Description

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format. ... Read more

Reviews (86)

"Hit" and Run
When four hitman decide that they are going to kidnap the boss's daugter and ask for ransom, problems arise, when Melvin (Mark Wahlberg) is set up to take the fall. At the same time, he is set to meet his girlfriend Pam's (Christina Applegate) parents, all three of whom, know nothing about his true line of work This under appreciated action/comedy from Che-Kirk Wong, has more going for it, than most folks think it does. The trick to watching this, is to just watch the movie, for its fun factor. If you expect it to be a dramatic look at hitmen and the mob--forget it. The action sequences are well done and fun to watch. The movie is a breezey 91 minutes and that's also a plus. Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bokeem Woodbine, and Antonio Sabato Jr. have good on screen chemistry. The rest of the players fit pretty well too It's nice to see some of them break out into more of a comedic role then is the norm for some of the cast.

The DVD extras include an enjoyable commentary track with the director, writer, and producer of the movie. The handful of deleted scenes are very good too. It also has the theatrical trailer (just as you might expect). The film is presented in both widescreen and fullscreen formats, so that viewers can choose their poison in that regard If you like action comedies then I would certainly recommend THE BIG HIT to you. Give it a shot.

Very amusing and very action-packed!
This movie was a real blast, both with the action and more so with the sometimes childish but often funny spoof element! Mark Wahlberg plays Mervin Smiley, a sexually insecure potential hitman who works for godfather Avery Brooks(Sisco from Deep Space Nine to you Trekkies!), along with assorted colleagues. When Smiley finds he is several thousand in debt due to women messing him around for his money and failed hits, he decides to kidnap a Japanese girl, the daughter of an industrialist on the verge of hara-kiri after his movie flops! It just so happens that this girl is the god-daughter of his boss. As if that wasn't enough, his copy of the video KING KONG LIVES is overdue! Oh dear . . . The results are fast, frenetic and hilarious. Elliot Gould appears as the on-the-wagon father of another potential fiancee(Christina Applegate, who is a real hottie). And when his bosses learn of his unauthorised kidnapping, the fun bursts into stylised action with gunfights and explosions galore! John Woo produced this, and it shows well! This has something for Hong Kong action fans, something for teenage airhead humour freaks and a little bit of girl power for chick-flick lovers. Everyone will enjoy this, in other words!

Total Crap
This movie is total garbage. My friend brought it by and we watched it and it was so bad I had to come on here and write a review. The acting is crap, the storyline sucks, it is an attempt to make a "cool, hip" hollywood movie that failed miserably. The writing and dialouge are terrible, this movie doesn't even deserve 1 star. Total B movie crap.

What can I say? I dig the film.
I've trashed more than my fair share of big, brainless action flicks for being stupid, unbelievable, and nasty. But for some reason, either by merit of the film itself or some fluke in my taste, I like THE BIG HIT. If the former is true, here is why.

There are those of us who peruse the direct-to-video bins of action and horror movies in a desparate search of fun. THE BIG HIT, although released theatrically, is everything that you desire while looking at direct-to-video crap, but never get, and its infinitly better.

Make no mistakes: this movie is vulgar, crass, and shameless. It even crossed my line with the vomiting scene, but I managed. The film finds hit man Melvin Smiley set up to take the fall for a major screw-up by his hipster co-workers whilst dealing with being a pushover to his fiancee and girlfriend.

Maybe the fact that this film has such a plot, a plot that is relevant to the action and interesting is what makes it exciting. The characters are stimulating and provided vibrant dialogue. Through the pretty routine directing, it's Ben Ramseys script that makes the thing so fun. The action sequences are pretty by the numbers, as I've mentioned, but there are moments or rhythm and sublime carnage beneath the rest of it.

The film has a hard-hitting and pulsating score by Graeme Revell, which is also notable in its genre for its themes and concentration on doing more than making noise.

Be warned: those who do not tolerate profanity, violence, and general disregard for morals (these are hit men, after all) should not view. If you do not fall into that category, and like a bit of ultra-violence brimming with wit and style, there is a very good chance you will like this movie, and almost NO chance that you will regret seeing it.

Or like I said, it might have just been a fluke in my tastes...

