The Alamo (Actually more about Soundtracks)

I'm impressed by what kind of a difference music makes in a movie.

Thus far (I'm almost at the end, as the Mexicans have started their attack), the best scene has been what is essentially a duet between Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett and the Mexican Army Band. And the music that is accompanying the Mexican attack is quite good.

And the best scene of Equilibrium is not the multiple scenes of Christian Bale fucking people's shit up, but the scene with Beethoven's music and the Snow Globe. If you've seen the movie, you probably know what I'm talking about...

And I think the only reason I'd be compelled to buy 300 on DVD is because I thought the soundtrack was quite good... An interesting heavy metal type instrumental sound track for a more classical subject matter...

And now back to the movie. I thought it quite good that they included what seems to be an homage to the painting "The Fall of the Alamo", which is pretty much the only thing I knew about the Alamo prior to watching this movie, and reading the Wikipedia article.

Billy Bob Thornton is very good as David Crockett (apparently he prefers David to Davy). Defiant to the last. Dennis Quaid plays Sam Houston. Who I would have thought would have had a bigger role. But then again, I knew nothing about the battle of the Alamo. But he does have some fantastic side-burns... and a soul-patch to go with it... And you gotta figure he'd wear a cowboy hat. Being Texian and all (apparently they're called Texians, not Texans). But nope, you'd be wrong. He seems to enjoy rocking the Tri-cornered hat.

And now for what is apparently (according to Wikipedia) called the Battle of San Jacinto. Best strategy ever. Bring your forces in, bring in your cannons, and open up... and some dude just flying tackled some Mexican. Came flying from off screen and tackled the shit out of some guy...

And a nice reprise of Crockett playing the violin to end it...

Although it is hard to root against Santa Anna. He's got fantastic taste in hats... and clothes in general.

All in all, I think this was quite a good movie. Potentially one of the first good movies that I've reviewed in quite some time. A good amount of character drama, and building suspense, and then a little bit of action. I'd actually recommend watching it, and doing so is not preferable to punching yourself in the business.