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| 1. Life as a House (New Line Platinum Series) Director: Irwin Winkler | |
![]() | list price: $19.98
our price: $14.99 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B00005YUPC Catlog: DVD Sales Rank: 1754 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Reviews (182)
Wonderful, engaging performances by Kevin Kline, Kirsten Scott-Thomas and Hayden Christensen make it an enjoyable experience despite the overcrowded, mediocre screenplay, which often resorts to cheap and unnecessary tricks and clichés to tug on our emotions. An early scene involving George (Kline's character) and a compassionate nurse is one example. Another involves an awkward subplot with an angry neighbor and a building inspector. Like many things that happen in Life as a House, it adds nothing to the story, and detracts from the characterizations and struggles of the main players. And the final scene! Well, please. Don't get me started. Still, despite the flaws, the movie is sweet and enjoyable. After all is said and done, a good movie that might have been great with a better screenplay.
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| 2. De-Lovely Director: Irwin Winkler | |
![]() | list price: $26.98
our price: $18.89 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B00067BBLY Catlog: DVD Sales Rank: 379 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Reviews (11)
Cole Porter (1891-1964) married Linda Lee Porter (1883-1954) in 1919. Linda was a wealthy divorcée, and several years older than Porter was when they wed. Porter was gay. Linda and Cole shared a mainly platonic marriage, which included separate bedrooms in their lush houses. The biopic De-Lovely inspires to be a celebration of their relationship, a love affair that is higher (and perhaps purer) than sex and sexual orientation. However, it doesn?t succeed. The movie never truly explains why Linda accepted this type of arrangement even though she knew from the start that Cole would rather sleep with men. Did she do it because she was lonely? Did she do it because they were great friends? Or did she do it because she needed a cover for her own sexual orientation? One never knows. In De-Lovely, Linda Lee knowingly marries a gay man yet balks (a lot!) when Cole has trysts with men. She encourages him to move to different parts of the world to work on his music in hopes that it will distract him from his extramarital affairs, and then becomes upset when it doesn?t. She even leaves him, only to come back when he is injured in a horseback riding accident. It only appears in this movie that Linda stayed with Cole to be able to apply for martyrdom. One is motivated to watch the movie from beginning to end to see if the secrets of their relationship are ever revealed. They are not, and, in the end it, makes De-Lovely a very dissatisfying movie despite its wonderful characteristics. As earlier mentioned, Kevin Kline?s performance is sublime. The music, although performed with a certain amount of campiness, remains timeless. (Skip the De-Lovely soundtrack and check out the Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole Porter or the Frank Sinatra Sings Cole Porter CDs.)
Kevin Kline is excellent in this movie, and Ashley Judd gives her best performance in years, which isn't really saying much. The music is excellent, though it's occasionally obtrusive in the movie. The "It's a Wonderful Life" story device used to tell the story is a bit odd, to be honest. In it, the aged Cole Porter is commanded by some sort of visiting angel or "director," played eerily by Jonathan Pryce, to tell the story of his life. So, occasionally, the entire natural story stops, allowing for aged Cole to interfere or intervene in the way his life is going. I'm bugged by the fact that Linda Lee marries Cole knowing full well that he's gay - yet much of the movie is devoted to how it's difficult for her to live with this choice. When she sees him devoted to another man, she moves them to another country, even though she knew he was gay to begin with. It's like she's a hanger-on, even though he didn't love her the way she needed to be loved. There's was a marriage-of-convenience, not of romantic love. There are too many shots of Linda looking disappointed that her husband is cavorting with men, even though she knew before they married what he did. Linda herself admits to not much liking men. Her first husband, according to the movie, abused her, so her marriage to Cole, one of "respect," is without passion. The entire movie is about their compromise, and it's difficult to watch or determine what exactly we as an audience are supposed to feel about it. Either Cole is horrible for cheating on his wife with her permission. Or Linda is silly for intentionally entering into a loveless marriage to someone who is actually a very dear friend who cares for her intimately. See it for the music. See it for the acting. And, if you're gay, be very happy that you live now and, more than likely, no longer have to undertake a sham marriage and hide who you really are.
