Hannah Montana: The Movie (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2009)

Since 2006, "Hannah Montana" has not only been a popular television series for the Disney Channel but a series that has definitely made Miley Cyrus, daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, a bonafide star.

It was one thing to watch this young teenager who was 13-years old at the time, grow up and become a popular television star and music talent that would sell out many concert venues, has had her music on top of the Billboard charts and now has two Disney films under her belt.

The first film from Disney focused on a 3D version of her concert and television show personality but this time around, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" takes to the big screen and takes a more serious look at Miley Cyrus's character as her pop star identity has now affected her family and he friendship and has come to the point that the lifestyle of a popstar has gotten to her head.

The film is directed by Peter Chelsom ("Shall We Dance", "Serendipity" and "Town & Country"), a screenplay by Daniel Berendsen ("Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", "The Cheetah Girls: One World") , composer John Debney ("The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", "Spider-Man 3" and "Sin City") and cinematographer David Hennings ("Strange Wilderness", "Blue Crush" and "Ice Princess").

For those not familiar with the television series, former music artist Robby Ray Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) has moved his family (which include Miley, played by Miley Cyrus, and her older brother Jackson, played by Jason Earles) from Tennessee to Malibu in order to manage his daughter Miley's music career. But in order to keep sanity at their home and keep their family together, he and Miley has kept secret identities and Miley dons a blonde wig and goes by the name Hannah Montana. Along with her best friend Lilly Truscott (Emily Osment) and friend Oliver Oken (Mitchel Musso), who also take on disguises, help protect Miley's secret.

In "Hannah Montana: The Movie", the film picks up with Hannah Montana's career doing quite well and is now managed by Vita (Vanessa Williams). While Vita is successfully booking Hannah in various, major events, the fame has kept her busy to be with family (to celebrate Jackson's entrance to college) and Lilly's birthday party. To make things worse, a member of the paparazzi is trying to figure out Hannah Montana's secret.

After Hannah ends up getting into fight with Tyra Banks over some shoes and getting plastered on the newspapers and disrupting Lilly's birthday party by coming as Hannah Montana, Robby Ray feels that his daughter Miley can't balance her time as a family member and friend and is focusing too much of her life as Hannah Montana and thus tricks her to going to Tennessee (instead of an award ceremony in New York).

Hannah is not pleased that her father has tricked her and prevented her from attending the award show and is upset that he dragged her to the farmlife in Tennessee. But Robby Ray wants her to remember where she came from and that Tennessee was their home before California.

While in Tennessee, Miley tries to adjust to the slow-paced life and meets an old friend when she was younger named Travis Brody (Lucas Till) who she becomes closer too, while her father Robby Ray gets closer to Lorelai (Melora Hardin), but with both of them having to live secret lives, can Miley or Robby Ray ever be able to have a normal life?

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" comes with three discs. The first is the Blu-ray Disc, the second being the Digital Copy and the third is the DVD.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" is featured in 1080p High Definition with an aspect ration of 1:85:1. For the most part, the film is absolutely vibrant. There are many outdoor scenes that showcase the film's color. May it be the shot at Lilly's birthday party at Santa Monica Beach to the lush area of Tennessee. The film definitely showcases a broad spectrum of colors, all of which are sharp, clear and absolutely eye-popping. For the most part, David Hennings did a great job with utilizing the environment with this film and overall, picture quality is magnificent.

As for audio, this is probably the first time I have seen Disney sport an English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack (the film is also presented in French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital). The dialogue is crystal clear and as much as this film is dialogue driven, with it also being somewhat of a musical as well, music plays a big part of this film and sounds fantastic. Definitely good utilization of surrounds to pick up crowd ambiance or the animals at the farm but for the most part, this is a film where dialogue is king and music is also a big part of the film. Thus the soundtrack is quite crystal clear, the lossless audio definitely makes the music come alive.

As for subtitles, "Hannah Montana: The Movie is presented in English SDH, French and Spanish.

A DVD is included and sports a widescreen (1:85:1) enhanced for 16×9 televisions and an audio soundtrack sporting a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound soundtrack.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" features the following special features with some in 1080p High Definition or 480i Standard Definition:

* Audio Commentary by Director Peter Chelsom Peter Chelsom is the type of director who utilizes his commentary to thoroughly setup a scene and give credit to who came up with the ideas in pulling them off. From utilizing scenes from Miley Cyrus's first film and inserting scenes into the film to how animals were brought in to the film and managing over a thousand extras, this is a very thorough commentary.

* Deleted Scenes (10:35) A total of four deleted scenes which features an introduction by director Peter Chelsom discussing why they were removed. But for the most part, Chelsom says the film is the final cut and mostly all footage was utilized in the film. But the four deleted scenes included are: "Jackson: I'm Pretending to Be at University...", "How Are We Going to Get Hannah Down to Crowley Corners?", "Oswald and the Hannah Wigs" and "Oswald, The Ostrich and the Alligator"

* Music Videos (9:30) There are a total of seven music videos included. Music videos featured are: "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus (3:52), "Back to Tennessee" by Billy Ray Cyrus (4:22), "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" by Miley Cyrus (3:49), "Let's Get Crazy" by Miley Cyrus (2:59), "The Climb" (movie version) by Miley Cyrus (4:06), "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts (4:17) and "Crazier" by Taylor Swift (3:15).

* The Hoedown Throwdown Home Experience A Blu-ray exclusive only. This featurette is learning the popular dance created for the film (featured during the fundraising event and the ending credits) and features the full featurette titled "Everybody Now" (14:39) featuring how all the cast members (and crew) learned the dance by choreographer Jamal Sims. While, for those who just want to watch "how to do the dance", they can watch the "Learn the Moves (9:47) featuring choreographer Jamal Sims with "Hannah Montana" talents Mitchel Musso and Moises Arias.

* Find Your Way Back Home (15:05) A featurette with three segments. The first features Miley Cyrus and mother Trish showing us around Franklin, Tennessee and the various shops and eateries. The second is Billy Ray Cyrus showing us Tennessee and talking about how it's home for the Cyrus family. While the final segment features Emily Osment showing us Los Angeles and Hollywood and the key spots to visit.

* I Should Have Gone to Film School with Jason Earles (15:18) Jason Earles takes us behind-the-scenes of the "Hannah Montana: The Movie" film and introduces us to the crew and what their responsibilities are. Especially for "Best Man", "Grip" and "Gaffer" and differences between a Assistant Director and a Director's Assistant.

* Fun with Hannah and the Gang (3:53) The blooper reel from the film.

* B Disney Live Fans can connect with family and friends through the innovative movie-watching experience! People will need a profile 2.0 Blu-ray player to take advantage of this capability.

JUDGMENT CALL:

When it comes to "Hannah Montana: The Movie", it's almost similar to what I had to say about "The Jonas Brothers: 3-D Concert Experience" in that these films are created for their fans.

"Hannah Montana" is a popular children's television show with a large following and I have watched many television shows with my son and although I'm not as familiar with her music, every decade there are shows that will appeal to their young fans and many of those who scratch their heads and just don't get why people find it so appealing. In the 80's we had "Kids Incorporated", in the 90's we had "Saved By the Bell" and although Saturday morning teen shows and afternoon teen shows on network television are a thing of the past, these shows have continued on the Disney Channel and "Hannah Montana" is simply a popular series with a lot of merchandising behind the series and its star Miley Cyrus.

And those who are not fans, they are going to criticize and those who never cared for Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus, it's a given that they are not going to give a care for this film.

But how did I feel about the film? As a guy who tends to write a lot about teen or young entertainment worldwide, may it be their music or television careers, I enjoyed the film. Of course, it all comes from my knowledge of the series and knowing how quarky the television series is but also knowing the difficult the character of Miley Stewart has in juggling both worlds of a normal teenager and a pop star.

But what I found more interesting is seeing Robby Ray stepping down and knocking Miley off her high horse. He notices that the fame is getting to her head and that if he doesn't change things now, he's going to lose that daughter who was always caring for her family and her friends.

So, when it comes to the dramatic scenes, I enjoyed watching that part. As for the music, this is more geared for her fans. Obviously, with her single "The Climb" and the soundtrack of this film doing so well on the Billboard Charts, it's quite evident that she has a strong fandom of fans that are passionate for her music. The film is not "High School Musical" and every scene is full of music and a little on drama, it's quite the opposite where there are more acting scenes and music plays a more important part towards the second half of the film. Also, you get music from Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts and both offer an incentive to check out the film as well.

There was a superhero-esque (or more like "Spider-Man 2") type of storyline near the end which I won't get into but overall, I suppose that those who have watched her television show will find out if Miley Stewart or Hannah Montana will be the last persona standing.

For the most part, I found the film to be enjoyable, fun and it was good to see Miley Cyrus take on an emotional scene. I thought that the ending scene with the talent and film crew doing "The Hoedown Throwdown Dance" was hilarious and fun and for the most part, I'm quite confident that fans of Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are going to have a great time with this release.

As for the Blu-ray release, you get a ton of special features and as typical of Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment releases, its one company where you know that their releases are going to be given absolute awesome picture and audio quality. And I can definitely tell you that this 3-Disc release will definitely be well worth it for the Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana fans.

