The Song of the Lark (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)After the horrid job Hollywood did on her novel A LOST LADY, Willa Cather refused to allow her works to be converted to dramatic form--and she put it in her will. But that was before Masterpiece Theater raised the stakes for the transformation of literary classics to film. Now that a few of Cather's works are no longer in copyright, some have been filmed with mixed results. The Masterpiece Theater film, THE SONG OF THE LARK, is the best of the lot, a fine presentation of the story of a young girl who finds her voice when she connects the two things--the western lands and the music--that she loves. This production has the good sense to end the story at its climax, leaving the weaker ending (which Cather herself acknowledged) to the reader's imagination.

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The McCourts of New York (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)The McCourts of New York is a great companion piece to Frank McCourt's memiors, Angela's Ashes and 'Tis, and to Conor McCourt's earlier film, The McCourts of Limerick. Its glimpses of the lives of the four McCourt brothers are funny and touching. The film gives not only a look at the rollicking past of the brothers McCourt but a personal look at what their family tragedies mean to them now. If you loved reading Angela's Ashes as much as I did, you'll want to see this wonderfully human documentary.

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The Warner Gangsters Collection (The Public Enemy / White Heat / Angels with Dirty Faces / Little Caesar / The Petrified Forest / The Roaring Twenties) (1938) Review

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(More customer reviews)Who can argue that this isn't the greatest collection of classic gangster films ever made?
If you need more proof about how good these are, I have 3 sources that rated these films BEFORE they were released to DVD.
Leonard Maltin (represented by LM, his highest rating is 4 stars),Nick Martin & Marsha Porter (authers of DVD & Video guide - represented by DVDG), and All Movie Guide (Represented by AMG).
Let's go Chronologically:
Little Caesar: LM- 3 1/2; DVDG - 3; AMG - 5
The Public Enemy: LM - 3 1/2; DVDG - 4 1/2; AMG - 5
The Petrified Forest: LM 3 1/2; DVDG - 4 1/2; AMG - 4
Angels With Dirty Faces: LM - 3 1/2; DVDG - 4 1/2; AMG - 4 1/2
The Roaring Twenties: LM - 3; DVDG - 4 1/2; AMG - 4 1/2
White Heat: LM - 3 1/2; DVDG - 4 1/2; AMG - 5
If you really look at the ratings (and consider that Maltin uses a 4 star rating system (as opposed to a 5 star)),you will see that the profesional critics rate these as quite high. Let's face it. These are the cream of the Warner gangster library. Another neat thing that was done for the DVD is the Warner Night at the Movies (Similarly done with Yankee Doodle Dandy, Treasures of the Sierra Madre, and the Adventures of Robin Hood - also introduced by Leonard Maltin) which gives you the option of viewing the film the way it was in theaters during that year (complete with trailer, news item, short, cartoon, & movie). They all have commentaries by notable historians, and have "Making of" special features (a few which include Martin Scorsese).
The prints are the cleanest I've seen in years (Turner does a top notch job of getting the best available source material).
The sound is above average to good. There are subtitles for the films, and closed captioning. Subtitles in english, french, and spanish.
The bottom line is if you are into this genre, you are going to want to get all 6 of these films (watch them in chronological order, the way the "making of"s are presented is much more rewarding if you do). These are simply the best of the gangster films. Second to none, and (to quote Cagney) "Top of the World".

