Clint Eastwood and actor Morgan Freeman arrive for “An Evening with Clint Eastwood” in Los Angeles
February 18, 2010 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment
Actor/director Clint Eastwood (L) and actor Morgan Freeman arrive for ‘An Evening with Clint Eastwood’ celebrating the debut of the DVD box set ‘Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros.’ at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on February 17, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images). Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.
Producer Lori McCreary and actor Morgan Freeman attend the “Invictus” premiere in Spain
January 27, 2010 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment
Producer Lori McCreary (L) and actor Morgan Freeman attend the ‘Invictus’ premiere at Palafox cinema on January 27, 2010 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)
Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.
The Maiden Heist (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
November 1, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“The Maiden Heist” is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film’s all-star cast. All four Academy Award winners – Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!
Image courtesy of All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Maiden Heist
DURATION: 90Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Anamorphic Widescreen 2:40:1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13 (For Some Strong Language, Nudity and Brief Fantasy Violence)
RELEASED: November 24, 2009
Directed by Peter Hewitt
Written by Michael LeSieur
Executive Producer: David Glasser
Producer: Morgan Freeman, Lori McCreary, Rob Paris, Bob Yari
Co-Producer: Kim H. Winther
Line Producer: Jonathan McCoy
Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Cinematography by Ueli Steiger
Edited by Carole Kravetz
Casting by Susan Shopmaker
Production Design by Chris Roope
Art Direction by Gershon Ginsburg
Set Decoration by Lisa Nilsson
Costume Design by Ha Nguyen
Starring:
Morgan Freeman as Charles
Christopher Walken as Roger
Marcia Gay Harden as Roger’s wife
William H. Macy as George
Back in May 2009, I was awaiting the film “The Maiden Heist” which featured an all-star cast featuring Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman (“Unforgiven”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Million Dollar Baby”), Christopher Walken (“The Deer Hunter”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Wayne’s World 2″), William H. Macy (“Fargo”, “Jurassic Park 3″, “Seabiscuit”) and Marcia Gay Harden (“Pollock”, “Damages”, “Mystic River”).
The film was directed by Peter Hewitt (“Garfield”, “Zoom”), a screenplay by Michael LeSieur (“You, Me and Dupree”), music by Rupert Gregson-Williams (“Bedtime Stories”, “Made of Honor”, “You Don’t Mess with Zohan”) and cinematography by Ueli Steiger (“10,000 BC”, “Nomad”, “The Day After Tomorrow”).
All would seem good for an early summer release but then the film’s distributor Yari Film Group (known for films such as “The Illusionist”, “Kickin’ It Old School”, “The Accidental Husband”) filed for bankruptcy and the film was shelved. The film did happen to debut at the Edinburgh International Film Festival but unfortunately, that was it. And now the film has its DVD release courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
“The Maiden Heist” starts off with Roger (Christopher Walken) who works in security for a major museum where the painting the “Lonely Maiden” is kept. Roger absolutely adores this painting. He dreams of himself defending the painting from thieves and he’s literally in love with the painting and knows all the details about it. Meanwhile, back at home, his wife (played by Marcia Gay Harden) dreams about going to Miami and has been saving her money specifically for this trip.
Roger is not very talkative towards his wife. In fact, he goes home, puts on his beret, listens to French music and just reads about the “Lonely Maiden”.
But life starts to become disrupted when he finds out that “The Lonely Maiden” and other artifacts from the museum are being shipped out overseas to Denmark. Roger is absolutely crushed. He then discovers that he is not the only one. Another security guard named Charles (played by Morgan Freeman) is also enamored with another painting in the museum and has been in love with it. So, in love to the point that he has painted the exact painting in his home. But similar to how Roger is with the “Lonely Maiden”, Charles is with the painting that he enjoyed for so many years.
