Description

San Francisco's prize-winning American Conservatory Theater's rowdy commedia dell'arte production incorporates slapstick, pratfall and earthy humor into William Shakespeare's comedy about the two unmarried daughters of a wealthy Italian merchant. While daughter Bianca is genteel and popular, daughter Kate is foul-tempered and strong-willed. No one dares to marry Kate, until Petruchio arrives in Padua and tries his hand at courtship. "...delivered with such clarity." --The New York Times. With Fredi Olster, Marc Singer, Stephen St. Paul, Sandra Shotwell, and William Paterson. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

The very best version of this play!
This is the play that began my love of shakespeare! The exceptionally funny wordplay is mirrored by fast-paced slapstick which never fails to elicit gales of laughter. Marc Singer is the quintessential Petruchio and the chemistry between the leads is as good or better than that between Burton and Taylor in the more well-known version. This is terrific!!!

The very best version of this play!
This is the play that began my love of shakespeare! The exceptionally funny wordplay is mirrored by fast-paced slapstick which never fails to elicit gales of laughter. Marc Singer is the quintessential Petruchio and the chemistry between the leads is as good or better than that between Burton and Taylor in the more well-known version. This is terrific!!!

It takes a beastmaster to tame a shrew
Riveting high energy interpretation of one of Shakespeare's more problematic comedies. The director's decision to present this somewhat sexist comedy as an over-the-top commedia dell'ate production was brilliant. Patruchio's use of physical violence to tame his headstrong finacee is somehow made tolerable because all the relationships in this play are embued with violence. And like characters in a Roadrunner cartoon, victims bounce back with vigor and always manage to give as good as they get. The troupe is incredibly in sync with one another, highly athletic, and incredibly gifted at reciting their iambic pentameter flawlessly while being twirled overhead or kicked in the groin. It really has to be seen to be believed. And who knew Marc Singer, the Beastmaster, could act?! In the end, he brings a subtlety to his part that leaves you wondering who's taming whom?

Harold Clurmann's interview with the director is a nice DVD extra.

OH. MY. GOD.
Marc Singer. Bare to the waist. In tights.

What more needs to be said?

Taming of The Shrew
This is one of the best productions a Shakesperian play that you will ever see. The language is well spoken and the comedy bits are remarkable and 'work' with this production. I used a bad tape of this for twenty years for introducing tenth graders to William. Knowing that it is out again almost makes me want to go back to the little...dears. There is a production of the RSC of Midsummer's Night with Diana Rigg that is as enchanting and lyrical as this Shrew is bawdy and wonderufl. BUY IT NOW! ... Read more

Amazon.com

From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes this equally derivative and flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. You're supposed to find awe and mystery in Crichton's story about a team of scientists and scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician (Samuel L. Jackson), biochemist (Sharon Stone), and an astrophysicist (Liev Schreiber), and when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they don't know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts and perceptions, and before long the scientists' undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions and creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the sphere's purpose, and why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, and it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere looks and feels like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. The special edition DVD includes audio commentary by Hoffman and Jackson and a behind-the-scenes featurette, Shaping the Sphere: The Art of the Special Effects Supervisor, exploring the alien ship's design and creation by special effects technicians. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (147)

DVD 5,Special Effects 5, Plot 4, Movie 2!!
This movie starts off with an extremely fascinating plot: a vessel has been located 1000 feet down on the ocean floor; its very large - a fin alone is 100 feet tall; it has a perfect sphere inside.

These items alone would give any competent film-maker the necessary material for a very good movie. Not-so the makers of Sphere.

A great deal of the movie is spent dazzling the viewer with very good special-effects. An equal amount of time should have been spent including many of the dialogues, from Crichton's book, the crew has with the alien intelligence. As it is, the movie does drag. As compensation, of a sort, I did learn a lot about the toxic properties of marine life on the ocean floor, and thats worth something!

The DVD picture is beautifully clear, and the 6 (uh...5.1) channels of digital sound will put your home-theater system, and your neighbors, through their paces.

For a Science-fiction fanatic like myself it was okay. It should have been Great!! END

Break Out 5 Day Deodorant Pads-We're Here For The Duration!
"Break Out The 5 Day Deodorant Pads-We're Here For The Duration!"
So says Capt. Harold Barnes (Peter Coyote) when things really start to take a turn for the worse and their underwater habitat is abandoned by base due to a typhoon on the surface in Barry Levinson's "Sphere".