Silly, but undeniably fun.
I remember first seeing the previews for The Big Hit and thinking to myself, "this is going to be one terrible film." Then I actually rented it, and found myself enjoying the movie immensely. Oh, it's one silly action film, but it's fun usually for all the right reasons, so that's why I'm recommending it. And this says a lot, believe me, because I find 3/4's of the movie's cast utterly revolting (Antonio Sabato, Jr., Christina Applegate, Bokeem Woodbine, Lela Rochon, and Elliot Gould all in the same movie, and I still somehow enjoyed it).

Mark Wahlberg stars as Melvin Smiley, a hitman with a heart of gold, sort of. Outside of his dubious career, he's a relatively nice guy with an airhead fiancee (Applegate). Anyway, his hitman buddies, specifically Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), devise a plan to kidnap Keiko Nishi (China Chow), the daughter of a super-rich Japanese businessman, not knowing the man has just went bankrupt (shown in a hilarious scene). Anyway, they have to store Keiko at Melvin's house, and he's forgotten that his fiancee and her parents are visiting for the weekend. To make matters worse, Keiko is the goddaughter of the hitmen's boss, Paris (Avery Brooks), who's looking to crack down on the guys who kidnapped her.

The Big Hit desires to work as an action and comedy, and succeeds quite well at both. The shootouts are pure Hong Kong-style (no surprise, it's directed by Kirk Wong), outrageous but cool to watch. The fight scenes are kinetic and well-choreographed, with the performers displaying some nice, agile moves without really going into all-out martial arts (by this, I'm referring to the final fight in the video store). None of the action is superspectacular or completely memorable, but it's all exciting and lots of fun, which is what it should be.

Director Kirk Wong also shows a capbable hand at humor. For once, the majority of the film's jokes actually work. Even a long-running gag involving Melvin and his overdue rental of King Kong Lives pays off in the end. A lot of people are going to find this humor stupid, but for me, it was stupid and funny. Some of these jokes probably wouldn't naturally be funny, but the cast (particularly Lou Diamond Phillips) pulls them off with a great sense of comic timing. Hell, I even laughed during that obvious "tracebuster" joke.

As I said before, most of the cast members are those I generally try to avoid when I watch movies and they're terrible here, but they're offset by the film's leads, thankfully. Mark Wahlberg is not a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but he's likeable and perfect for this part. The lovely China Chow is a spirited foil for Wahlberg, she's smart, funny, and sassy, and also the film's most genuinely likeable character. Naturally, the film progresses by developing some romantic chemistry between her and Wahlberg, and to my surprise, those scenes actually work.

Stealing virtually the whole film is Lou Diamond Phillips (who I've always liked), who's hilarious as the two-timing hitman Cisco. Off the top of my head, I believe this is his only comic performance to date, and he's so good at it, I wish he'd delve into the genre more often. The always solid Avery Brooks has a few throwaway scenes, but it's always nice to see him in a role outside of Deep Space Nine. All in all, The Big Hit was a good time, never truly excellent as an action/comedy (it needs more even plotting and less superfluous characters) but just enjoyable enough, and that was good enough for me. ... Read more

Description

Bill Paxton (Twister, Apollo 13) gives a career-topping performance as Bokky, a beguiling con-artist whose skill with a scam is legendary among the Travellers - modern-day gypsies who make a good living swindling unsuspecting victims throughout the rural South.But Bokky's solo routine is interrupted by the arrival of Pat (Mark Wahlberg, Fear), a young drifter from "the outside" who has returned to claim his birthright as a clan member.Taking Pat under his wing, Bokky and his eager new accomplice carve a path of riotous larceny and trouble-bound romance across the region, until Bokky meets up with Jean (Julianna Margulies, "ER"), the one woman who might have what it takes to tame his wild ways.But when both men fall under the spell of the outlaw gypsy Double D (James Gammon, Wyatt Earp), Bokky and Pat are caught up in a brilliant-but-deadly new scam that will put their loyalties - and their lives - to the ultimate test. ... Read more

Reviews (86)