Overall, presentation and audio wise and the content included on this release is magnificent but as for the film, it all comes down to whether or not you are a fan of Miley Cyrus or her television show. Otherwise, if you had no care in the world for her music or the show, then you know this release is not for you. But for those who are passionate about her music and her series, then I can tell you that this Blu-ray release is highly recommended!

On April 25th, I treated myself to a double feature at my theater. I saw this and Crank: High Voltage. I'm really glad I saw this movie. I'm a 19 year old guy, and I enjoyed it! I love when she sings Let's Get Crazy and the Hoedown Throwdown. After upsetting Lilly at her 16th Birthday party, Robby takes Miley back to Tennessee to find her true self. She meets a childhood friend from 1st grade, Travis who still has a crush on her. After having fun in Tennessee with her friends and family, Miley thinks of letting her alter ego, Hannah Montana go for good. I loved when Miley had to be two places at once. What will she choose? I highly recommend that you get crazy, get up and dance, and see HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE!!!

p.s. It's been awesome writing 600 reviews, and can't wait for 600 more!

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I can't stand watching it, but my 6 year old loves it, so 4 stars for it, the last star which is were it gets my approval is no. Not very well made but my daughter loves it so I guess 4 out of 5 is fine.

Read Best Reviews of Hannah Montana: The Movie (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2009) Here

Good movie for the grand-daughter. I did not particularly care for it as the other Miley Cyrus movies. Not a good role model for young girls.

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I must admit that I watch Hannah Montana. I recently entered into adulthood and I still enjoy this show and others on the Disney channel. They're the perfect cure for a bad mood; where you want to escape back into adolescence and relive simpler days. Hannah Montana: The Movie (directed by Peter Chelsom) carries the same formula.

Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) is a teenager with a big secret. She is living in two contrasting worlds. One where she is a normal high-schooler who deals with boys and catty girls. The other where she is the famous pop singer Hannah Montana. When she ruins her best friend Lily's (Emily Osment) sweet sixteen and begins to spend more time with her publicist (Vanessa Williams) than her own family, her father Robby Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) gives Miley a dose of reality. He whisks her back to Tennessee and presents her with an ultimatum. She must spend two weeks in her home state and decide whether or not she wants to continue to be Hannah Montana.

This movie is for children and young adults. If you're an adult you have to come in very open. These people aren't the best actors and they're not going to win an Oscar for their performances. But the movie is light-hearted and optimistic. It's a movie about growing up and deciding what's best not only for the people in your life but yourself also.

I believe that's why the younger audiences flock to this movie. Not only because it's Hannah Montana but because they don't strong opinions about what good acting or writing is.

Miley Cyrus has improved her acting skills. They're not top notch but they're better than they were when she first got started at Disney. Emily Osment is an enjoyment to watch as always. She's very real when she acts and is better than Cyrus.

The songs complement the movie and match the tone of the scene they're playing in. I must admit that Hannah/Miley's songs are addicting. Not matter how much a person might dislike her they can't deny that she has a good voice. Her `live' voice is seasoned for a young performer. She may have a career ahead of her in that area after the sensation of Hannah Montana fades away. Her recent hit "The Climb", featured in the movie, proves that Miley has no trouble making it onto the radio. She doesn't need Hannah to be popular.

Hannah Montana: The Movie will capture the hearts of young audiences. It may surprise an adult or two who remember that this isn't the intellectual comedy of the year. It's simply a sweet children's film.

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Footnote (2012)

"Footnote" (107 min.) is a 2011 movie out of Israel. It brings the rather complicated but intruiging story of a father and son who both are scholars and researchers at the Talmud Department of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As it happens, the son is actually more successful and the movie starts out with the son's acceptance speech upon getting elected into the Israeli Academy of Science and Humanities. Remarkably, we don't actually see the son but instead the camera focuses the entire sequence (probably 3-4 min.) only on the father, who seemingly is shell-shocked and/or confused and/or resentful at the ever-growing successes of his son. Then, about 30 min. into the movie, the father gets the call from the Israeli Department of Education that he'd been waiting to get for 20 years: he's been chosen to receive the prestigious Israeli Prize. Happiness turns to potential disaster when the son gets called by the Israeli Prize Committee the very next day with the bombshell that due to a clerical error, it was he who had been chosen for the Israeli Prize, not his dad!

I don't want to spoil more from the plot, and the movie then really takes off and you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out. The movie offers an excellent character sturdy of both father and son, looking at it from both a generational perspective as well as a scholary difference in how each is doing research.

This movie was one of the 5 nominees for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Movie (Iran's "A Separation" won the Oscar), and rightfully so. This is the complete antitode to Hollywood's mainstream fare such as "John Carter" or "Wrath of the Titans" in that it is an intellectually challenging movie. The lead performances of Shlomo Bar Aba as the father and Lior Ashkenazi as the son are nothing short of outstanding. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people were in the theatre when I saw the movie this weekend here in Cincinnati, giving me hope thia may reach a wider audience. Meanwhile, "Footnote" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

FOOTNOTE is an appropriately titled sparklingly intelligent and entertaining film written and directed by Joseph Cedar. With a small cast and a focused story this little film form Israel is not only a pleasure to watch as a story performed as shared by brilliant actors, but it is also one of the most visually artistic and creative venture of cinematography to be on the small screen in a long time: the genius cinematographer is Yaron Scharf. Add to this a musical score that enhances every moment of the story courtesy of composer Amit Poznansky and the film simply succeeds on every level.

In a most ingenious way we are introduced to the two main characters father and son, both professors in the Talmud department of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The film opens on the confused and somewhat unattached facial expression of the seated father Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo Bar Aba) as he listens to his ebullient son Uriel Shkolnik (Lior Ashkenazi) being inducted into the prestigious Israeli academic union. Uriel's acceptance speech reflects his childhood when his father informed him upon questioning that he was a `teacher' an occupation the young Uriel found embarrassing at the time, but now honors his father for this guidance. After the ceremony we slowly discover that there is a long-standing rivalry between father and son. Uriel has an addictive dependency on the embrace and accolades that the establishment provides, while Eliezer is a stubborn purist with a fear and profound revulsion for what the establishment stands for, yet beneath his contempt lies a desperate thirst for some kind of recognition: his only clam to fame after long years of intensive research is that the man who published his findings mentions Eliezer in a footnote. When it comes times for the Israel Prize, Israel's most prestigious national award, to be awarded, a clerical error results in a telephone call informing Eliezer that he has won, while in reality the award was meant for his son Uriel. How this error is resolved open all manner of windows for examining family relationships, fame, pure academia, and forgiveness.

The film is an unqualified success. Lior Ashkenazi (so well remembered from `Walk on Water' and `Late Marriage' among others) gives a bravura performance and that of Shlomo Ben Aba balances it in quality. The supporting cast is strong. Joseph Cedar has produced a fine film very much enhanced by the brilliance of the cinematography that tells the story as much as the dialogue. Grady Harp, August 12

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This bittersweet comedy from Israeli is set in the rarefied world of academia and is a fine, interesting movie about the bitter relationship between a father and a son who both happen to be Talmudic scholars working at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and how their rivalry finally overcomes their filial obligations.

Eliezer Shkolnik (a terrific performance by Shlomo Bar Aba) is the father, and he seems a personification of male old age grumpiness. He looks at the at the rest of his colleagues with an insufferable air of intellectual superiority, and believes he hasn't been recognized to the extent that he deserves, yet the movie hints he is a bit of a fraud himself, his main claim to academic fame is having been thanked in a footnote in a book by a famous Talmudic authority. The more successful Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi, who usually plays young macho men, but here plays a middle aged academic against type), is the son. The film lampoons him for being a lightweight scholar and for being too attracted to the media spotlight, yet he seems to be the more psychologically rounded of the two. The tense relationship between father and son finally comes to a bitter confrontation when the elder Shkolnik is mistakenly awarded an important academic prize that was meant for the son (I'm not going to reveal anything else about the plot).

I'm also obviously not going to reveal the ending but it seems underwhelming and unrealized, as if the director Joseph Cedar didn't knew how to end the movie. Thus, what was a fine film until then ends in a curiously unsatisfying way. Nevertheless, this is a fine movie with many great scenes. I especially liked two scenes: one is set in a small but packed conference room and ends when one academic shoves another to the wall. In the second scene, a very pretty female journalist goes to the home of the elder Shkolnik to interview him and manages to get him to say very nasty things about his son.

Read Best Reviews of Footnote (2012) Here

Footnote is an excellent film that portrays a bitter rivalry between a father and son in the world of competitive, backstabbing academia, a world in which winning prizes for research and being recognized and accepted by the academic community is everything. Some people have commented that the first twenty or so minutes of the minute move too slowly; but this is necessary for character development. The rest of the plot moves along at a very good pace; it's anything but boring. The casting was thoughtfully done and the acting is very convincing. The choreography and cinematography lack nothing; and the musical score enhances the film as well.

When the film starts, we are slowly but surely introduced to an Israeli father and son who are both passionate about Talmud research. Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo Bar-Aba) is a bitter, autistic older man who has been nominated for the prestigious Israel prize sixteen years in a row but has never received it; by contrast his son Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi) knows how to work the circuit, keep his subordinates in line with him or else and enjoys the attention that comes with giving six much admired speeches all over Jerusalem in just one night! While Eliezer shows disdain for the community that he thinks recognizes people who are not so "scientific" in their research, deep inside him Eliezer cannot help but feel the human need to be appreciated, accepted and receive awards like his son receives. Eliezer's only real source of pride (and he is a remarkably proud man) is a footnote dedicated to him by his mentor in an opus on Talmudic Literature.

