Movies. "Seabiscuit" is a very good movie. Not a great movie, but a very good one.
Watching it, it seemed to us that in a lot of ways it closer to being "The Natural" than "Bull Durham" - beautiful to watch, a wonderful evocation of Depression-era America, but not having the kind of texture that it might have had. The book on which it was based did all of that - told a great story, but also crated a portrait of a period that you could feel and smell.
That's not to denigrate the movie. One has to be thankful for any movie without explosions, aliens, mutants, cartoon characters, monsters and special effects. "Seabiscuit" is the story of the legendary racehorse and the impact it had on three very different men. It is terrifically acted by Tobey Maguire, Chris Cooper, and especially by Jeff Bridges - who delivers a characterization reminiscent of but even deeper than the role he played in "Tucker: The Man & His Dream," a vastly underrated movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola back in 1988, and still one of the best movies about business we've ever seen.
"Seabiscuit" lives up to one of the general rules of filmmaking - that the movie almost never is better than the book, simply because movies need to be visual rather than internal, and usually are limited in the number of plot lines it can pursue. There are, of course, exceptions: "Jaws" and "The Godfather" are instances where the movies were vast improvements. And we've always thought that all of the movies based on Tom Clancy novels have been better than the books, simply because they strip away all the techno-babble.
Wines. Groth Vineyards makes a very nice, smooth 2001 Sauvignon Blanc that is perfect for sitting outside on a summer evening, eating pasta salad and nibbling on shrimp. Yummm…..
Cheers! And have a good weekend.
- KC's View:
