We went and saw Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World yesterday, as a matinee at the theatre. It was a “private viewing” as it turned out. It’s always nice to go to a week day matinee showing of a movie, particularly one that’s been out for awhile. No one else goes 😉
We took the children. Asa was a wondering bother, but there was no one else but us to bother, so it was fine. Victoria and Russell were engrossed in the movie for the most part, switching seats being the only activity that they really did 🙂
It’s a movie rated PG-13, and it’s mostly for the violence, of course the movie is about fighting ships in the early 1800’s, so that’s to be expected. We had watched the clips on the computer, and the children were alright with it, we explained it was historical, and all that, and they received it well. Asa was alright about it too, until we drove up and Russell said “Peter Pan is here” reading it off the theatre’s marquee. That set Asa off in thinking “we are going to see Peter Pan” since that’s what we’ve done the only other times they’ve gone with us to the theatre. No amount of explaining would get him out of “Peter Pan” mode, and into what we were really there for. He likes westerns we have, he watches them, they are all shoot ’em up things. So this movie, I didn’t expect he’d watch all of it, but some of it, more than he did.
The movie itself was fantastic. If you haven’t seen it, see it if you can, and then see it at home on DVD. Wait for the DVD if you must, I’m now waiting for it myself. It’s a keeper, for the home theatre in our family.
It’s based on the Patrick O’Brian series of novels about Aubrey and Maturin, Captain and Doctor, friends. No one in our household has read them yet, but we’ve eyed them in the past, never actually going far enough to read one or get a clue about them. This movie was out in the theatres, but we didn’t know what it was, then Frank started to try and see about it, thinking it was a pirate movie, at first. We then knew it wasn’t, and only this past week did I get interested enough in it to push the envelope and be totally inculcated with what it was about.
That’s why we went and saw it yesterday, as it’s only in a few theatres now, and Frank was going to be gone for a few or more days, this was a nice outing to have before he left.
His mother died on Tuesday night, so he’s “home” for the funeral. It’s on Saturday. He’ll be home Sunday night, if all goes as planned, and the Lord wills it. (She was not doing well the past year, and the past few months was expected to die anytime, years of Parkinson’s and about two of Cancer.)
I’ve read some about this series of books, and it looks very interesting, there are 20 of them. There are two different books, one a lexicon, out which help one to read the O’Brian books with better understanding, so I’m planning on finding this one as well as this one before getting into thefirst novel of the series of which there are twenty and various “versions” what with the movie covers, or not, hardback, softback, cassette tape, etc.
We’ll be going to the local used book store, very nearby, to see what we can turn up from this series.
Here is the link to the publisher of O’Brian’s books
Here is a the link to B & N’s writers page about Patrick O’Brian, with good info to get started on his stuff, a short bio and interview if you click the link under the first paragraph of “Meet the Writers” on that page. You’ll read that sadly, the US doesn’t have all his stuff published, but we do have the Aubrey/Maturin series, and a few other good things. Mr. O’Brian died just a few years ago, age 85, and what a nice gentleman he must have been.