Riot

Starring:Gary Daniels, Sugar Ray Leopnard
Studio: Trinity Home Ent
Product Type: DVD

The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)

Average customer rating:

THE DREAMERS
perfect quality and cheap, too
Adequate productions, etc.
Great Movie!
House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris

The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)
Starring: Michael Pitt (II) , Eva Green , Louis Garrel , Anna Chancellor , and Robin Renucci
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00023P4I8
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Amazon.com

A love letter to movies (and the French new wave of the 1960s in particular), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers starts with a 1968 riot outside of a Parisian movie palace then burrows into an insular love triangle. Matthew (Michael Pitt, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), an expatriate American student, bonds with a twin brother and sister, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel), over their mutual love of film--they not only quote lines of dialogue, they act out small bits and challenge each other to name the cinematic source. Matthew suspects the twins of incest, but that doesn't stop him from falling into his own intimacies with Isabelle. As the threesome becomes threatened, Paris succumbs to student riots. The Dreamers aspires to be kinky, but the results are more decorative than decadent; nonetheless, the movie's lively energy recalls the careless and vital exuberance of Godard and Truffaut. --Bret Fetzer

Description

From Academy Award®-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, 1987), comes an erotic tale of three young film lovers brought together by their passion for movies -- and each other. When Isabelle and Theo (Eva Green, Louis Garrel) invite Matthew (Michael Pitt) to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and anything is possible. Featuring an engaging, seductive cast, The Dreamers is a ?spellbinding, provocative feast!" (Ebert & Roeper)

Customer Reviews:

THE DREAMERS.......2007-07-01

Its tempting to try selling this film as the debut performance by the newest Bond girl Eva Green.

As an alternate, see my review, as well as this Amazon review by Bret Fetzer below mine.

Many would attempt judging this film as kinky with a sprinkling of frontal nudity and a menage a' trois scene thrown in (the NC-17) version. However, this Bernardo Bertolucci film would rather like to remembered as a love letter to the movies and to the average Parisian's intense love for good films. Using a backdrop of the 1968 student riots brought about by the firing of the director at the Cinematheque Francais - a temple for students and afficionados of art films, the story weaves into it the coming-of-age story of a bother-sister par and a young exchange student from America living together duing the heady days, and their evolving relationship.
-------------------------------
"A love letter to movies (and the French new wave of the 1960s in particular), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers starts with a 1968 riot outside of a Parisian movie palace then burrows into an insular love triangle. Matthew (Michael Pitt, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), an expatriate American student, bonds with a twin brother and sister, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel), over their mutual love of film--they not only quote lines of dialogue, they act out small bits and challenge each other to name the cinematic source. Matthew suspects the twins of incest, but that doesn't stop him from falling into his own intimacies with Isabelle. As the threesome becomes threatened, Paris succumbs to student riots. The Dreamers aspires to be kinky, but the results are more decorative than decadent; nonetheless, the movie's lively energy recalls the careless and vital exuberance of Godard and Truffaut". --Bret Fetzer
--------------------------------

perfect quality and cheap, too.......2007-05-13

For $5, a great film at an even better price...

Adequate productions, etc........2007-05-07

This was an ok flick...........always good to see up and coming artists and these were fine......Eva Green should definitely do more of these types........very sexy.....sequel might do better.........

Great Movie!.......2007-05-07

If you haven't seen it you should, if you have then you're already here to buy it.

Some of the finest modern film making, subtle, sensual, insightful.

Not a fan of the last 4 minutes though.. other than that better than great till that point.

House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris.......2007-04-26

When Bernardo Bertolucci makes a new film, I want to see it. I know it will be visually beautiful, deep and meaningful. Even when he is not completely successful - his films are difficult to forget. It applies to "The Dreamers" (2003)

In this film, Bertolucci returns to Paris of 1968. His First Tango is as shocking as Last one - it received NC-17 rating for very open scenes of nudity, masturbation, sex, and the hints to incest. But it is not just about sex - it is about film itself. It was the time when Pauline Kael said, "Bertolucci and Brando have altered the face of an art form". It was the time when a crowd in Chicago would line up under umbrellas on the sidewalk, waiting in the rain to get into the next screening of Godard's "Weekend." It was the time when movie makers became the Artists. It was the time when closing down of the famous Cinematheque Francais in Paris by the government started the student culture riots which became the part of youthful rebellion all over the Western World.