After meeting over lunch, Charles comes up with an idea…”why not steal the paintings” they love. But of course, Roger is quite dedicated to his job and tells Charles that they are security guards with a job to protect the paintings not steal them. But life then changes when Charles discovers another person in security who is enamored with a sculpture at the museum. Charles shows Roger surveillance captured of the other security guard named George (played by William H. Macy). George has some unusual fetish as a late night security guard and likes to strip off all his clothes in front of the sculpture (which is a naked man showing off his muscles) and do a similar pose.
Charles and Roger feel that with another man to help them, they can probably pull of another heist. After talking to George (who used to be part of the Marines), he absolutely is supportive of the idea. Why not create forgeries of the paintings and the sculpture and replace them before they are shipped to Denmark. Will the three be able to pull off the heist?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Maiden Heist” is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2:40:1) and for the most part, cinematography by Ueli Steiger is done quite well. Shot in Boston and also at the Worcester Art Museum, most of the film takes place in the museum but also at Roger and Charles apartment.Lighting is well-done and for the most part, all three men look great and despite being older men, the film gives the men a youthful spin as these guys must try to pull of the unthinkable. Picture quality for the most part is well done and good use of utilization of shots throughout the film but the film does look very good.
Audio-wise, the film is featured in English 5.1 Dolby Digital. The film is primarily dialogue driven and also jazzy music plays a part in the film as well. Thus it’s more or less front and center channel driven. I didn’t notice a whole lot of surround usage as this film is not exactly an action film. But for the most part, dialogue is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Maiden Heist” comes with the following special features:
- Director, Writer and Producer Commentary - Audio commentary by Director Pete Hewitt, Writer Michael LeSieur and Producer Rob Paris. An enjoyable and informative commentary providing insight to the characters and film-making details of the set location, production design and scenes.
- In the Presence of Art: Making The Maiden Heist Featurette – (17:40) Featuring the cast and crew talking about the film. The cast talk about their characters while the director talked about how this film had an awesome script but it was all about when the film would become a reality.
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary – Featuring optional commentary for 12 short deleted scenes which include: Roger and Charlie Meet, Too Much Gas, Over My Dead Body, A Few Words from the Curator, Donnie, The Lovely Mr. Needlebaum, A Few Words from George, It’s Me They want, The Shirt, Waiting for Roger, The Avant Guard, More Donnie
- Bloopers Reel – (2:45) Bloopers from “The Maiden Heist”
- Previews – Trailers for upcoming Sony Pictures Home Entertainment films on Blu-ray and DVD.
After watching this film, I enjoyed the film and its witty sense of humor but also how clever the screenplay is. Director Peter Hewitt said that one of the things that came to his mind when working on this film are those security guards at a museum. Many are old and what keeps them going in such a job. And the film tries to showcase how these three security guards just fall in love with a certain item at the museum and are very protective of it. Granted, I don’t any security guards at museums personally to know if this happens in real life but if it does, that would be quite interesting.
As mentioned, these three Academy Award winning men look absolutely full of youth. It was fun to see Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy so energetic. In fact, surprising enough, the PG-13 rating comes from William H. Macy’s nude scenes. And these three play interesting characters. Although it’s not in your face, Freeman plays a gay man, Walken plays a husband who doesn’t really take notice of his wife because he’s so in love with a painting and Macy’s character, although he’s pretty gung-ho and talks about the Marines, his hobby of taking off his clothes in front of a nude male statue is a bit odd. Especially when he gives advice to Roger (Walken) of how he should be more of a man when taking care of his wife. But overall, it’s just interesting to see how these men become attached so much to these beloved items and will do what it takes to keep them home and not have their own personal lives disrupted.
And as these three men are quite interesting to watch, Marcia Gay Harden is absolutely fabulous as the wife who just works her butt off for a vacation with her husband that seems to be long overdue. She’s a talker but it seems this vacation is all that keeps her going in her marriage and she plays a great job as a wife who is determined to go on this trip.
Although a predictable, straightforward film, “The Maiden Heist” doesn’t need to be a “Mission Impossible” or highly technological style of film. It’s all about the performances of the four talents and they all make this film happen. It’s unfortunate that the film never received a theatrical release due to the distributor’s bankruptcy but it’s a fun, lighthearted comedy that is worth giving a try.