Eliezer has another reason to be sour, jealous and depressed. After nearly thirty years of daily research at The National Library, Eliezer was just about to publish a bold, groundbreaking thesis proving there was a different, European version of the Talmud in the Middle Ages--but just as he's about to publish his findings, the culmination of his life's work and the source of what would have been great pride, another researcher (Grossman, played by Micah Lewensohn) by pure chance just happens to stumble over the actual old European Talmud in Italy! Grossman, knowing he would steal Eliezer's thunder and crush him emotionally, publishes his own findings anyway and Eliezer is badly scarred.

Things only go from bad to worse when Eliezer gets a phone call that he has won The Israel Prize he wanted all his life. When Uriel is secretly told that the prize was actually meant for him and not his father, Uriel is stunned. Uriel fights with the prize committee, including Grossman who chairs the committee, so that his father can have the prize; but Grossman's hatred of Uriel's father surfaces and the solution to the problem will not be easy or immediately obvious. There are plot twists after that but you will be able to follow along.

Look also for excellent supporting performances by Alma Zack as Dikla Shkolnik; Daniel Markovich as Josh and Yuval Scharf as Noa, a journalist.

Footnote is a first-rate film that will appeal to anyone interested in family dynamics; the competitive and backstabbing world of academia; dramas with a slight touch of comedy and fans of the actors in the film.

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FOOTNOTE (HEHARAT SHULAIM in Hebrew) is an appropriately titled sparklingly intelligent and entertaining film written and directed by Joseph Cedar. With a small cast and a focused story this little film form Israel is not only a pleasure to watch as a story performed as shared by brilliant actors, but it is also one of the most visually artistic and creative venture of cinematography to be on the small screen in a long time: the genius cinematographer is Yaron Scharf. Add to this a musical score that enhances every moment of the story courtesy of composer Amit Poznansky and the film simply succeeds on every level.

In a most ingenious way we are introduced to the two main characters father and son, both professors in the Talmud department of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The film opens on the confused and somewhat unattached facial expression of the seated father Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo Bar Aba) as he listens to his ebullient son Uriel Shkolnik (Lior Ashkenazi) being inducted into the prestigious Israeli academic union. Uriel's acceptance speech reflects his childhood when his father informed him upon questioning that he was a `teacher' an occupation the young Uriel found embarrassing at the time, but now honors his father for this guidance. After the ceremony we slowly discover that there is a long-standing rivalry between father and son. Uriel has an addictive dependency on the embrace and accolades that the establishment provides, while Eliezer is a stubborn purist with a fear and profound revulsion for what the establishment stands for, yet beneath his contempt lies a desperate thirst for some kind of recognition: his only clam to fame after long years of intensive research is that the man who published his findings mentions Eliezer in a footnote. When it comes times for the Israel Prize, Israel's most prestigious national award, to be awarded, a clerical error results in a telephone call informing Eliezer that he has won, while in reality the award was meant for his son Uriel. How this error is resolved open all manner of windows for examining family relationships, fame, pure academia, and forgiveness.

The film is an unqualified success. Lior Ashkenazi (so well remembered from `Walk on Water' and `Late Marriage' among others) gives a bravura performance and that of Shlomo Ben Aba balances it in quality. The supporting cast is strong. Joseph Cedar has produced a fine film very much enhanced by the brilliance of the cinematography that tells the story as much as the dialogue. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Grady Harp, August 12

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Stardust (2007)

The story begins in the 19th-century village of Wall. But Wall isn't your average country village -it guards a low, stony wall between mundane England and the fantasy kingdom of Stormhold. No one crosses the wall -except for young Drustan Thorn, whose curiosity led him to an otherworldly market and a single night of passion with a captive gypsy -or princess -and nine months later he was given a son, Tristan, who was left for him by the wall.

Flash forward 18 years, and Tristan (Charlie Cox) hopes to win the heart of his beautiful but shallow love, Victoria (Sienna Miller), by recovering a star that fell somewhere beyond that wall. So Tristan sets forth on his own journey in Stormhold. Meanwhile in that magical land, the dying king (Peter O'Toole) has set his four surviving sons on a quest for the crown. And the witch Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) is seeking the heart of the star for an entirely different purpose, one that probably will not turn out well for anyone else involved in the story.

Despite initial trepidations over seeing a favorite Neil Gaiman story converted to film, "Stardust" is all I could hope for. The settings and scenery are lush and beautiful. The effects are seamless and spectacular. The score by Ilan Eshkeri is dramatic. Narration by Ian McKellen is compelling. And the casting is exceptional, from Robert De Niro as the delightful sky pirate Captain Shakespeare to Pfeiffer as the sumptuously evil witch.

Claire Danes is absolutely radiant as Yvaine, who in one way or another holds the resolution of every quest. Poised, beautiful and sporting a great English country accent, Danes glows even without the benefit of special effects. And Tristan Thorn is a classic everyman hero, a simple young man who grows and flourishes on his journey; Cox captures the role perfectly. A relative newcomer to the screen, he's without question an actor to watch.

Gaiman is a brilliant writer, a man with an imagination like no other. Fortunately, director Matthew Vaughn bucked the Hollywood trend by respecting the source material, creating a splendid film, one that will surely become a classic for generations to come.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(NET) editor

Wall looks like just about every other English village, but it hides a secret. It's not jolly old England on the other side of the wall. Few mundane English travelers ever make it over the wall and back. Drustan (Nathaniel Parker-Ben Barnes) is one of the few--and nine months later, a son was delivered to him at his doorstep.

The son Tristan (Charlie Cox) grows to 19 and falls in love with Victoria (Sienna Miller) a woman well above his means. He fears his ability to capture her heart is failing, til they see a star fall on the other side of the wall--and Victoria tells him if he will seek out the star, she will be his.

Thus, begins Tristan's quest for true love. Instead of a star, he finds a maiden Yvaine (Clare Danes) who turns out to be the earth-bound embodiment of the star. Unfortunately, Victoria is not the only person who wants the star.

From here, we encounter a multiplicity of plot complications including a King (Peter O'Toole) who sets his sons against each other in a fight for succession to the throne, a pirate (Robert DeNiro) with an interesting secret) and a triad of witches who seek the star to extend their lives and (ahem) beauty.

I loved reading Neil Gaiman's story. STARDUST is one of his best, but the film is one of those rare instances where the book has been improved. The casting for STARDUST is some of the best I have seen.

This is one of the rare films that I paid full price for in the theatre and will purchase the DVD for later viewing. STARDUST is going to be a fantasy classic and a great addition to any fantasy fan's library.

WARNING: If you have very young children, please do not show this film without some advisory. We saw STARDUST in the theatre with a couple of young families close by and the littlest kids were crying at the rough parts and some families had to leave.

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The first time I saw this movie, I didn't have high expectations. The trailer looked silly and I had practically disregarded the movie. Lately, actors of the size of Robert De Niro (who now can do anything they want) have been doing some campy and really bad movies (like Meet the Parents), so not even the big names were enough to interest me.

But then I started reading some reviews on imdb a couple of weeks after the movie got out. A lot of them agreed that the trailer didn't do justice to the film, and that although still not taking itself seriously, the movie somehow shined far beyond expectations. So I decided to give it try, and now I'm glad I watched this movie in the big screen.

For those who haven't seen it yet, the trailer indeed falls short. Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro are great, along with everyone else in the cast. The music score is amazing, the special effects are great, and the most important thing of all, the story is funny and it really taps into the best of the best of the fantasy genre.

This movie didn't have the success it deserved on the box office, so please, give it a try. It's not your typical fantasy film, it feels original, fresh, and it really entertains. Since the movie doesn't take itself too seriously, some people might consider it campy at first, but the best way to enjoy this great film is not to expect a deep drama (like the Lord of the Rings), but an entertaining fresh film.

Paramount has gone HD DVD exclusive, and for that we now get Stardust released on both DVD and HD DVD. If you have an HD DVD player, Stardust is a must in High-Def. Anyone who saw this movie in the theaters should agree.

Simply put, the movie is a visual feast without compromising the story and it really deserves a chance. Some may find it a little weird film, but Stardust is a sleeper hit that hopefully will get the success it deserves on DVD and HD DVD.

Read Best Reviews of Stardust (2007) Here

All discussion about the movie itself aside, I was disappointed by the quality of this disc. I have the DVD and have been slowly moving my collection of DVD's to Blu-ray versions. When I saw that Stardust had finally hit Blu-ray, I jumped at the chance to get better quality. Unfortunately, though, this Blu-ray doesn't look any better than the upscaled DVD. I fully believe there's some digital slight-of-hand going on here. I suppose you could lay down any type of video on a Blu-ray disc and call it, "Blu-ray," since you're referring to the media not the video. Anyway, this doesn't do 1080P justice. If you're upgrading your movie collection, don't bother with this one. If you've never seen the movie, you should really see it.

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Fantasy is hard to find in the movies -for every "Lord of the Rings," there's only a handful of bad sword'n'sorcery tales for kids ("Eragon," "The Seeker"). As for fairy tales, forget it.