Young American, Mathew, a devoted movie buff (Michael Pitt who by the opinion of several reviewers looks like cross between Leo DiCaprio and Macaulay Culkin. I found him looking more like young Roger Ebert would've. ) becomes friends with two French students and fellow movie lovers, twins Isabella (Eva Green, in a star making debut) and Theo (Louis Garrel) and accepts their invitation to stay with them at their apartment while their intellectual parents are away for vacation.

All three are big fans of movies - they not only talk about movies, they live their favorite scenes. "The Dreamers" is Bertolucci's love letter to cinema, and his irony toward people taking it so seriously that the real world is ignored.

When Matthew moves in with the twins, the result closely resembles "Last Tango in Paris". Much of the film's second half occurs in that apartment, as insular as Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider's more than thirty years ago. Flirting becomes passion becomes dark and dangerous games to see how far someone will go. The difference is that the kids of "The Dreamers" are not as complicated and interesting as Paul or Jeanne (especially Paul, one of the greatest performances by genius Brando).

With this wistful ode to sex, cinema, and the heated atmosphere of the '60s, Bertolucci has proved that he is still on the top of his game. I will be happily waiting for his next film.

Average customer rating:

maybe he shouldve stocked some nice rainbow ices ...
Boycott the Motherf**ker That Don't Like This Film!
Powerful Film
spike lee's best flick
so, what IS the right thing?

Do the Right Thing
Starring: Danny Aiello , Rick Aiello , Paul Benjamin , Ossie Davis , and Ruby Dee
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
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School Daze
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ASIN: 0783227949
Release Date: 1998-07-22

Amazon.com essential video

Spike Lee's incendiary look at race relations in America, circa 1989, is so colorful and exuberant for its first three-quarters that you can almost forget the terrible confrontation that the movie inexorably builds toward. Do the Right Thing is a joyful, tumultuous masterpiece--maybe the best film ever made about race in America, revealing racial prejudices and stereotypes in all their guises and demonstrating how a deadly riot can erupt out of a series of small misunderstandings. Set on one block in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest day of the summer, the movie shows the whole spectrum of life in this neighborhood and then leaves it up to us to decide if, in the end, anybody actually does the "right thing." Featuring Danny Aiello as Sal, the pizza parlor owner; Lee himself as Mookie, the lazy pizza-delivery guy; John Turturro and Richard Edson as Sal's sons; Lee's sister Joie as Mookie's sister Jade; Rosie Perez as Mookie's girlfriend Tina; Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee as the block elders, Da Mayor and Mother Sister; Giancarlo Esposito as Mookie's hot-headed friend Buggin' Out; Bill Nunn as the boom-box toting Radio Raheem; and Samuel L. Jackson as deejay Mister Señor Love Daddy. A rich and nuanced film to watch, treasure, and learn from--over and over again. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

maybe he shouldve stocked some nice rainbow ices ..........2007-06-11

poor spike lee: for 20 years now he has been trying to live up to the promise of this early movie -- but sad to say, two decades down the line, there wasnt as much there as people thought there was. the imagery of the streets (based on the real life howard beach horror) is a trifle too parochial, and the actions of the protagonists just a bit too easy to project before they occur. i honestly can say i didnt like a single person here; in attempting to show their flaws, lee ignores their decency. that aside, there are images that will stay with you a long time -- but as i said earlier, this should have been the heralding of a directorial career, not the peak.

Boycott the Motherf**ker That Don't Like This Film!.......2007-05-08

Sizzling hot! Music by Public Enemy, and a film by the great Spike Lee. And it's all set in the middle of summer, on one of the hottest days ever (Spike would return to this theme again with "Summer of Sam"), and with the coolest cast ever!
Look here, string-cheese head motherf**ker: Rewind it and watch the s**ts again and again! Boycott the motherf**ker who doesn't like this film!
This is a milestone in filmmaking, it's reality...It's the Powers that be!
WAY ahead of its time, speaks to many generations to come, and excellent, awesome filmmaking with never a dull moment.
I would give this film 10 stars if possible...Classic!!
And, that's the truth Ruth!