Overall, “The Maiden Heist” is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film’s all-star cast. All four Academy Award winners – Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!
GLORY (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)
June 3, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“‘A powerful Civil War film that introduced us to the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment and how important a role that African-Americans had in the Civil War. Epic, well-written, well-scored and overall showing us the brutality of war but a soldier’s determination for their fight for freedom, ‘GLORY’ is a film worth owning and having in your Blu-ray collection!”
TITLE: GLORY
DURATION: 122 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (2:40:1), English and French Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
RATED: R (for Violence)
COMPANY: Columbia Pictures/Sony Home Pictures Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2009
Directed by Edward Zwick
Based on the original letters of Robert Gould Shaw, the book “Lay This Laurel” by Lincoln Kirstein and “One Gallant Rush” by Peter Burchard
Screenplay by Kevin Jarre
Produced by Freddie Fields
Co-Produced by Pieter Jan Brugge
Associate Produced by Sarah Caplan, P.K. Fields, Ray Herbeck, Jr.
Music by James Horner
Director of Photography: Freddie Francis
Edited by Steven Rosenblum
Casting by Mary Colquhoun
Production Design by Norman Garwood
Art Direction by Keith Pain and Dan Webster
Set Decoration by Garrett Lewis
Costume Design by Francine Jamison-Tanchuk
Starring:
Matthew Broderick as Col. Robert Gould Shaw
Denzel Washington as Pvt. Trip
Cary Elwes as Major Cabot Forbes
Morgan Freeman as Sgt. Maj. John rawlins
Jihmi Kennedy as Pvt. Jupiter Sharts
Andrew Braugher as Cpl. Thomas Searles
John Finn as Sgt. Maj. Mulcahy
Donovan Leitch as Capt. Charles Fessenden Morse
JD Cullum as Henry Sturgis Russell
In 1989, “GLORY” would become an important movie that introduced many Americans unfamiliar to Civil War history but most of all, to show viewers the impact African Americans had in the role of fighting for the Union.
The film would focus on Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the letters he sent to his family and him leading a group of African American men who volunteered to fight against the Confederate Army. This group is known as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The film is also adapted from Lincoln Kirstein’s book “Lay this Laurel” and Peter Burchard’s book “One Gallant Rush”.
“GLORY” was directed by Edward Zwick (“DEFIANCE”, “Blood Diamond”, “The Last Samurai” and “The Siege”), screenplay by Kevin Jarre (“The Mummy”and “Rambo: First Blood Part II”), music by James Horner “Enemy at the Gates”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “Troy”) and cinematography by Freddie Francis (“Dune”, “Clara’s Heart” and “Cape Fear”).
The film would star major talents Matthew Broderick (“WarGames”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Godzilla” and “Inspector Gadget”), Denzel Washington (“American Gangster”, “Training Day”, “Man on Fire” and “Remember the Titans”), Morgan Freeman (“The Dark Knight”, “Wanted”, “Million Dollar Baby” and “Deep Impact”), Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride”, “Twister”, “Liar Liar” and “Days of Thunder”) and Andre Braugher (“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, “Poseidon”, “Frequency” and “Primal Fear”).
The film would receive five Academy Award nominations and win three for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Denzel Washington”, “Best Cinematography – Freddie Francis” and “Best Sound Mixing”.
The film begins with Union Captain Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) who is fighting at the Battle of Antietam (this took place in Sept. 17 1862). The Union troops are literally obliterated but Shaw who is grazed, collapses near a dead soldier. He is awakened by John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) who is digging graves for the deceased soldiers.
Captain Shaw is held with the highest regard for surviving the Battle of Antietam and is appointed commander of the first Black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts and then promoted to Colonel. Robert Gould Shaw who has come from a distinguished family (Shaw was a Harvard graduated) and he himself supports the abolition of slavery takes the job and his friend Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes) is his executive officer.