But one little fairy tale HAS made its way into theatres -an enchanting little story loosely based on a Neil Gaiman novel. And "Stardust's" charm is its lack of pretension, and its willingness to be silly, romantic, fantastical, sparkling and most importantly, tongue-in-cheek. And it has pirates too.

A wall separates our world from the world of magic -and one night, Dunstan Thorn went over it, and had a brief tryst with a beautiful princess, who is imprisoned by a witch. Nine months later, baby Tristan is left on his doorstep.

Nineteen years later, a dying king magically flings a ruby into the sky, and says that the prince who finds it will be the new king. The two remaining princes -and the ghosts of their dead brothers -et off to find it. But that ruby dislodged a star, and it plummets to the ground across the Wall -attracting the attention of three ancient witches, who use the hearts of stars to restore their spent youth.

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Tristan (Charlie Cox) also sees the star, and the snotty girl he adores (Sienna Miller) says that she will marry him if he gets her the star before her birthday. Tristan does manage to find and entrap the beautiful star, Yvaine (Claire Danes), and they start off on a magical adventure of air pirates, unicorns, evil witches, and true love.

"Stardust" has pretty much all the requirements for a fantasy and/or fairy tale movie -magic, love, an evil villain, and lots of odd characters to round out the cast, and flesh out the story. Not much is actually new. But like the original Gaiman tale, the movie winks affectionately at you as the story unfolds.

In fact, the movie only really stumbles when it stops to ruminate on true love and how precious it is, etc. Cute, but boring -especially since the romantic leanings of the leads are pretty clear. Director Matthew Vaughn really shines when he's focusing on airships, goat-men, and the occasional magical sword-fight with an dead man.

Despite the scattered nature of the plot, Vaughn directs with a smooth, sure hand, and he sprinkles plenty of comic relief through it -Captain Shakespeare dancing in drag, or the Greek chorus of murdered princes. And the dialogue avoids fantastical pomposity by being just as tongue-in-cheek ("Nothing says "romance" like a kidnapped injured woman!")

Cox makes an excellent wide-eyed, slightly blinkered country boy, who turns from a bumbling suitor to a strong young hero. Danes isn't quite as ethereal as one would expect Yvain to be, but she gives a solid performance, and Miller is perfect as the snotty, shallow Victoria.

But while the younger performers are solid, the veterans are absolutely brilliant. Pfeiffer is hilarious, chilling and pouty as the constantly frustrated witch, and De Niro steals the show as a cuddly, twinkly-eyed gay pirate who pretends to be brutal. And Peter O'Toole and David Kelly have brief but brilliant appearances.

"Stardust" is exactly what the title suggests -sparkling, funny, wry, and just deep enough to be entertaining. A solid, sweet little fantasy movie.

Courage Under Fire (1996)

The basic plot line of "Courage Under Fire" is that Lt. Col Nathaniel Sterling (Denzel Washington) is investigating an incident during the Gulf War to determine whether or not the Medal of Honor should be awarded to Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan). It does not take us long to find out that the title of this film refers to both Sterling and Walden. The initial story on Walden, the pilot of a rescue helicopter, is that she made a spectacular rescue of a downed helicopter crew, then fought off attacking Iraquis after her own copter crashed, dying right before they were rescued themselves. But as Sterling questions the surviving members of Walden's crew, he discovers their various versions do not jive, and he begins to question what is the truth. Moreover, Sterling is haunted by his own actions during the Gulf War, where he was responsible for a "friendly fire" incident that resulted in the death of American soldiers. To complicate matters, Sterling is drinking too much, has grown distant from his family, and is being hounded by a commanding officer who wants the P.R. value of Walden receiving the medal and a reporter who knows something of what happened to the Colonel in Iraq.

"Courage Under Fire" makes excellent use of the "Rashomon" technique, wherein we get to see each person's version of what really happened in Iraq. Sterlings own feelings of guilt and responsibility for what happened in Iraq provide an additional level of depth to the narrative (more so than in Kurosawa's original classic film in fact). Some may find the parallel attempts to find redemption to be somewhat heavy handed, but ultimately the film succeeds because of the solid acting performances. In addition to Washington and Ryan, who knew have a scene together, there are solid performances from Lou Diamond Phillips and a very underweight Matt Damon as surviving members of Walden's crew, Michael Moriarity as the General, Scott Glenn as the reporter, and Regina Taylor as Sterling's wife. Certainly this film is closer to the reality of Desert Storm than "Three Kings," but the main enjoyment here is watching Ryan and her crew do the same lines with totally different meanings because of radical changes in context while Washington tries to find meaning in his own life.

One of my favorites. A movie that will keep you guessing till the very end. Nat Serling is sent home from the Persian Gulf with traumas and few prospects after being in a friendly fire incident. He is given what should have been an open-and-shut case: investigate a female chopper pilot for the Medal of Honor. Things become tricky quickly as Serling's support is withdrawn when he discovers discrepancies in the witness' stories and he will have to risk everything to find out the truth about what happened on a dark night in Iraq. Magnetizing throughout, this picture is well-conceived and very compelling, and it has messages about society. Excellent directing and writing, as well as amazing acting, this movie shines.

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The basic plot line of "Courage Under Fire" is that Lt. Col Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is investigating an incident during the Gulf War to determine whether or not the Medal of Honor should be awarded posthumously to Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan). It does not take us long to find out that the title of this film refers to both Serling and Walden. The initial story on Walden, the pilot of a rescue helicopter, is that she made a spectacular rescue of a downed helicopter crew, then fought off attacking Iraquis after her own copter crashed, dying right before the besieged group was rescued. But as Serling questions the surviving members of Walden's crew, he discovers their various versions do not jive, and he begins to question what is the truth of what really happened. Moreover, Serling is haunted by his own actions during the Gulf War, where he was responsible for a "friendly fire" incident that resulted in the death of American soldiers. To complicate matters even more, Serling is drinking way too much, has grown distant from his family, and is being hounded by both a commanding officer (Michael Moriarity) who wants the P.R. value of Walden being the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor and a reporter (Scott Glenn) who knows something of what happened to the Colonel in Iraq and wants to know the rest.

"Courage Under Fire" makes excellent use of the "Rashomon" technique, wherein we get to see each person's version of what really happened in Iraq. Serling's own feelings of guilt and responsibility for what happened in Iraq provide an additional level of depth to the narrative (more so than in Kurosawa's original classic film in fact). Some may find the parallel attempts to find redemption to be somewhat heavy handed, but ultimately the film succeeds because of the solid acting performances. In addition to Washington and Ryan, who never have a scene together, there are solid performances from Lou Diamond Phillips and a very underweight Matt Damon as surviving members of Walden's crew, Michael Moriarity as the General, Scott Glenn as the reporter, and Regina Taylor as Serling's wife. Certainly this film is closer to the reality of Desert Storm than "Three Kings," but the main enjoyment here is watching Ryan and her crew do the same lines with totally different meanings because of radical changes in context while Washington tries to find meaning in his own life.

Read Best Reviews of Courage Under Fire (1996) Here

War movies rarely acknowledge fatal blunders alongside the typical nimble strategies all in the same vein, much less in the same individual. Courage Under Fire manages that with an effortless tapestry of morality, valour and honour.

Apart from such sheer emotional freight, it even manages to counch a discreet message about the quirks of real wars and their very human aftermath. There are points in the film where both the Iraqi and the American soldiers look almost indistinguishable. Fighting nations with crunch budgets is a complex enterprise with a variety of perspectives.

There is much to say about the plot's setup, it's spectacular. Denzel is heads and shoulders above everyone else but the performances are excellent all-round. Matt Damon seemed to have lost half his weight to fit into the role. Meg Ryan is very convincing for her irregular turn as a leathery war woman. But above all, I was particularly astonished by the confident pizzazz of Lou Diamond Phillips, his explosive cameo is one of the most unforgettable sequences.

With its highly realistic battle scenes, fast-paced screenplay and a solid heart , Courage Under Fire is a top class production, regardless of the qualms regarding nationalistic or gender messages that other critics bloviate about. My theory that you cannot go terribly wrong with anything that involves Denzel still remains intact.

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Matt Damon can be seen here in one of his first roles, and this role was largely overlooked, overshadowed perhaps by the star power of Meg Ryan (in the least annoying role I have ever seen her play) playing a tough commanding officer during Desert Storm, or overshadowed by Denzel Washington, investigating the circumstances surrounding her death. Damon may even have been overshadowed by the presence of an insane, glory seeking Lou Diamond Phillips. Damon's heroin-addicted character, though, is one of the reasons this film stands out in my mind. Also the story-telling technique of flashing back through different character's eyes is borrowed from such classic films as Kurosawa's Rashomon. It expertly illustrates the importance and use of point-of-view, which is totally different and distorted depending upon whom you consult.

