Black Rain
Starring:Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Yusaku Matsuda, Shigeru Kôyama, John Spencer, Guts Ishimatsu, Yuya Uchida, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Miyuki Ono, Luis Guzmán, John Costelloe, Stephen Root, Richard Riehle, Bruce Katzman, Edmund Ikeda, Tomo Nagasue, Clem Caserta, Tim Kelleher
Director: Ridley Scott
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
Cultures clash (and so, occasionally, do clichés) in this 1989 stylefest from director Ridley Scott. Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are New York cops who grab a Japanese mobster and take him back to Osaka--only to lose him there. When they're forced to track him down, Douglas's knuckles-and-know-how approach to crime-fighting puts him at odds with his Japanese handlers. Beside eschewing police brutality, their code of honor also induces guilt because Douglas has succumbed to the occasional shifty tendency in the past. Despite some strong action sequences and Scott's trademark look of neon reflected on wet streets, it begins to drag and ends up exactly where you expect it to--with Douglas chin-to-chin with chief bad guy Yusaku Matsuda. No one plays a flawed hero better than Douglas but this one tends to be by the numbers. --Marshall Fine
![Black Rain (Special Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]](http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/21DXNRQTP2L.jpg)
Average customer rating:
- Black Rain Special Collector's Edition (Blu-Ray)
- Awesome Movie
|
Black Rain (Special Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Louis Cantarini , Kate Capshaw , Clem Caserta , John Costelloe , and Vondie Curtis-Hall
Director: Ridley Scott
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray
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ASIN: B000KQF6X0
Release Date: 2007-01-23 |
Description
Director Ridley Scott, who created two of Hollywood's most impactful and stylish thrillers, Alien and Blade Runner, hits the mark again with Black Rain. Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, Wall Street) and Andy Garcia (Internal Affairs, The Untouchables) play New York cops, whose job to escort a vicious assassin back to his native Japan leads the two Americans into Osaka's exotic underworld and straight into the center of a raging, brutal "Yakuza" gangland battle.
Customer Reviews:
Black Rain Special Collector's Edition (Blu-Ray) .......2007-03-08
Was Great Then, Now Better Than Ever on Blu-Ray.
Awesome Movie.......2007-02-11
Great colors & action. Sound is superb. Douglas is a great action actor.
![Black Rain (Special Collector's Edition) [HD DVD]](http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/21AMB5KR37L.jpg)
Average customer rating:
- Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan.
- Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY
- Bad description of product
- Cops and Yakuza
- Ultra-moody cop fiction.
|
Black Rain (Special Collector's Edition) [HD DVD]
Starring: Louis Cantarini , Kate Capshaw , Clem Caserta , John Costelloe , and Vondie Curtis-Hall
Director: Ridley Scott
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: HD DVD
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ASIN: B000K7UG20
Release Date: 2007-01-23 |
Amazon.com essential video
A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
Cultures clash (and so, occasionally, do clichés) in this 1989 stylefest from director Ridley Scott. Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are New York cops who grab a Japanese mobster and take him back to Osaka--only to lose him there. When they're forced to track him down, Douglas's knuckles-and-know-how approach to crime-fighting puts him at odds with his Japanese handlers. Beside eschewing police brutality, their code of honor also induces guilt because Douglas has succumbed to the occasional shifty tendency in the past. Despite some strong action sequences and Scott's trademark look of neon reflected on wet streets, it begins to drag and ends up exactly where you expect it to--with Douglas chin-to-chin with chief bad guy Yusaku Matsuda. No one plays a flawed hero better than Douglas but this one tends to be by the numbers. --Marshall Fine
Description
Director Ridley Scott, who created two of Hollywood's most impactful and stylish thrillers, Alien and Blade Runner, hits the mark again with Black Rain. Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, Wall Street) and Andy Garcia (Internal Affairs, The Untouchables) play New York cops, whose job to escort a vicious assassin back to his native Japan leads the two Americans into Osaka's exotic underworld and straight into the center of a raging, brutal "Yakuza" gangland battle.
Customer Reviews:
Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan........2007-06-17
Most people do not appreciate just how insular the Japanese are and how incredibly difficult it is to penetrate their society. Black Rain is an incredible film if for no other reason than it was beautifully shot in Japan and is one of the more exotic Hollywood megabudget films you'll lay eyes on. There isn't anything else quite like it and it couldn't be made today.
But what we have here is a pretty superficial Cops and Robbers pic. The yakuza really are treated as superman curiosities and their scenes seem forced to put it mildly. The chemistry between the actors just isn't there, no matter how much it's emphasized. The plot is exceedingly simple. So by most objective criteria, it's not so good. But, this is a Ridley Scott film, folks. For all the talk of characterization he more endures characters and moves them around like marionettes than anything else. Michael Douglas is so egotistical he didn't even notice!
Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY.......2007-04-15
This is a BLU-RAY disc - it does NOT say that in the product description! I got taken in not once but twice and now I have to return both copies.
Bad description of product.......2007-03-11
I bought this movie for my husband because its one of his faves. When we received it we found out it was a Blu Ray edition and our DVD player doesn't accept Blu Ray DVD's. So I basically bought a movie I can't watch. It should have been put in the description that this a Blu Ray edition for those of us who don't have Blu Ray compatible dvd players.