Powerful Film.......2007-02-16

I remember not saying a word for at least fifteen minutes after watching this film..It was one the most powerful films I've ever seen and makes the viewer reach inside his/herself and examine their attitude toward racism...

spike lee's best flick.......2007-02-03

this mother conjures a time when a new spike lee movie was an event. this movie packs more emotion, beauty, exuberance and life in every minute than 99% of the movies coming out of hollywood. the music, the cinematography, the kaleidoscope of viewpoints and characters, the strong sense of place (NYC, of course), the amazing cast...all in the service of an honest, complex look at racism. Lee leaves you with two choices at the end, as symbolized by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

at the same time that i praise this wonderful movie, i have to wonder what's happened to spike lee since. mo better blues and jungle fever were interesting but never come close to the impact of this movie. crooklyn is sweet and malcolm x is a great film, but still pale compared to lee's best movie.

so, what IS the right thing?.......2007-01-25

Spike Lee's study of urban racial tensions stirred controversy when it was first released. Did he intend to advocate violence or merely record it as so many have experienced it? At the end of this film powerful quotations from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X support either view. Set in the sultry summer of inner city Brooklyn, nearly every scene in this film crackles with tension. The black neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyevesant is patrolled by white cops, and commercialized by an Italian family pizzeria that has been a mainstay for twenty-five years, and an upstart Korean grocery store. The racial tensions simmer just as much within the black community; there is only derision for a plan to boycott the pizzeria, Da Mayor is part village idiot and part wise elder, and even Mookie (Spike Lee) is caught betweeen allegiance to his black community and his Italian employer. Doing the right thing is sometimes hard not only to do but even to know.

Average customer rating:

Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Sex Riot
Starring: Girls Gone Wild
Manufacturer: Mantra Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000GTLQYO
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Do The Right Thing - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

maybe he shouldve stocked some nice rainbow ices ...
Boycott the Motherf**ker That Don't Like This Film!
Powerful Film
spike lee's best flick
so, what IS the right thing?

Do The Right Thing - Criterion Collection
Starring: Danny Aiello , Rick Aiello , Paul Benjamin , Ossie Davis , and Ruby Dee
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Breakthrough Cinema | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00004XQMV
Release Date: 2001-02-20

Amazon.com essential video

Description

The hottest day of the year explodes onscreen in this vibrant look at a day in the life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast that includes Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez, and John Turturro, Spike Lee's powerful portrait of urban racial tensions sparked controversy while earning popular and critical praise. Criterion is proud to present Do the Right Thing in a new Director Approved special edition.

Customer Reviews:

maybe he shouldve stocked some nice rainbow ices ..........2007-06-11

Boycott the Motherf**ker That Don't Like This Film!.......2007-05-08

Powerful Film.......2007-02-16

spike lee's best flick.......2007-02-03

so, what IS the right thing?.......2007-01-25

Average customer rating:

Half Past Dead. Cup Half Empty.
Plot

Half Past Dead 2
Starring: Bill Goldberg , Kurupt , Robert Madrid , Angell Conwell , and Joe Perez (II)
Director: Art Camacho
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000NOIVSQ
Release Date: 2007-05-15

Product Description

Former WWE & WCW World Champion Bill Goldberg and hip-hop group Tha Dog Pound's Ricardo "Kurupt" Brown push life to the limit in this explosive sequel to the 2002 hit movie Half Past Dead.

Burk (Goldberg) and Twitch (Kurupt), are two inmates serving time at Craton Prison, a notoriously tough and violent penitentiary ruled by rival gangs. When a riot breaks out and the prison goes into lockdown, the two must form an unlikely alliance to stay alive. Together, they navigate the hostile gang territory under the watchful eye of unsympathetic prison guards, in order to learn the identity of the inmate responsible for the riot. Eventually Burk discovers that gang leader, Cortez, is behind the riot and find that he's taken two hostages: Cherise, Twitch's fiancee and Ellie, Burk's daughter. Twitch and Burk find they must work together in order to save their loved ones and bring Cortez down.