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Who Dares Wins

From the deserts of Africa to Iraq, the Special Air Service Regiment of the Brish Army is renowned for their derring-do and never say die attitude. This movie is a dramatization and tribute to the courageous men of the SAS and was probably motivated by the public interest after the real life Iranian Embassy seige in London. Lewis Collins who plays Capt Peter Skellern SAS goes undercover for MI5 the Security Service to infiltrate a violent anti-war "ban the bomb" group planning a big terrorist operation. He becomes intimate with the group's highly sexed but really ugly looking leader. In the final climatic scene, you go into the skin of an SAS Counter Revolutionary Warfare black clad trooper as he takes out the terrorists in the US Ambassador's residence. The action sequences are authentic especially as the technical advisors were serving members of the ultra secretive SAS. The speed of the action sequences are breathtaking especially the "double taps" or 2 shots to the brain technique used by the SAS CRW troopers. Note too the quick entry techniques used like the shooting out of the door hinges by 12 gauge combat shotguns. The techno music is very excitiing and inspiring too. The action movie buff will definitely enjoy this movie. When I first saw this movie in 1982 in England, the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament supporters actually protested outside the cinema! Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet.

It is scandalous that Amazon is selling this product for $51 (as of May 20, 2010) when the item is available from Amazon UK for $21 (thats including postage to the US)I am guessing Amazon is counting on buyers being too lazy to click onto the United Kingdom link at the bottom of the page when looking for this item.

This movie, titled "The Final Option" here in the United States, is inspired by the SAS rescue of hostages at the Iranian Embassy in London when the British elite paratroopers stormed the building before the world's television camera's in the early 1980s. It is said that producer Euan Lloyd (who also produced classics such as "The Wild Geese" and "The Sea Wolves") registered every title he could think of after the incident, determined that the event would serve as a dramatic movie.

In the UK the movie goes under the title "Who Dares Wins" (which is the motto of the SAS). The action is switched from the Iranian Embassy to the U.S. ambassadors residence (evidently to make it more marketable to a U.S. audience) and the terrorists become nuclear disarmament militants.

In his first major leading role was Lewis Collins who was most familiar to British audiences for his role in the television series "The Professionals" and was among the public's favorite choices to take on the role of James Bond. Here he plays an SAS officer who is assigned to infilitrate the militants group and foil whatever mission they have planned.

The movie is a particular favorite of mine and on this imported British Blu-ray whereas the main feature plays on North American blu-ray players, the special features do not. The commentary however is playable on American Blu-ray players since it is an audio track and is quite engaging and interesting with the director phoning in his comments from New Zealand and producer Euan Lloyd in London.

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Now 25 years since it was filmed in England and Wales, this movie is an as yet "undiscovered" classic. The supporting cast of UK and US actors are instantly recognizable. It includes Richard Widmark, Robert Webber, Maurice Roeves, Patrick Allen, Edward Woodward and Tony Doyle, the latter currently famous for his role in Ballykissangel. While the beautiful Ingrid Pitt plays a very convincing "evil" terrorist who we, the audience, can love to hate.

Other reviewers on this page have been rather unkind to leading lady, Judy Davis, describing her as "ugly". If you click on her credit link at the top of the Amazon page you can see how many movies she's made and how attractive she is, both before and after 1982. Perhaps it is the early 1980s "big" hairstyle and makeup that are not found attractive today. Also, in her role here as a baddy, she sneers her way through the whole movie to impress her leading man, while in doing so repelling us, the audience. The leading man in this movie is played by Lewis Collins, who at that time still enjoyed the notoriety garnered from the very successful "The Professionals" action series.

What drives this movie is the superbly photographed action sequences, that are earthy, realistic and devoid of the modern "Hollywood" treatment where film shots are overly choreographed. The musical score is upbeat and drives most of the action, though the incidental music for a couple of family scenes is a little too syrupy. The tension builds slowly with occasional outbreaks of violence that we see are secretly financed by an organized international group. We see neo-Nazi "skinheads" beat up innocent bystanders and a good old British bobby (police officer) being kicked in the face. Later we are endeared to another unarmed bobby who, despite being repeatedly beaten by terrorists, continues to give words of encouragement to a hostage with a small baby. Thus by the time we approach the climactic events at the end of the movie, we are in no doubt who the good guys and the bad guys are. It is because of the time taken to build this tension that when we finally approach the climax, the urgency feels tangible: you really are sitting on the edge of your seat. I regard the scene where Rosalind Lloyd fights with Ingrid Pitt's character to save the life of her 10 month old baby as one of the most nail-biting sequences ever put onto film.

The first hour of the movie may seem somewhat slow to an US audience as the characterizations are established. Also the anti-Americanism portrayed both in opinions expressed and in on-stage "entertainment" may seem extreme, yet at that time, parts of European society were expressing these kinds of sentiments, and so these scenes should be viewed as authentic.

By today's movie standards, the SAS tactics used look somewhat passé, until you remember that this is the movie in which these tactics were first seen, and that this is the movie that many other have followed.

Numerous people involved in the making of this movie are still alive, including Phil Meheux, cinematographer, Ian Sharp, director, Chris Chrisafis, executive producer, and many of the cast. I personally would love to see the 35mm print remastered to a new DVD, with commentary and extras added. What better time than the 25th anniversary of its theatre release?

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Both discs have the same content 1 has been remastered and the other is the Blue Ray edition.

Its worth watching the film with the commentary on.The films producer actually admits now some 28 years later that the SAS scenes were the SAS and not actors/stunt men.And that Lewis Collins was actually in 21 SQDN.SAS which is the Territorial unit.

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This movie was my first exposure to the SAS and anti-terrorist techniques. While fiction, it is based on the Iranian Embassy siege of the early 80's. It features a decent story, great actors, and cool spy stuff. If your a McNab or Ryan fan you'll like this flick.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)

Boyz N the Hood was and still is one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. Shot entirely in South Central LA to present the movie as realistic as possible. The movie debuted in theater back in 1991 and had an immediate impact on almost everyone who viewed it.

The story about 3 friends growing up in the hood in South Central LA. Each one with their own individual struggle and goals in life. Doughboy (Ice Cube) ,who is a drug dealer, has been in and out of trouble throughout his young life and seems to be happy with his surroundings. Doughboy's brother Ricky (Morris Chestnut) a teenage father with bright hopes and aspirations of becoming an NFL football player ; and Ricky's best friend Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who hopes and dreams of higher education and an escape from the dwelling of the hood. "The Hood" where saying the wrong thing or looking at someone the wrong way can end in death. Tre's father (Larry Fishburne) is a responsible, educated and strict father who makes sure his son stays on the right track in achieving his goals in life. Teaching him about responsibility and keeping your cool in adverse situations in order to make a thoughtful descision. Tre's resolve will be tested when tragedy strikes close to home and revenge and murder seem like the only solution.

Fantastic direction by John Singleton and equally impressive acting by all characters are the reason Boyz N the Hood was such a huge success. It was nominated for two acedemy awards (Direction and Screenplay.) ... You have to see this one for yourself you won't be sorry.

If you ever wanted a great example of pure cinema drama at its finest, "Boyz N the Hood" is it. It didn't take long for me to completely involve myself during the viewing of this film. It's powerful, sad, scary, and filled with heart. This is one of those films that completely takes you by surprise by giving you something that you weren't expecting at all. John Singleton's directorial debut doesn't fail to shine for one second in this human-drama powerhouse.

The film focuses around three friends who live in South Central, Los Angeles; a place where drugs, guns, and violence appears to be around every corner. The three friends are Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy. Tre's father has tried his best to raise Tre into becoming a real man; supplying him with knowledge and wisdom. Ricky has dreams of being a professional football player while his brother, Doughboy, is always getting into some kind of trouble, whether it be with the law or the neighborhood gang-bangers. In the end, the film is about choices and how every action can set off a chain of events.

In the exclusive documentary that's included on this 2-Disc Anniversary Edition DVD, John Singleton says that this was the movie he was born to make, and he's able to show us exactly that and nothing less. Making the movie was taking a pretty big risk, as there was nothing quite like it on the market; however, that didn't stop him from delivering an incredible debut that really stands out from the rest. The main misconception of this movie is that people are willing to automatically assume that the movie is violent and is only about violence (these being people who have never watched the movie) when in actuality, the film focuses more on the aftermath of violent acts rather than the actual acts being carried out. The main focus is always on the characters, and Singleton does a superb job of never losing sight of that. The story is delivered with undeniable care through the great direction of John Singleton.

Another factor that makes the film work the way it does is the superb cast behind it. Cuba Gooding, Jr. gives it his all early on in his career and immediately shows promise of a talented actor. Ice Cube proves that not only can he rap, but he can also act by giving life to his character of "Doughboy." Laurence Fishburne is amazing as Tre's father, as he gives an outstanding performance. Everybody else is great as well. This film really launched many careers of many of the actors that appear in this movie.

The 2-Disc DVD edition really does the movie justice as it's loaded with some very cool extras. The movie looks and sounds great. The DVD offers both widescreen and full screen versions of the film. Extras that are included on this 2-Disc Anniversary Edition are theatrical trailers, commentary by John Singleton, an exclusive documentary, music videos, and deleted scenes. The documentary was fascinating to watch and was extremely informative into what went on during pre and post-production. Plenty of goodies for DVD enthusiasts all around.

"Boyz N the Hood" is a touching and exhilarating drama that plays on all of one's emotions. The characters are very real and are easy to care for, and the story is well-structured and executed. I cannot think of a single flaw that I ran across while watching the film. It definitely has become a new favorite in a short amount of time. There is real power within the film that has a unique effect on us when we watch it, or at least it did on me. Definitely a film to check out if you have not already.