Cops and Yakuza.......2007-02-27
Ridley Scott's Black Rain is a lavishly mounted but rather hollow affair, transporting all the usual cop movie clichés from New York to Japan: New York cops are mavericks who don't like suits; Japanese cops are team players who like karaoke. Stylishly shot, with Tokyo looking like the sets from Blade Runner with extra neon, The Yakuza it ain't despite the presence of the great Takakura Ken (who even cracks what may be his first onscreen smile), and it suffers from some outrageous 80s power ballading and serenading on the soundtrack ("You're so bright you could be a candle/Hold you so tight you could be a handle/Smell so sweet you could be perfume/Swept me off your feet like you were a broom"). But if you lower expectations and aren't looking for anything too demanding it fills the spot and is certainly better than most of Scott's troubled post-Blade Runner, pre-Gladiator films.
If the film is a 3/5, the new collectors edition DVD earns an extra star for an excellent selection of extras - a particularly good commentary from Scott, an excellent hour-long four-part documentary and the release trailer (though none of the teaser trailers are included). It's just a pity that there are no deleted scenes or the alternate ending that was apparently shot. The 2.35:1 widescreen transfer is also particularly good.
Ultra-moody cop fiction........2007-02-25
I saw this film on crappy pan and scan VHS when I was about 12 and I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really up on Ridley Scott's work. As a result, the impact of the film was somewhat lost on me. I was expecting an action film instead of a character drama with lots of police procedure. But now, older and wiser and with a brand new HD-DVD of the movie, I am finally able to appreciate how clever the film is.
The story unfortunately IS riddled with 80s Cop Movie clichés and goes through quite a lot of familiar motions. But if you see past that you'll appreciate the immense atmosphere and mood that Ridley Scott piles on. Simply put, Michael Douglas is Nick Conklin, a bad cop (pretty much the exact same character in Basic Instinct) who drag races on his superbike to pay alimony and pinches drug money instead of turning it in for evidence. Enjoying lunch with partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) in a steakhouse in New York's meat-packing district, they just happen to witness a Yakuza execution by wanted Japanese criminal Sato (Yusaku Matsuda, who was dying of cancer during filming and didn't tell anyone). After a quick punch-up and shoot-out they find themselves chaperoning Sato back to Osaka. But when they arrive there he manages to escape, leaving them embarrassed with lots of questions to answer.
Nick and Charlie find themselves in a very foreign and intolerant world and recapturing Sato proves to be difficult in many ways. Not the least of which is Japan's alienating culture (from an NYPD point of view) and rigid rules. Nonetheless, Nick is determined to catch Sato and restore his honor.
Like I said, the atmosphere of the film is overwhelming, which is really all the film needs. The clichés and stereotypes don't matter so much when you are involved this much. Hans Zimmer (his first film with Ridley Scott) provides a deeply emotional and very melodic score that'll be rattling around in your head for days. It's a shame it's never had a comprehensive CD release, as it's one of Zimmer's most impressive efforts.
You could call it a pretty 80s movies, but I still do feel that it holds up pretty well today. As one of Ridley Scott's more forgotten works, it's well worth checking out.
The HD DVD features a brilliant 2.4:1 1080p image with Dolby 5.1+ and a great retrospecive documentary by Laurent Bouzereau. But why is it split into 3 parts? Totally pointless! In total it makes for about an hours worth. A commentary by Scott and a trailer is also included.
Average customer rating:
- Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan.
- Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY
- Bad description of product
- Cops and Yakuza
- Ultra-moody cop fiction.
|
Black Rain (Special Collector's Edition)
Starring: Michael Douglas , Andy Garcia , Ken Takakura , Kate Capshaw , and Yusaku Matsuda
Director: Ridley Scott
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000GG4Y3M
Release Date: 2006-10-10 |
Amazon.com essential video
A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
Cultures clash (and so, occasionally, do clichés) in this 1989 stylefest from director Ridley Scott. Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are New York cops who grab a Japanese mobster and take him back to Osaka--only to lose him there. When they're forced to track him down, Douglas's knuckles-and-know-how approach to crime-fighting puts him at odds with his Japanese handlers. Beside eschewing police brutality, their code of honor also induces guilt because Douglas has succumbed to the occasional shifty tendency in the past. Despite some strong action sequences and Scott's trademark look of neon reflected on wet streets, it begins to drag and ends up exactly where you expect it to--with Douglas chin-to-chin with chief bad guy Yusaku Matsuda. No one plays a flawed hero better than Douglas but this one tends to be by the numbers. --Marshall Fine
Description
Director Ridley Scott, who created two of Hollywood's most impactful and stylish adventure thrillers, Alien and Blade Runner, hits the mark again in Black Rain. Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, Wall Street) and Andy Garcia (Internal Affairs, The Untouchables) play New York cops whose job to escort a vicious assassin back to his native Japan leads the two Americans into Osaka's exotic underworld and straight into the center of a raging, brutal "Yakuza" gangland battle.
