Aloha! No, unfortunately, I am not vacaying in MAUI at the moment. Tres sad,if you ask me. Perhaps, I'll have a virgin Pina Colada this afternoon to cheer me up. So, in honor of all the election stuff that has been going on, I decided to write 'bout a fab AMERICAN series. Everyone I know is reading the biography. If I wasn't absorbed in someone else a-t-m I would be reading it, too. But, hey, that's what movies are for, right?

JOHN ADAMS

Rated: TV 14

Length: 501 Minutes

Director: TOM HOOPER

Cast: PAUL GIAMATTI, LAURA LINNEY, DAVID MORSE, SARAH POLLEY, RUFUS SEWELL, JUSTIN THEROUX, TOM WILKINSON, DANNY HUSTON, STEPHEN DILLANE, CLANCY O'CONNOR

Genres: DRAMA
BIOGRAPHIES
TV MINISERIES
HBO

3 Discs

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; Historical Guide for all episodes; making-of featurette; behind-the-scenes featurette.

Screen Formats: Widescreen Anamorphic 1.78:1

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Closed Captioned
Language and Sound: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Original Release Date: 2008

Well, stunning, fantastic, thought-provoking are words that I would choose to describe this series. I knew nothing 'bout JOHN ADAMS, other than he was the second Pres of the US, he was old, and he had a good wife named Abigail. So much for my history lessons. Leave it to HBO to get you interested in something that you would normally care less 'bout. This is all based on the fab bio that DAVID MCCULLOUGH wrote. I think he won the PULITZER PRIZE for it, hmm, that says something. I have never won a PULITZER. Anyhoo, PAUL GIAMATTI(AMERICAN SPLENDOR) is cast as JOHN ADAMS. It seems to me that he is a bit out of his league in this role, but he looks the part and his commitment to the character eventually, won me over. Not an easy acting job, by any means. LAURA LINNEY(one of my fave actresses) is really, I think what holds this together,as the character she is playing,probably did in real life. Her intelligence and strength are just wonderful. TOM WILIKINSON(MICHAEL CLAYTON) is great as BEN FRANKLIN and STEPHEN DILLANE(Who I have never seen before) is perfectly cast as THOMAS JEFFERSON. The sets are amazing, as are the costumes and special effects (ewww, ughie: the smallpox inoculation scene!). The make-up, too, is amazing. I think the thing that struck me the most, though was the music. I just loved watching the opening credits with the JOHN ADAMS theme music and the cool flags! Whoever did that is a genius!

BBN,

Mitzi