The two go on to recruit Black soldiers which include both men’s good friend, Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher). Thomas is an educated and literate man that was born a free man and his father a free man in the North who wants to serve in the first regiment for Black men to fight in the war. Of course, Thomas who has had a different upbringing seems out of place with other soldiers who were former escaped slaves from the South and are a bit hard on him. But most of all, Thomas good friend Robert is especially hard on him. This leads to problems between both friends Col. Shaw and Major Forbes, as he takes issue with how strict Shaw is on his men and also their good friend Thomas who has problems adjusting to military life.
But unlike Major Forbes, Col. Shaw has been on the battlefield to fight and knows of how deadly war is and having nearly everyone around him killed. So, Shaw is determined to make sure everyone is ready for battle, even if it means being strict and disciplined to the men including his friends.
Sgt. Maj. Mulcahy (John Finn) is the person Col. Shaw believes in and a man who must train the 54th Massachusetts in how to shoot a rifle, use a bayonet and be prepared for war.
John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) is a man that Col. Shaw trusts. Shaw wants Rawlins to be the voice of his men and to share with him any concerns that they have but also to give his men the confidence of their role.
Meanwhile Pvt. Trip (Denzel Washington) is the most outspoken of the bunch. Fighting for the pride of the Black men and not wanting himself or the men to be treated any lower but his actions tend to be rebellious and gets him into trouble at times.
But for me to explain any further about the film would spoil too much as “GLORY” is a film that must be watched to understand the challenges these men faced during that time.
Challenges such as Col. Shaw making sure his men get the equipment they need to fight in battle, the challenges of Black soldiers not being treated as equal as the White soldiers and not receiving the same amount of pay. There are many challenges that these men had to face as shown in the movie but alongside the challenges, we see the adversity, the determination and the unity these men feel together as the march to glory and be the lead regiment that would spearhead the assault on Fort Wagner.
“GLORY” is a powerful experience of human courage but the glory of fighting a war but also fighting for a cause.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“GLORY” is presented on 1080p High Definition (aspect ratio of 1:85:1). The film manages to capture the haziness of war due to the smoke in the battlefield and the colors are not featured as vibrant as most of the settings are in blues and browns but you will see reds on the flag and the flares, amber colors from the gunfire and the greens of the grass and tress, but I believe that the limit of color was the Director Edward Zwick’s purpose. Zwick is director that has made several films to capture the dreariness of war as he did nearly a decade later with “ENEMY AT THE GATES”, he manages to capture the look of the battlefield in 1989 with “GLORY”.
The film does have quite a bit of grain that comes clear due to its High Definition transfer but I would rather have grain than overly used digital noise reduction that would make the characters look waxy and the picture quality as soft. In fact, one thing you will notice with “GLORY” is you see quite a bit of detail of the actors, their surroundings but also objects such as shovels, rifles, clothing, etc. But overall, the picture quality is solid.
As for the audio, the film is featured in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (also in French, Portuguese in Dolby True HD 5.1 and Spanish 5.1) and the lossless soundtrack manages to capture the many explosions on the battlefield. But what captures your attention when it comes to sound is James Horner’s musical score. The music sets the tone of the film especially during the final battle. Dialogue is clear and very clean and many of the scenes during the battles where artillery, gun fire and people yelling (even those yelling from a far distance) can be heard. There were scenes that do utilize the rear channels effectively and I believe there were some scenes where explosions took advantage of some low frequency booms on the subwoofer. Overall, “GLORY” receives its best audio presentation compared to its original DVD counterpart.
As for subtitles, the film is presented in English, English SDH, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“GLORY” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary by Director Edward Zwick – Edward Zwick is known for his war films from “GLORY”, “Enemy at the Gates” and “The Last Samurai” and one thing that I enjoy about his commentaries is that he really gets into the technical goals and explain the difficult scenes. “GLORY” features just that as he really goes into detail of the filming techniques used on the film. Such as trying to drown out the blue skies with smoke, working with the talent, the staff, James Horner for the music and tidbits such as not having enough money to hire more stuntmen, so the stuntmen trained the extras on several scenes. Also, how challenging it was for Morgan Freeman to have to run countless times especially uphill to having horses that were trained to fall. A very informative commentary.