Customer Reviews:
Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan........2007-06-17
Most people do not appreciate just how insular the Japanese are and how incredibly difficult it is to penetrate their society. Black Rain is an incredible film if for no other reason than it was beautifully shot in Japan and is one of the more exotic Hollywood megabudget films you'll lay eyes on. There isn't anything else quite like it and it couldn't be made today.
But what we have here is a pretty superficial Cops and Robbers pic. The yakuza really are treated as superman curiosities and their scenes seem forced to put it mildly. The chemistry between the actors just isn't there, no matter how much it's emphasized. The plot is exceedingly simple. So by most objective criteria, it's not so good. But, this is a Ridley Scott film, folks. For all the talk of characterization he more endures characters and moves them around like marionettes than anything else. Michael Douglas is so egotistical he didn't even notice!
Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY.......2007-04-15
This is a BLU-RAY disc - it does NOT say that in the product description! I got taken in not once but twice and now I have to return both copies.
Bad description of product.......2007-03-11
I bought this movie for my husband because its one of his faves. When we received it we found out it was a Blu Ray edition and our DVD player doesn't accept Blu Ray DVD's. So I basically bought a movie I can't watch. It should have been put in the description that this a Blu Ray edition for those of us who don't have Blu Ray compatible dvd players.
Cops and Yakuza.......2007-02-27
Ridley Scott's Black Rain is a lavishly mounted but rather hollow affair, transporting all the usual cop movie clichés from New York to Japan: New York cops are mavericks who don't like suits; Japanese cops are team players who like karaoke. Stylishly shot, with Tokyo looking like the sets from Blade Runner with extra neon, The Yakuza it ain't despite the presence of the great Takakura Ken (who even cracks what may be his first onscreen smile), and it suffers from some outrageous 80s power ballading and serenading on the soundtrack ("You're so bright you could be a candle/Hold you so tight you could be a handle/Smell so sweet you could be perfume/Swept me off your feet like you were a broom"). But if you lower expectations and aren't looking for anything too demanding it fills the spot and is certainly better than most of Scott's troubled post-Blade Runner, pre-Gladiator films.
If the film is a 3/5, the new collectors edition DVD earns an extra star for an excellent selection of extras - a particularly good commentary from Scott, an excellent hour-long four-part documentary and the release trailer (though none of the teaser trailers are included). It's just a pity that there are no deleted scenes or the alternate ending that was apparently shot. The 2.35:1 widescreen transfer is also particularly good.
Ultra-moody cop fiction........2007-02-25
I saw this film on crappy pan and scan VHS when I was about 12 and I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really up on Ridley Scott's work. As a result, the impact of the film was somewhat lost on me. I was expecting an action film instead of a character drama with lots of police procedure. But now, older and wiser and with a brand new HD-DVD of the movie, I am finally able to appreciate how clever the film is.
The story unfortunately IS riddled with 80s Cop Movie clichés and goes through quite a lot of familiar motions. But if you see past that you'll appreciate the immense atmosphere and mood that Ridley Scott piles on. Simply put, Michael Douglas is Nick Conklin, a bad cop (pretty much the exact same character in Basic Instinct) who drag races on his superbike to pay alimony and pinches drug money instead of turning it in for evidence. Enjoying lunch with partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) in a steakhouse in New York's meat-packing district, they just happen to witness a Yakuza execution by wanted Japanese criminal Sato (Yusaku Matsuda, who was dying of cancer during filming and didn't tell anyone). After a quick punch-up and shoot-out they find themselves chaperoning Sato back to Osaka. But when they arrive there he manages to escape, leaving them embarrassed with lots of questions to answer.
Nick and Charlie find themselves in a very foreign and intolerant world and recapturing Sato proves to be difficult in many ways. Not the least of which is Japan's alienating culture (from an NYPD point of view) and rigid rules. Nonetheless, Nick is determined to catch Sato and restore his honor.
Like I said, the atmosphere of the film is overwhelming, which is really all the film needs. The clichés and stereotypes don't matter so much when you are involved this much. Hans Zimmer (his first film with Ridley Scott) provides a deeply emotional and very melodic score that'll be rattling around in your head for days. It's a shame it's never had a comprehensive CD release, as it's one of Zimmer's most impressive efforts.
You could call it a pretty 80s movies, but I still do feel that it holds up pretty well today. As one of Ridley Scott's more forgotten works, it's well worth checking out.
The HD DVD features a brilliant 2.4:1 1080p image with Dolby 5.1+ and a great retrospecive documentary by Laurent Bouzereau. But why is it split into 3 parts? Totally pointless! In total it makes for about an hours worth. A commentary by Scott and a trailer is also included.
Average customer rating:
- Adoption triangle comes full circle
- Rain Takes You on a Rollercoaster Ride
- Powerful!
- Just the movie i've been waiting for!