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South Central L.A.: Where murder rates are five times the nationwide average, or in absolute figures, double the entire U.S.'s death rate for breast cancer (L.A. Times, January 1, 2004.) Where "I'll have my brother shoot you" isn't just an empty threat, and guns are passed from one sibling to another when an older brother goes away to "do time." Where owning a gun is a means of self-protection even for those who've always stayed clear of gangs. Where "where ya' from?" is an inquiry about gang membership, not geographic origin, and wearing the wrong colors can cause you to be "hit up;" resulting in violence, and more violence by way of retaliation. Where over the past 15 years the LAPD has accumulated a backlog of 4,400 unsolved homicides roughly 3/4 of the city's total because, as kids learn early, a bullet doesn't come with a name attached; and those who know the killer generally stay mum, either fearing reprisal or preferring to take care of their own, rather than leave justice to a police and a court system they've learned to mistrust. And where crimes like burglary only merit police attention if something actually was stolen, and are quickly sidelined upon the officers' summons to another murder scene.

South Central L.A. is the home of Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and his friends, "Doughboy" and Ricky Baker (Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut). We first meet them at age ten, when Tre's mother (Angela Bassett) sends him to live with his father Jason, a/k/a "Furious" (Laurence Fishburne), who seems better equipped to raise a son in a neighborhood like this. When we see them again they're seventeen, Tre and Ricky about to graduate from high school, while Doughboy has already graduated from shoplifting to guns and small-time drug deals. And while Furious guides Tre towards moral choices, responsibility, and (self-)respect, Doughboy and Ricky are raised by a mother who lacks the wherewithal to steer them out of the ghetto. Yet, Ricky in particular is naively, fiercely resolved to make it out of there; with a football scholarship (provided his SAT scores are high enough) or if that fails, by joining the army. And in a poignant, spot-on conclusion it is ultimately Ricky who forces Tre and Doughboy to choose their own paths in life, to either be drawn into the ghetto's spiral of violence, or conquer their inner demons and extricate themselves from that vicious circle.

Upon this movie's 1991 release, several Los Angeles cinemas either refused to show it at all or hired extra security guards: That big, in a city that had recently seen the Rodney King beating, was about to be rocked by the Christopher Commission's scathing indictment of its police department, and was gearing up to the riots that would ravage its inner city the following spring, were fears of the reaction to John Singleton's partly autobiographical film. Yet, while "Boyz N the Hood" paints a starkly accurate picture of inner city life's daily realities, it in no way encourages violence much to the contrary. That it's told from a profoundly "black" perspective is a given; and with that come charges that those of us with a more fortunate childhood often dismiss as the chip on many black people's shoulders e.g., the notion that drugs, liquor and guns in the ghetto are tacitly encouraged by society's white-dominated ruling circles to keep inner-city minorities subdued. But while neither such charges nor their "white" response are the be-all and end-all of the problem, there is no question that drugs, alcoholism and guns *are* major issues in the 'hood, as are teen pregnancies and unemployment; and Singleton intelligently weaves all of these elements into a compelling picture.

Equally well-deserved as the praise for Singleton, who garnered Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscar nominations and several other distinctions, are the kudos to the movie's outstanding actors. Then-23-year-old Cuba Gooding Jr. came practically out of nowhere to give a fully accomplished, emphatic portrayal as Tre, caught between the lessons of ghetto life and those of his father. (Although this wasn't his first movie, he had never before appeared in a remotely as prominent role.) Morris Chestnut's naively determined football-hero-to-be Ricky is similarly compelling; and Laurence Fishburne noticeably didn't have to reach far for his "Furious" Styles: While based on Singleton's father, the role was created specifically with him in mind. So, reportedly, was Ice Cube's Doughboy; and he, too, is a perfect match, giving the teenage trio's most troubled member a depth clearly informed by his own South Central boyhood, although despite his songs' inflammatory lyrics, he himself stayed clear of gangs. Angela Bassett finally is the perfect foil for the movie's male characters, exemplifying a woman who through hard work gets as far out of the ghetto as conceivable and unlike her ex-husband doesn't avoid the moneyed upper-crust, but doesn't forget her origins, either, and is still perfectly capable of talking tough when challenged.

The movie's last words are Ice Cube's, both spoken as Doughboy and rapped in "How to Survive in South Central," underlying the closing credits. "Either they don't know, don't show or don't care what's going on [here]," Doughboy comments on a TV program about exotic faraway places he's seen shortly after experiencing the kind of violence that he knows will haunt him forever. And in his rap song, sarcastically premised on a guided tour to the "concrete Vietnam" South Central L.A. ("Have you witnessed a drive-by? Okay, make sure you have your camcorder ready!"), Ice Cube warns: "Rule number one: get yourself a gun ... 'cause jackers ... love to start [things]. Now, if you're white you can trust the police; but if you're black they ain't nothin but beasts. ... So don't take your life for granted, 'cause it's the craziest place on the planet ... This is Los Angeles." "Boyz N the Hood" was released 13 years ago. It is as topical as ever.

Also recommended:

Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.

G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles

The John Singleton Collection (Boyz N the Hood, Poetic Justice, Higher Learning)

South Central

Menace II Society

Juice

Dangerous Minds

New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Read Best Reviews of Boyz n the Hood (1991) Here

Boyz N the Hood was the movie debut of african-amemrican movie director John Singleton.Anyone who've seen this movie can remember the stir it caused around 1991 when it was released, at a time when George Bush was president and ghetto riots occured in LA later in the Rodney King incident.

One can be rather amazed but such such a a stark but accurate portait of the hood and most impotantly what it is living in the projects.

I have rarely seen such as clever and brillant outlook on african-american issues in a movie.John Singleton here doesn't glorify violence or gangs, he address and demonstrates these issues by telling the story of three young black teenagers living in a rather harsh neighborhood : South Central LA.

What struck the most was how accurate this movie actually is.It doesn't portait mens who thrives with gang-violence but rather are trying escaping it, finding a better surrounding.

Not only Boyz N the Hood does a great job in acheiving this but it also manage to tell us meaningful issues such as single-parenthood, fatherhood, sex and education.

A strong duality also did struck me : scopes of imporoving your life and how it can be done.On one hand you've got one child who's got a caring and reponsible father, played amazingly by Lawrence Fishburne and other young mens such as Doughboy who live wihout knowing his father.Clearly Singleton has pointed out brillantly that men that have fathers taking care of them and loving them are more chance to suceed.In the end, Tre choose not to live within the gang-violence framework showing us how crucial a role-model father can be for his child.

Two different paths and two different families, those of Tre and Doughboy, demontrates how single-handly having a father can change their fate : life or death.

The daring finale where Tre choose his fate and doughboy avenge his brother is one of the most touching and emotionnal scenes I have ever encountered.I was emotionnally touched and deeply saddened by this scene (along when Cuba Cooding jr handles the gun to Lawrencne Fishburne).

The fact that Singleton also manage to capture the true essence of South Central LA when football wiz Ricky encounter his death is also one of the most daring scene.The music stops, Ricky runs trying to escape his death, gun's fired, the shooting happens and nobody can stop it : this is the realness of violence.You can't escape it.

More importantly, you are not witnessing the hood YOU ARE LIVING IT.It is truly breathtaking !!!

Such a clever movie should not be overlooked.

It has genius written all over it...

5 stars and tears to your eyes

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In, hollwood we see epics like Ben Hur and The Godfather to Goodfellas.We consider these epic movies because they sweep us into a storyline full of dramatic tones.What makes an epic shine a good storyline and charachters that you can understand and relate to and care for.Is this Boyz N The Hood yes it is and much much more,this movie is a true modern day epic and truly sweeping an incredible storyline that will keep you involved.it's a very realistic masterpeice and frank look into the life of inner city youth and the battleground they must deal with everyday not on a war zone but in there own neighborhoods.

Powerhouse performances by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube.This movie tells us what living in this world is today and the battles you must fight not only for yourself but for the ones you love.

A orignal film powerful and very real as well as touching and sad.Admist all the violence ,chaos of a war torn Los Angeles.A heartfelt film and the

unfortunate truth very real.

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The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loos'd the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword, His truth is marching on." Battle Hymn of the Republic.

In 1936, John Steinbeck wrote a series of articles about the migrant workers driven to California from the Midwestern states after losing their homes in the throes of the depression: inclement weather, failed crops, land mortgaged to the hilt and finally taken over by banks and large corporations when credit lines ran dry. Lured by promises of work aplenty, the Midwesterners packed their belongings and trekked westward to the Golden State, only to find themselves facing hunger, inhumane conditions, contempt and exploitation instead. "Dignity is all gone, and spirit has turned to sullen anger before it dies," Steinbeck described the result in one of his 1936 articles, collectively published as "The Harvest Gypsies;" and in another piece ("Starvation Under the Orange Trees," 1938) he asked: "Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?"

By the time he wrote the latter article, Steinbeck had already published one novel addressing the agricultural laborers' struggle against corporate power ("In Dubious Battle," 1936). Shortly thereafter he began to work on "The Grapes of Wrath," which was published roughly a year later. Although the book would win the Pulitzer Prize (1940) and become a cornerstone foundation of Steinbeck's Literature Nobel Prize (1962), it was sharply criticized upon its release nowhere more so than in the Midwest and still counts among the 35 books most frequently banned from American school curricula: A raw, brutally direct, yet incredibly poetic masterpiece of fiction, it continues to touch nerves deeply rooted in modern society's fabric; including and particularly in California, where yesterday's Okies are today's undocumented Mexicans Chicano labor leader Cesar Chavez especially pointed out how well he could empathize with the Joad family, because he and his fellow workers were now living the same life they once had.

