Caravaggio (Special Edition) (1986) Review

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(More customer reviews)I remember seeing this film in theaters when it first came out. I was so struck by the shadowy drama and sparkling wit of the imagery that I dragged EVERYONE I KNEW to see it. They still have my fingermarks on their arms.
Jarman's film is not a biography in the strict sense. Rather, he uses Caravaggio's paintings and a loose chronology of events as a point of departure to present his own musings on art, love, sexuality and its politics. The photography is painterly in the best sense of the word and evokes the period acutely. The cast, a director's dream by any standard, is splendid. Tilda Swindon absolutely glows on screen, Sean Bean is as feral as a tomcat, and Nigel Terry is believably world-weary and laconic, a prisoner of his vision, his debauchery, and the unfolding destiny the intersection of the two character traits dictates.
Jarman makes excellent use of anachronistic elements in the film to point out the relevance of those issues to the present day. My favorite scene shows a Vatican functionary, wearing nothing but his nightcap, sitting in a porcelain bathtub and typing on a manual typerwriter...in the 15th century! The witticisms are unmistakeable and very ably presented. Ironically, they make the whole film seem even more convincingly Baroque.
Video was the last time this film was available, and I'm very glad that someone had the nerve to reissue it on DVD. It is a very long time coming.

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Stewing in Rome's underbelly during the late Italian Renaissance, Michelangelo da Caravaggio was plucked from the streets by the Catholic Church to paint austere Biblical exaltations. Derek Jarman masterfully captures not only his rampant flirtations with Roman counterculture, but also beautifully saturates this film with the same delicate attention to the chiaroscuro techniques the painter so expertly crafted. Starring 2007 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, The Chronicles of Narnia) in her debut film role, Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings), and Nigel Terry (Excalibur) in the title role, Caravaggio is a lush re-imagining of the volatile life of the 17th-century painter and his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings.SPECIAL FEATURES- Restored anamorphic transfer, created from Hi-Def elements- Video interviews with actress Tilda Swinton, actor Nigel Terry and production designer Christopher Hobbs- Audio commentary by cinematographer Gabriel Beristain- Rare audio and video interviews with Derek Jarman- Storyboard, notebook, production photo and design sketch galleries- Original theatrical trailer- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired- Liner notes by film critic/producer Colin MacCabe

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Lady Chatterley (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)It is rare that a novel can successfully be adapted to the screen without losing much of its force. Lady Chatterley, Ken Russell's adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, however, loses almost none of the force of the original source. The novel was banned when it came out, and one viewing of Lady Chatterley will explain why.
The British VHS box for Lady Chatterley boasts that it is filled with "very, very erotic sex." That is about the most accurate statement you can make about this movie. Lest one get the wrong idea, however, this made-for-TV movie is not pornography. It utilizes the original plot, cutting out some of the more social aspects of the novel, to tell a beautiful story about one woman's search for love -- sexual and otherwise -- outside of her marriage and class.
Joely Richardson, best known in the U.S. for cavorting with Mel Gibson in "The Patriot," here bares it all early and often with Sean Bean. Both of them shine in their respective roles. Ms. Richardson is brilliant as a strong, independent woman whose husband is crippled during WWI, thus basically ending her sexual life prematurely. Sean Bean plays her lowly, gamekeeper lover, Oliver Mellors. The dirty, scruffy, growling Mellors is the perfect vehicle for Sean Bean's talent -- part bad guy, part sensual lover, in many ways a guilty pleasure (much like Sean Bean himself!)
This is not a movie for immature audiences -- it is as beautiful a story as it is erotic, much the way D. H. Lawrence wrote it. Nor is it for the faint of heart -- the sex scenes are revealing and very intense. It is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and overall, is an amazing cinematic experience. The 3.5 hours are well worth watching, at least for fans of Joely Richardson or Sean Bean.
Although the movie is extremely good, I would definitely recommend reading the original novel as well, particularly the unexpurgated version. Some of the best scenes in the novel were cut for censorship considerations and their inability to work onscreen. Nonetheless, fans of the novel will not be disappointed -- and those unacquainted with the novel will certainly be more than a little surprised at the force and eroticism of this movie.

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From the director of Women in Love and Altered States comes a retelling of the literary classic that launched the most celebrated obscenity trial of the 20th century. In adapting the famous tale of unbridled passion, Ken Russell has made a moving love story and some of the most talked about television of the 1990s. Joely Richardson (Return to Me, The Affair of the Necklace) stars as the young, sexually repressed Lady Chatterley, whose paralyzed husband (James Wilby, Gosford Park) urges her to find fulfillment and an heir for his fortune in the arms of another man. Sean Bean (Patriot Games, The Lord of the Rings) is the lowly gamekeeper whose scandalous attentions awaken her senses. DVD special features include an exclusive interview with writer/director Ken Russell, behind-the-scenes photo gallery, broadcast trailer, cast and crew filmographies and DH Lawrence biography.

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Flightplan (Widescreen Edition) (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Kyle Pratt and her daughter Julia board a plane in Germany to bring the body of their beloved husband/father to his final resting place in the US. After a short nap, Kyle wakes only to discover her daughter is missing from her seat. After searching on her own, she seeks help from the crew, but none of the passengers remember seeing Julia. After further inquiries, it is disclosed that Julia wasn't even listed as traveling on the flight. Everyone writes Kyle off as being in mourning, and even unstable. For just a moment Kyle starts to believe she may be losing it, but then stands firm. Julia is her daughter, and she would not make this kind of mistake regarding something so important. As Kyle begins her own search, it shocks everyone to find out that she is in fact one of the propulsion engineers of this plane and will be searching every inch to locate her daughter.
At first I couldn't believe that none of the passengers would admit to seeing Julia, but then as they are interviewed, it is amazing how many were too busy with families, business, etc. to really notice or pay attention. I expect it is pretty much how we all are. As Kyle's sanity is brought into question, we start to wonder who is right. Did we really see Julia? Jodie Foster is so strong in this movie. I like that she is proactive instead of reactive.

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Academy Award(R) winner Jodie Foster (Best Actress, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, 1991) gives an outstanding performance in the heart-pumping action thriller FLIGHTPLAN. Flying at 40,000 feet in a state-of-the art aircraft that she helped design, Kyle Pratt's (Foster) 6-year-old daughter Julia vanishes without a trace. Or did she? No one on the plane believes Julia was ever onboard. And now Kyle, desperate and alone, can only count on her own wits to unravel the mystery and save her daughter. From the producer of APOLLO 13 and A BEAUTIFUL MIND, FLIGHTPLAN is an intense, suspense-filled thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire flight.

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