harry Caul]

Originally Posted by traboule

Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)

I remember that one, they reran it when I was a kid.

Blast from the past.

[Philip J. Fry]

Originally Posted by traboule

It was on my list of possible miniseries to watch, but no, not this time around anyway.

Hopefully next time.

[DreCosby]

I just finished Berlin Alexanderplatz today, so this thread interests me. I've only seen 5 on icheckmovies, so hopefully, this thread will get me to watch more.

[traboule]

Best of Youth / La meglio gioventu (2003)





Originally aired on: Rai Uno (Italy’s state television channel)
Length: 368 minutes (6 hours 6 minutes)
When I saw it: September 2009

Who you may recognize of the cast:
As the cast is Italian, I’m not sure who is well-known. I did not know any of them.
The actors who play the two brothers are Luigi Lo Cascio as Nicola and Alessio Boni as Matteo.

In a nutshell:
The movie follows two brothers and their family and friends from the 1960's to the present day. There is Matteo, enigmatic and striking, prone to isolation and anger. And there is Nicola, more carefree, but passionate about certain issues close to his heart.

Impressions:
Best of Youth is a film that I deeply felt as a viewer. The characters and situations are all so wonderfully human that I was immediately drawn in. I've read other RT posters' reviews of this miniseries and agree with them that plot-wise the film does not go the way you expect it to, and I appreciated that.

The brilliant charisma of Matteo dominates the film at first. This means that, later in the film, when he becomes estranged and separated from his family, we feel the wrongness of the separation, how it must feel for him and his family. Nicola's strength as a character slowly grows. There is a subtle strength about him that one becomes more and more aware of as the miniseries progresses.

There is a tragic turn of events in the film that I did not expect and that I truly never recovered from for the rest of the film, an effect that I think was intended. And there is also a final scene, involving a walk in the Tuscan countryside, which just caused tears to stream from my face for its gorgeous mix of sorrow and healing.

Final Word: Writing this review makes me wonder why I haven't gone out and bought this already. This is one well worth rewatching.

[Hank_Venture]

Nice review, trab.

I haven't seen the whole thing... a friend was watching it one night while I was at their house, so I saw a couple hours towards the very beginning. It made me want to see more, and so does your review. I'll have to try to hunt it down at some point.

[HoboJoeBob]

Riget!

[traboule]

Sorry, no Riget, folks. One of many that I'll have 'missed' because watching a miniseries is at least the equivalent of watching 3 feature films, and usually more.