The Red Shoes (The Criterion Collection) (1948)

Many of Powell and Pressburger's films explore the life of the artist and the power of the artistic imagination. In THE RED SHOES and PEEPING TOM, most notably, the writer-directors reveal the sacrifices that art sometimes demands from its acolytes.

Balletophiles often praise THE RED SHOES, but one need not be a fan of ballet to be amazed by the film's emotional power and extraordinary staging. On the Criterion DVD, the saturated reds that represent the artist's blood sacrifice, and the cool aqua-blues that represent the (false) promise of life and romance outside of art, appear with unmatched vividness. Powell is a master of color, and has influenced a generation of filmmakers (through the advocacy of his admirer Martin Scorcese) with his theories about how color and music contribute to the thematic impact of a film.

Anton Walbrook, who plays the impressario Lermontov in THE RED SHOES, is one of Powell and Pressburger's favorite actors, appearing to stunning effect in THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP as well. Moira Shearer, the actress/dancer who plays the lead, made her reputation on THE RED SHOES. She also dances in one segment of the rarely-seen Powell/Pressburger masterpiece THE TALES OF HOFFMAN.

The Criterion DVD has the beautiful sound and picture we've come to expect from the Voyager Company. Interesting disc features include: an audio track of Jeremy Irons reading from the original Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, the complete text of Powell and Pressburger's novelization of the movie, an extensive collection of Scorcese's memorabilia, and a comparison of the Red Shoes Ballet with the filmed storyboard sketches the directors used as a guide. One wonderful addition for Powell and Pressburger fans is their filmography -brief descriptions with cast lists and dates for all their films, most of which also have film clips included. It's a chance to see scenes from some of the long-lost works in their catalogue.

I've seen the original film of "The Red Shoes" a number of times over the years and just loved it. The story, ballet, music, color, actors, and the whole production are superb!

Later I acquired the RCA SelectaVision CED video disc edition (two parts) in the early 1980s. The CED issue unfortunately was prone to frame skipping, occasionally syncopating the ballet sequences. Still later, I obtained the Paramount VHS hi-fi release (1987). There was no frame skipping with the VHS tape, but the tops of all the frames tended to be somewhat bent and fluttery. Alas, I found no remedies for these problems.

Without question, this DVD release is the best of the lot, technically. And, I liked the additional background material contributed to this DVD edition. The DVD has great color with clear, well focused images. The only deficiency, in my opinion, is the movie sound track which sounds dated (1947), however it's on par or better than the forementioned VHS release.

Overall, I would class this DVD movie as one I would have to take, along with others, to a desert island on which I subsequently became marooned.

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This is a magnificent movie, one of the most voluptuous ever filmed (in Technicolor), one of the most influential, and one of the most satisfyingly melodramatic. Every bit of it works. At the most simplistic, it's a fairy tale, Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes, that takes place in a ballet, which is repeated in real life.

At the heart of the movie is Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the imperious impresario of The Ballet Lermontov. He can be cold, charming, ruthless. At a party he says, "If some fat harriden is going to sing, I must go. I can't stand amateurs." He's enigmatic except for his dedication to ballet. At that same party he meets Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), a young ballet dancer, and is intrigued by her.

"Why do you want to dance?" he asks her.

"Why do you want to live?"

"I don't know exactly why, but I must," he says.

"That's my answer, too."

He brings her into his ballet company and also hires Julian Craster, a young composer. Later, with three weeks to create a ballet, he has Craster compose the music to the story of The Red Shoes. Victoria Page will dance it. It is a triumph, but Page leaves the Ballet Lermontov to marry Craster. Lermontov is outraged and swears he'll never see her again. She needs to dance, though, and Lermontov slowly realizes he wants her back, completely dedicated to dancing, because he can make her a great dancer. He subtly woos her back to dance the ballet again, with tragic results.

The ballet of the red shoes is the story of a young girl, engaged to be married who loves to dance and longs to go the village fair. She spies a pair of red dancing shoes in the window of a shoemaker. Despite the reluctance of her fiance, she dons the shoes and begins to dance. She has a joyous time. As she tires, however, the shoes won't let her stop dancing and she can't take them off. She dances until she dies.

The movie works so well on so many levels. Anton Walbrook is marvelous. He can be cold and demanding and devious as Lermontov, but he conveys exactly Lermontov's utter dedication. At the end of the movie when Lermontov, alone on the stage, announces to the audience Victoria Page's death in a strangled kind of breaking screech...well, you'll sit up straight. Moira Shearer, who was in fact a young ballet dancer at Sadlers' Wells and had to be coaxed to take the role, is a gorgeous creature and a first-rate dancer. She carries off the acting requirements very well. With her flaming red hair, she is just a wonder to look at and appreciate.

And then there is The Red Shoes Ballet itself. This was the first time a movie's story line was interrupted for an extended dance piece. The music by Brian Easdale is so memorable that I doubt anyone who hears it will forget the main theme. Powell directed the ballet as a surreal fantasy. It starts on the stage of the theater, then shifts to a stage that was never built in a real theater, then shifts into pure cinema. After The Red Shoes, other musicals suddenly had to have ballets -An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, and on and on -but none has ever been better than this.

The Red Shoes is a magnificent movie. It deservedly remains one of Powell's and Pressburger's great accomplishments.

The Criterion edition is just about flawless with true color and great clarity. The commentary that accompanies the movie is fascinating.

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The Red Shoes was one of the best ventures by The Archers, the joint production company by Briton Michael Powell and Hungarian emigre to Britain Emeric Pressburger, considered to be the definitive film marrying ballet and cinema.

The story of the Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen forms the basis for the story of aspiring dancer Victoria Page, aspiring composer Julian Crasster, and ballet company impresario Boris Lermontov, who takes on the latter two under his wing. Crasster's involvement begins when portions of his work Hearts Of Fire is appropriated in a ballet, and he's given the job of orchestra coach, when he confronts Lermontov. Page comes to the attention of the maestro when the latter snubs an offer by the girl's aristocratic aunt to see her dance. To the Russian, ballet is more than poetry and motion, but his religion, and hence, not an audition. He tries her out at a separate audition, where she makes the final cut.

Lermonotov decides to stage his next ballet based on Andersen's tale, with Victoria as the principle (Victoria Principle? just kidding) and Crassner as the composer. The ballet is a hit, for Lermontov and the whole film, as it's the highlight of the entire movie, with Victoria's flaming red hair a marked contrast to her pale skin and outfit, the ruby red shoes forming a near-symmetry, as they are on her toes. The choreography as well as the music is masterful. Despite Lermonotov and Crassner's insistence that "the music is all that matters," for us the film viewer, it's also the colours and dancing that do as well. Indeed, though the cinematography missed an Oscar, the score and art-direction/set decoration did not.

However, as demonstrated by the departure of his previous star, Irina Boronskaya due to marriage, the authoritarian Lermontov takes this personally, almost a heresy to his religion of ballet. To him, a dancer relies on the doubtful comfort of human love. Once that doubt is removed, goodbye dancing shoes, tights, exercise bar, hello high heels, stockings, and kitchen. He is determined to make Page a master dancer, and anything that comes in the way, he sees as a detriment to himself.

As for the original story, it's of a girl who puts on a pair of enchanted red shoes that keep on dancing even when the girl doesn't want to. This movie is a reinterpretation of it, where the ballet soon turns to real life.

This was Moira Shearer's debut film, and first of only six movies, and the young Scot creates a vivid but fragile and fairylike Victoria, aspiring dancer, the subject of her Svengali-like mentor, and emotionally tortured between being a dancer and a housewife. As she did ballet from age six, an ideal choice. And Ludmilla Tcherina, who plays Irina and who just recently died, was a former prima ballerina of the Monte Carlo ballet, so another great choice. And admire or hate his petty authoritarian personality, Anton Walbrook's powerful personality drives the movie. But Leonide Massine as the flamboyant, camp dancing coach Grigori Lyubov steals the show. Shearer, Massine, and the two directors would be reunited in The Tales Of Hoffman.

A visual triumph in the dancing scenes, as is the foreign location footage. Oh, and the Archers team wasn't the only one inspired by Andersen's tale, as Kate Bush created a reinterpretation of it in her The Line, Curve, and Cross short film.