- VERY ENJOYABLE! SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THEATRES!
|
Rain
Starring: Faye Dunaway , Robert Loggia , Brooklyn Sudano , and Cheryl Tanner
Manufacturer: Code Black Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
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ASIN: B000NIVPA8
Release Date: 2007-05-29 |
Description
RAIN is the story of a 19-year old African American girl who lives in the inner city projects with her younger sister, her older brother and their mother. Her sister becomes involved with gang members, is drugged at a party and then sexually explicit photos are taken of her and used for blackmail. Rain tries to intervene but is unsuccessful and ultimately witnesses her sister's murder; thus becoming a threat to the gang leader. Rain's mother secretly contacts what turns out to be Rain's real mother who is white. Rain's biological mother reluctantly agrees to protect her and Rain is placed in the home of her grandmother, a wealthy white woman. Rain is placed in a private boarding school for the gifted which culminates into Rain's emergence as a talented singer and musician.
Customer Reviews:
Adoption triangle comes full circle.......2007-07-03
I enjoyed watching VC Andrews' RAIN on DVD. I am a long time fan of VC Andrews and Andrew Neiderman's work, but being an adoptive mom made me need to see this story come to life, and I was not disappointed.
I read the four book series that inspired the DVD and feel that the story was written the way it should be written. When a person who has been adopted is suddenly plunked down amongst her birth roots, it must be a scary as well as beautiful thing to deal with.
I have been through this with my bi-racial adopted daughter and I was satisfied with how this delicate subject was handled in fictional form. Bravo! And thanks a million! I am going to share this with my daughter, Star. Star, Rain...the universe is a wonderful place when and only when you find out who you really are.
Rain Takes You on a Rollercoaster Ride.......2007-06-25
Rain is a teenage prodigy who lives in the innercity. Her mother played by Khandi Alexander strives to provide for her and her two siblings although their dad, played by Giancarlo Esposito, lives with them. Rain is determined not to fall victim to the streets; however her younger sister is rebellious. While trying to protect her younger sister, Rain witnesses a murder and has to be sent away to live with her biological grandmother played by Faye Dunaway.
The insert of a booklet with the DVD as a bonus was great. I enjoyed reading the backstory to the movie.
Rain is a movie that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. ~ Shelia M. Goss, entertainment writer and National Bestselling author of Paige's Web and My Invisible Husband
Powerful!.......2007-06-08
A captivating story and powerful performances make RAIN one of the best films of the year. Prepare for a creative twist on the "COMING OF AGE" story infused with an unforgettable soundtrack. Don't let this opportunity pass you by, experience RAIN for yourself.
Just the movie i've been waiting for!.......2007-06-08
It made me laugh, cry, and appreciate my life. This is an amazing film suitable for the entire family! I don't want to give anything away, just check it out now!
VERY ENJOYABLE! SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THEATRES!.......2007-06-07
Rain. Also the name of the 4 book series from V. C. Andrews. This was a very enjoyable movie. Brooklyn Sudano (Donna Summer's daughter) really captured the heart, soul, and essence of this amazing young woman. All of V.C. Andrews women are amazing, be they young naive women who grow into astounding adults or the evil grandmothers who always, deep down, have a heart, even if they hide it well.
Faye Dunaway was brilliant. I can't imagine a better choice for this movie. Robert Loggia was incredible. I have to admit I really came to hate the villian who blackmailed and then tried to kill Rain. A different twist from the book, but superbly worked into the movie. You always have to hate someone in a V.C. Andrews novel / movie!
Why this was not released in theatres is beyond me. There's a lot of crap that gets released and then fades away to DVD. This movie was not given the star quality it deserved. Yes, the "sequel" inside the movie answered some questions but really left me wanting more, more! Shame on Pocket Books for not publishing this as a full length VCA novel. Megan was really fascinating!
The screen play was by Andrew Neiderman who is also the VCA ghostwriter. You've seen Mr. Neiderman's work before in The Devil's Advocate, an adaption of his own fine novel. Now, we all have to keep our fingers crossed for a remake of the disappointing Flowers in the Attic movie! LONG LIVE VCA STORIES AND MOVIES!
Average customer rating:
|
White Light/Black Rain: Destruction of Hiroshima
Starring: White Light Black Rain: the Destruction Fo Hiroshi
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
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ASIN: B000RL6G8M
Release Date: 2007-08-07 |
Description
Through the powerful recollections of atomic bomb survivors, White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an extraordinary new film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki, presents a deeply moving look at the painful legacy of the first -- and hopefully last -- uses of thermonuclear weapons in war. Featuring interviews with fourteen atomic bomb survivors - many who have never spoken publicly before - and four Americans intimately involved in the bombings, White Light/Black Rain provides a detailed exploration of the bombings and their aftermath. In a succession of riveting personal accounts, the film reveals both unimaginable suffering and extraordinary human resilience.Â
Average customer rating:
- Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan.
- Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY
- Bad description of product
- Cops and Yakuza
- Ultra-moody cop fiction.
|
Black Rain
Starring: Michael Douglas , Andy Garcia , Ken Takakura , Kate Capshaw , and Yusaku Matsuda
Director: Ridley Scott
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305278016
Release Date: 1999-02-16 |
Amazon.com essential video
A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
Cultures clash (and so, occasionally, do clichés) in this 1989 stylefest from director Ridley Scott. Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are New York cops who grab a Japanese mobster and take him back to Osaka--only to lose him there. When they're forced to track him down, Douglas's knuckles-and-know-how approach to crime-fighting puts him at odds with his Japanese handlers. Beside eschewing police brutality, their code of honor also induces guilt because Douglas has succumbed to the occasional shifty tendency in the past. Despite some strong action sequences and Scott's trademark look of neon reflected on wet streets, it begins to drag and ends up exactly where you expect it to--with Douglas chin-to-chin with chief bad guy Yusaku Matsuda. No one plays a flawed hero better than Douglas but this one tends to be by the numbers. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan........2007-06-17
Most people do not appreciate just how insular the Japanese are and how incredibly difficult it is to penetrate their society. Black Rain is an incredible film if for no other reason than it was beautifully shot in Japan and is one of the more exotic Hollywood megabudget films you'll lay eyes on. There isn't anything else quite like it and it couldn't be made today.
But what we have here is a pretty superficial Cops and Robbers pic. The yakuza really are treated as superman curiosities and their scenes seem forced to put it mildly. The chemistry between the actors just isn't there, no matter how much it's emphasized. The plot is exceedingly simple. So by most objective criteria, it's not so good. But, this is a Ridley Scott film, folks. For all the talk of characterization he more endures characters and moves them around like marionettes than anything else. Michael Douglas is so egotistical he didn't even notice!
Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY.......2007-04-15
This is a BLU-RAY disc - it does NOT say that in the product description! I got taken in not once but twice and now I have to return both copies.
Bad description of product.......2007-03-11
I bought this movie for my husband because its one of his faves. When we received it we found out it was a Blu Ray edition and our DVD player doesn't accept Blu Ray DVD's. So I basically bought a movie I can't watch. It should have been put in the description that this a Blu Ray edition for those of us who don't have Blu Ray compatible dvd players.
Cops and Yakuza.......2007-02-27
Ridley Scott's Black Rain is a lavishly mounted but rather hollow affair, transporting all the usual cop movie clichés from New York to Japan: New York cops are mavericks who don't like suits; Japanese cops are team players who like karaoke. Stylishly shot, with Tokyo looking like the sets from Blade Runner with extra neon, The Yakuza it ain't despite the presence of the great Takakura Ken (who even cracks what may be his first onscreen smile), and it suffers from some outrageous 80s power ballading and serenading on the soundtrack ("You're so bright you could be a candle/Hold you so tight you could be a handle/Smell so sweet you could be perfume/Swept me off your feet like you were a broom"). But if you lower expectations and aren't looking for anything too demanding it fills the spot and is certainly better than most of Scott's troubled post-Blade Runner, pre-Gladiator films.
If the film is a 3/5, the new collectors edition DVD earns an extra star for an excellent selection of extras - a particularly good commentary from Scott, an excellent hour-long four-part documentary and the release trailer (though none of the teaser trailers are included). It's just a pity that there are no deleted scenes or the alternate ending that was apparently shot. The 2.35:1 widescreen transfer is also particularly good.
Ultra-moody cop fiction........2007-02-25
I saw this film on crappy pan and scan VHS when I was about 12 and I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really up on Ridley Scott's work. As a result, the impact of the film was somewhat lost on me. I was expecting an action film instead of a character drama with lots of police procedure. But now, older and wiser and with a brand new HD-DVD of the movie, I am finally able to appreciate how clever the film is.
The story unfortunately IS riddled with 80s Cop Movie clichés and goes through quite a lot of familiar motions. But if you see past that you'll appreciate the immense atmosphere and mood that Ridley Scott piles on. Simply put, Michael Douglas is Nick Conklin, a bad cop (pretty much the exact same character in Basic Instinct) who drag races on his superbike to pay alimony and pinches drug money instead of turning it in for evidence. Enjoying lunch with partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) in a steakhouse in New York's meat-packing district, they just happen to witness a Yakuza execution by wanted Japanese criminal Sato (Yusaku Matsuda, who was dying of cancer during filming and didn't tell anyone). After a quick punch-up and shoot-out they find themselves chaperoning Sato back to Osaka. But when they arrive there he manages to escape, leaving them embarrassed with lots of questions to answer.
Nick and Charlie find themselves in a very foreign and intolerant world and recapturing Sato proves to be difficult in many ways. Not the least of which is Japan's alienating culture (from an NYPD point of view) and rigid rules. Nonetheless, Nick is determined to catch Sato and restore his honor.
Like I said, the atmosphere of the film is overwhelming, which is really all the film needs. The clichés and stereotypes don't matter so much when you are involved this much. Hans Zimmer (his first film with Ridley Scott) provides a deeply emotional and very melodic score that'll be rattling around in your head for days. It's a shame it's never had a comprehensive CD release, as it's one of Zimmer's most impressive efforts.
You could call it a pretty 80s movies, but I still do feel that it holds up pretty well today. As one of Ridley Scott's more forgotten works, it's well worth checking out.
The HD DVD features a brilliant 2.4:1 1080p image with Dolby 5.1+ and a great retrospecive documentary by Laurent Bouzereau. But why is it split into 3 parts? Totally pointless! In total it makes for about an hours worth. A commentary by Scott and a trailer is also included.