Customer Reviews:

Half Past Dead. Cup Half Empty........2007-05-30

There was a time when Hollywood only made sequel's to movies that were good in the first place and actually warranted a follow up. Now, with the ever increasing direct-to-video market near critical mass with once action giants Seagal / Van Damme / Lundgren lugging it out on a digital landscape - it seems that all bets are off and any movie can have its own spin off or franchise potential. Forget the original's quality - let's just do a follow up, film it quickly and get some studio to release it!

Which brings us to `Half Past Dead 2'. Where the original `Half Past Dead' had an amusingly awkward title that always raised a smile and filled its by-the-numbers running time with a sweaty lookin' Steven Seagal hooking up with a bevvy of rappers to protect Alcatraz from Morris Chestnut and his "Matrix-lite" team breaking in. It was hardly an oscar calibre production and easily ranked as a forerunner to where Seagal's mindset is regarding his recent video output. However, why let that little problem stop producer Andrew (yeah, he starred in Munchie!) Stevens from bankrolling a sequel and dumping it on an unsuspecting action video hungry public?

However, on this occasion - Stevens couldn't convince the Lord Seagal to return in orange jumpsuit/buddy rapper duties (he was obviously eyeing up another The Foreigner sequel) and had to find a replacement to fill the shoes of a non-acting hard man type. Well, there's plenty out there but lucky for him - step up Bill Goldberg. He, of WCW fame and Van Damme rival in dull sequel `Universal Soldier: The Return' turns up in the main lead role and although he looks the part in his wife beater and jeans, hardly injects his character with anything like, er . . . you know, character. Its like watching a piece of meat in a vest hitting people in the head with the odd expletive thrown in for good measure. You almost get the impression that the producers are dangling dollar bills infront of the camera prompting him to move from scene to scene. Granted, he looks the part - but, unfortunately the part is beyond him. Quite the opposite has to be said of Kurrupt - who delivers a bright and breezy performance and actually pushes the movie along. Without him, the movie would be devoid of any atmosphere whatsoever and thank goodness he returns from the original. Kudos too to Angell Conwell, who plays Kurrupts love interest - she brings a sassy attitude to the movies' more duller moments.

I won't bore you with the story (there isn't really one to speak of), except it features the usual assortment of prison fighting cliches, overlong riot sequences, dumb prison guards/wardens and the always classic canteen bust up! You can almost tick off the cliches rolled out, so keep a pen and paper handy.

Tony Plana also returns from the first movie in an extended cameo, and this kind of continuation is where this sequel succeeds to a certain point. Its good to have actual characters from a previous instalment turn up in this day and age and actually helps this movie. All-in-all, not the best movie around, but certainly not the worst. The cast are generally good (Goldberg needs a little more coaching in the acting department, but his physical presence is impressive and you believe he could seriously cause some damage) and Art Camacho directs what is obviously a low budget with a strong, assured hand. The picture quality isn't the best though, and most of the darker scenes lose some "dramatic" quality.

Its on par with most other direct-to-video releases of late, except it actually features a better cast and nicely handled fisticuffs. For a movie that doesn't need a sequel, this movie has turned out better than expected. However, that's hardly a recommendation... maybe worth renting before you buy.

Plot.......2007-04-25

WWE and WCW star Bill Goldberg brings his brawn from the ring to the screen in this sequel to the 2002 film HALF PAST DEAD. Joined by rapper Kurupt of Tha Dog Pound, Goldberg plays Burk, an inmate at a prison that brings new meaning to the phrase "maximum security." A riot erupts among the violent offenders, and Burk is forced to unite with fellow prisoner Twitch (Kurupt) in order to survive. They learn that Twitch's fiancée and Burke's daughter have been taken hostage by the man to blame for the riot, cementing their alliance as they try to take him down.

- Yahoo! Movies

Average customer rating:

THE DREAMERS
perfect quality and cheap, too
Adequate productions, etc.
Great Movie!
House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris

The Dreamers (R-Rated Edition)
Starring: Michael Pitt (II) , Eva Green , Louis Garrel , Anna Chancellor , and Robin Renucci
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00023P4HY
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Amazon.com

Description

Customer Reviews:

THE DREAMERS.......2007-07-01

perfect quality and cheap, too.......2007-05-13

For $5, a great film at an even better price...