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The 1948 classic film starring Moira Shearer (herself a professional ballerina) is no only an enjoyable semi-realistic fantasy film, in much the same lines as say The Wizard Of Oz, but a brilliant film technically to look at. It's drawn from the dark fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson (responsible for such stories as The Little Mermaid), in which a young girl is forced to wear red shoes with a will of their own. The poor girl dances until she dies. The concept is taken to a late 40's England, where the aspiring ballerina Victoria Page seeks to dance in the prestigious company headed by the eccentric, perfectionist and intensely driven impresario Lentmontov. The story provides the audience with a glimpse of dance rehearsals, theatrical life both pre-performance and during, the charm of the glamourosu life ballerinas are said to enjoy. But in reality, it is a study on obscession, the demand for virtuouso performance and the conflict between love of one's career and romantic love. Victoria Page is herself doomed to dance to her death when she is torn between her duty to Lentmontov and her love for his musical composer and choreographer. This movie is excellent for ballet fans, and for stage magic fansthe Ballet of the Red Shoes is the most striking moment in the film, an original ballet set against surreal, nightmarish backgrounds of carnivals, ballrooms and ghostly netherworlds where neon lights change colors in blinding and dizzying speed and danced to jazzy 40's music. The film is sure to impress adults (I disagree that it is for children due to the drama of the whole thing), and it is marvelously shot in Paris, London and Monte Carlo. A film like this does'nt come often.

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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Criterion Collection) (1943)

How wonderful it is to have this unique movie beautifully restored to its original length and scene order by the British Film Institute.

Until about ten years ago, I had never seen this film. I had never rented the cut, reconfigured tape, because I didn't think I'd like the film (in any form). But the L.A. County Museum of Art had an Archers' retrospective several years ago that included the BFI restoration print. Despite many of there pictures being among my favorites, I still thought I was in for a hoary WW II propaganda film. I could walk if I didn't like it.

Was I ever wrong. I came out considering it among The Archers best works. which in my book, means one of the finest films ever.

"The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," in the original version, is a brilliant mix of WW II propaganda, an often whimisical loving satire of the system. It is ultimately one of the most winning anti-war films ever. In a different way, as good as "Grand Illusion."

This low-key epic begins with the Boer War, when Blimp is a young (too) gung-ho officer to the time the film was made--mid-war 1943. The cast is superb. Roger Livesey gives one of the best performances imaginable. Deborah Kerr (18) at the time, gives a tour-de-force performance as the three different women Blimp falls for in the 40-year span of the film. Anton Walbrook Is so brilliant in this film. This man I am now convinced was one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century. His controversial character is a German officer Blimp befriends in the Boer War and they become life-time friends, with Blimp vouching for him being permitted to stay in England during WW II. Walbrook's scene explaining why he has left Germany is as great, if not greater than his curtain speech in "Red Shoes." Most other actors would have turned this into maudlin sentimentality. Walbrook instead gave me a giant lump in my throat. I don't lump easily.

If you've never seen the complete, uncut and untampered with film and are Archers devotee, this is the version for you.

The extras are uniformly fine. The commentary track with Martin Scorsesse and director Michael Powell, from a recording he made on first viewing the restored film, is sharp and perceptive. He sounds very old and can be hard to understand because of it, but it is worth the extra effort to hear him comment on one of his personal favorites.

There is also an excellent half-hour or so documentary, that includes Emeric Pressburger's grandson, that helps explain why and how the film was tampered with and almost never seen as a result of Prime Minister Winston Churchill trying to ban it. No luck in England. J. Arthur Rank released it in his English theatres and advertised "See The Banned Film." And it was a huge hit. The "banned" got the initial audiences in, word-of-mouth made it the movie too see. Winnie also failed in his attempts to stop exportation to other countries.

One of the most intelligent, witty,serious, breathtakingingly beautiful Technicolor films ever released.

Get this Criterion treasure now. It also includes several Colonel Blimp "original" editorial cartoons, by Blimp creator David Low. Some are timely today and could run with the names changed to suit today's political and military madness. The editorial cartoons were a revelation to me.

Archer Fans, order now and have a really complete collection of these unique gems.

The chap from England, below, is absolutey, right.

This is the best film by the best chroniclers of english life. I put this review on the American site because I feel the need to evangelise! Emeric Pressburger was an Hungarian refugee, and put much of his experience into the mouth of Theo, the sympathetic German character (in 1943! No wonder Churchill wanted it banned without seeing it). The film has three sections, set in 1902, 1918 and ww2. It shows the friendship between the title character, Clive Wynne Candy, and Theo Kretchsmar-Shuldorf. It's also a love story, with Deborah Kerr as three identical looking women. Most of all it's a requiem for a lost golden age, and a call to arms to defeat Nazism. The best set pieces are given to Theo (Anton Walbrook) a German refugee actor, emphasising that this is not a conflict between two equal and honourable countries, but between good and between evil, and this time, if good loses, there is no return match.This propaganda is 60 years old, but every time I watch it by the end I'm ready to sign up.

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This and "A Matter of Life and Death" are Powell & Presberger's masterpieces, before they descended into the schmalz of "The Red Shoes". The tale of the essentially decent British and German gentlemen, played by Roger Livesey and Anton Walbrook respectively, rapidly becoming dinosaurs in the changing Europe between the Boer War and the Blitz, yet clinging to their values despite being kicked in the face by the brutalisation of Germany and by the consequent brutalisation of a Britain attempting to survive against barbarism. Their friendship begins from the mutual respect engendered by a duel fought reluctantly for the honour of their respective traditions at the time of the Boer War. During convalescence they vie for the hand of Deborah Kerr, turning up in the first of 3 roles. Livesey's shyness leaves Walbrook holding the field. Nearly 20 years pass until they meet again, at a POW camp in Britain. Livesey's essential naivete rides roughshod over the wartime enmity, but Walbrook's response is ambivalent, and the reunion is short-lived and bittersweet. Livesey marries Deborah Kerr's reincarnation as a nurse, because of a resemlance to his first love. A further 20 years pass. Livesey, widowed, is asked to act as sponsor for Walbrook, now exiled from Germany, also widowed and estranged from his Nazi children. Together they come to terms with their sidelining in a world of younger men with few of the old values. Deborah Kerr turns up for the third time as Livesey's driver as he moves from army officer to Home Guard organiser,refusing to be pushed out of the fight. In appearance Livesey's character assumes the appearaqnce of David Low's cartoon Colonel Blimp, but underneath he is more rounded; decent,generous to and loyal to friends, slow to denegrate his foes and totally patriotic, but finally nobody's fool. John Laurie appears in a delicious cameo as Livesey's batman/manservant, crusty but loyal. His boss may occasionally infuriate and perlex, but Laurie recognises the basic decency, as, finally, all do who come into contact with him. It may be propaganda, but it is still magnificent.

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I found "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" to be a haunting story, rich in story and superbly acted. I found the film to be a very private experience one that you will be thinking about for a long time.

I really can't add anything to the comments made before other than to say that this is the type of film that makes Criterion a special mark. I would question many of their choices, films are available in other formats and of questionable importance (e.g. "Armageddon", "The Royal Tennanbaums" and "The Rock"). "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" probably would have been lost forever (or show up as a $...DVD on a "Bargains" rack) without the work put in by Criterion and the "legitimacy" conferred on it by being recognized by the brand.

myke

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This amazing saga--even more amazing, considering that it was filmed during World War II in England, is a tantalizing tale of a man's whole life--from youth to old age--and his loves, all of whom turn out to be played by the marvelous Deborah Kerr. The restoration is up to Criterion's high standards and the Technicolor is delicious. For fun and a look into our past, watch this movie.

A Clockwork Orange (Two-Disc Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book Packaging) (2011)

As with most older movies transferred to blu-ray, I'm pretty sure that most people who would be buying this have already seen this great film, and have their own opinions of it.

So, this review is strictly about the quality and extras of the BLU-RAY.

Hands down, this is one of the best transfers I have seen of a movie this old. Most blu-rays seem of older movies seem to be patchy as far as quality goes, but this one is consistently great all the way through.

The extras are what really sets this apart though. Commentary by Malcom McDowell, A documentary about the film, and a making of!

A solid buy for fans of the movie this is a significant upgrade over past DVD's, and for the first time I don't feel ripped off by a repurchase/upgrade.

On a side note, Come on Amazon! Start filtering the product reviews for blu-rays. What is the point of listing ALL of the DVD reviews for the same title? Seems like it could be an easy fix maybe they'll actually do it someday...