Having fought hard with his publisher to maintain the novel's uncompromising approach throughout, Steinbeck was weary to give the film rights to 20th Century Fox, headed by powerful mogul and, more importantly, known conservative Daryl F. Zanuck. Yet, Zanuck and director John Ford largely stayed true to the novel: There is that sense of desperation in farmer Muley's (John Qualen's) expression as he tells Tom and ex-preacher Casy (Henry Fonda and John Carradine) how the "cats" came and bulldozed down everybody's homes, on behalf of a corporate entity too intangible to truly hold accountable. There is Grandpa Joad (Charley Grapewin), literally clinging to his earth and dying of a stroke (or, more likely, a broken heart) when he is made to leave against his will. There is everybody's brief joy upon first seeing Bakersfield's rich plantations everybody's except Ma Joad's (Jane Darwell's), that is, who alone knows that Grandma (Zeffie Tilbury) died in her arms before they even started to cross the Californian desert the previous night. There is the privately-run labor camps' utter desolation, complete with violent guards, exploitative wages, lack of food and unsanitary conditions; contrasted with the relative security and more humane conditions of the camps run by the State. And there is Tom's crucial development from a man acting alone to one seeing the benefit of joining efforts in a group, following Casy's example, and his parting promise to Ma that she'll find him everywhere she looks wherever there is injustice, struggle, and people's joint success. In an overall outstanding cast, which also includes Dorris Bowdon (Rose of Sharon), Eddie Quillan (Rose's boyfriend Connie), Frank Darien (Uncle John) and a brief appearance by Ward Bond as a friendly policeman, Henry Fonda truly shines as Tom; despite his smashing good looks fully metamorphosized into Steinbeck's quick-tempered, lanky, reluctant hero.

Yet, in all its starkness the movie has a more optimistic slant than the novel; due to a structural change which has the Joads moving from bad to acceptable living conditions (instead of vice versa), the toning down of Steinbeck's political references most importantly, the elimination of a monologue using a land owner's description of "reds" as anybody "that wants thirty cents and hour when we're payin' twenty-five" to show that under the prevalent conditions that definition applies to virtually *every* migrant laborer and a greater emphasis on Ma Joad's pragmatic, forward-looking way of dealing with their fate; culminating in her closing "we's the people" speech (whose direction, interestingly, Ford, who would have preferred to end the movie with the image of Tom walking up a hill alone in the distance, left to Zanuck himself). Jane Darwell won a much-deserved Academy-Award for her portrayal as Ma; besides John Ford's Best Director award the movie's only winner on Oscar night none of its other five nominations scored, unfortunately including those in the Best Picture and Best Leading Actor categories, which went to Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and James Stewart ("The Philadelphia Story") instead. Still, despite its critical success also expressed in a "Best Picture" National Board of Review award and its marginally optimistic outlook, the movie engendered almost as much controversy as did Steinbeck's book. After the witch hunt setting in not even a decade later, today it stands as one of the last, greatest examples of a movie pulling no punches in the portrayal of society's ailments; a type of film regrettably rare in recent years.

"Ev'rybody might be just one big soul well it looks that-a way to me. ... Wherever men are fightin' for their rights, that's where I'm gonna be, ma. That's where I'm gonna be." Woody Guthrie, "The Ballad of Tom Joad."

"The highway is alive tonight, but nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes. I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light, with the ghost of old Tom Joad." Bruce Springsteen, "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

Also recommended:

John Steinbeck : Novels and Stories, 1932-1937 : The Pastures of Heaven / To a God Unknown / Tortilla Flat / In Dubious Battle / Of Mice and Men (Library of America)

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936-1941: The Grapes of Wrath, The Harvest Gypsies, The Long Valley, The Log from the Sea of Cortez (Library of America)

Steinbeck Novels 1942-1952: The Moon Is Down / Cannery Row / The Pearl / East of Eden (Library of America)

John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Later Novels 1947-1962: The Wayward Bus / Burning Bright / Sweet Thursday / The Winter of Our Discontent (Library of America)

America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction (Penguin Classics)

John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography

East of Eden (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Of Mice & Men

Viva Zapata!

The Ox-Bow Incident

This is it! This is the movie to show to your preteen children to give them an understanding of what it means to struggle for something, for the barest of necessities.

John Steinbeck and John Ford did America proud, allowing us to look inward to discover solutions for our social problems. As a country we would do well to do the same again.

Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) and Ma Joad (Jane Darwell) are the central characters of this film, but many other, richly defined, roles can be found here. The young husband who deserts his wife because he's ashamed that he can't provide for her ... the waitress whose, somewhat hardened, heart is softened by the plight of the Joads ... the Grandfather who dreams of California and eating grapes while their juice runs down his chin ... the grieving father warning the Joads of the hard times ahead in California ... and who can forget the family friend who refuses to leave Oklahoma, and slides further and further into insanity as his entire community disappears.

Each secondary member of the cast has something invaluable to add to the story and the standout is the great John Carradine as the disillusioned, x-preacher, Casey. It is Casey who helps Tom to recognize the injustice in their 'migrant' world, and Casey who provides the supreme sacrifice and catalyst for Tom's promised future of being "there" for the little guy.

Yes, this movie can fall victim to overt sentimentalism, but the underlying feeling of injustice is probably the main 'character' in the story. While it's overall theme can be depressing, you can't help but smile when Ma Joad says "We're the people that live."

I absolutely love this movie, I think you will too.

Buy The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Now

It's striking how many reviewers here base their comments on a simplisitic comparison between the film version of "The Grapes of Wrath" and the Steinbeck novel on which it was based. For many such a comparison seems to function simply as an excuse to proclaim the inherent superiority of the Steinbeck original--and, by extension, the superiority of their own literary taste values-when all it really does is highlight the patent silliness of trying to pit different artforms into some sort of evaluative competition. Literature and cinema are two vastly different modes of representation each with their own strengths and limitations, so the framing question shouldn't be which version of "The Grapes of Wrath" is "better"--as if there were a universal yardstick with which to measure such things--but rather how do they perform in terms of their respective mediums? On that count, I think we are extraordinarily fortunate with both the Steinbeck and Ford versions of "The Grapes of Wrath" to have two masterworks that operate consummately at the peak of their respective artforms. What each does well, it does brilliantly. As a verbal medium that unfolds slowly, literature is good at offering rich, layered descriptions of person and place and mapping complicated narrative links and Steinbeck makes the most of this in his novel. Cinema, by contrast, is an expressive medium that works best through registers of visual and aural metaphor, allegory and performance...and it's on this ground that I think the film version of "The Grapes of Wrath" more than merits its classic status. It is a magnificently "cinematic" film that uses the expressive capacities of the medium to produce a richly layered experience that is truly moving and that lingers long afterward, sometimes for years or even a whole lifetime. I first saw "The Grapes of Wrath" on TV one rainy afternoon in my childhood and it left indelible impressions that have impelled me to go back to the film time and again: The haunted eyes of Jane Darwell's Ma Joad as she sits in the truck cabin, lit from beneath, driving into an uncertain future, the winds of history howling oustside; the terrifying collision montage as the monstrous "cats" move in to destroy the Okies' homes; the soulless gas station attendants, standing together in uniforms like corporatized automata, muttering that the Joads are too miserable to be human. It's a film dense with iconic richness and an enduring testament both to the artistry of the many workers that created it, and to the democratic spirit of popular cinema at its very best.

Read Best Reviews of The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Here

This is a review of the new BD of the classic film "The Grapes of Wrath".

First off, when reading reviews of this title be aware that Amazon has a policy of grouping ALL reviews of ALL versions of a film, whether DVD, Blu-ray (and even VHS). So if you are looking for a review of the Bluray, sort reviews by date (with most current first). That should help guide you.

With that said, this is a review of the single-disc BD released on June 5, 2012.

"The Grapes of Wrath" (TGOW) is a classic film and one that everyone should see. It's re-release by Fox is timely as much of the US is still in a recession and unemployment is high. There are many folks re-locating from their homes (if they haven't been evicted already) looking for work. If you want to know more about the film and its plot, there are over 160 reviews here that will provide that info. So I'll concentrate on the BD release, it's special features and not on the film itself.

TGOW was filmed in black and white in a standard format of 1.33:1 so no matter what screen aspect your TV has the image will be virtually square. Even on an older non-flat screen TV the image does not fill the screen but has thick black border on all sides. Direct John Ford used dark images (and lots of great shadows) to tell the story and , though the BD image is brighter than previous releases, it show the graininess of the film. I also noted in the early scenes that the brightness would waiver, but I got used to it as I concentrated on the story.

