Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

lord woodburry What to do with defeated enemies has been a question all victorious Societies have had to face. The Aztec made the humbled enemy play basketball before executing them. Romans held a big parade in Rome and later Constantanople and ritually strangled the conquered. Occasionally, the vanquished enemy was pardoned and maintained at State expense. In the middle ages, captured Knights were offered for ransom.After World War II, the US wanted to have a trial. "Uncle Joe" Stalin more practically suggested shooting those there was no further use for and keeping the few with some promise. However Stalin bowed to his allies wishes and the Neuremberg Trials began with the Russian Judges' toast 'To Law.' Alec Baldwin rendered a bravura performance as Justice Jackson the US chief prosecutor at Neurember capturing the arrogance, self-righteousness and political intrigue as well as the hubris when he cannot break REichsmarshall Hermann Goering on cross-examination. "All governments fundamentally operate the same," prisoner Goering tells the stunned Jackson.The movie stays from the actual event in giving Jackson the upper hand on a second round of cross-examination and in hanging on to the end. The real life Jackson who some bouts of melancholia during the ups and downs of the trial and who had lost the honor of appointment as US Chief Justice resigned as chief prosecutor long before the verdicts were rendered and returned to Washington.The people of the Neurenberg court were concerned with how history would see them. Will to a future generation this be seen as an attempt to impose law and order on statecraft or will it seem a bizarre form of public entertainment like the basketball game the Aztecs staged?

yoshware The topic was targeted quite well. This movie has very good aspects in it. For example the acting of the accused Germans (like Göring). It is historically accurate and shows everything there is to show about this very delicate topic. Sadly there is shown too much. That love story between Justice Jackson (Alec Baldwin) and Elsie Douglas (Jill Hennessy). In my opinion this is not the movie to be equipped with such a (not even well done) love story. I suppose some moviegoers want to see love in every movie. But for me this ruined it. Furthermore Alec Baldwins acting was not adequate. He showed emotions, where there are no emotions to be shown and it looked like he wanted to show off his 'talent' in this movie at every occasion possible. Which again was a big mistake.My rating for this movie would have been 9/10 if those two things would have been regarded but with the above complaints, it will only receive a rating suitable for below-average movies.

jmckelve I teach World and United States History at a high school (Hemet) in Southern California and use this movie in my classroom teaching. It is an excellent resource tool for learning and discussion with my students. They are all aware that the Nazis committed crimes against humanity by perpetrating the Holocaust, but they aren't as aware of the other crimes that they committed such as crimes in the conduct of war and the breaking of treaties and conventions etc. The "eyewitness" testimonies and the segment of actual Holocaust footage makes for a powerful effect on teen learners. Students get a broad picture for the scope of crimes committed by the Nazis and how each person contributed toward the whole. I was disappointed with the "bonus extras" that are included in the DVD version...no significant insightful commentaries with the actors...what they do share is way too brief. Brian Cox totally owns this in terms of his performance. Baldwin does his usual sharp performance. From a personal viewers standpoint it would have been cool to hear from the actors what they did to prepare for their parts. I know Baldwin to be research professional and expect that he invested a good bit into his preparation as did Cox I am sure. J. McKelvey

Clive-Silas Hidden inside this purported battle between surviving top Nazi Hermann Goering and American prosecutor Judge Robert Jackson is, I think, the adaptation the writer probably wanted to do - the story of psychologist E.M. Gilbert and his backstage verbal tusslings with men who either refused to acknowledge any guilt (Goering, Streicher) or conversely were overflowing with it (Frank, Speer).When you see Alec Baldwin appear a second time in the credits, as Executive Producer, you feel that Nuremberg was probably conceived as a vanity project for him. Fortunately it is quite easy to let the early scenes of the Court's setup just wash over you, and of course Jill Hennessey is always easy on the eyes. Much of the first half of the first episode is more or less soap opera. Jackson has to persuade Judge Biddle to go to Nuremberg, then to relinquish the Presidency of the court to the British. The bantering relationship with his secretary (Hennessey) serves as a prelude to their becoming lovers during their time in Germany.At this point Hermann Goering appears (the great Brian Cox on top form), totally dominating the trial, totally dominating this mini-series, and your attention is grasped and held. Cox almost wipes Baldwin off the screen. Unfortunately it's very hard not to gain a great deal of sympathy for Goering, particularly when he is with his family, or in the heart-to-heart chats with his G.I. prison guard, Tex. We see Goering as he undoubtedly saw himself, but in reality he wasn't like that at all. The Nuremberg trial and the general travails of imprisonment were an excellent opportunity for him to smarten himself up: prior to his arrest he had become a dissolute and overweight drug addict. Unfortunately no sign of this weakness of character was carried over into the script, leaving an impression of Goering as a noble, principled man - irrespective of whether you agreed with his principles.Also very watchable was Matt Craven in the role of Gilbert the aforementioned psychologist, and Christopher Plummer as British prosecutor David Maxwell-Fyfe (although the real Maxwell-Fyfe was the younger prosecutor, not an elder mentor as depicted here). Particularly gratifying is the scene in which Maxwell-Fyfe tells Jackson that "your documentary approach is legally impeccable - but as drama it's absolutely stultifying" - which might stand as an apt description of Baldwin's part in this series.A last little curiosity, and not to make any personal remarks about Herbert Knaup, but I did find it strange that they cast Knaup, a slightly odd-looking actor, to play Albert Speer, by fairly common consent the handsomest and most photogenic of all the Nazi leaders, particularly as Speer was portrayed here in a sympathetic light. Other than Knaup, many of the actors were very close in looks to their real-life counterparts, most notably Roc LaFortune as Rudolf Hess, almost a living double.