Adequate productions, etc........2007-05-07

Great Movie!.......2007-05-07

House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris.......2007-04-26

Average customer rating:

Medium Cool
Excellent Counterculture Cinema
Incredible time capsule of late 60s Chicago
Something very special...
I had to see it twice!

Medium Cool
Starring: Christine Bergstrom , Harold Blankenship , Verna Bloom , Peter Bonerz , and Peter Boyle
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005QTAT
Release Date: 2001-12-11

Amazon.com

Medium Cool is an almost impossible oddity: director Haskel Wexler wanted to shoot a fictional, narrative film wherein actors mingled with real people in an uncontrolled social environment. With that in mind, he began filming a movie about racial tensions in Chicago during the weeks prior to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, on the assumption that there would be a riot there. Then he brought his cast, crew, and camera to the scene of the proposed mayhem, and waited. . . and lo and behold, civil disorder broke out. It's intensely strange to see actors, playing characters, interacting in a real-life situation with real cops and real hippies fighting and running about. This is made stranger still by the story, about a reporter covering the growing unrest in the black ghettos of the city who discovers that the FBI may be in cahoots with his network. In preparing his script, Wexler assumed that the riot would be racial, but in fact it turned out that most of the rioters were white, so the final scenes seem to interrupt the narrative and make the film an odd pastiche and a commentary on the lack of connection between politics and life. Perhaps more of a curiosity than a wholly successful film, Medium Cool is still worth seeing for its striking footage and unprecedented combination of the real and the imaginary. --James DiGiovanna

Customer Reviews:

Medium Cool.......2007-06-28

Haskell Wexler's one-of-a-kind film seamlessly blends narrative and documentary forms, as the actors actually played their scenes as the Chicago riots were exploding all around them. Thus "Medium Cool" attains a heightened sense of tension, immediacy, and danger, as the line blurs between drama and reality. Evocative and extremely well-played by Forster and Bloom, this is a fascinating time-capsule for the ages. Look for Peter Boyle as an impassioned right-winger.

Excellent Counterculture Cinema.......2007-04-15

`Medium Cool' was directed, scripted, produced and filmed in 1968 by Haskell Wexler who had had success the previous year working as a cinematographer for Norman Jewison (In the Heat Of The Night, 1968) and Mike Nichols (`Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?', 1967). He would also later work with George Lucas, Hal Ashby, Milos Forman and Terence Mallick in the 70s shooting important films of the `New Hollywood'.

Of all the films considered to be counterculture works this has to rank as one of the best mostly for the fact that it accurately captures the atmosphere of the period. I rank this up there with other films like `Punishment Park' (Watkins, 1970) and `Zabriskie Point' (Antonioni, 1970).

The title is from Marshall McLuhan who described TV as a cool medium.

Incredible time capsule of late 60s Chicago.......2007-01-16

This film is a must-have for anyone interested in the sociology, history, and physical development of Chicago. Done in a neo-realist style using a mixture of professional and amateur actors, the story revolves around real scenes shot during the 1968 Democratic Convention and the "police riot" that ensued. The deus-ex-machina ending is a bit disappointing, but the street scenes and footage are mind-blowing for students of Chicago and its history.

Something very special..........2005-07-20

Absorbing, thought provoking and, above all, a unique record of an important "place & time", why "Medium Cool" still fails to gain the attention it deserves remains one of life's great mysteries.

First off, it's a pretty good if somewhat disjointed story... two "world-wise" middle class news reporters are sent to film the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and become unwittingly involved in its political demonstrations, the inner city problems that have precipitated them, and the lives of a single mother and her young son in this harsh, confusing and seriously under-privileged world. Its acting, in particular from Robert Forster as the lead reporter and the 13 year old Harold Blankenship as the son, is excellent and at times so effective that it's difficult to remember you're watching a rigidly sequenced film rather than a social documentary. And, it's overlaid with some quite stunning cinema-photography from director Haskell Wexler, one of America's very best exponents of the art, backed up by a perfectly pitched late 60's soundtrack.