Average customer rating:
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Let It Rain
Starring: Sr. Bishop Paul S. Morton
Manufacturer: COMPENDIA MUSIC GROUP
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ASIN: B0000A02XP
Release Date: 2003-07-08 |
Average customer rating:
- Please don't buy at this price!!
- The Horrible Aftermath Of War: A Masterpiece!
- A dedicated journey by an aunt and uncle
- Singing about the dark times
- Available now at a fraction of the prices advertised here!
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Black Rain
Starring: Yoshiko Tanaka , Kazuo Kitamura , Etsuko Ichihara , Shoichi Ozawa , and Norihei Miki
Director: Shohei Imamura
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
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ASIN: B00000FYQO
Release Date: 1998-03-18 |
Description
A Cannes Film Festival award winner, "Black Rain" is an unforgettable movie about humanity and survival after the 1945 atomic catastrophe that changed the world forever. Stunning photography vividly details the horror of ravaged Hiroshima, while its shocked survivors struggle with radiation sickness as they rebuild their shattered lives.
Customer Reviews:
Please don't buy at this price!!.......2007-03-01
I found a used DVD on eBay for $35. It wasn't worth it. The image is letterboxed, but so small that you have to blow it up to resolution-killing proportions. I also own the VHS and laserdisc of "Black Rain." The tape offers a MUCH better image. The laserdisc gives the best results of all. I am outraged at the prices being asked here. I really hope this great movie will be re-released with proper care, and that the people who want to rip you off will be left holding the bag.
The Horrible Aftermath Of War: A Masterpiece!.......2007-01-16
This is a DVD that belongs in your cinema collection. I reveiwed the film again last night, and was surprised to find the film is out of print, and that the price listed is ridiculously high. If you can, wait until it is more reasonable. However, it is a remarkebly great cinematic masterpiece. The film was directed by Shohei Imamura, and stars Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka) as a young woman who must live with the consequneces of a changed life after the war: The setting is the city of Hiroshima. Yasuko was hit with the Black Rain, which fell on the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, hence the title of the film. The film is based on the novel by Masuji Ibuse, who based the book on information he was able to gather from the survivors of the blast, and diaries of many others. This film is about how an entire family was affected by this bombing.
The film begins with the bombing of Hiroshima: A blinding light and sudden blast is seen and heard by the occupants of the city. The suvivors must somehow come to terms with the bombing, however, they are unaware of the effects the bomb will have on them later. The film is shot in black and white, and is very effective, if not more so if the film was shot in color. Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka) has been exposed to the 'Black Rain' [radioactive fallout], while looking for her family. There are some horrific scenes which Director Imamura shares with the viewers. Yasuko's life is now forever changed. Moreover, Yasuko's uncle, Shigematsu Shimuza (Kazuo Kitamura) and her aunt, Shigeko (Etsuko Ichihara) have been affected by the radiation. Yet, they all go about as if life must go on, trying to put the past behind them.
Further, everyone wants to go on with life as if the radiation and its effects are in the past. Yet, for Yasuko the past is always with her. When her aunt and uncle try to find her a suitable husband, the men who are eligible turn down marriage offers because they suspect that Yasuko has been contaminated, and that her health will be a problem. However, the only one that Yasuko feels comfortable with is a man Yuichi (Keisuke Ishida) who himself has been contaminated by the blast. The film is very moving and thought provoking. The film avoids any sensationalism of the events of August 6, 1945. Imamura instead focuses on those whose lives have been altered due to this tragic event in human history. This is not a political film, it is about the lives of those affected by this bombing, and how they cope with its aftermath. Highly recommended. [Stars: 5+]
A dedicated journey by an aunt and uncle.......2006-02-24
If you are a frequent viewer of foreign film, you may know that periodically, you need to view a film twice, especially with oriental films. In this case... Japanese, old film, similar looking people, complex names, lack of clear close-ups, etc.
So, if you don't care to see it twice, pay attention, as it is difficult to simultaneously read subtitles, figure who is who by face, name or situation.
The bomb that hit Hiroshima in 1945 is vividly portrayed with horrifying images. However, one scene shows a young boy with his face practically burned off and he begs that his brother recognize him. This was farfetched as the boy seemed to be without any pain or discomfort. But other images seemed more realistic. Over the length of the film, we see the deteriorating health of those hit by the bomb and the black rain, the radiation fallout.
But with few complexities in storytelling, this plot is rather simple. An aunt, and uncle and senile grandmother live with a niece and the goal is to get her married. The problem lies with a rumor that plagues the niece. Three potential suitors have reneged on the proposal because she is unhealthy because of the bomb. The struggle is to prove that it was not because of a direct hit from the bomb, it was just radiation fallout as the three were merely crossing through the devastated city in search of relatives.
Based on a true story, this is an emotional film that records the journey to simply marry off a young woman who is rumored with an unhealthy certificate for marriage.