In 1964 director/producer Stanley Kubrick created the nuclear war comedic masterpiece "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb". He followed that with the science fiction masterpiece "2001: A Space Oddysee". Stanley Kubrick would reach his creative peak with his next film. An Adaption of Anothony Burgess'novel "A Clockwork Orange." Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is one of those films that you will either love or hate. The film centers around the character of Alexander DeLarge (played to perfection by Malcolm McDowell) a 15 year old "droog" who with his friends Pete (Michael Tarn), Georgie (James Marcus), and Dim (Warren Clarke) drink Milk Laced with drugs at the local "Milkbar" and then go out on the town at night, doing horrible things to people. During one incident Alex is captured and taken to prison. He finds out about a treatment that can get him of prison. He goes through with the treatment (which will make him sick when he attempts to commit an act of violence), is released from prison and thrown back into the world, unable to defend himself. Out of all the things that make this movie great, the number one element is the performance of Malcolm McDowell as Alex. The entire movie revolves around him so if McDowell's performance isn't top notch then the movie isn't top notch. McDowell was in his late twenties when he made this movie. In the novel Alex is 15 years old. So although being much older then his character McDowell plays the adventureous youth wonderfully. Suprisingly McDowell was not nominated for an Academy Award. Another really strong element is the music. Never in my life have I seen a movie (non musical) where the music plays such an important role in a film. Gioacchino Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie" during the fight scence against the rival droogs. "The William Tell Overture" played 5 times too fast during the orgy scene and the use of Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Symphony no. 9" are just a few examples of how music plays an important role in this film. As far as things being wrong with the movie. The only real thing is the lack of any real supporting cast. Sure there are a few standout performances. Particularily James Marcus as Georgie and in no means are the rest of the supporting cast bad actors. There just isn't a real supporing cast there. But McDowell's performace makes up for it. This film get's 5 stars because of 3 things. Number one is the performance of Malcolm McDowell. Number two is the use of music in such a different and unique way and number three is the originality of it. This movie came out in 1971 and I haven't seen any movie like it that came out before or since then. A Clockwork Orange was nominated for several Academy Awards including "best picture" and "best director" but it lost in all categories to William Friedkin's "The French Connection"

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In which high government officials are seen as the moral equivalents of street thugs (just better at p.r.), demonstrating that nothing has changed in 35 years.

The HD transfer is spectacular. This is how I remember the movie upon its opening in 1971. Pristine, startling, amazing.

Repeated viewings over the years of worn-out circuit prints, VHS and standard-def DVD had dimmed the movie's capacity to astonish. Now, in High Definition on BluRay disc, the luminous brilliance, texture and color of the images are restored, and the richness of the images makes a tremendous difference to the film's impact. The sound is also excellent -certainly superior to the original theatrical release in the days of optical soundtracks.

In addition to the beauty of the Hi-Def picture, this is worth owning because (at last) it is a close approximation of the original theatrical aspect ratio (screen shape); the theatrical presentation being, after all, the venue for which Kubrick composed his shots. (Ignore those who claim he meant this film to be seen in full-frame 1.33:1, as in all the previous home video releases. He clearly created it to be seen in theaters, and in theaters he had the image matted to 1.66:1, which is very close to the aspect-ratio of this BluRay.

Buy it; watch it on your big-screen 1080 HDTV in a dark room, uninterrupted. Real horrorshow!

This is a 2-disc "Special Edition," with the same extras as the standard-def DVD in the new (2007) boxed set: commentaries, trailer, new interviews with Wm. Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Malcolm McDowell, Wendy Carlos, Mrs. Kubrick, others.

Then take advantage of the recent (2011) BluRay release of "Barry Lyndon" (1975), Kubrick's underappreciated masterpiece, which also benefits greatly from High-Definition.

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The story is set in a near future society that has unthinkable methods of crime and punishment. Alex ( Malcolm McDowell)is a man that loves to fight, rob, rape, and kill. However, his luck finally runs out and he is captured. While imprisoned, he undergoes treatment to render him " safe" to the world around him, which is refered to as a " Clockwork Orange". While Alex is made to look perfectly normal on the outside, he is crippled by reflex mechanisms beyond his control on the inside. This prevents him from committing any acts of violence whatsoever. After Alex's release, things go from bad to worse however, when his "cure" leaves him defenseless to the revenge of his victims.

"A Clockwork Orange" is Stanley Kubrick's best film, and one of my favorite films overall. It is one of those movies that you can watch over and over again, and still be amazed everytime. I have never been as shocked as I was when I saw this film. The first 20 minutes involves two brutal beatings and an extremely graphic rape scene. It only gets more shocking from there on out. The story also offers a hilarious sense of irony. Alex is supposedly cured of all his afflictions, but is thrust back into a world of violence when forced to deal with his victims. The camera work used in this film is amazing, and the music is wonderful. All of the actors do an outstanding job in this film, but Malcom McDowell gives one of the most memorable performances ever as Alex. I have never experienced such a use of my emotions before when dealing with a fictional character. He will make you hate him and shock you with how he acts before he is captured. But then Alex makes you feel almost sorry for him with what he has to go through afterwards.

Stanley Kubrick has made some great movies with "2001: A Space Oddesey", "Full Metal Jacket", "Barry Lyndon", "Paths of Glory", and "Dr. Strangelove...." In my opinion however, " A Clockwork Orange" is his best film. The overall story, acting, music, camera work, and truly shocking scenes set it apart from the rest. It is definately a must own, because it only gets better with repeated viewings. The DVD however, is very mediocre. The quality of the film itself is just above average, and there are no extras at all.

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A lot of people would say that Stanley Kubrick's best work was 2001: A Space Oddyssey or Dr. Strangelove, but Clockwork Orange is his most remarkable film. Combining the best qualities of both 2001 and Strangelove -which are both fantastic films also -never before has Kubrick given audiences such a satirically brilliant movie. For some people, Clockwork will be hard to stomach; the rape scene at the beginning is pretty explicit and there's a lot of nudity. The fighting scenes, though, are for the most part more comical than brutal. Whether you hate it or love it -and there isn't a lot of room for middle ground to be taken with this film -you will certainly remember it because it will most likely have some kind of impact on you. In his first film role, Malcolm McDowell gives an incredible performance as the twisted gang leader Alex, who delights in rape, ultraviolenece, and Beethoven. McDowell is amusing and frightening at the same time and, without a solid, believable performance from the lead, this film would not have worked. The rest of the characters are eccentric, too, although their sole purpose is to reinforce the qualities of Alex. There are two major themes in this film, one of which deals with politicians and the manipulation with which they operate in order to avoid bad publicity. When the operation to reform Alex backfires, causing him terrible trouble as opposed to making him a decent person, the politician who originally championed the controversial operation does a quick clean-up job so that the situation won't seem as bad as it is. He offers Alex a cushy government job, basically an attempt to bribe the criminal so that he won't go to the papers with his horrifying experience. Alex, of course, is too young and unschooled to realize that he has been taken advantage of - both by the people who promoted the operation and by those who opposed it -and he is just happy to be himself again. The other main theme of this film deals with how far we should or shouldn't go in order to reform people who commit heinous crimes. If we ever developed the technology to do such a procedure as was done on Alex, this film gives us a good reason not to go through with it. Besides taking away a person's inborn ability to make his own moral choices, this would also leave the person particularly vulnerable to the revenge of those he's wronged in the past (which is what happens to Alex). The book of the same title, which was authored by Alex Burgess, is even better than the film and deserves more credit as a literary masterpiece. Some people believe that the movie is too soft and doesn't go as far as the book as far as the sexual scenes are concerned, but this movie will offend enough people without Alex taking advantage of two naive, pre-teen girls. Burgess himself was disappointed by the film (he makes this obvious in the newer version of the book) because the book was 21 chapters and the movie ended at the conclusion of the 20th chapter; however, the ending of the movie works better on screen while the ending of the book works better on paper. In each context, the endings work. Besides, the movie was already two and a half hours, and adding the book's ending would have meant at least 30 more minutes. Anyway, A Clockwork Orange is a thrilling experience and should not be missed, whether you like Kubrick or not. This film should have been ranked higher on AFI's Top 100 list.

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Without a Paddle (2013)

OK for kids over 10

This was fun. Not deep, kinda silly, but I laughed out loud several times, and that is good enough for me.

3 best friends go on a treasure hunt out in the beautiful North West, meeting up with a bear, a couple motley pot growers(Abe Benrubi from ER, and Ethan Suplee, from The Butterfly Effect) and a real mountain man, Burt Reynolds.

The money is what they're after, but they find more. Friendship, life, and true values, amongst other things.

My sweetheart, Norman and I snuggled on the sofa and watched this while eating leftover salmon. Was nice to relax, no swearing or nudity so it's OK for the kidlets. Probably not wee kids, but, over 10 or 12.

Good fun. Not terribly serious, but, isn't that nice once in a while? I think so!!

I saw this movie at a sneak preview with the local radio station. I was expecting it to be funny, just based on the trailers that I'd seen, and I wasn't disappointed. This movie struck me as being a grown up version of the goonies, with 3 childhood friends going on a treasure hunt that they never did while they were kids. There were a few slow moments, but through most of it, I laughed out loud!

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Look, I walked into this movie expecting a complete bomb, and I was being more than generous at the time. Having never heard of it before, this "action-comedy starring that guy from Scooby-Doo and Dr. Evil's son" seemed less than appealing to me. But once the film started rolling, I was amazed at how hilarious it was. It is a story about four childhood friends who are now in their late 20's. One of them dies and the other three set out on a childhood journey to find the treasure of DB, a man who was lost during a parachute-jump and never returned. On their journey they encounter many obstacles, including a bear, two pot-farmers, tree-hugging hippies and many other hilarities. Although the acting is not top-notch, the comedy is worth the ticket, it is so saturated with jokes that I'm sure that I missed a good third of them.