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The Public Enemy showcases James Cagney's powerful 1931 breakthrough performance as streetwise tough guy Tom Powers. When shooting began, Cagney had a secondary role but Zanuck soon spotted Cagney's screen dominance and gave him the star part. From that moment, an indelible genre classic and an enduring star career were both born.As a psychotic thug devoted to his hard-boiled ma, James Cagney - older, scarier and just as elctrifying - gives a performance to match his work in The Public Enemy as White Heat's cold-blooded Cody Jarrett. Bracingly directed by Raoul Walsh, this fast-paced thriller tracing Jarrett's violent life in and out of jail is also a harrowing character study.Jarrett is a psychological time bomb ruled by impulse. It is among themost vivid screen performances of Cagney's career, and the excitement itgenerates will put you on top of the world! In Angels with Dirty Faces, Cagney's Rocky Sullivan is a charismatic ghetto tough whose underworld rise makes him a hero to a gang of slum punks. The 1938 New York Film Critics Best Actor Award came Cagney's way, as well as one of the film's three Oscar nominations. Watch the chilling death-row finale and you'll know why. "R-I-C-O, Little Caesar, that's who!" Edward G. Robinson bellowed into the phone. And Hollywood got the message: 37-year-old Robinson, not gifted with matinee-idol looks, was nonetheless a first-class star and moviegoers hailed the hard-hitting social consciousness dramas that became the Depression-era mainstay of Warner Bros. Little Caesar is the tale of pugnacious Caesar Enrico Bandello, a hoodlum with a Chicago-sized chip on his shoulder, few attachments, fewer friends and no sense of underworld diplomacy. And Robinson - a genteel art collector who disdained guns (in the movie, his eyelids weretaped to keep them from blinking when he fired a pistol) - was forever associated with the screen's archetypal gangster. A rundown diner bakes in the Arizona heat. Inside, fugitive killer Duke Mantee sweats out a manhunt, holding disillusioned writer Alan Squier, young Gabby Maple and a handful of others hostage. The Petrified Forest, Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 Broadway success about survival of the fittest, hit the screen a year later with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart magnificently recreating their stage roles and BetteDavis ably reteaming with her Of Human Bondage co-star Howard. Sherwood first wanted Bogart for a smaller role. "I thought Sherwood was right," Bogart said. "I couldn't picture myself playing a gangster. So what happened? I made a hit as the gangster." So right was he that Howard refused to make the film without him...and helped launch Bogie's brilliant movie career. In The Roaring Twenties, the speakeasy era never roared louder than in this gangland chronicle that packs a wallop under action master Raoul Walsh's direction. Against a backdrop of newsreel-like montages and narration, it follows the life of jobless war veteran Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) who turns bootlegger, dealing in "bottles instead of battles." Battles await Eddie within and without his growing empire. Outside are territorial feuds and gangland bloodlettings. Inside is the treachery of his double-dealing associate (Humphrey Bogart). It would be 10 years before Cagney played another gangster (in White Heat), a time in which gangster movies themselves became rare. "He used to be a big shot," Panama Smith (Gladys George) says at the finale, marking Bartlett's demise...and signaling the end of Hollywood's focus on the gangster era.

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Wall Street (1987) Review

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(More customer reviews)When Oliver Stone made Wall Street, he was riding high from the commercial and critical success of Platoon (Special Edition). His father, Lou Stone, had been a stockbroker on Wall Street in New York City and this film was a son's way of paying tribute to his father. Almost twenty years later, it has become one of the quintessential snapshots of the financial scene in the United States and epitomizes the essence of capitalism, greed and materialism that was so prevalent in the 1980s.
Michael Douglas owns the role of Gekko and by extension dominates the movie with his larger than life character. He gets most of the film's best dialogue and delivers it with such conviction. There is a scene between Bud and Gekko in a limousine where he tells the younger man how the financial world works, how it operates and lays it all out, pushing Bud hard to go into business with him. It is one of the strongest scenes in the movie because you really believe what Gekko is saying and how Bud could be seduced by his words.
The culmination of Douglas' performance is his much lauded, often quoted, "Greed is good" speech that his character gives to a shareholders' meeting of Teldar Paper, a company he is planning to take over. He concludes by saying, "Greed is right; greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words -- will save not only Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A." This is one of the best delivered monologues ever put to film as Douglas goes from charming to downright threatening and back again, succinctly summing up the essence of '80 capitalism and greed.
The original DVD did not have many extras but the quality of what was included was excellent. They have all been carried over to this new release (minus the trailers) but do the new extras really merit a double dip?
There is an audio commentary by co-writer and director Oliver Stone. Stone talks about Michael Douglas' early struggles with the huge amount of dialogue he had to deliver and how he dealt with it. The filmmaker is candid with his shortcomings and those of others (i.e. Daryl Hannah, Charlie Sheen, etc.). As always, Stone delivers the goods, offering all kinds of fascinating insights into the making of the film.
The second disc features a new introduction by Oliver Stone that is brief and really should have been put on the first disc.
Another new extra is "Greed is Good," an hour-long retrospective documentary with Hal Hoolbrook, John C. McGinley, Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas amongst others returning to offer their impressions of the financial world depicted in the movie. This substantial doc examines the appeal of Gekko and why he inspired people in the business world.
Also new to this edition is over 20 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary by Stone. There is a nice little scene with Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller as one of Bud's clients. Also included is an earlier scene where Bud and Darian (Hannah) meet in a bar but Stone cut it because the Hamptons scene at Gekko's house was stronger. The filmmaker puts all of these scenes into context and why there were cut.
Finally, carried over from the original edition is "Money Never Sleeps: The Making of Wall Street," a top-notch, 47-minute making of documentary. There is very little overlap with the "Greed is Good" documentary.
If you're a fan of this film and already own the previous edition, the new extras definitely warrant a double dip. They are quite substantial in nature and shed more light on this excellent film.