A gritty, realistic film with wonderful acting performances.
"The Basketball Diaries" is a gritty, uncompromising look at a basically good guy's decent into heroin hell. The cast, headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, is superb; the screenplay doesn't pull any punches. Realistic, shocking, eye-opening, the film gives DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg the chance to display their true talents and really ACT -- these fellows do a terrific job because it all looks so REAL. What a great film with an ending I guarantee you won't expect -- connoisseurs of fine films and DiCaprio fans should check it out -- this is a real movie with a real script and real acting, and the characters and storyline aren't larger than life. They're real as life, and that's not something you see on TV every day. END

Gritty, Powerful And Well-Acted
The name Jim Carroll may not be familiar to mainstream, radio-friendly listeners, but to those who know about rock poetry and Punk Carroll is one of the genre's greatest word-players along with Patti Smith and has recorded two especially noteworthy works, "Catholic Boy" and "The People Who Died," which sound like wonderfully gritty hybrids of beat poetry and Punk rock. "The Basketball Diaries" is based on Carroll's novel of the same name which is a testament of his days living in the streets of New York during which he became addicted to heroin, saw friends either die or spiral down into self-destruction and eventually found his talent for words as an exit out of the hell he was trapped in. As a movie, the story comes alive with a powerful impact. Director Scott Kalvert does not make the movie into an obvious anti-drug message, instead the story of Carroll's teen years is simply just...told. There is almost a documentary-like realism in how scenes are put together, nothing feels false but instead chillingly real. Anyone who has lived in an environment like this or attended high school in the more gritty, violent sections of a city can instantly relate to the people and events. The actors bring these characters to live with great believability, Leonardo DiCaprio broke through with this role, but even his recent work in films like "Titanic" and "Gangs Of New York" seems more tame compared to his brilliant, effective performance here. The scenes where Carroll is addicted to heroin and lives in the junkie underworld are performed by DiCaprio with a vivid realism that is disturbing. One reviewer here complained about the movie missing a plot, plot is not something central here, the story is central and it is the story of a very talented young man gripped by addiction in a world where vices and the darker side of life can easily suck you in. And of course, there is some great music here by Soundgarden, The Doors, The Cult and a great highlight which is Carroll performing "Catholic Boy" with Pearl Jam. In the history of rock music there are many popular stories of addiction from Iggy Pop to Scott Weiland, Carroll's is brought to life in a movie that breathes and doesn't need to throw the message in your face, the message is right there in the story itself.

Those are the people who died.......
Jim Carroll's autobiographical life story is the basis for this cult classic of the early 90's. Leonardio DiCaprio plays Jim Carroll a poet writing basketball star at a Catholic prep school in Manhatten who's future comes tumbling down when he gets addicted from glue sniffing to heroin. Mark Wahlberg co stars as Mickey his partner in crime as they skip school and do drugs, Jim realizes his future of becoming a pro basketball player are gone when he sees a local kid that he used to run with that decided to stay clean makes it to college ball. Eventually his mother kicks him out and he is saved by a black preacher an ex drug user from the streets takes him in. A powerful story about addiction and the negative affects it has on one's dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance was amazing & makes you wonder how accurate it was of Carroll. The soundtrack also is amazing, essential to collection & a must see film.

well done
This is the most accurate depiction of dope addiction I've seen (drugstore cowboy too). From sticking a cutoff straw in a bag for a toot in the highschool bathroom or lockerroom, to the sick daydreams, to the fiending, the pure exileration of copping bags, to the allure of the needle. I started doing dope at 15 (1994)and stopped at 19, 6 years ago in 3 days. I saw this movie in 97 and I havent seen it since. Definitly not a movie you will want to watch over and over.

Like a drug, film has very high highs and very low lows
Don't take my middle of the road three star rating as a sign of apathy. This movie is one you will either love or hate, and in my case I very much enjoyed certain things and very strongly disliked others.

Obivously the big draw in this movie is Leonardo DiCaprio. I have to say, he does an outstanding job with this role. In the true story of drugged-out high schooler Jim Carroll, he thrives on the type of script Academy Awards are made out of: tons of opportunities for him to be high, low, enraged, in sorrow. There are a lot of opportunities to use his physicality in the role, and he seizes every one. In particular I think of his drug withdrawal sequence and he and his friends' mourning the death of a close friend by getting drunk and playing basketball in the rain.