- Virtual Battlefield – Civil War Guide Map - This was actually pretty good. By using your remote, you can learn about certain battles from the Civil War with photography and text information. But some have video commentary by Civil War historians which was quite informative.
- The Voices of Glory - (11:16) This features letters from the Civil War written by actual soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and giving a voice to the men who fought in the various battles including the battle at Fort Wagner. Featured in Standard Definition.
- Documentary: The True Story of Glory Continues Narrated by Morgan Freeman - (45:18) A documentary featuring the factual information of the soldiers that fought during the war and were members of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry with additional detail on Col. Robert Gould Shaw. Also, the coverage on the Civil War re-enactments that are ongoing today and an actual re-burial of soldiers. A documentary that is very informative and you learn about other names that were instrumental during the battle against the Confederate Army at Fort Wagner. Featured in Standard Definition.
- Original Theatrical Making-of Featurette - (7:35) Featured in Standard Definition, this is the original featurette with interviews with the talent and Director Edward Zwick. The featurette has a few behind-the-scenes footage from the film.
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary - There is commentary by Director Edward Zwick on two scenes. For The Applepicker (3:03), a scene which revolves around Pvt. Trip making his first kill. The second and final deleted scene is one that Zwick calls one of his worst and glad it was cut from the film. The scene is titled “Crisis of Conscience” (2:35) which is a scene involving both Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) and Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes).
For those who owned the two-disc special edition DVD release of “GLORY”, you may not want to ditch your DVD just yet as
“GLORY” is a powerful war film that shows an epic depiction of the battles that have taken place at that time. Powerful performances from Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Andre Braugher, I was in awe of how epicly enormous this film was from start to finish.
I really enjoyed “GLORY” for its storyline but also being educated about a part of Civil War that many people are probably not familiar with.
In fact, Director Edward Zwick talked about in the commentary of going to Harvard University and living in Boston and never knowing the significance of the Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment on the Boston Common. And how he felt that this film not only was a positive for the people who worked on the film, great for his career but mostly for how significant the film is used by teachers using “Glory” as a tool to teach about the Civil War.
The film definitely made me interested in learning more about the war but also key figures which include Colonel Shaw and American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. But the film also opened my eyes at the time of how soldier placement truly was. This is very interesting because these people stood probably less than a hundred yards from each other before they shot at each other. Where forts had the use of cannonballs and artillery for long distance destruction, foot soldiers were just really close to each other and had to constantly reload their rifles. And watching the final battle and in a way, oncoming military groups were like sitting ducks. The military tactics of the time made me realize why the Civil War had the most number of deaths compared to Americans killed in World War I, II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined.
Of course, the film and the actual history have some differences and its important to note that the only major character from the film’s regiment that truly existed was Col. Robert Gould Shaw but the challenges that the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry faced during that time was quite real. The combat role that African-Americans played in Civil War very much real. The factual events, especially details that have come out right after the film was released is documented on “The True Story Continues” documentary which is included on the Blu-ray.
Again, for those who own the 2-disc DVD Special Edition released back in 2007 and wonder if its worth the double dip. For picture and audio quality, my answer is yes but I highly recommend not to get rid of the DVD as the
But nevertheless, “GLORY” is still a solid Blu-ray release. The HD transfer definitely gives the viewer more detail and makes the battlefield come alive. It’s a powerful film and definitely worth owning and having in your Blu-ray collection.
Nurse Betty (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
October 1, 2002 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: Universal
CAST: Starring Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear, Crispin Glover, Tia Texada and more.