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Okay. You probably won't take my advice, but I'll give it to you anyway; BUY THIS MOVIE. It is absolutely, 100 % mindless entertainment, but it's worth it! I saw it a couple of days after it came out, and fell in love. I went back to see it three more times, and bought it as soon as it came out on DVD. I even bought the poster, which I've never done for any other movie or television series. That's all there is to it!

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I went to see this movie thinking it was going to be funny. I was right! This movie had me laughing all the way through, from the bear attack to the weed farm to the Earth-child tree house, this movie lived up to my expectations and then some.

When their friend Billy dies on one of his many adventures, Jerry, Tom, and Dan go back to Oregon and encounter their old tree house with all their childhood memorabilia. They find a box with relics they put in that was not supposed to be removed until they found DB Cooper's treasure. Supposedly he parachuted into the woods with a bunch of stolen cash but was never seen since. Billy had even marked out the trip on a map and had wanted to go with the guys on a camping trip the previous summer, but none of them could make it. Tom was detained in Mexico. So, to honor their friend, and despite Dan's "I'm Dr. Mott now!" objection, the three decide to follow Billy's map and finally search for DB's treasure.

The trip starts out with a pit stop in a very run-down town. Using Dan's satellite cell phone, Jerry runs into some trouble with his girlfriend, who is tired of waiting for him to settle down. Once they barely escape from a shariff with no teeth, it's off into the woods to christen a red canoe, much to a Native American's dismay. "Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play." Smoothe, Jerry, whose response was, "...oh."

When they finally land for the night, things go fine until Tom decides he wants to fish by "flashing them". Dan bets $1000 and his left, well, anyway, he bets he can't do it. The first fish Jerry and Dan forget to catch out of stupidity, but the second was out of fear of the bear that Tom doesn't notice until Jerry starts taking off his shoes.

"You can't outrun that bear."

"I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you." Dan trips while running and Tom suggests the fetile position. The bear then takes him for a cub and carries him off. "ABORT THE FETILE POSITION!" Hey, how many chances do you have to try freshly caught...what was it? A raccoon? Well, that night was spent in a tree and Dan's brand new cell phone becomes a tasty snack.

The next day the bear is scared off by explosion sounds and the trio sees a boat with two ugly rednecks in it throwing grenades into the water. Dan wants to cut through the woods and start out on the other side. When they do, they miss the fork and end up on the wrong side of it. Although Tom made himself out to be a Class-45 river rafter, they don't have much luck and end up sailing over a 100-foot waterfall. Now they don't have a canoe or a map, which the bear had clawed through anyway.

They set off into the woods and come across civilization and Creed wafting through the air. However, when they get close enough, they find the same two rednecks they were trying to avoid earlier talking to beheaded fish. They hide in their shed which is stuffed with packages of grade-A marijuana. One wrong move and dogs Lynyrd and Skynyrd are on their tail. So after setting off the flares that light up the entire marijuana field, which ultimately sets the field on FIRE, Tom, Jerry, and Dano take off. Half-way through, everyone is completely stoned. They manage to escape, though. So...onward into the woods.

Earth-child. No, not just any old hippie. A tree. The soaked guys, after swearing they aren't from the logging company, "If you're from the logging company you'll have to speak to our lawyers!", are allowed to come up and meet Flower and Butterfly. Slug (Jerry) and Condor (Dano) are immediately embraced (what was Tom called again?) and they discover just how "natural" the two girls really are. They try to radio for help, but the signal is intercepted by the rednecks who are after them. When they try to cut down Earth-child, Tom, Dano, and Jerry make a run for it in nothing but their underwear. (Butterfly and Flower were drying their clothes off, in case you were wondering.) Even though flying bags of, well, (what would you use the "little tree's room" for?) are thrown on their heads, the rednecks don't give up on Earth-child until Tom rides off with one of their wheelies and ends up driving it off a cliff. Surviving the drop, Tom, Jerry, and Dano escape into the woods again, and this time, Dano finally gets a kiss farewell. (Flower is the hairy woman of his dreams!)

Now it's dark and cold. Dano is tired and they're in front of a cave. Once you hear the lyrics, "My mind's telling me no, but my body...my body's tellin me yes", you know it's going to go a little crazy. Hey, it's cold! And as Tom said, "This never leaves the cave." After Jabba leaves his hut because Jerry can't keep his exotic thoughts in his head (poor Dano, it's not his fault), the scary mountain man Del Knox shows up and leads them back to his cabin.

He doesn't kill them, but he does tell them that he was DB Cooper's best friend. He spent 30 years up in those mountains. He couldn't leave. The next morning comes along. Dano wakes up.

Dano: Mmm...bacon.

Del: Squirrel.

Dano: Mmm...squirrel.

The rednecks can't read for anything, but they can track, and sure enough, after Jerry finds the eaten cell phone (does a bear -poopin the woods?), they catch up to them. Del takes care of them temporarily so Tom, Jerry, and Dano can escape.

The compass isn't working. The iron in the mines is throwing it off. Revelation! If it's throwing their compass off, it must've thrown DB Cooper's compass off! Next thing they know, they've fallen through a mine shaft. And...da da da DA...there they come face-to-face with none other than DB Cooper himself...well, what's left of him. After burning his treasure to stay alive for a few more hours, he froze to death. Their mission complete, they get their relics back (a C3PO collectible, a rookie card, and a rubber -good going Tom-) and decide to place it with DB Cooper and his treasure. Then the rednecks show up...again. Dano slipped through a hole in the shaft to freedom with the help of singing a "Culture Club" song. He then knocks the two trouble-makers into the hole with Jerry and Tom. A fight ensues. Dano picks up a grenade that was dropped. The same sheriff from town shows up. Problem solved, right? WRONG!

The rednecks work for the sheriff and all guns are pointed at Jerry, Tom, and Dano. Once Jerry is given possession of the grenade, he gives the three thugs a choice:

Jerry: I've decided my life's worth living. And if you decide that your lives are worth living (actual dialogue may vary), you'll put your guns down.

Sheriff: And if we don't?

Jerry: (pulls grenade) Bye-bye, boys.

The grenade hits a tree and the three thugs are caught under it. Back in town (not the run-down town but Jerry, Tom, and Dano's hometown) the thugs are arrested and Del gives the guys a little surprise: DB's parachute. He has DB's bones in his backpack and plans to see the world.

Del: Maybe even Washington.

Jerry:...wow...one state.

Inside the parachute is Del's share of the treasure: $100,000 I think it was. Jerry doesn't want it. Dano doesn't want it. (Hell, he's "Dr. Mott" now!) so Tom, who isn't the Harley salesman he claimed to be, uses it to pay off his debts.

In the end:

Jerry asks his girlfriend to marry him and she says yes.

Dano and Flower share an intimate moment in Earth-child.

Tom confuses a bunch of boyscouts at a camp fire.

The movie ends leaving you with only one burning question:

"What's a 'downstairs'?"

Enough said.

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Bodyguards & Assassins

Not just another martial arts film, this is a real human drama...it's misnamed. More of a look at what motivates people. GREAT film, outstanding acting.

Bodyguards and Assassins, despite having a bit of a wonky name, is a stunning picture. An all-star cast brings to life the story of revolutionaries and imperialists planning for the brief return to Hong Kong of an exile from Japan who, in one hour, is going to set in motion the wheels of an all out rebellion on mainland China.

The first half of the movie is a pure drama, introducing a lot of characters and fully fleshing out their motivations and relationships with each other. The story of the movie is not especially meaty, but by turning it into such a character piece it more than makes up for it. It was completely involving and a joy to watch.

Near the end of the first half of the movie, my adrenaline was already up for the second half. The pace was perfect, and it built up wonderfully to what I thought was the film's climax.

Instead, it turned out that it wasn't the climax, but that the entire second of the movie is brutally action packed. Having become successfully invested in the characters during the first half, this was some truly gripping stuff. The action direction is top-notch as well, absolutely pulse-pounding.

For a solid period epic, Bodyguards and Assassins certainly stands out as a great film that fans will appreciate.

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I do not yet have the blu-ray in hand, but I have had this on my DVR for a few weeks now.

I was a little sorry to see the story is largely fictionalized because the story is so very good. The title is a tad misleading: this is a story about an important period in Chinese history, condensed down to 5 days. Some of the figures are historical, but the actual occurrences (except for the summary of the following few years) are not. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

This is a beautiful film. Wonderful performances from an ensemble cast. If you are deeply affected by self-sacrifice, the desire of a parent to protect his or her children, redemption and painful irony, you will deeply affected by this film. Besides the performances, the film is visually beautiful (not on the level of Hero, but getting there).

Strongly recommended.