The plot has a sixteen year old Jim Carroll playing high school basketball. Three of his teammates are his best friends, and when not on the basketball court, they tend to find all kinds of "innocent" trouble around New York (knocking over food vendor carts, for instance). Another outlet of energy for Jim alone is his diary where he records sensations he feels in his young life.

His search for sensation and his friends' desire to find trouble coalesces in experiments with drugs like cocaine and herione. As Jim notes in the monologue of the movie, there is no such thing as a part-time addict. They fall further and further into the downward spiral in an effort to evade pressures from school teachers, coaches, and parents.

Some of the scenes in this movie are very gripping and visceral. However, the links between these scenes tend to be bogged down in poor directing. I realize this movie was a lower budgeted one, but there really is no excuse for having a movie made in 1995 that looks like it was made in 1985. While the performance by DiCaprio is extraordinary, the directing is lackluster. Poor camera angles, helpless lighting, bit part actors who look and sound amateur; those should all be blamed on the director.

However, this movie is worthwhile if you are one who has a particular interest in either Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg (he stars as a main character and one of Jim Carroll's best friends), or the subject matter. I have to say I thought "Trainspotting" handled the subject of drug use extremely well, but this movie is right up there in the ability to depict the sensations felt by those addicted. ... Read more

Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this, the legendary Roman Polanski likewise had the dumbest ending of his career in the movie "Femme Fatale" with Antonio Banderas.

Several weeks after the movie was released, Burton said he would not do a sequel to "Planet Of The Apes". It seems that Burton himself, knew that he messed up a perfectly good film and , proved that remakes of classic films should be left alone. I am big Tim Burton fan, but the remake of "Planet Of The Apes" is probably the worst film that he has done. ... Read more

Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this, the legendary Roman Polanski likewise had the dumbest ending of his career in the movie "Femme Fatale" with Antonio Banderas.

Several weeks after the movie was released, Burton said he would not do a sequel to "Planet Of The Apes". It seems that Burton himself, knew that he messed up a perfectly good film and , proved that remakes of classic films should be left alone. I am big Tim Burton fan, but the remake of "Planet Of The Apes" is probably the worst film that he has done. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (408)

The Perfect Storm The Perfect Movie on dvd
Directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has a career
for making great films like the "The NeverEnding Story", "The Perfect Storm" was another great film into Mr. Peterson's resume.

The perfect storm, is based on the book written by Sebastian Unger. It's the true account of a group of fisherman who , in October 1991, died in the worst storm in the century, sacrificing their lives because they were doing their duties
and trying to put food on the table for their families.

There are many reasons I liked this movie:
1) The characters are real and genuine
2) The movie has a lot of heart, action, drama and suspense
3) The movie does have a certain mystique and aura around it, due to the fact that these are very special people whom if you met them you've probably wouldn't forget.

The cast and crew is made up of Billy Tyne
(George Clooney), captain of the Andrea Gail, Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg) ,a beloved
fisherman in Gloucester, Mike "Bugsy" Moran
(John Hawkes), Dale Murphy (John C. Reilly) , David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtner). All these characters were loved in their community.

To feed their loved ones, the fisherman go to the Great banks to catch as many fish as possible but they don't see that a huge Hurricane named " Grace" is headed their way, a deadly storm in fact. The fisherman's boss though, Mr. McNally I believe is his name, pays them very little and makes even fishing a hassle for them. The men though still go out to see despite this because of their great love for the see.

One of the characters that are shown
at the beginning is Christine Cotter (Diane
Lane), Bobby's girlfriend, who has an undying love for him, even though she knows that fishing in rough waters can be dangerous.

Making the characters more realistic and with a real storyline the movie shows the mixed hate/love relationship, the crew has with Captain Billy (Clooney). It's debatable whether Tyne might
have been at fault over the dealth of his shipmates. During one scene Tyne, gets a message about the upcoming storm, however, he doesn't immediately make the crew think about how dangerous it is. He instead just leaves the decision in their hands, but another Captain might have taken control and said the hell with the trip.

Each characters has a story to them, it's not just that these guys were average joes and they worked a crummy job, no, they were very much by everyone and the extras on the dvd prove that with all the interviews by people in the community.

The visual effects for the movie are outstanding, it is a very big budget production loaded with great sets and great models..

The movie was a box office hit, and received
praise for all the actors in it like Clooney and Walhberg.