DIRECTED BY: Neil Labute
WRITTEN BY: John C. Richards
RATING: Rated R
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0171580
TYPE OF MOVIE: Comedy, Thriller
DURATION: 112 minutes
A Kansas City waitress (Renee Zellweger) with dreams of becoming a nurse becomes delusional after seeing her no-good car salesman husband (Aaron Eckhart) murdered. Becoming delusional from shock, she becomes convinced that she is the former fiancée of her soap opera idol (Greg Kinnear). What she also believes is that the soap opera is real and goes to LA to find the hospital where he works as a cardiologist. Meanwhile, her husband’s murderers (Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock) are searching for the drugs stolen by her husband and, as luck would have it, they are stored in the trunk of the car she drove off in. Freeman, an aging hitman planning his retirement after this job, also becomes delusional about the woman he is tracking. (IMDB)
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
• Two Separate Commentary Tracks:
• 1. Director and Cast (Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman, Renee Zellweger, Greg Kinnear)
• 2. Director and Crew (producers, music composer, Director of Photography, Costume Designer)
• A Reason to Love Soap Opera segments
• Deleted scenes
• Theatrical Trailer / 6 TV spots
• Hidden Bonus Features
• Widescreen anamorphic format
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S):
Alternate sequence:
Select the “Special Features” option at the main menu. Press Right to highlight the candle on the cupcake that Betty is holding. Press Enter to view an alternate sequence from the movie.
Hidden sequence:
Enter the “A Reason To Love” episode selection screen, highlight episode 1, then press Up. This will highlight the title “A Reason to Love”. Press Enter to view view Betty’s episode of the soap opera.
DVD REVIEW:
What an original dark comedy! A woman traumatized after seeing her husband murdered while watching her favorite soap then suffers from post-traumatic stress and ends up thinking that the soap opera is real and heads to California to find her soap opera boyfriend/character David (Kinnear).
The last time we seen a weird fan thinking a soap was real was on “Friends” with Brooke Shields character. But in this one, Renée Zellweger plays the character of Betty as a caring person and her performance is awesome! I don’t think I know any actress who could of played that part. She was perfectly cast.
The duo of Freeman and Rock was also awesome! Chris Rock plays a different character compared to his other movies and both performances were remarkable as with Kinnear’s performance as the soap opera actor.
The DVD features good digital 5.1 audio but since it’s a dialogue film, you shouldn’t expect much. As for video, the video is nice but some areas look a bit too reddish/orange. I wasn’t sure if it was the intended lighting.
As for the special features, the deleted scenes were a shock. The scenes show how ruthless Chris Rock’s character really is and also a scene that was cut because of its violence. My favorite special feature is the soap opera clips. To see Sung Hi Lee was awesome! As for the two different commentary, it was a blast to hear the cast commentary with the director. Everyone was having fun and not too much dead air. Last, there is the movie trailer and a plethora of TV trailers.
All in all, a film that is enjoyable and if you like dark comedies like Fargo, you will like this film and the DVD.
THE MOVIE: A-
THE DVD EXTRAS: B+
THE DVD OVERALL: A-
The Shawshank Redemption (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
October 1, 2002 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT
CAST: Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown and more.
DIRECTED BY: Directed by Frank Darabont
WRITTEN BY: Stephen King
RATING: Rated R
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0111161
TYPE OF MOVIE: Drama
DURATION: 142 minutes
Andy Dufresne is a young and successful banker whose life changes drastically when he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. Set in the 1940′s, the film shows how Andy, with the help of his friend Red, the prison entrepreneur, turns out to be a most unconventional prisoner. (Martin Lewison, IMDB)
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Black & White, Dolby
• Production notes
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Stills Gallery: Photos from director Frank Darabont’s collection
• Widescreen anamorphic format
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I could find.
DVD REVIEW:
Words cannot describe how awesome this movie is. This movie will be in the top 100 movies of all time for many people. The story is brilliantly written and how clever the movie is, it will shock you. In a good way!
The DVD is an older release, so there is not much you will find on here except the Stills Gallery and the trailer. The colors are very good and the audio is good for a dialogue movie.
If you want to watch a movie well done, then this movie is it. Trust me, Shawshank Redemption is one of the few magical movies that you will definitely enjoy! Buy the DVD.
THE MOVIE: A+
THE DVD EXTRAS: D+
THE DVD OVERALL: (for movie A+, as a DVD C)