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Love at First Bite (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, as far as the movie itself goes, this movie deserves 10+ stars, because not since, Young Frankenstein, has a movie so poignantly and perfectly, captured the true feel of the original classic, of which it so lovingly satires.
George Hamilton plays Dracula, like no one else (except maybe, Jack Palance, but that's another review altogether :) doing Bela Lugosi, proud, whilst still putting his own stamp on the character.
And who can forget, Arte Johnson, as Dracula's , "Cockroach eating friend" (he-he-he... :) Renfield, and Richard Benjamin as their foil, Van Helsing ("Dracula's stolen my girlfriend, and I think he's better in bed with her, then I am...")
This movie is a hands down, no, if-ands-or-buts, classic, from, "Children of the night, shut up", to the end credits.
So why did I only give it 4 stars then?
Well, when this great homage to the classic Dracula films was first released to the big screen (I went to see it with my first girlfriend) there was this great show stopping dance sequence where Dracula seduces Cindy ("The only woman that I have ever loved") on the dance floor to the tune of the disco classic, I Love The Night Life, but then, years and years later, when the movie finally came out to video, I was dismayed to discover that this song had been replaced by some generic disco song.
Now don't get me wrong here, this new song is pretty good, and had it been the original choice for the dance sequence, then I would have had no complaints, but that's not the case here, I Love The Night Life, is the song that defined this movie for all of us who remember seeing it at the theater, and its apparent non-inclusion, on this highly awaited, DVD release, is just another slap in the face to the fans who have been waiting for over 20 years, to finally hear the right song, put back in the movie...
I mean, could you imagine if Star Wars had been released without the opening music, but instead, replaced by some stock music (in order to save a few bucks on the licensing rights) sure, it would still be Star Wars, but there would be something missing. I mean jeepers; it would almost be as bad as say, Greedo, getting off the first shot..., oh right... lol, never mind...
We the fans, should petition MGM, just to let them know that we are not happy with the omission of our beloved song, but alas, seeing as the DVD's have already been manufactured, and will be in stores in a couple of weeks, I'm afraid that the only way in which, I Love The Night Life, will ever be heard in this movie again, is if you sync up the CD of the song, and turn down the DVD's volume during the dance sequence.
It's a darn shame, if you ask me... :(
***NOTE: Just got my copy of this DVD, and as feared, "I Love The Night Life" is missing in action, on both the widescreen and full screen versions (as I had secretly hoped that it made it onto one of the two versions, but alas, no :(
But here's the rub, as there's a rather lengthy trailer for the movie, included on the DVD, and guess what song is used through out this trailer, yep, none other then, "I Love The Night Life".
What a slap in the face to the fans of this great film, to have to endure the generic disco song during the actual movie, only to have the original song, dangled in our face, over and over again in the trailer (there are even snippets of the dance sequence, with the proper music, in the trailer :(
FYI: you'll probably want to watch the movie in the full screen mode, because the widescreen mode it simply the full screen mode, matted to widescreen, and not the other way around, so there's more top and bottom info on the screen in the full screen mode, as opposed to less right and left screen info with movies cropped to fit full screen.

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Sex and the City - The Movie (Full Screen Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was initially against a continuation of the runaway hit HBO series, Sex and the City - The Complete Series (Collector's Giftset) I felt that the season finale was perfection and any other stories to be told would only spoil it. Once the movie started though, I was drawn in and it felt great to see these "familiar" friends again: Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). Carrie and Mr. Big (Chris Noth) decide to tie the knot, and the movie revolves around how their relationship takes the next step. Meanwhile, Miranda and Steve are dealing with Miranda neglecting their relationship. Samantha has become an L.A. housewife and is none too happy about continually playing second-fiddle to Smith. Charlotte...well, she is just living a perfect life with adopted daughter and husband Harry. The movie continues the vision of the series: insightful, witty, and extremely well written. Jennifer Hudson has a nice supporting role as Carrie's personal assistant; she brings sass to her role and definitely leaves the door open for a possibility of a "next generation" of young hopeful women to hit New York City. My gripes? I felt that fashion played too much of a role; in the TV series, it was a nice semi-silent costar. In the movie, it was a little "in your face" and over the top. I also felt that Samantha's storyline seemed a little out of character and contrived; her supposed weight gain was minimal and for her to ever stay in the background for Smith just seemed out of step. Many original cast members returned for the movie, although some were absolutely wasted as they were relegated to non-speaking cameos. For some reason, Stanford & Anthony are now close friends (possibly even more), which is totally against how they were in the series. Obviously, much has happened in the years since we last saw them; it left a feeling that an explanation scene or two must be on the cutting room floor. Removal of some of the fashion stuff and putting back in more of the witty dialogue would have benefitted the movie greatly.Speaking of putting back in...yes, this version is an extended cut. Many scenes have been lengthened, and it definitely helps give the movie a more finished feel and explains much that I thought was missing in the theater. Extra fun is Carrie's fashion show in her apartment, where she tries on many of her 1980's bad outfits for the girls, who rate whether the outfits should be kept or tossed. In the extended cut, ALL the girls (including Charlotte's daughter Lily) join in the fun and try on the outfits. This is especially wonderful as SJP does not necessarily deserve the lion's share of credit for this successful series; it is definitely an ensemble cast. The restored Halloween scene of Harry as The Addams Family's Uncle Fester is not to be missed, either!
I saw it twice on the big screen - thoroughly entertained both times, and hoping for a follow-up!
Bonus features for 2-Disc Special Edition DVD:
DISC 1:
* Audio Commentary by director Michael Patrick King
DISC 2:
* Additional Scenes restored to the actual movie as well as a separate section with deleted scenes that feature commentary by Michael Patrick King as to why they were cut.
* A Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King: a nice look at the movie with SJP and MPK, giving further insight into many of the choices made for the movie.
* The Fabulous Fashion of Sex And The City: Excellent featurette with Patricia Fields discussing how she finds all the different fashions for the character. Not one to get caught up in labels, her talent is for mixing up totally different looks and creating magic.
* Fergie in the Studio: watch a hit in the making as the singer records Labels or Love for the movie soundtrack, interspersed with Fergie fawning over the original TV series. A short featurette but cool to watch nonetheless.
UPDATE: You might want to hold off on buying this version, as an Sex and the City: The Movie (Ultimate Collector's Edition) with approximately 4 more hours of extras is due to be released on December; so far, no Blu-ray version of this set has been announced.