Good enough so far, but that's just the start. Add-in its extensive live footage from the streets of Chicago as the riots develop, taken by the film's camera crew as they themselves are caught-up in a very "real" political drama, its ominous sequencing of the build up of events from a fun "day in the park" for the hippies/yippies to serious "police state" level violence, its equally chilling images of what was going on inside the Convention Hall while all of this was taking place, and the clever and disturbing scenes of the mother's desperate search for her lost son as Wexler films her within the increasingly anarchic crowds of demonstrators & troops actually on the streets at the time, and you've got... something very special.

Part film and part documentary, not all of what you think is "real" in "Medium Cool" is, and the lines between live and acted scenes are sometimes confusingly and frustratingly blurred, as in the famous call from one of the camera crew of "look out Haskell this is real" as a tear gas canister lands in front of them, which was in fact over-dubbed afterwards. But that's the whole point of the film as the final, almost startling scenes reveal. How far is the media in control? Is what you're seeing real, distorted or contrived? Wexler's brilliance is to take this underlying theme and to mould it into a fascinating exploration of inner city life, American society in a period of huge change, and the power/needs of the media in a TV dominated world, while, in parallel, producing a gripping record of what it's like to be in the centre of a demonstration that's spiralling out of control. Juxtaposing the impersonality of reporting with the very personal situations that are involved, it raises a whole series of questions on the way without falling into the trap of most films of the era in trying to ram home too many answers. And, as a result, it remains as relevant today as it did then.

Quite rightly regarded as one of the best "counter culture" films of the late 60's and much richer and more thought provoking than this classification usually implies, it remains one of the most under-rated films out there.

I had to see it twice!.......2004-12-10

I saw "Medium Cool" shortly after I had been drafted in 1969 - in San Antonio where I was going through basic training for conscientious objectors. I was so blown away by this film I sat through it a second time (you could do that in those days) to try to take it all in. The mixture of documentary style direction with actors playing characters was a new idea, but to put them into an explosive (& eventually exploding) situation was a stroke of cinematic genius by Wexler. The movie also received an "X" rating for a scene you could probably show during family viewing hours on TV these days.

The thing that still stands out in my mind after all these years is Robert Forster's characterization of the news cameraman. Working in this "cool" medium, he stays detached from the people he films almost to the point of inhumanity. In the opening scene, Forster and sound man Peter Bonerz come upon a crash on an expressway, the car against a wall with its horn blowing continuously and a bleeding woman lying on the ground next to the open passenger's door. They procede to start filming the scene, but Bonerz compains that the horn is wiping out all other sound he might get. Forster goes to the open (from the crash) hood of the car & yanks out the horn wires. They then continue filming the scene without ever considering calling for help for the injured woman on the ground until they're finished. You begin to wonder who are these guys who callously put getting the story, which they would have gotten anyway, ahead of helping someone who's been injured.

Two other scenes come to mind which give insight into Forster's character. In one scene with girlfriend Marianna Hill, she challenges him by asking him about a scene from the movie "Mondo Cane". This scene involved tortoises on a Pacific island whose sense of direction had been affected by atomic bomb tests to the point where they no longer knew how to find the ocean. She asks Forster if, after they were done filming, the cameramen might have turned the tortoises around and pointed them toward the ocean. She really wants to know what he would have done. Forster replies, "How do I know? Those were French cameramen."

The second scene occurs when Forster is watching the mourning for the death of Martin Luther King on TV at Verna Bloom's house. His reaction to the outpouring of grief & emotion on the screen is to say, "Jesus, I love to shoot film."

Forster (& the others I've mentioned) are great in this film. And among the other points he makes with this film, Wexler reminds us that to the TV camera, our lives, joys, accomplishments and especially our sufferings are reduced to being just frames of film which may occasionally be newsworthy.

Average customer rating:

deep
The Actions of Corrupted cops, Should be Rectified!
This Civil Is The Perfect Brand
good movie
good movie

Civil Brand
Starring: LisaRaye , N'Bushe Wright , Monica Calhoun , Clifton Powell , and Mos Def
Director: Neema Barnette
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Prison | Cult Movies | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000TSQNO
Release Date: 2004-01-27

Product Description

Frances Shepherd (LisaRaye), a beautiful young mother and nurse, has been sent to the pen for killing her abusive husband has just joined the ranks of one of the most lucrative businesses in America: Prison Sweatshops. After being abused, violated and persecuted by the prison warden, the women from the cellblock rise up and revolt against the injustices of the penitentiary and the "new millennium slavery" workplace that harvests human labor for big-time profit. Nothing will stop Frances and her fellow inmates in this brutal battle for justice.