The BD has, as special features, a commentary track (same as on previous DVD release) that I did not listen to, a series of short Fox Movietone newsreels about the dust bowl and the Academy Award presentation to actress Jane Darwell (who won the award for Best Actress but is not even given recognition by name on the package despite a fabulous performance) totally about 8-minutes. There is also a 25-minute piece from the Fox Legacy TV show (on Fox of course) with Tom Rothman. I tried to get into it but Rothman is frankly not a good speaker and I found a bit too pompous for my tastes. Despite playing with the Display Aspect control on my BD player, I found that the excerpts from the film that were included in Rothman's piece, were out of "ratio" and the image was "squished". I'm not sure how this plays on other TVs. The BD also gives you the option of watching the film with the "forward" included in the British release, which the producers decided was necessary to explain the economic conditions in the US to the British theater audience. A nice touch for completeness. The last bonus is an A&E episode on Producer Daryl F. Zanuck (that I haven't gotten to yet.).

Having read a few other reviews of the DVD version here, it appears that the DVD version has a sharper image than the BD, despite a few more dark spots. I can't tell if the images in the bonuses are any different as I only have the BD.

So, while I generally would turn to a BD version over the DVD version, I think in this case there is more reason to get the DVD than the BD. But, if you haven't seen this film before, with great acting by Henry Fonda and Darwell, then get it in either version. Just get it.

My rating is a bit skewed. The film gets five stars (I love it), the bonuses three stars (it's OK) and formatting between 3 and 4 stars.

I hope you found this review both informative and helpful.

Steve Ramm

"Anything Phonographic"

Want The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Discount?

Take John Steinbeck's Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Novel. Turn it into a movie and let John Ford direct it, and get Henry Fonda to star. In 1940 you could hardly find a more certain recipe for a cinema classic.

As good as the film is, it really should be a companion-piece to Steinbeck's original masterpiece, and if you haven't read it I recommend setting aside enough time to read one of the greatest pieces of American literature ever written.

That being said, the medium of the cinema allows for a visual impact that can't be matched with the written word.

The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family during the great depression. That period of economic hardship hit the farmers in Oklahoma a little harder than the rest of the world, at the time of the dust bowl the "Okies" were at the end of their ropes, financially speaking.

Thousands of Okies packed up the house after being foreclosed and moved out to California many winding up around Bakersfield, at the California end of old US Route 66. (Merle Haggard's family did so and the "Okie from Muscogee" wrote about it in songs like "California Cottonfields".)

Anyway, this is the historical context of the movie. The theme of the movie, and of Steinbeck's book, is the ability of the human spirit to remain intact in these worst of times. The Joads suffer terrible humiliations, one after another, most of them because of their desperate financial status. But as the story proceeds we see that they are fundamentally decent, hard-working people, and every time life knocks them down they get back up, brush the dirt off themselves, and keep moving forward. As a national characteristic, this was an important trait because this was the generation that produced the hard-working, high-minded individuals who did important things like win World War II, followed by America's greatest financial flourishing and the Baby Boom. Tom Brokaw called them "America's Greatest Generation".

The cast is picture-perfect, with Henry Fonda as the spirited Tom Joad and John Carradine as the former preacher with a new social consciousness. Jane Darwell won a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Award as Ma Joad, and the remainder of the cast is in every way equal to the story and the film.

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Mademoiselle Chambon (2010)

MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON is a delicate, quiet interlude in the life of a construction worker in a little village whose gentle life is momentarily disrupted by the awakening of feelings of infatuation and the aftermath. Based on the novel by Eric Holder and adapted for the screen by Florence Vignon and director Stéphane Brizé, this little miracle of a movie is what the French do best understated appreciation for passing passion in a world of ordinary days.

Jean (Vincent Lindon) is a construction worker happily married to Anne-Marie (Aure Atika) and adoring father of young son Jérémy (Arthur Le Houérou) and loving son of his retired builder father (Jean-Marc Thibault): he spends his hours away from his work tutoring his son with his wife and bathing his father's feet. Jérémy's new schoolteacher is the very reserved but kind Véronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain, in life the wife of Vincent Lindon!) who requests that Jean speak to her class about his occupation as a builder an assignment Jean is flattered to accept. The presentation goes well and Véronique hesitantly asks Jean to repair a window in her home. Jean accepts the job (Anne-Marie thinks it is such a kind gesture that she asks Jean to invite Véronique to lunch). Jean replaces the window for the quietly reserved and anxious Véronique, and afterward Jean, noticing that Véronique plays the violin, requests she play for him a 'tune'. It is obvious that the peripatetic teacher is lonely, and it is also obvious that Jean is struck by the fact that a woman of education and musical talent would pay attention to a simple construction worker. In a weak moment the two exchange a kiss and that kiss alters the manner in which each of these two gentle people react to life. The results of this chance encounter play out in the conclusion of the story, a story so tender and yet so grounded in the realities of life that it takes the viewer by the heart and doesn't let go.

The many varying moments of intimacy, whether those moments are between Jean and his son, Jean and his father, Jean and his wife, and Jean with Mademoiselle Chambon, are photographed like paintings by cinematographer Antoine Héberlé. The entire cast is excellent and the performances by the five leading actors are superb. The musical score consists of original music by Ange Ghinozzi with a generous sampling of music by Sir Edward Elgar and others. This frail bouquet of a film appreciates silence, the unspoken word, and the natural emotions of ordinary people living ordinary lives. It is a multifaceted treasure. Grady Harp, December 10

Movies like Mademoiselle Chambon restores my faith in modern cinema. I had about enough of insipid romance dramas that lack any true emotion and appear contrived. When this movie title popped up as a recommended watch on Netflix, I thought I'd give it a try. This is one of those movies that stay with you long after the credits have rolled. It will appeal to those who appreciate a narrative that unfolds at leisure, taking its time to develop the characters, where there may appear to be too many long scenes of nothing much happening, but everything is done in a manner so as to convey the very real emotions experienced by the main characters.

The story centers on Jean (Vincent Lindon), a happily-married family man whose life is devoted to work (in construction) and his family, consisting of his wife Anne-Marie (Aure Atika), who works in a factory, their young son Jeremy (Arthur Le Houerou), and Jean's aging father. Everything seems to be clicking along fine, though the viewer senses life for Jean has settled into an all too familiar and monotonous rhythm. When Jean goes to pick up his son from school one afternoon, he meets Jeremy's teacher, willowy, sad-looking Veronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain). She asks if Jean would be kind enough to talk to the children about his work, and he hesitantly agrees. During the presentation, one senses some sort of attraction developing between the two, and this attraction develops when Jean agrees to fix Veronique's broken window. It is at her apartment that Jean discovers Veronique's talent for playing the violin, and the haunting strains of her playing, with her back to Jean, cements the strong attraction between the two. Despite the social differences between the two, this developing romance is credible given that Jean senses Veronique's loneliness, and Veronique in turn sees a strong, gentle man in Jean. Both are also connected by their common love of music.

However, these are two decent people, caught in a difficult situation how are they to act on their natural impulses and give in to their undeniable attraction for each other when Jean is married to a kind, loving woman and has a son to provide for? This movie explores not only the theme of forbidden love, but also of the choices individuals make and the consequences they live with. It reminded me of Falling in Lovewith Robert de Niro and Meryl Streep, but this is far superior in its execution.

The two leads are compelling in their portrayal of the quiet Jean and shy Veronique there is a haunting quality to both performances that had me riveted to the screen the entire time. Even mundane scenes, like when Jean is bricking up a wall is significant as it shows Jean's torment and struggle within himself. There are many such scenes in this movie slow, unfolding, tender moments that just stay within your heart and leave indelible impressions on one's mind. The soundtrack is also beautiful the strains on the violin and the mesmerizing voice of the singer at the end went perfectly with the final, memorable scene. A beautiful, lyrical movie that I will not soon forget.

Buy Mademoiselle Chambon (2010) Now

Saw this wonderful film at the City of Lights, City of Angels (COL/COA) French Film Festival in Los Angeles last spring, and I have been waiting until now for it to be available on Blu-Ray. If I can use a metaphor, watching this movie is like enjoying a wonderful French pastry...just sweet enough, with wonderful flavors, where often American romantic films can be compared to a Hostess donut. I am hesitant to give much in terms of description...check IMDB.com for one. I will just say that I was in a theater with hardened cineastes reduced to tears when this wonderful, romantic movie was over. I have been doing missionary work getting all of my friends to see this movie, and now with it coming to DVD and Blu-Ray, my work will be much easier.

Read Best Reviews of Mademoiselle Chambon (2010) Here

I simply loved this touching, beautiful love story. Sandrine Kimberlain is magical in the title role and Vincent Lindon had never reached this level of acting before: so far, his finest acting achievement. Slow-paced, somehow melancholic and very life convincing, the story of "unintentional" infidelity will take your emotions high. By far, one of the 10 best foreign movies to open in Chile in 2011. Don't miss it!

Want Mademoiselle Chambon (2010) Discount?

I loved this movie! I was not familiar with Sandrine Kiberlain prior to this film, but I really enjoyed the way she played the school teacher.

To say understated is not enough. The chemistry between her and Vincent Lindon is excellentI later learned that they were married at one time. Basically, it is the story of Landon and his wife and son who live in a small town in France. Kiberlian is his son's teacher, who invites Lindon to speak to the son's class about his profession(contractor). Later she asks him to repair a window in her apartment, and the attraction starts. You know from the beginning this is a no win situation for all involved, but the director handles it with much sensitivity. This is the type of film that would probably not do well here in the U.S.no car chases, no rock soundtrack or familiar Hollywood stars. Just a well acted, sensitive portrayal of everyday people caught in a real-life situation.

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