Jul. 20, 2005 - 7:21 pm
i've seen this movie quite a few times in the past and always really enjoyed it. i just thought it was time to see it again and write a review of it. Jill wasn't too enthusiastic about watching it after my brief description of the plot, so i watched it while i was at home today with a sore throat.
the movie stars Tom Cruise as Joseph and Nicole Kidman as Shannon, two immigrants who meet each other in Ireland and then quickly decide to run off to America to find free land and a more modern culture. they do find just that, but not without 2 hours of struggling to find their way. America kicks their butts quite a bit before they find what they're looking for. after all of their money is stolen, they find work plucking chickens, Joseph becomes a prize fighter, and Shannon takes up a short career in the dancing girl show at the boxing matches. after they get kicked out of town and lose all of their money they have to make their way out west to Oklahoma to claim their free land, but they won't be going out there together...
despite Tom Cruise's publicly oddball lifestyle, i can't help enjoying his acting nearly every time he's onscreen. there are only a few of his movies i utterly don't enjoy, and those are mostly because of bad plots...see Mission: Impossible (1996), etc.
somewhat related to this movie, i really enjoy pretty much all music by the singer Enya. she has a wonderful gift for music in my opinion. i've always said that if there is a soundtrack that plays when you're in Heaven, it will be by Enya. anyway, but she wrote the theme song for Far and Away which is called "Book of Days." i never actually realized that she repeatedly says the words "Far and Away" in the lyrics to the song. i always thought she was saying "All on Your Own." apparently the lyrics to this song (as i said, the title of the film is repeated quite a bit in the lyrics) were nominated in the Razzie Awards of 1992. if you're not familiar with them, the Razzies are like the negative Oscars. they give awards to the Worst of each category. Enya didn't actually write the somewhat stupid lyrics, but i think she still took the blame in that case.
anyway, the song is good and the movie is good. it's a Ron Howard movie so it's got to be at least decent right? i think many people have a lower opinion of this movie than i do, but in my mind it's a solid film with a great story, great acting, and solid filmmaking behind it.