Yes, the bombing was an atrocious act and I don't want to go there, so focus on the journey by an aunt and uncle in their quest to get their niece married before they die, because they too, were victims of the radiation fallout. See another excellent film by Inamura, The Ballad of Narayama .....MzRizz
Singing about the dark times.......2005-10-22
Ever since Theodor Adorno first raised questions about the possibility of making poetry after Auschwitz, art has been haunted by the possibility of its own failure, the possibility that one of its most remarkable features--its ability to shock the viewer into new ways of seeing--might be eclipsed by the great spectacles of mass death the extermination camps made possible. How could there be poetry after Auschwitz? To this question another could be added: Can there be cinema after Hiroshima? Or is all cinema doomed to failure given the incursions the mushroom cloud has made on our consciousness?
Perhaps one answer to that question can be found in Bertolt Brecht's poem "Motto" which, while avoiding the question of whether art can, in the face of the technology of mass death, preserve its special ability to re-focus our attention, affirms simply the persistence of poetic testimony:
In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing
About the dark times.
Like Brecht, Shohei Imamura's "Black Rain" refuses to remain silent in the face of the 20th century's great horrors, choosing instead the far riskier route of giving voice to them and of painstakingly documenting the devastating effects radiation has on a community while never once imagining that this message, if received, will be heard.
The film haunts the viewer much in the way that the world continues to be haunted by the events of August 6 and 9, 1945. Images linger in the mind long after the film ends, some horrific others hauntingly sad: a reunion of two brothers--one who has been burned so badly beyond recognition that the other at first draws back from touching him and asks for his name, the expedition to see the carp, and Yuichi surrounding Yasuko's house with the Jizo statues. Suffice to say that this is a film that must be seen.
The sad reality, however, is that this film is no longer available to the public, except in the form of very expensive used editions of the DVD. Because I feel strongly that this film deserves to be seen (especially given our highly fraught present) I have begun a petition that I am sending to a number of important international directors to restore and re-release the film. My hope is that in doing so the film will soon be available to the public again.
Eric Johnson-DeBaufre
Available now at a fraction of the prices advertised here!.......2005-09-11
Wonderful film as aptly described by previous reviewers. Just want to inform potential buyers that this film is now available at Amazon.fr.as "pluie noire". Subtitled in both French and English. So no need to purchase at the crazy prices avertised by marketplace sellers!
Average customer rating:
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Black Rain
Starring: Richard Chamberlain , Olivia Hamnett , David Gulpilil , Frederick Parslow , and Vivean Gray
Director: Peter Weir
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000APEAUQ |
Product Description
Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages:
o English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
o Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0) Synopsis:
Peter Weir follows up on his critically acclaimed masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock with this surrealist psychological drama. The film opens with a freak hailstorm in Australia's outback. Cut to David Burton (Richard Chamberlain), a well-to-do Sydney corporate lawyer plagued by visions of impending doom who is assigned to defend five accused of murdering a fellow Aborigine. The case itself proves to be mysterious -- no exact cause of death can be determined by the pathologist, and the accused remain strangely tight-lipped about the whole affair. As his visions grow increasingly weird and intense, Burton sees in his dream one of the five Aborigines, Chris (David Gulpili of Walkabout fame), who is drenched and clutching a sacred rock. Burton's interest in the case slides into complete obsession, and he comes to believe that not only was the murder related to an underground urban tribe of Aborigines but that Australia is about to be decimated by a massive, apocalyptic tidal wave.
Special Features:
o Interactive Menu
o Scene Access
![Black Rain [Region 2]](http://www.germanelectronics88.com/noimage.gif)
Average customer rating:
- Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan.
- Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY
- Bad description of product
- Cops and Yakuza
- Ultra-moody cop fiction.
|
Black Rain [Region 2]
Starring: Michael Douglas , Andy Garcia , Ken Takakura , Kate Capshaw , and Yusaku Matsuda
Director: Ridley Scott
ProductGroup: DVD
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Capshaw, Kate
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| ( D )
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Garcia, Andy
| ( G )
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Kelleher, Tim
| ( K )
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Riehle, Richard
| ( R )
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| ( R )
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| ( S )
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| ( T )
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Tomisaburo, Wakayama
| ( T )
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| ( W )
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ASIN: B00004UEXM |
Amazon.com essential video
A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Black Rain is a ridiculously entertaining thriller by Ridley Scott (Alien), starring Michael Douglas as a tough New York cop who--along with his partner (Andy Garcia)--goes to Japan to deliver a local mobster. When the latter escapes, Douglas's brand of gonzo crime fighting rubs his Japanese hosts the wrong way. Slick, mechanistic, and absurd, the film is all surface action and attitude (not to mention Scott's incredibly busy, trademark art direction); and one can get lost in the sheer indulgence of it. However, if you can buy Douglas as an iconoclastic lawman, you can buy anything else here, including the notion of Kate Capshaw as a blonde escort highly desired by Japanese businessmen. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com
Cultures clash (and so, occasionally, do clichés) in this 1989 stylefest from director Ridley Scott. Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are New York cops who grab a Japanese mobster and take him back to Osaka--only to lose him there. When they're forced to track him down, Douglas's knuckles-and-know-how approach to crime-fighting puts him at odds with his Japanese handlers. Beside eschewing police brutality, their code of honor also induces guilt because Douglas has succumbed to the occasional shifty tendency in the past. Despite some strong action sequences and Scott's trademark look of neon reflected on wet streets, it begins to drag and ends up exactly where you expect it to--with Douglas chin-to-chin with chief bad guy Yusaku Matsuda. No one plays a flawed hero better than Douglas but this one tends to be by the numbers. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
Unique to say the least; they filmed the thing in Japan........2007-06-17
Most people do not appreciate just how insular the Japanese are and how incredibly difficult it is to penetrate their society. Black Rain is an incredible film if for no other reason than it was beautifully shot in Japan and is one of the more exotic Hollywood megabudget films you'll lay eyes on. There isn't anything else quite like it and it couldn't be made today.