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Le Cercle Rouge (The Criterion Collection) (1970)

Every review of Le Cercle Rouge uses the word cool because Melville's movies epitomize cool. This is a world of policeman and thieves, all dressed to the nines, all possessing three facial expressions: cool, resolute, and...make that two expressions. The way they light cigarettes has undoubtedly caused lung cancer in thousands of schoolboys aspiring to cool. Melville's movies play like Hemingway's prose reads.

The version I saw is a newly restored, uncut version of Le Cercle Rouge from Rialto Pictures, sponsored by Melville fan John Woo, and it's touring select cities in the United States in 2003. It is far superior to the edited, dubbed version which has been the only version available in the States until now. Let's hope this uncut version makes it to DVD soon to reach a wider audience.

A criminal named Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte before his spaghetti western heyday) is being escorted by a policeman named Mattei(Andre Bouvril). Vogel escapes during a train ride. Meanwhile, a thief named Corey (French movie idol Alain Delon, as impeccably groomed as ever) who spent five years in prison and never ratted on his boss is finally released. A corrupt cop fills him in on a potential heist. Corey wishes to resist, but cannot. He cannot change his nature, or his code. Vogel and Corey cross paths, as foretold by the made-up Buddhist quote that opens the movie which says that certain men are destined to meet in the red circle. They team up for the heist while the policeman stalks them.

Many words are used to describe Melville movies, and all are accurate to some degree. Film noir: no doubt Le Cercle Rouge has the tragic inevitability and stern view of human nature characteristic of film noir. Existentialist: Melville's heroes make their own choices and accept responsibility for their natures. The definitions of cool and existentialist have blurred in our society. Spare, austere: the soundtrack is minimal to non-existent. Economical--Melville's movies contain the most efficient gestures and dialogue in any movie not a silent film. Most of the acting is understated, the communication nonverbal. "All men are evil," says a government official to Mattei at one point. Later, when events have born out his opinion, he reiterates to Mattei, simply, "All men." He doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't need to. The cast "underacts" perfectly to match Melville's style.

To watch Le Cercle Rouge is to journey to the center of a long line of cinematic geneology. Melville loved American film noir and gangster pics and wanted to direct Rififi. Le Cercle Rouge features trenchcoated descendants of Humphrey Bogart and a long, near-silent heist which is itself a parent of countless movie heists since. Alain Delon's characters in Le Samourai and Le Cercle Rouge are the predecessors to so many movie heroes: De Niro's character from Heat, Chow Yun Fat in The Killer, Takeshi Kitano in Fireworks, Bruce Willis from Pulp Fiction, Forest Whitaker in Ghost Dog, even Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Melville is a director's director.

One day, you and Le Cercle Rouge will inevitably be drawn together in a theater with red chairs. All men.

The premise is simple: a man named Corey (Alain Delon) is released from prison but is unable to avoid his randez-vous with destiny. True, this had been tried before Melville made The Red Circle. However, great photography should grab you within minutes: cool, dissolved hues framed by a skilled illusionist. The scene in the muddy field registers as one of the best of noir cinema: Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte), an upredictable and fearless fugitive meets the stark, taciturn Corey. Only indispensable dialogue here, a gesture with a toss of pack of cigarettes and the sublime theme composed by Eric De Marsan the circle is now half-drawn and this movie genre has never since been the same. We never quite see a fork in the road for any of these guys: Corey, Vogel or Jansen, a cop-turned-gangster played by Yves Montand. All three, in spite of their efficiency, move closer and closer to an inevitably tragic end. Thus sets a feeling of temporariness. Whether it's a few thousand franks, a life of a goon in pursuit, or a near-encounter with a lost beautiful woman it is an imprint as lasting as a puff of smoke from a Galoise. Andre Bourvil created a most convincing portrait of a veteran policeman, whose final coming to the table is as assured as that of Bergmanesque Grim Reaper. Watch the game unfold, while also enjoing the incredible piano arpeggios, brass sections, and a bunch of fantastic supporting-role actors.

Buy Le Cercle Rouge (The Criterion Collection) (1970) Now

Jean-Pierre Melville, in many ways, shares some of the brooding

and fatalistic tendencies of his colleagues Marcel Carne (Jour Se

Leve, 1939) and Henri-Georges Clouzot (Quai des Orfevres, 1947).

Yet Melville's ethos is one which, unlike theirs, often delineates character almost entirely through action and gesture.

This makes for compelling viewing, particularly in the case of Melville's late, exquisitely crafted thrillers "Le Samourai" (1967), "Un Flic" (1971), and of course "Le Cercle Rouge" (1970).

A picture of this quality deserves the success it had in limited theatrical runs during the Stateside reissue this past Spring;

Criterion has done a marvellous job with it. I can only encourage anyone with a taste for the sheer visceral pull of

a great film to spend two evenings with the disc: one with

the picture itself, and another to view the special features

on the second disc, many of which are documentary materials that

give a wonderful glimpse of the modest, self-effacing director's

M.O. Another winner from Criterion, which I would give ten stars if I could. Let's hope for "Le Samourai" next!

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Melville's films are all noted for their lack of dialogue. In fact one of his early films was called Silence of the Sea. In many ways it is this silence which gives the films their air of mystery and suspense. His vision is noir inspired but his characters win you over in a way that a lot of characters in American noirs don't. This is perhaps because in Melville's universe there is a kind of rationale which makes the criminals seem more just than the law. To Melville man is a corrupt creature and the criminals are just the ones who accept this fact and live with it while the cops are seen to be acting against their natures. The vision is fatalistic as most noirs are but Melville allows his characters to come to terms with it their own way. Alain Delon is the star of all three Melville films I have seen: Le Samurai, Un Flic and Cercle Rouge. The three each portray the noir universe in Melvilles signature way but each one has something unique to recommend it. Le Samurai is the most austere of the three and is considered to be the masterpiece and Delon is perhaps at his best in this one. Un Flic perhaps has the best supporting cast with Catherine Deneuve and Richard Crenna, and Un Flic is usually penalised for having some shoddy special effects though the actual plot is very strong. Cercle Rouge is longer and not as tightly constructed as the other two, its even a little awkward and eccentric in places(Yves Montands hallucination sequence), but in it Melville gives you his most realized vision of social outcasts surviving(or trying to) outside the law. The criminals barely talk perhaps because they know who they are and this gives them a dignity and even a grace that the cops and informants who endlessly babble on never come close to. When watching Le Samourai or Un Flic or Cercle Rouge instead of thinking about other film makers you think of writers like Herman Melville(who Jean-Pierre named himself after) &Joseph Conrad and perhaps some of the better mystery writers who also ruminate or brood about the nature of man. If you are a person who likes noirs for their snappy wise guy dialogue then this is not the film nor film maker for you but if you like your noirs moody and bleak, and icy cool, well Melville is your man.

Alain Delon: Of course when you think "icy cool" you think of no other actor than Alain Delon. His presence is as central to Melvilles films as was Mifunes to Kurosawas. It is hard to imagine any other actor playing the roles he does. Another great Alain Delon film: Purple Noon.

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The director Jean-Pierre Melville, who passed away in 1973, has influenced several directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, and John Woo, and his films have influenced several new films. The recent Ocean's Twelve and its predecessor appears to have been influenced by the characters in Melville's Bob le Flambeur (1955) while Good Thief (2002) is more or less a remake with Neil Jordan's own adaptation. In addition, John Woo is currently planning to shoot a remake on Le Cercle Rouge with the title Red Circle with intended release date set sometime in 2006. However, Melville's stories are nothing like the fast-paced action films by Woo, or quick-witted cinematic exploitations by Tarantino. Melville's stories focus on what is within the frame of each scene, as focus in brought on the characters and the actions of the characters. This way Melville conveys more than just the mere words of the characters, which leaves much for the audience to contemplate upon while a succession of frames leads the audience to a new and unexplored terrain of cinema.

In Melville's Le Cercle Rouge, he initiates the film with a made up Buddhist saying stating that all men who are destined to meet will meet, which also refers to the films title. The `Buddhist saying' plants a seed in the audience's mind, which will have great consequence for the film's characters as they cannot escape their destiny. The saying also brings a philosophical debate in regards to existentialism through a band of criminals and a police force. Two of the characters whose future seems to be linked are Corey (Alain Delon) and Vogel (Gian Maria Volonté), both criminals. Corey is freshly released after having had served time in prison and he does not waste time as he gets back into his previous ruts as he robs an old associate and buys a car. The other character, Vogel, is transported handcuffed as he is approaching the prison where about to serve time, but he succeeds in escaping and manages to avoid the police by hiding in the trunk of Corey's car. Thus, the two men's fates to meet is sealed.

Corey drives out into a secluded area of the woods where he asks Vogel to exit the trunk as he steps back from the car. Corey is also aware of a gun that was hidden in the trunk, which might have been recovered by his passenger. When Vogel steps out there is a moment of silence as the two men study each other's appearances and actions, as a distrusting pet would smell a stranger. This moment portrays the distrustful code in which criminals coexist and the meaning in which they find a purpose in life. In essence, the moment represents the red circle that has been connected as these two men were meant to meet. This leads both men to Paris where they begin to plan a jewel heist, which requires further help from a team of professionals in the field.