FEATURES

peoduction Commentary

English & Spanich Subtitles

System Requirements:

Running Time 91 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

deep.......2007-05-13

I LOVE THIS MOVEI I SAW IT ON BET AND HAD TO PURCHASE IT. IT IS SO AMAZING WHAT WOMEN GO THRU IN PRISON AND IM SAD TO SEE IT DIDNT GET A LOT OF RECOGNITION

The Actions of Corrupted cops, Should be Rectified!.......2005-05-25

1st off Much Love & Props 2 Neema Barnette 1 the Guru(s) of the underground Directors! I've found a much deeper connection with her work after I viewed the DVD with her commentary... I love both Mc Lyte's & N'Bushe Wright's Dispositions period, so they're my rationale for supporting Civil Brand! Mc Lyte gets slept on as an Actress & Rappers as well! She ominscient at what she does and she speaks & raps eloquently! Mc Lyte, Queen Latifah are 2 of the best that has strucked Rap & Acting (hands down). Thanks to Neema B. for not being raunchy & making Civil Brand out to be a cliche' prison chick flick! Tichina Arnold (Pam) from Martin showed that she's versatile with her skills. I loved when Tichina punched Lisa in the face & snatched her chain, like ''Bitch Ante-Up''. I'll express my Hatred for Clifton Powell's character... He had the balls to think that he & his boss would get away with turning these inmates into Tricks!!!!
When Monica Calhoun & the rest of them were beating his ass I got an Adrenalin rush! They took over the prison on some Attica
sh*t (You Know). Mos Def was feeble at 1st but he found the courage to help with cause, so he was cool. Cervantes/Mc Lyte
was on the wrong team, but I'm glad in a way because if she was a convict then she might have been killed also! My biggest complaint is that Neema should've kept most characters alive
so that they could've wreap the benefit of being Emancipated
along with the narrator Da Brat! As I said before all of these prison movies are an example of how prisoners are slaved (it must be Seen & Heard). It should be Rectified why aren't these Tyrants being brought to Justice as the criminals that they are? It's F***ing sad that a prisoners has to make clothing & be paid little to nothing after completing it!... After that they'll Rape the Consumers by charging 2 arms & 1 leg for those items (A Total conspiracy)! I feel that Neema could've found someone else to play Lisa Raye's role, I wasn't getting anything from her! Jada Pinkett would've been suitable to play L. Raye's role! I enjoyed the sound track plenty because it had a touch of Poetry!

This Civil Is The Perfect Brand.......2005-03-29

This movie is a winner.With an alstar beautiful cast with so much talent.They are LisaRaye, Tichina Arnold, N'Busche Wright, Monica Calhoun, Lark Voorhies,Da Brat, Mc Lyte and even Mos Def.

The plot is so importaant and this is a great movie.Its baout women who too a stand because they were tired of their hard labor and sexist treatment while they are in prison.These women all shien in this movie and among that it has won many awards at film festivals even BEST PICTURE.
I remeber reading amagazine and seeing an ad in a magazine for a movie after that i never heard anything else about it.NExt thing i know i was walking thorugh Wal-Mart and saw the DVD.I never seen it before so i bought it and loved it..

BOTTOM LINE THIS IS A RECOMMENDATION FOR EVERYONE

OVERALL GRADE 97/100 = A

good movie.......2005-03-19

civil brand was one of the best african american movie ive ever seen. with some nice acting. and a few hot girls.

good movie.......2005-03-19

civil brand was one of the best african american movie ive ever seen. with some nice acting. and a few hot girls.

Average customer rating:

Worth it
Tongue'N'Cheek with a Message
horrible, but sort of funny.
One of my favorites.
fabulous stereo DVD - a wonderful historical fantasy

Stonewall
Starring: Guillermo Díaz , Fred Weller , Brendan Corbalis , Duane Boutte , and Bruce MacVittie
Director: Nigel Finch
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Gay & Lesbian | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video