Showing posts with label cage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cage. Show all posts

The Cotton Club (1984) Review

The Cotton Club (1984)
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The lines between jazz, bootlegging and race are blurred in Francis Ford Coppolas's wonderful 1984 feature set during the late 20's and early 30's in Harlem, NYC at the world famous Cotton Club. At long last, MGM has finally released The Cotton Club on its "Contemporary Classics" series. What this means is that die hard fans will get a reasonably priced DVD in the widescreen format but with virtually no extras included. MGM is notorious for being stingy on their DVDs. The theatrical trailer is included. You can watch the film in French or read French or Spanish subtitles. Nice hard case but only a card listing the cast and a brief description of the film, no booklet. As for deleted scenes: well, there aren't any. Unless you included a brief shot during the trailer or an exchange between Vince (Nick Cage) and Dixie (Richard Gere) in which Dixie asks "Why were you fighting niggers?" when he said "Why were you fighting the coloreds?" in the earlier version. This is not a restored version and the color has tinges of red from fade in indoor scenes, a few light scratches also visible. Still, one of the best movies ever. Wonderful musical scenes and a terrific cast featuring Gere, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins, Lonette McKee, and Gregory and Maurice Hines. Usually ragged on for costing too much (it lost money in the theatre and was the most expensive film for its time) but for first time viewers (and there are a lot of you out there), I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. A must have for lovers of the film, but we can only hope a restored director's cut DVD with some of the many scenes that were cut from the film along with some commentary from the pricipals will be released in the future. Until then, enjoy this version and be wowed for 2 hours and 9 minutes.

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COTTON CLUB - DVD Movie

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Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) Review

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
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Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage) epitomizes the best qualities of Italian men---in love with life, women, and music. His arrival on a small Greek island and falling in love at first sight with Pelagia (Penelope Cruz) is a beautiful love story with World War II's bloody battles as a backdrop. Cage performs superbly as the invader who makes friends with the enemy and is later startled by the ruthlessness of his German allies. Penelope Cruz is also outstanding as the highly-educated daughter of the village doctor (John Hurt) who is engaged to her intellectual inferior Mandras (Christian Bale.) The passion between Corelli and Pelagia is fraught with tension that erupts in a beautifully-directed love scene. Despite the great love story, it is perhaps the character of Mandras who is most compelling as his feelings for Pelagia are revealed and his actions toward Corelli round out his mysterious nature. I have never read the book, but would love to do so now in order to see a fuller development of the intriguing Mandras. Also notable among a cast of fine performances are those of Irene Pappas as the spirited mother of Mandras who realizes what is happening between Pelagia and Corelli, as well as David Morrissey as the German captain who battles personal feelings with his unquestionable support for Hitler. The music and singing in this movie is excellent. To borrow one of my favorite lines from the movie: Heil, Hitler, Heil Puccini! Listening to the Italian soldiers singing "Santa Lucia" and other great works from the Italian masters was alone worth the cost of admission. Add Corelli's beautiful playing of his mandolin and the idyllic setting of the Greek island of Cephalonia and you have a movie I highly recommend seeing.

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CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN - DVD Movie

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