The police are in full force searching for the escaped Vogel that eluded Police Captain Mattei (Bourvil). A rather upset Mattei is determined to recover Vogel as he has a strong sense of purpose in life, which is now spiced up since Vogel escaped. Fatigued Mattei returns to his small apartment where he feeds his cats and tries recover physically and emotionally as he recognizes the severity of having lost Vogel under his watch. The return to the apartment displays Mattei's purpose as it illustrates Mattei's personality through his actions and the mise-en-scene, which brilliantly depicts his values.

Melville diffuses the drawn line between the criminal element and the law enforcement as he depicts a symbiotic like atmosphere between the two. In addition, the point that there is an overlapping between the two worlds comes across even more strongly through a dialogue between the Police Chief and Mattei. In the conversation, the Police Chief says, "And don't forget: All guilty." Mattei asks, "Even policemen?" The police chief responds, "All men, Mr. Mattei." This cynical perspective of mankind brings a humane side to people, as all people will make mistakes throughout life as Mattei did when he lost Vogel.

Le Cercle Rouge is a string of awesome scenes that is tied together into a brilliant cinematic experience. The star-studded (Alain Delon, Gian Maria Volonté, and Yves Montand) cast does not become the wheel for the story's success, but the cinematic narration under Melville's direction does. The direction exhibits meticulous orientation of details as the actions of the characters, the script, the mise-en-scene, the camerawork, and the sound comes together into marvelous concoction of philosophical insights, suspense, and fate.

Wyatt Earp / The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2011)

I bought this set primarily for the 'Jesse James' movie, which is dark, slow paced and cerebral, and features fine acting by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. This film may bore you if you are looking for action or plot twists, and you'll know if it's right for you after about the first 15 or so minutes. If you can stick with it, Casey Affleck's smoldering performance is a revelation.

I had not seen "Wyatt Earp" before and it proved to be quite a pleasant surprise. It came out a year after "Tombstone" and wasn't as successful I guess, but this film strikes a good balance between being too violent or too fawning/watered down. It pretty much follows the same main storyline as "Tombstone" with the addition of showing events that mold the younger Wyatt into the man he becomes by the time he arrives at Tombstone.

Dennis Quaid does a good job with the Doc Holliday role, but Val Kilmer's performance will always be more memorable.

The movie clocks in at a bit over three hours, however it never dragged for me.

The cinematography in "Wyatt Earp" is beautiful, and the Blu-ray transfer is excellent there are many dark/shadowy scenes that are rich in detail and have very little or no noise. The frequent daytime panoramas are gorgeous. Warner did a wonderful job here.

If you want to add two very different, good westerns to your Blue-ray collection, this combo set is a steal.

Held off buying this for a long time since Tombstone is my favorite but it was worth watching a more thorough historical account of Wyatt Earp. Haven't watch "The Assassination of Jesse James" yet, but 2 for the price of one is a good deal.

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Wyatt Earp is a bit overlong but a well done western..Costner tries to ce real Earp...there are so many stories about the legendary lawman. One isn't sure what to believe...gene hackman is great as earps strict dad.....the other western, with the overlong and thoroughly forgettable title is average at best..Brad Pitt is the films only asset

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I think I paid 12 dollars for this when I got it. What can you say about 2 of the greatest modern westerns based in history? Wonderful cinematography.

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Two classics that are deep and well made films. Can't go wrong with either one. Expert filmaking at a fantastic price! I love both these films!

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Ek Tha Tiger (Blu-Ray) (2012)

I would rate this movie second tier. Very good but not the best. It was a great plot about half action and about half romance. Both Katrina and Salman handled action and romance scenes equally well. The music video was great, especially Mashallah and Banjaara, but there were not enough songs. I liked the way that they utilized the music styles of the localities Ireland, Cuba and Middle East. Although not on a level with Wanted and Partner this is still a very good movie.

I was highly entertained throughout this movie. There was plenty of action, some awesome fight scenes, great song/dance numbers, interesting story. And beautiful people. What more could you want??

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If you are a fan of Indian Cinema, this is really a must see.

Super cinematography, and characters. Katrina Kaif is terrific.

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Great movie.. Good music.... Katrina did an excellent job. very believable caracter.. Salman excellent as usual. I will see ths movie over and over again. Recommend it highly......

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I was a great story line. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It kept my attention to the end. I would reommend this to others.

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Please Give (2010)

Eternally bitter, cynical but never toxic and always with a hint of beautiful humanity, Nicole Holofcener is always a distaff alternative to Woody Allen's neurotic obsessions. Her works, deemed as 'vagina movies', are no less assured, and even surpass the works of her male counterparts; whereas, Allen's works nowadays are consistent in their inconsistency, Holofcener's works organically evolve to correspond to the reality that we live in, and, as response, the people that we become. Her first film, "Walking and Talking" back in 1996 is a thoroughly charming and affable film, with concepts of loneliness, abandonment and feeling lost explored, but the pervading anxiety and bitter humour that have long since been her staple from her second film thereafter, are kept at bay, for most of the time. Her characters continually grow. Now, circa 21st century, and being caustic seems to be a natural trait. Still, Holofcener uses that to great effect; bitterness never overshadows, but merely used as a launching pad to explore the quiet beauty hidden amidst the toxic and the unpleasant.

In her fourth film, "Please Give", she tackles capitalism, displaced guilt, physical appearances, infidelity and death amidst a chaotic, arbitrary world that is rather nihilistic, but only in a gentle, breezy, free-wheeling meaninglessness that does not feel like a discourse on an Ingmar Bergman's nothingness, but more akin to Eric Rohmer's affable meandering that is no less understatingly hurtful and quietly emotional.

Set in rumbling New York City, Kathy (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) own a furniture store, set by the couple's practice of buying furnitures at very low prices and put them up with high markups. They are also waiting for the next door neighbour, a bitter, ungrateful old hag, Andra (Ann Guilbert), to die so that they could expand the size of their apartment. In the meantime, Andra's two nieces, Rebecca (Rebecca hall) and Mary (Amanda Peet) are dealing with their own problems: Rebecca is a busybody, working as a mammogram technician, keeping romance and personal life at bay; and Mary, a skin consultant, who continually stalks her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend, and at some point, ends up having an affair with Alex. Amidst all this, Kathy and Alex's daughter, is dealing with her bodily appearance: her weight and acne problems.

"Please Give" sets up this multi-strand storylines via Holofcener's typical free floating, stream-of-conscious fashion that negates the structural device of storytelling, and opts for a presentation of a slice-of-life. The camera adopts an objective point of view, even revelling in arbitrary scenes that seem to never amount to anything, but somehow feel organic to the whole film. And even with this objectivity, it is never unsympathetic, even if most of these characters are unlikeable and even bordering on being nasty.

Indeed, sometimes it's better to start off with the negative to accentuate the positive. With this, Holofcener is able to explore the moral implications of living in a capitalistic society. To what extent does one go to successfully carve out a comfortable life for one's self? Kate's obsession with giving out a lot money to the poor seems irrational, but really an ascetic ideal that she churns out for herself, to get rid of her guilt for her wrong choices in life. It is an inherently self-destructive act, prompted by shame, insecurities, selfishness and self-absorption, that is merely offset by the outer appearance of the act: it is an ostentatiously kind and generous act of giving. Kate's asceticism mirrors Mary's affinity for stalking an unsuspecting woman and having an illicit affair with Alex: the lengths to which one goes to, just to find a name for an undefinable feeling of loneliness and pain. At least, with the daughter, it is called being chubby, and acne-ridden. Wait until she gets older.

All of these characters, just like in any other Holofcener films, feel insignificant; they struggle living in a hostile, unlovable world, and they respond to themselves and to each other in equally hostile, unlovable manner; but there is quiet beauty that is transcendental when one watches Holofcener deviates further more into seemingly random scenes; like seeing an anonymous couple looking for the right furniture in Kathy's store, or Rebecca walking the dog with Kathy's daughter. Like watching an unexpected petal falling off a dying flower, Holofcener's images are delicately evocative, and revelatory in their quietness.

"Please Give" is a very sharp, brutally honest work that is all at once, hilarious, acidic, and always strangely moving, without any need for emotional manipulation or ostentatious dramatic histrionics. See this, not merely as an entertainment, but as an opportunity to bask in its many quiet moments of emotional insights that neither praise nor condemn its characters. Besides, there is Catherine Keener, Holofcener's beloved muse, one of the very few actresses nowadays who can effectively kill someone with merely delivering a cutting remark, and simultaneously still break a heart with pathos for her character.

"Please Give" is a film expertly directed by Nicole Holofcener. It is full of realistic portraits of complicated human foibles and yet shines a light on what is important in life.