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For too long, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) had been looking for love in all the wrong places . . . but in all the right shoes. In this much anticipated movie event, Carrie, Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) are back, four years after the hit TV series ended. As they continue to juggle career, relationships, motherhood and life in Manhattan, the girls realize that more than ever, true friendship never goes out of style.

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Gotti: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Mafia Don (1996) Review

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(More customer reviews)The movie had its moments some of the dialogue was hard to understand but the acting was fine. Assante and Quinn both were very good in their roles. It's worth buying if your into mafia movies.

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9/11 - The Filmmakers' Commemorative Edition (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)This film is the "accidental documentary" made by French brothers and film makers, Gedeon and Jules Naudet. The brothers were making a film about a young fire fighter during his 9-month probationary period. With the help of their friend, firefighter James Hanlon, there were given nearly unlimited access to all the goings-on at the firehouse, Engine 7, Ladder 1, on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan, less than ten blocks from the World Trade Center. Little did the brothers know that they would be the witness to history, just three months after they began their project.
Gedeon is the older brother, and the avid film maker. But, by the time of 9/11, an additional camera had been purchased for Jules for "camera practice." Jules is with the Battalion Chief, Joseph Pfeifer, and 13 other fire fighters from the house, filming as they investigate an odor of gas at 8:46 am on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. They are standing in the path of the plane as it flies over and hits Tower 1, and Jules is filming the entire time. His is the only footage of the attack on Tower 1. The reaction of the firefighters is immediate, as they take off for the Trade Center, a place they previously would visit up to five times a day on a shift. They know the Trade Center perhaps better than any other firehouse in Manhattan. But, nothing has prepared them for this.
What transpires is the only known footage of the struggle of the firefighters inside Tower 1 as they try to figure out what to do in the chaos and confusion. They had seen it all, they thought, but this was something they hadn't prepared for. The film is very sensitively edited, so you don't see the blood or the gore or the bodies, you only hear about them. The focus in this film is on the brotherhood of the firemen, what was going on in the towers while the rest of the world looked on, helplessly. How men who make less money than half of the City are the ones who rush into the burning buildings, and who do not hesitate to lay down their lives while saving others. It is the tale of a true brotherhood, of men who are doing jobs handed down to them from generations before. It is more than a story of 9/11, it is the story of the world of New York fire fighters.
Before 9/11 happens, we see the inside of the firehouse, how the young "Probie", Tony Benatanos, is brought into the fold, how the firemen interact and eat together and needle each other. The French brothers did not set out to make a documentary on 9/11, certainly, but fate dealt a hand. This is the most extensive, mind-boggling film, and the DVD contains extended interviews with the firemen, who have seen so much, but still seem to be in shock about what they saw that day.
James Hanlon narrates this film beautifully, and the brothers are interviewed describing that terrible day. The firemen are truly amazing, the footage is incredible, and, if you only see one documentary on this horrible day, this is the one to see. It truly portrays the victims, the heroes, and the survivors sensitively, honestly, and shockingly. It is unforgettable.

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9/11 THE FILMMAKER COMMEMORATIVE 2002 - DVD Movie

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