Chief of War - TV Series

 One thing we kept hearing over and over again while we were in Hawaii was that we had to watch Chief of War with Jason Momoa. 

(Full Disclosure - it stars Jason Momoa so I was planning on watching it anyway.)

On the flight back to the Mainland, Chief of War (which streams on Apple TV) was one of the in-flight choices for entertainment!  

If you are not familiar with the series, Chief of War is about the unification of the Hawaiian Islands from an indigenous point of view. The War Chief is determined to fend off colonization of the Islands by uniting the divided and warring islands.  The series was created by Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett.  

The visual scenery is stunning.  The acting is phenomenal.  The story line is well thought out, and I enjoyed watching how the story grew.  I love how the Chief of War grew out from the legend and into the world.  What was more stunning to me - the beginning of the series is entirely spoken in Hawaiian.  This forces the viewer to pay attention to the dialogue and the script, as the English words are dubbed in when the actors speak Hawaiian.

Did I enjoy the series?  YES!!  It was extremely well acted, with a solid storyline based upon historical fact.  Everyone I spoke with in the islands spoke again and again about the lengths that the producers went through to ensure Cultural Authenticity.  Historical accuracy is tantamount to the entire series, which builds upon its authenticity.

I read in an interview with Jason Momoa that he worked with a language coach who taught him not only the words, but also the cadence and the accents.  While Jason is Hawaiian, he did not grow up speaking Hawaiian.  For the filming of Chief of War, the entire cast learned Hawaiian, and they worked together on reading scenes in Hawaiian so that they could learn each other's lines and how to react to the lines.  Jason has said that learning the Hawaiian language was more difficult than learning Dothraki for Game of Thrones.

What a wonderful celebration of the history and culture of the people of Hawaii.  If you have Apple TV and are looking for a new series to stream, this is an excellent choice. 

image released by Apple TV for Chief of War.
source: the link below/

Read more about Jason Momoa's Hawaiian Langugage Journey (also the source of the picture above):  https://apnews.com/article/jason-momoa-chief-of-war-hawaiian-language-e5a49c8fb8d9d5fb809e354f85bab4ba

Christmas Movie of the Day

 The Santa Claus starring Tim Allen.

This movie was released in 1994. 

My favorite part of the movie? How they explained how Santa got up and down chimneys in the houses without a chimney or a fireplace.

Boston Legal

image: amazon.com

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One of my favorite shows, ever, was Boston Legal.  The actors in it were amazing - all very big names - James Spader, William Shatner, Candice Bergen.  The plots were very clean and well written with just enough sharp wit thrown in to keep the viewer on their toes.

Just before the blizzard hit our area, I went to the library with the kids to pick up books to tide us over the long weekend.  As we walked past the video display, I saw it.  Sitting face out on display where we could see it, was Season One of Boston Legal.  I've been searching for this for quite some time now.  It's not on Netflix, and it's not on Amazon Prime.

The kids had never seen it before.  When we began watching the first episode, they were hooked on the intelligent dialog and very real issues and questions that are brought up in every episode.

This powerhouse of a drama is worth watching - or going back to re-watch if you haven't seen it in a while.  James Spader is, hands down, one of my favorite actors.  I've been a fan of his since way, way back in the day. 

A truly bingeworthy show.

ARGO

We watched the movie ARGO this evening.

This amazing movie is based on the real life events of the hostage situation in Iran in 1979-80.

I was a teenager, in high school during the Iran Hostage Crisis.  We were living in Northern Virginia at the time.  I vividly recall the yellow ribbons on all of the trees.  I recall the daily count of the days the hostages had been held, but I didn't recall all of the details of the crisis.

This film reminded me of the crisis, vividly reminded me of the crisis.  The deeper reasons behind the revolution, and why the United States was hated so deeply in Iran. 

Six employees of the embassy ran when the embassy was overrun.  They hid out in the Canadian Embassy.  Every day that went by, the hostages were in more danger of being discovered, and if they were found, they would be put to death.

A wild plot was hatched by the CIA to rescue the six hostages from under the noses of the Iranians.  A movie was planned that was never made.  Actors and Actresses were hired and ads were taken out in Variety Magazine.  A script was written, storyboards were made, and a fake office was set up in the studio offices.  Everything was put into place to make this fake movie believable.

This was an amazing movie.  I enjoyed every single minute of this edge of my seat thrill ride.  If you haven't yet seen ARGO, I urge you to take the time to watch it.  You'll be glad that you did!

The movie is based on the book,  Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History, which was written by the gentleman who engineered the escape: Antonio Mendez.

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