But what we have here is a pretty superficial Cops and Robbers pic. The yakuza really are treated as superman curiosities and their scenes seem forced to put it mildly. The chemistry between the actors just isn't there, no matter how much it's emphasized. The plot is exceedingly simple. So by most objective criteria, it's not so good. But, this is a Ridley Scott film, folks. For all the talk of characterization he more endures characters and moves them around like marionettes than anything else. Michael Douglas is so egotistical he didn't even notice!
Buyer Beware - BLU-RAY.......2007-04-15
This is a BLU-RAY disc - it does NOT say that in the product description! I got taken in not once but twice and now I have to return both copies.
Bad description of product.......2007-03-11
I bought this movie for my husband because its one of his faves. When we received it we found out it was a Blu Ray edition and our DVD player doesn't accept Blu Ray DVD's. So I basically bought a movie I can't watch. It should have been put in the description that this a Blu Ray edition for those of us who don't have Blu Ray compatible dvd players.
Cops and Yakuza.......2007-02-27
Ridley Scott's Black Rain is a lavishly mounted but rather hollow affair, transporting all the usual cop movie clichés from New York to Japan: New York cops are mavericks who don't like suits; Japanese cops are team players who like karaoke. Stylishly shot, with Tokyo looking like the sets from Blade Runner with extra neon, The Yakuza it ain't despite the presence of the great Takakura Ken (who even cracks what may be his first onscreen smile), and it suffers from some outrageous 80s power ballading and serenading on the soundtrack ("You're so bright you could be a candle/Hold you so tight you could be a handle/Smell so sweet you could be perfume/Swept me off your feet like you were a broom"). But if you lower expectations and aren't looking for anything too demanding it fills the spot and is certainly better than most of Scott's troubled post-Blade Runner, pre-Gladiator films.
If the film is a 3/5, the new collectors edition DVD earns an extra star for an excellent selection of extras - a particularly good commentary from Scott, an excellent hour-long four-part documentary and the release trailer (though none of the teaser trailers are included). It's just a pity that there are no deleted scenes or the alternate ending that was apparently shot. The 2.35:1 widescreen transfer is also particularly good.
Ultra-moody cop fiction........2007-02-25
I saw this film on crappy pan and scan VHS when I was about 12 and I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really up on Ridley Scott's work. As a result, the impact of the film was somewhat lost on me. I was expecting an action film instead of a character drama with lots of police procedure. But now, older and wiser and with a brand new HD-DVD of the movie, I am finally able to appreciate how clever the film is.
The story unfortunately IS riddled with 80s Cop Movie clichés and goes through quite a lot of familiar motions. But if you see past that you'll appreciate the immense atmosphere and mood that Ridley Scott piles on. Simply put, Michael Douglas is Nick Conklin, a bad cop (pretty much the exact same character in Basic Instinct) who drag races on his superbike to pay alimony and pinches drug money instead of turning it in for evidence. Enjoying lunch with partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) in a steakhouse in New York's meat-packing district, they just happen to witness a Yakuza execution by wanted Japanese criminal Sato (Yusaku Matsuda, who was dying of cancer during filming and didn't tell anyone). After a quick punch-up and shoot-out they find themselves chaperoning Sato back to Osaka. But when they arrive there he manages to escape, leaving them embarrassed with lots of questions to answer.
Nick and Charlie find themselves in a very foreign and intolerant world and recapturing Sato proves to be difficult in many ways. Not the least of which is Japan's alienating culture (from an NYPD point of view) and rigid rules. Nonetheless, Nick is determined to catch Sato and restore his honor.
Like I said, the atmosphere of the film is overwhelming, which is really all the film needs. The clichés and stereotypes don't matter so much when you are involved this much. Hans Zimmer (his first film with Ridley Scott) provides a deeply emotional and very melodic score that'll be rattling around in your head for days. It's a shame it's never had a comprehensive CD release, as it's one of Zimmer's most impressive efforts.
You could call it a pretty 80s movies, but I still do feel that it holds up pretty well today. As one of Ridley Scott's more forgotten works, it's well worth checking out.
The HD DVD features a brilliant 2.4:1 1080p image with Dolby 5.1+ and a great retrospecive documentary by Laurent Bouzereau. But why is it split into 3 parts? Totally pointless! In total it makes for about an hours worth. A commentary by Scott and a trailer is also included.
DVD:
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