Kevin Kline stars as songwriter Cole Porter, who lives his life to the fullest and doesn't deny himself any happiness, whether it's happiness with his wife (played by the fantastic Ashley Judd) or with a man. It's life shown even at it's weakest moments-- his wife losing a baby and Cole being thrown from a horse and having serious problems with his legs afterwards, making it hard to use the piano pedals. This film is so poignant and lovely in every aspect. We get plenty of musical numbers of marvelous Cole Porter tunes, sung by wonderful guest stars, including Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, and Alanis Morissette. The performances by Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd have OSCAR written all over them. I highly recommend this film! Even if it's out of your way, as it was for me, try and make the trip anyway. If you're one of the lucky few who lives close to a theater playing this wonderful film, do not miss out on the amazing opportunity to see this one!
Although Mr. Porter wrote wonderful music which is still bringing joy to a great many people, his marriage, particularly in his later life, if the movie is accurate, was not always happy. There is never any question, however, that the love between the Porters was true and enduring, in spite of Porter's other gay "night" life. The film is quite moving; the stranger sitting next to me wept several times in the movie and I heard sniffles behind me. The movie is beautifully filmed. The Coles obviously were high rollers-- lots of alcohol, cigarettes, roses, parties, fine cars and furniture; and the two stars must have worn every costume from the Armani catalogue. A glossy, sometimes brittle and ultimately sad movie.
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| 3. The Net Director: Irwin Winkler | |
![]() | list price: $14.95
our price: $13.46 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0800141768 Catlog: DVD Sales Rank: 11132 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Amazon.com Reviews (56)
I wish they just would release the tv-show on DVD, so I could watch it again...
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| 4. At First Sight Director: Irwin Winkler | |
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Reviews (66)
Despite the film's nearly 130-minute running time, the story feels rushed. An hour should have been devoted to Sorvino and Kilmer's budding romance and allowing the audience to take emotional stock of their situation, with the second hour focusing on the complications that ensue following the operation. For a theatrical treatment, it all feels so "Movie-of-the-Weekish". Both Kilmer and Sorvino are accomplished performers, and quite frankly they deserved better. The biggest problem lies with the script. The characters are not three-dimensional, and everyone says what they mean (yeah, right - just like in reality), and if they don't someone else says it for them. Nothing is left up to the audience, it's merely presented to us. A story like this requires far more complexity and emotional depth. One gets the impression the film was rushed or taken away from the director during post-production. One can only wonder how this story would have fared under the cinematic microscopic scrutiny of Atom Egoyan.
This film is based on a Original Article by Dr. Oliver Sacks. Fine Performances by Kilmer, Sorvino, McGillis and Nathan Lane. Directed by Irwin Winkler has a made a touching drama about Love and Sight. A Well made film. Grade:A-.
Good movie, worth the viewing.......... Diego R. Rodriguez
Kilmer was great playing a blind man who is given his sight and has no idea how to react to it. His performance at least is something everyone should see.
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| 5. Guilty by Suspicion Director: Irwin Winkler | |
![]() | list price: $9.97
our price: $9.97 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 6305162034 Catlog: DVD Sales Rank: 23837 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Reviews (11)
This film is pure lies in the way it tries to portray these communists as innocent filmakers. The reality is that they were quite guilty and the evidence demonstrating this was without a doubt quite valid. There's nothing to see in this film that would relate to historical fact so don't waste your time.
Despite the fact that a lot of people confusedly relates the communism with the word "criminal", actually the communism is another way of life of some countries, mostly Europeans. "Guilty By Suspicion" criticizes the paranoia that a lot of people suffered when they heard the word "communism". The thing is that there were (and there are) some criminal communists, as well as there were (and there are) some criminal German, Americans, Mexicans, English, Asians, etc., in all the world there are criminals. But is ridiculous to judge a whole culture with a different way of life based on a few bad people. Perhaps "Guilty By Suspicion" is not the best political drama movie, but its message is clear, and also features good performances (the fantastic Robert De Niro and the attractive Annette Bening), interesting situations, and a Martin Scorsese cameo. At the end of the day, "Guilty By Suspicion" is an interesting political drama.
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| 6. The Net (Special Edition) Director: Irwin Winkler | |
![]() | list price: $19.94
our price: $17.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B00005YUNR Catlog: DVD Sales Rank: 20932 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Reviews (56)
I wish they just would release the tv-show on DVD, so I could watch it again...
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