Four civilian doctors are recruited to assemble a so-called "dream team" to investigate a 300 year old alien spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean that encases a HUGE golden sphere inside.

The team consists of: Dr. Norman (Hoffman) - psychologist, Dr.Beth (Stone) - biochemist, Dr. Harry (Jackson) - mathmetician, and Dr Ted (Schreiber) - astrophysicist.

Great cast and ensemble acting along with a small part by Queen Latifah as Alice "Teeny" Fletcher and a cameo by Huey Lewis as a helicopter pilot!

Why and more importantly, HOW has the spacecraft been underwater for the past 300 years? What is the sphere's purpose? Watch for yourself and find out!

If you like your sci-fi mixed with a side of psychology, you will enjoy this film!

Happy Watching!

H.G. Wells Lives
Sphere is based on the book of the same name (very loosely, I might add) which is a novel-length science fiction version of H.G. Wells's short fantasy story The Man Who Could Work Miracles. The movie contains a strong cast including Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharon Stone.

A giant spaceship is found on the ocean floor under a thousand feet of water. An old government report about how to deal with alien contact is put into service and a team is sent to investigate. The three-hundred year old ship turns out to be American but it does contain an alien artifact in the form of a golden sphere. The movie then borrows heavily form Forbidden Planet as the team interacts with the device and are set upon by monsters from the id. Eventually three survivors with the power to work miracles and create monsters from the id decide to wish away their powers.

Aside from bearing little resemblance to the book this movie has some very major flaws. Possible the largest is the translation program designed for talking to a supposed alien intelligence. It involves a simple substitution cipher based on a spiral overlapping a qwerty keyboard. A mistake is made so when the intelligence says its name is Jerry it should read Larry. For some reason all of the other Ls and Js translate normally and even when the intelligence says to stop calling it Jerry it shows up as Jerry with no incorrect substitutions. I would have preferred the movie to end the same way the book did with two survivors and the female character only pretending to wish away her powers but that was not to be.

From the original trailers I knew the movie would vary greatly from the book so this was not a real disappointment. Therefore I was able to actually enjoy the film for what it was (mistakes and all). It is sort of like watching the original film version of The Shining where you had a good book and a decent movie and only superficial resemblances between the two. But I really did enjoy Sphere and you might, too.

Sphere (1998)
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Stone, Liev Schrieber.
Running Time: 144 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for violence and language.

The success of Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park", "The Lost World", "Congo" (well, not so much), and his "E.R." television series caused Hollywood studio executives to swallow up any undisturbed pieces of his work that had not yet been brought to the big screen. Enter : "Sphere", featuring an all-star cast, a top-notch drama director, and a self-destructing story line that eventually ruins a beautifully made, well-acted science fiction romp.

When a three-century old space vessel is found at the bottom of the ocean, the government sends its most intelligent, qualified individuals to study the vessel in order to determine why it is at the bottom of the body of water and what happened to it. Dustin Hoffman (a psychologist), Samuel L. Jackson (a mathematician), and Sharon Stone (a biochemist) star as they individuals who investigate the mysterious ship. They discover a strange, otherworldly Sphere in the center of the craft, not knowing its purpose or what it does. What they later find out is that the Sphere can alter their thoughts, perceptions, and desires, manipulating their every move. The team turns against themselves and the abandoned ship becomes the stage for deception, mystique, and terror.

The first half of "Sphere" is superb, as Levinson unravels the plot swiftly and latches onto the audience using his marvelously constructed cast; however, the second half of the film lags and the final payoff is neither powerful or suspenseful. The entire cast gives fine performances, the special effects are quite good, but overall this adaptation of the popular Crichton novel does not live up to the hype. Not a complete disappointment; should have been a much more enchanting, enjoyable suspense sci-fi thriller.

Big Budget, Bigger Stars, Biggest Disappointment
OK, pretend that you want to make a movie just like "Event Horizon" except it takes place underwater. Oh wait, they did. It's called "Sphere". This is a very uninspired, unoriginal movie with lukewarm performances all around. Big name cast, big money production, big disappoint. Totally unnecessary film - you don't need to see this one.

I suggest renting "Event Horizon" first. Pay attention to the dream manifestation sequences. Now watch "Sphere". Aren't these the same ideas just done in a new setting? Worth a rent maybe, but don't buy this. ... Read more