Kate (Catherine Keener) is a guilt-ridden mother who runs a successful second-hand furniture store in down-town New York with Alex (Oliver Platt), her husband and business partner. They also are feeling that their apartment is too small and plan to knock down a wall when the apartment they own next door becomes vacant. Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert), their strong-willed elderly tenant seems to be planning to stay and Kate and Alex realize they have to wait for her to die. Evicting her has become out of the question. Abby (Sarah Steele) is their 15 year old daughter who has acne and a determination to buy a $235 pair of designer jeans.

Kate and Alex feel that it is awkward not to be friends with their elderly tenant and invite Andra over for a birthday party, along with her two granddaughters, Mary (Amanda Peet) and Rebecca (Rebecca Hall). Andra is crotchety and not that interested in birthday parties or presents. She comes to the party but is ornery and full of snarky comments about the cake and present she receives.

Kate and Alex are also dealing with Abby's teen-age angst. Kate also feels guilt making profits on vintage furniture from estate sales and Alex has guilt issues from a recent fling with Mary.

Overall "Please Give" is profound, full of funny insights on guilt and imperfection.

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"Please Give" comes from the writer/director of "Friends With Money", Nicole Holofcener and while that movie explored themes of being rich and how the wealth is spread around through charity and what they weren't willing to spend money on, this one goes a similar route. "Please Give" explores a series of people who either are in need or have the capacity to give something needed to others and figuring out if they are doing it for the good of the recipient or just to ease their own selfish guilt/pity/sorrow. Most specifically, two granddaughters deal with their rude aging grandmother while her next-door neighbors who have purchased her apartment are technically waiting for her to pass away so they can renovate and the guilt of swooping in afterward begins to get to some of them.

Rebecca Hall plays Rebecca and seems to be the only faultless character of the cast. She works in mammography and tends to her 91 year old grandmother on a daily basis along with caring for her dog and cleaning her apartment. Rebecca is shy and only seems to work for others and takes no time for herself and wants to be the peacekeeper always. The intimacy of her job takes so much out of her that she clams up and stays reserved around others until one patient's son takes a special interest.

Rebecca's sister, Mary played by Amanda Peet puts so much emphasis on her own surface value that she never develops much beneath it. Mary is rude to her grandmother on the excuse that the old woman is mean. Mary seems directionless except for maintaining her tan and trying to find out what is so special about the woman her ex left her for and trying to tear her down to make herself feel better. Amanda Peet is scary talented at being cold and beautiful. Her logic for her behavior toward her grandmother only foreshadows how she herself will be treated in old age since she seems to be on the fast track to that bitterness.

Catherine Keener's character, Kate appears to carry the weight of the suffering of the world on her shoulders. She feels so much guilt, pity, and grief when confronted with death and misfortune that the only way to quell some of that is to give back with money to homeless people on the street and others that she mistakenly assumes to be just for standing around outside bundled up. Kate attempts to volunteer her time for the less fortunate, but the emotion is too much to handle it. She is in a business of buying and reselling antique furniture, but feels so badly for the people whom she buys from that it begins to affect her reasoning and business sense.

Catherine's husband, Alex is played by Oliver Platt sees no problem with the business they run together as he views it unemotionally (It's not personal, it's business) and even gives Kate an out that she can go do other things if she wants and can't handle it here. He is exasperated with her wishy-washyness and stubborn purchase of occasionally worthless pieces because she felt bad for someone. They work well together as partners, but this added stress makes him seek out an escape. He only has a minor role to play in the course of the film as with Holofcener's other films, this one focuses on women, their viewpoint, and their relationships with others.

Their daughter, Abby played by Sarah Steele has her own issues with being a teenager with bad skin and wants to ally herself with beautiful Mary and embrace her ideals. All she yearns for throughout the movie is a pair of $235 jeans and the way she blows up at her mother when they go shopping or walk down the street is cringe-inducing and sadly accurate to high school mood swings. Abby goes so far as to snatch a bill out of the hand of a street person Kate just donated to under the objection that her mother worries more about perfect strangers than the needs of her own family. Uh...That is an interesting discussion point.

Each character goes on a journey and ends in a different place than where they started, but as far as commentary on the subject of charity and giving, it seems we are being left up to our own discussions without a direct moral message for the audience. I was left with mixed feelings about the film and felt it lacked the focus to really drive home the objective.

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Out of all movie genres, the one I head to first is the independent comedy drama. If it's that kind that also follows a group of characters in interwoven stories, even better. Please Give had Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt, two people who are often in films that I like. So, this movie had lots going for it. In theory. But if I hadn't looked up the writer/director (Nicole Holofcener) in IMDB, I would have thought this film was her first film. Yet, she also did Friends With Money, which I don't remember being so frustrated by. (Don't really remember it much at all, but at least it didn't leave me with a hugely negative memory.)

Please Give just seemed off. For a while, I was trying to figure out the point of scenes. It was like Holofcener took some pre-existing film template and pasted scenes over the template at the appropriate places, yet, did not have the content, point, or continuity through scenes you need to have a story that is worth making. So we have some fairly well-to-do people who make a living by buying furniture from the children of recently deceased elderly people and selling it to other well-to-do people who don't mind paying exorbitant prices for, say, 60's kitsch. Keener's character is beginning to have angst over this state of affairs and Platt's character tells her to get out of the business then. Okay, this is a decent enough setup, but it is not developed at a professional level. It is as if Holofcener believes that ANY 90 minutes of film strung together in scenes that cut between characters qualifies as a movie. But it just ain't so. The scenes themselves need to be interesting and/or funny or SOMETHING and they need to lead somewhere. If I want a story that has very little point I could film my family from, say, 6:15 p.m. to 6:20 p.m., go over to my neighbor's family and film them from 6:20-6:25, and do this with three of my neighbors over a few days until I have 90 minutes of film and then just end the movie. Please Give accomplishes almost this little. Holofcener had SOME kind of idea, something about the angst some people with money have, but she just didn't know how to make it add up to something.

All of the actors do a decent enough job, it's just that they really got sucked into a project that wasn't quite ready for prime time.

Also starring: A likable Rebecca Hall, sneaky Amanda Peet, cute Sarah Steele, unusual Thomas Ian Nicholas, and effective Lois Smith.

2 stars

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This is another movie which has gained a lot of acclaim in 2010. A film about New York, I think would appeal mostly to people living in the big cities but should not prevent you from enjoying it. It deals with six principal characters for most of the movie and their interactions.

Oliver Platt and Catherine Keener are antique art and furniture dealers. They somehow manage to sell furniture, mostly antiques with the help of the living relatives of dead people. Their marriage is great but somehow they have become friends instead of lovers. Platt is okay at with the ethics of the business but Keener is troubled by it, so much that she is forever trying to make amends to get rid of her guilt. They have a daughter who is going through a teenage phase in her life. They had recently purchased an apartment in the building that they have lived in for many years but the only problem is that it is occupied by a woman and her two nieces, who care for her. Over the course of a get together with these people, Platt and Amanda Peet, one of the nieces bond and have an extramarital affair. That really is the gist of the film, and may not appear interesting to many people, but trust me it is. I feel that the director did such a fantastic job in bringing this film from paper to film, that you just have to see it to appreciate. It was a Woody Allen film vibe in this for me, four stars. 11/9/10

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Madagascar (2005)

I have to admit I was underwhelmed by the ads for "Madagascar", it just didn't look that good. But my kids were anxious to see it so I dragged myself into the theater on Saturday ready to see another kiddie movie along the lines of "Shark Tale" or "Home on the Range". I did not expect to enjoy the movie as much as my seven year old....if not more. "Madagascar" is not only a great animated film and packs as many laughs into it's hour and half as either "Shrek" movie did, "Madagascar" is just a great comedy. There were several times in the movie that were just laugh out loud funny, the scene with the Penguins in Antarctica was worth the price of admission for me! There are plenty of jokes aimed at an older audience, like the reference to "The Twilight Zone" episode "How to Serve Man". The story is great and the characters are really fun. The visuals are stunning and the animation is top-notch. Add all that together with a great soundtrack, and I think "Madagascar" is a great way to kick off the summer movie season. This one ranks right up there with "The Incredibles" and "Shrek".

Madagascar is a cute and funny movie. Parents and kids were laughing through most of the movie. (there was an little while where the story gets boring.) But, I love the penguins and the fact that they are always so sneaky; they really steal the show from the main characters. If you have kids this is a definite must see, we had kids laughing the whole time and most loved the bright colors, music and especially dancing. You saw a lot of little kids dancing in their chairs. People without kids or older kids will also enjoy the movie as it has a lot of jokes for adults to keep us entertained and laughing; the bright colors are also great for us as well as the dancing and music. I felt this cartoon lived up to its previews and the way it was perceived. My only hope is if they do a 2nd one that they include more of those sneaky penguins.