The effects were done by award winning special effects ma Stan Winston and ILM , the same group who gave us the effects for "Terminator 2",
and "Jurassic Park" to give two examples.

The Dvd for the movie comes with many extras:

*Three Documentaries one by HBO called
"Creating the Storm" which has interviews with Bobby Shatford's family,i former Captains of the Andrea Gail, and interviews with local fisherman who know all about the characters involved. Then other documentary on the dvd is called "Witnessing the Storm" which has photos from the storm in 1991 and many interviews on it

Next is the commentary. The commentary
is actually split differently during one
commentary I believe you have Wolfgang
Petersen talking about the film. The other
commentary has Sebastian Unger who talks
about how afraid he was if his book on
the storm would fail,and then how great he felt when the families of the fisherman told
him how good a job he did with it.

With all visual effects, story, good acting
and great directing by Wolfgang "Perfect
Storm" is a very good movie, by a guy
who hasn't really done bad movies.
In fact Wolfgang's next movie is "Troy"
with Brad Pitt. So check that out and check
out this one.

Fantastic Special Effects!!!
The Perfect Storm has some really great special-effects. The movie starts out a little slow describing all the characters and their relationships but then moves along at a breathless pace. You get so caught up with the crew in the middle of this greatest storm in recorded history that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. This storm occurred in the Atlantic Ocean in October 1991, a true story. You feel like your on the ocean with the crew it is so realistic. It even made me feel seasick at times. George Clooney & Mark Wahlberg did a wonderful job as the two main characters. There are a lot of surprises in this film. You get a good feel for the life & people involved in this tough fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

I only had one problem with this movie, and it was the soundtrack. I felt the music was really appropriate and well-done, but it should have been toned down a little. It overpowered the actors words to the point where you couldn't tell what they were saying. At least during the storm it would have been better to have no music at all and just the natural sounds. Other than that it's a great movie that I will definitely watch again. The special features & documentaries are great on this DVD version, that explain how the film was made. Really quite interesting

lukewarm
I really wanted to like this movie but it came off as a bland viewing experience. A lot of it had to do with poor casting...Clooney (IMO) is not a good actor so without a strong lead, the rest of the ensemble faltered. I don't remember much of a soundtrack-a good musical score would of greatly improved this film.
As a New Englander, I find it quite tiresome to listen to ridiculous interpretations of the local dialects. Obviously most of the actors could not speak it, so the few who tried, looked even more stupid. I would of been happy if they had spoken in their natural accents (even if by fluke, someone was from the South, per se)-at least a viewer can justify it by interpreting the character as a transplant; a horrible rendition of a dialect is just that...horrible, and it is very distracting. The hollywood adaptation of New England locals always strikes me as an insult. It seems fair to state that these filmmakers from the west coast don't know enough about the people and culture of New England either.

No suspense whatsoever
It's hard to get psyched for a movie when you basically know the ending. How can you sustain any kind of tension or suspense? That's a key problem with most movies which are deemed "historical". What most great historical films have done is examine the aspects of the history and demonstrate how the forces came together to create that ending. Think of GLORY or THE LONGEST DAY. They don't even have to be war stories. Think of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER or SEABISCUIT, for that matter.

The problem with THE PERFECT STORM is that there is no suspense, essentially. We know the crew ignored or were deprived the information that things were going to get a little rough in the North Atlantic, and its boat got walloped. I don't know how Wolfgang Petersen or the script writers could have created the suspense, and it's not a reviewer's job to make recommendations. But as it is, I found myself increasing impatient during the first half of the film. Let's just get to the F/X and get it over with, I thought.

The performances, I have to say in all fairness, are good, considering what the actors had to work with. The F/X were great, of course. But I still left this film with an empty feeling. Pass on this one.

Very depressing, but still a good movie.
This film truely has some great special effects, good acting, heart, but the one thing that it lacks is that positive ending that even the saddest films have. The film was very depressing in every sense. George Clooney, Mark Whallberg, and the rest of the cast all did a great job. The cinematography was brilliant. All in all the film is something you need to follow up with a happier movie. If you are in the mood to be crushed stay away. I reccomend this film to people who love special effects films. Two sad thumbs up. ... Read more

Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this,