FIRST TIME WATCHING: Master and Commander

I think you've just created a new film genre, the "Russell Crowe-mance" 😂 And thank you. You have no idea how happy it made me when you said "tortoises" rather than "turtles" 😁

And Admiral Lord Nelson, as in who during the Napoleonic wars won The Battle of the Nile, The Battle of Copenhagen, and the The Battle of Trafalgar, the later of which led to over a century of British naval dominance but also his death.

This movie is one of my very favorite

TROY!! You'd love it

Academy Award for Sound Editing.

This is a movie I was never interested in, but I watched it here and was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. I'm glad you gave it a chance.

Laudanum is an opium product that was used as an anaesthetic at the time. This is a great movie but I have to be in the right mood to watch Mr Hollom’s story. His part is important because it shows the dark side of male relationships. Hollom and Blakney were of equal rank and I think that underlines how pathetic he was. It’s a total fiction but all the sailing/ship parts are pretty accurate. In the book The Acheron was an American ship and it was set during the war of 1812 but they didn’t think they could sell that to the US audience.

I always thought that the character of young Blakeny was supposed to represent the best qualities of both the captain and the doctor to show what a fine man he would grow to be.

I love this movie. It's one of the best sailing movies ever. Kinda like if pirates of the Caribbean was kinda good

You're really good at remembering character names, I only remember a few. And there were a couple that you called out specifically that I thought were nameless sailors.

God I wish there was a fucking sequel to this. Send me to the universe where we got 6 of these and only one Pirates of the Caribbean

Letter of Marque is my favorite book of the Aubrey Martin books. Post Captain was the worst.

One of my favourite films, have been hoping for this react ever since seeing your Gladiator react and how you liked the bromance in it. There is a surprising amount of heart and humanity in this film that I adore. If I could make another recommendation check out The King's Speech: 2010 film with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter. Another film that has a lot of heart and shows the humanity of people.

To the lesser of two weevils.

I thought Zorro won and almost got excited for this weeks Feature Friday 😔

I have the collectors edition and in it they go over lots of the behind the scene. One of them is actually firing period cannons at wooden targets to get the right sounds. One brass cannon had a tendency to ring like a bell when they fired it. They had to cover the barrel in carpet to muffle the ringing. All of the cannon fire was accurate including the lowered hight of the gun deck. After the movie the Surprise was made into a museum ship and is located in San Diego.

Grog at this time is essentially 4 parts water to 1 part rum. The daily rum ration of sailors at the time were one half imperial pint (284ml). Oh, and you touched on one solution sailors had for a Jonah: The Jonah's lift - throwing the person overboard.

When the beat to quarters (prepare for action) they make a clean sweep fore and aft. Meaning they remove all bulkheads, i.e. removing "walls" and "doors" that make up the various cabins and such. This has to functions, it makes movement along the Guns unrestricted and easier, also there will be less splinters flying about when they are hit by enemy fire.

Yet another film I would never have watched if Nat hadn't watched it, I love the variations of films and shows we see with Nat.

A detail you missed: not only did the wind pick up and it start raining after the "Jonah" died, but at his funeral service, Aubrey opened the Bible to read from it. It opened to the story of Jonah, so he closed it and moved on.

They stopped singing partly because of the division between officers and those before the mast aka sailors, and partly because they thought Hollom a weak officer - they didn't respect him.

It's not based on a true story per se, but author Patrick O'Brian did base the character of Jack Aubrey on the real life Lord Thomas Cochrane. And the final battle is more less lifted from the first novel Master and Commander, which in turn was inspired by Lord Cochrane's famous victory in 1801 when he commanded the 14 gun sloop HMS Speedy (with 54 men) and took the spanish 32 gun xebec frigate (319 men).

There are so many books in this series I’m surprised it never became a franchise. I don’t know how much call there is for Napoloeanic Sea Warfare novels, but this by far is the most popular and widely read set of stories. Twenty novels I believe. I would have loved a few more sequels to this one, especially because as you say the whole throughline is the camaraderie between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, Captain and Surgeon. It’s like the friendship that grounds all the naval battles and nautical verbiage and processes.

One of the best and most accurate--historically speaking, but in a fictional way--movies ever made. Good fucking shit.

I've been waiting for you to watch this for years!! I'm happy you enjoyed it and it surprised you. This film is wonderful and it's a shame it never got the sequels it deserved.

I've seen Nat pissed a few times, but I don't know if I've seen her as PISSED as when the doctor got shot.

Laudanum is alcohol and opium. They gave it to the kid before the amputation

Lord Nelson did lose his arm in battle, which is why Jack gave Blakeney the book: to show him his life in the navy didn't have to be over.

Dang it's been a minute since I've seen this one, I'll have to set some time aside this weekend. Great choice!

You talk a lot about the scoring when you talk about the sound design, but the real music of the movie was the sounds of the ship and of the sea around them. The dynamics between those eerily quiet moments, and the moments of pure chaos during the storm or during battle, or the quieter, lighter moments on the Galapagos I think all really demonstrate the range and mastery of the sound effects artists.

Imagine how long title would be if they really did make a sequel 😂

awesome reaction, Natalie! seriously one of my favorite films. it's widely regarded as one of the most accurate depictions of naval life in that time period. Bettany and Crowe DID, in fact learn to play cello and violin for this film. I don't know if you recognized the actor who played Midshipman Hollum, Lee Ingleby, but you've seen him at least once before in Harry Potter, as Stan Shunpike, the conductor of the Knight Bus that picks Harry up after he leaves the Dursley's house. I would like to recommend a couple of comedies to you (assuming, of course, that you haven't already seen them): A Fish Called Wanda and it's quasi sequel Fierce Creatures HILARIOUS, and while they aren't technically Monty Python films, they DO have both John Cleese AND Michael Palin in each. Very much worth the watch, in my opinion.

I want to love this movie but to this day is the only movie on the planet I cant watch because I PASS OUT every time. I dont even think its boring or bad. Its bizarre to me.

Lord Nelson did lose his right arm in battle.

This is in my opinion the best Russell Crowe movie. It would have swept the oscars if it hadn't been nominated in about every category alongside The Return of the King. Such a great movie

As great as the film is the series of novels are even better. Especially from Post Captain when we are introduced to Sophie and Diana. I'm currently on my fourth circumnavigation of the series (thanks to audiobooks) and it will be fun to rewatch the movie.

Well that's my evening sorted out!

I’m so happy to finally watch this with you! One of my favorite movies ever

April – 1805 Napoleon is master of Europe Only the British fleet stands before him Oceans are now battlefields

Happy Feature Friday Nat. I haven't seen this movie before so I'm excited to watch along with you and see what it's all about 😊 Like so many movies set on the ocean, this was epic and tragic, with tinges of humour and hope thrown in. Amazing cast and performances. I wasn't expecting the classical score. The piece of music where they were prepping the bodies and reading the Lord's Prayer is Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. It's an 18 minute long composition and it's one of my favourite classical pieces. Peter Weir also made 2 movies in the 80s with Harrison Ford. Witness, which I would love to see your reaction to, and The Mosquito Coast. I really enjoyed watching this movie with you Nat. Thanks for a great reaction today. Have a brilliant weekend 💛