Really Surprised!

Dreadfully Boring

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I read details offered by IMDb on this movie; various summaries; external reviews & several user reviews: Why no one has mentioned or made reference to Michener's "Centennial" surprises me! One of the first ways we expressed our view of this miniseries was a comparison to the book & miniseries. "Of course Spielberg's "Into the West" was done better than "Centennial" though for it's time "Centennial" was done well & I've viewed it many times.Perhaps The Chronicles negative review might have been less critical had the writer refrained from mentioning the "weeks"?? he spent researching this screenplay. Perhaps his research included reading Michener's book.I feel the use of family lineage to report history through the eyes of those living it is a wonderful venue for teaching it. Far more people would recall what they learn if the reviewed it as a story. I learned more about the Trojan Wars through Marian Zimmer-Bradley's "Firebrand" than all the lectures & reading I experienced in high school & college. As did many children about the Roman gods through "The Lightning Thief"I hope to see more of this means of teaching and hope like my college professor in "Women in Antiquity" did with the use of Zimmer-Bradley's "Firebrand" Being one who failed miserably in history due to an inability to recall anything, I wished I could have understood it as my friend did: "... all as a collection of great stories" If our educators incorporated books like those I've mentioned in their instruction, perhaps even weaker students, much like myself, would not only improve grades but, actually retain the information thereafter.Granted Michener is a fantastic story teller & incorporates a wondrous plethora of fact & insight in his books, but, some of his novels aren't the quickest reads I've experienced, but I'm certain numerous authors have attempted to produce similar learning experiences in their books. After all, most avid readers seeking good fiction want "believability" & research is all the key.

I started watching this series and it had me hooked from the start.Very good story,well acted,excellent cinematography.It looked like a sure fire winner to me.OK,so the story jumped about a lot and it was hard to follow at times,but when something is as well made as this it didn't really matter.Matthew Settle was impressive just as he was in 'Band of Brothers' and Tonantzin Carmelo exuded elegance and beauty.It was all falling into place,and then it happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!They only went and changed all of the main actor's half way through.The story had moved forward ten years and everything changed.All of the characters that I had just become used to changed!It was a bizarre decision to say the least and completely destroyed the continuity of the series.Couldn't they have just used make up on the original actor's??The flow of the story changed completely and I struggled to care any more.It left me scratching my head and I still don't know why they did it.Absolutely crazy if you ask me.What could have been a really good series was ruined by this truly strange move.Can someone explain to me why it was done?Can you imagine if they had done this with films like 'The Godfather' or 'The Shawshank Redemption'?OK,I know that two actors were used to play Don Corleone.But this obviously had to be done to show him as a young man.No,this was a plain daft thing to do and I still struggle to see why they did it.Could have been an eight at least,but will now have to settle for a much lower score I'm afraid.

does anyone know if naomi is in any other scenes after the birth of her Indian baby with her Indian husband. Do we see this child grow up or is that it for Kerri Russell's character. Does her Indian village get destroyed like the rest of the villages? I have the DVD but think i have missed any more scenes with her family in it. On the DVD boxed set there is also a picture with her holding a toddler's hand who is Indian which makes me think that she is in the movie more or it could be in deleted scenes. Her character is very interesting and I would have liked to known what happened to their family and how this new life affected her and if any of her family ever heard from her again.If anyone knows the answers to these questions please answer them for me!!! Thanks!!!

Into The West A Stephen Spielberg Dreamworks ProductionAn Epic orgy of contemporary racism. All the bad guys wear white (skin) It seems the sage message is, nothing wrong with prejudice long as it's the WASP gets stung.Mysticism is restored to its pinnacle whence a new inquisition, this time the swarthy turn the screws. Doing dope and self mutilation is in, industry and technology are out, even the wheel takes a hit. All the while, Mr. Spielberg's Royce rolls merrily to the bank. We are served several scenes where reporters distort the truth to sell stories and then immersed in the most horrific Yankee version of the Lawrence Kansas raid. It seems the sage message is, nothing wrong with propaganda long as it serves the right (left) purposes. Edi Bernays YES, Joe Goebbels NO! Seems a bit slippery to me to glibly slide from extolling the virtues of one set rebels, the Lakota, to damning another, the Confederate. Suppose we need nip in the bud the growing awareness the South was not all wrong and it was not really about slavery: Lincoln back to sainthood, Quantrelle to hell (here on earth). So how do we rate this thing? Rank it rank? Not really, for there is much skill and talent evident, although the actors seem encouraged to smugness, especially the ti-pi dwellers - one suspects their new house in Malibu has sliding glass doors and plumbing - the costumes and sets are near perfect, the cinematography magnificent, the sound superb, and, yes, there is much excitement and entertainment. So we can't go too far south of five on a scale of one to ten. On the other hand, would be monumental hypocrisy praise Stephen Spielberg whilst Leni Riefenstahl is condemned. And as with "Olympia" there are some truths found "Into The West" (not as many, but some). Namely, you invade peoples land, drive them from their homes, destroy their way of life, expect them to get hostile. Would that Mr. Spielberg, a major supporter of Israel, took his philosophy 'Into The East'. A four out of ten, a "C" movie: ****------ / **---