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Recent animated efforts have tried to create 3-D characters and environments, but the filmmakers have wisely chosen another course for "Madagascar". Adopting a stylized form of animation, the film looks like a living picture book. Everything is cartoonier than we are used to. Alex, Marty and Melman are still rendered in 3-D, but they are not lifelike and appear to be adapted from a children's book, actually adding to the humor. These characters look like stuffed animals and its funny to watch little kids carrying a small toy of Alex home after their visit to the zoo. They seem more believable as zoo animals and they are certainly cute as the dickens.

In all animated films today, a certain level of irreverence, of zaniness is expected. "Madagascar" doesn't reach the heights of the "Shrek" films, but it comes darn close. Everything from Tom Wolfe to "The Twilight Zone", "American Beauty" to "The Planet of the Apes" is parodied in the film. Most of the kids won't get these jokes and the filmmakers know that. They are included for the adults, to keep them interested in the story. The mark of a great animated film is if both adults and children enjoy the experience. For instance, "The Incredibles" was a fantastic blend of story, action, character and humor which will continue to delight people of all ages. "Madagascar" has a very funny story, great characters, and a lot of humor. On a couple of occasions, the story was a little slow, but I think all of the other areas more than compensate for any shortcomings. And adults will laugh at many of the jokes, probably more so than the kids in the audience.

Ben Stiller and Chris Rock are very good. David Schwimmer seems to be injecting a lot of Ross from "Friends" into the role of Melman, not very original but it works. The real standouts are Tom McGrath and Sacha Baron Cohen.

There are a couple of brilliant additions to the film, which help it rise above. Marty's ideas of visiting the wild are originally fed by Skipper the Penguin (Tom McGrath). Skipper and his sidekicks, two other penguins, are determined to break out of the zoo and return to Antarctica. They skulk around corners like CIA operatives, act in clandestine ways, and manage to accomplish most of their goals. The penguins are a brilliant addition to the story and really liven up the proceedings. I laughed out loud during most of their appearances. For a while, their story takes them in a different direction from the rest of the gang and we lose track of them. Because they are so funny, you long for their return.

When the animals land in Madagascar, they meet King Julian the lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen, TV's "Ali G") and Maurice, his right hand lemur (Cedric the Entertainer) and their entire kingdom of lemurs. Cohen seemed to be channeling the spirit of Peter Sellers, because his voice was an uncanny reproduction of some of Seller's characters. He is very funny as the King, always working on an angle as he tries to figure things out. The Lemurs add a level of frenetic activity and zaniness to the film, ratcheting the humor up a few notches.

The least interesting voice actor is Jada Pinkett Smith. She simply doesn't add anything to the character. IMDb.com lists a handful of other people who were considered for the role and I have to say that I don't think any of them would have made a significant contribution either. A comedian would have been a nice touch. Instead, Gloria seems to be the lone voice of reason among the group, dragging everything down.

"Madagascar" is a really good, very funny film suitable for the entire family. But it is also a great choice if you are with a date or simply alone and want to watch a funny film. You'll enjoy it.

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Over recent years, Dreamworks have produced a string of films aimed to entertain young children. However with the exception of "Shrek," to the older audience, their films are somewhat lame and bland. But after watching "Madagascar," for which I had low expectations, even I had to admit that Dreamworks did a mighty good job. I sat down with my younger sister (who I'll add ADORES this film) and I chuckled and smiled my way through this surprisingly charming Dreamworks success.

Marty (voiced by Chris Rock) is an ambitious zebra who has spent the past decade cramped in Central Park's New York City zoo. Unlike his best friend Alex, who, ironically, is a lion (Ben Stiller), Marty dreams to live in the wide open spaces of "the wild." In the film's introduction we also meet Melmen, a giraffe who is a hyperchondriac ("Friends"' David Schwimmer) and Gloria, a self-assured hippopotamus (Jada Pinkett Smith). In an amusing twist of events, the four friends manage to escape the confinds of the zoo. To Marty's delight and Alex's sheer horror, they consequently land themselves on ship to a game reserve in Africa. In ANOTHER twist of events, they then become stranded on the island of Madagascar. The film then takes an interesting turn when Alex's carivorous instinct soon threatens his friendship with Marty, thus encouraging Marty to make the ultimate decision between his dream and his friendship.

I actually thought the storyline of "Madagascar," was quite well-shaped and original. All animals, even those demosticated always carry with them those instincts and abilities that help them survive in the unforgiving wilderness. I want to really commend the film for their interesting exploration of this concept.

The film's story is accentuated and brightened by its child-friendly, yet pleasant humor. Stiller, Rock and Schwimmer are all renowned for their experience in comedy, which is evident through many of the film's amusing scenes. However, I didn't feel that the characters of Melmen and Gloria were given enough limelight. The film focussed a little too much on Alex and Marty's characters, and didn't explore the other two nearly as much. David Schwimmer's Melmen, I think, was the funniest character of the four, and so it would have been great if the audience saw more of him.

Unlike Pixar films, which are aimed to appeal across the ages, "Madagascar" is predominantly aimed at younger children, so naturally the gags were somewhat repetative. But this is hardly a bad thing. As I mentioned before, my nine-year-old sister simply loves this film, and she was in barrels of laughter throughout. For older viewers, although not to the same extent, there is certainly a charm that I found endearing.

Another aspect I must comment on is the film's abundant colour. I personally, am more of a Disney animation fan, however I am at awe at the vibrance and brightness of computer-animation, making it wholly appealling to its target audience of young children.

In conclusion, "Madagascar," is not quite "Finding Nemo," but I really did enjoy and chuckle my way through. With a surprisingly interesting and original story accompanied nicely with the comedic flair of its lovable characters, "Madagascar" is a film that with have the young ones laughing outloud and the older ones enjoying the colourful ride.

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"Madagascar" must be a very maddening movie for young kids who go with their parents, because at moments when they are not laughing their parents very well could be and the kiddies will have no clue why. After all, how many pre-teens have seen the end of the original version of "The Planet of the Apes," the beginnings of "Saturday Night Fever" and "Chariot of Fire," or have even heard the theme song from "Born Free"? I expect they may have seen "Castaway" and might well recognize a homage to the dancing hippos from "Fantasia," but is it reasonable to think they saw "The Twilight Zone" episode "To Serve Man"? I realize that when kids are laughing they probably are not aware of what their parents or guardians are doing, but since they will not be laughing at most of these pop culture references to other films, they may well be awrae that the older people are watching a different movie.

Ultimately the problem is that the different "Madagascar" that the grownups are watching is clearly funnier than the one that is trying to keep the wee folk entertained. The story is about four animals who are best buds at the Central Park Zoo. Alex the Lion (voiced by Ben Stiller) is the star of the show and a devotee of raw steak, while Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) is tired of looking at the fake jungle painted on the wall and longs to be free in the wild, not really knowing what that means. Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) is a hypochondriac, worried about the brown spots on his skin, while Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinikett Smith), is a rather contented soul. But when the quartet of penguins decide to make a break for Antarctica, Marty gets out on the streets of New York City, which forces Alex and the others to rescue him. Their trip to Grand Central Station is seen by the humans as a quest for freedom and against the will of three of the four friends, they are crated up and put on a ship bound for Africa so they can be happy (the humans who come up with this saw the movie "Free Willy," but never read the news stories about what happened when the star of those films was released into the ocean).

To say that they end up in Madagascar rather than Africa might seem like a minor distinction since the island is off the coast of the continent and therefore part of the same land mass, but it is important that the place is NOT Africa. Africa is a place where there are prides of lions, herds of zebras, and so forth. Madagascar is a place where there is a division between the lemurs and their small friends, ruled by the wacky Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen), who is advised by the more sedate Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer), and the hyenas, who do not talk, following the tradition of really bad animals in movies populated by talking animals (e.g., the rats in "Lady and the Tramp"). This matters because it makes the newcomers the biggest animals around (the "New York giants" to the locals), and Alex a true king of the jungle (he terrifies the hyenas when he is not trying to and Julian wants Alex to try really hard to terrify the hyenas).

"Madagascar" is an anti-"Call of the Wild" in that the biggest conflict becomes not the ability of the zoo animals to survive in the wild or to save the lemurs from the hyenas, but rather keeping Alex from converting to his natural state in which case Marty and the others are literally the walking steaks he misses so much. Few friendships can survive one friend sinking their teeth into the butt of another, and the tightrope this 2005 animated film must walk is that we have to fear that Alex is going to eat the rest of the cast. But then we remember, to adapt the wise words of Chandler Bing, that this would just mean they stop drawing the zebra. However, it is hard to complain about the rhetorical aspects of a film whose chief message is that you should not eat your friends (I bet small kids would get the idea that film is the anti-"Silence of the Lambs"). Not a classic by any means, but I know how often I laughed out loud, so I have to round up.

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