The Big Slice

Starring:Casey Siemaszko, Leslie Hope, Justin Louis, Kenneth Welsh, Nicholas Campbell, Heather Locklear, Henry Ramer, Bruce McFee, FranÃ§ois Klanfer, Michael Copeman, Phil Morrison, Philip Akin, Von Flores, Louis Di Bianco, Bruce Vavrina, Eric Fink, Billie Mae Richards, Colleen Reynolds, Syd Libman, Fred Lee
Director: John Bradshaw
Studio: Trinity Home Ent
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Not a film as much as a language.
Pure Cinema
These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks...
Propaganda, but very well done.
NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music.

Man With the Movie Camera
Director: Dziga Vertov
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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

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ASIN: 6305131104
Release Date: 2002-02-26

Description

Described by director Dziga Vertov as an experiment in the language of pure cinema, "The Man With the Movie Camera" is perhaps the most dazzling and sophisticated, not only of Soviet, but of world silent cinema. Music by the Alloy Orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

Not a film as much as a language........2007-02-28

The Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

The opening moments of the newly-restored edition of Dziga Vertov's most famous film, The Man with a Movie Camera, explain that the silent film contains no cards because Vertov was less interested in making a traditional movie than in creating a visual language. Thus, those who go into this looking for a traditional movie aren't going to get much out of it; there's no plot, no characters, no story, not much of anything, really. The idea behind Vertov's vision was to (a) document daily life in contemporary Russia, and (b) to use nothing but images to convey the ambient emotions. And in that respect, the film is a smashing success; if you allow it to simply wash over you, it's a wonderful piece of work.

Perhaps even more interesting than Vertov's attempt to create a visual language was the movie's sense of what is popularly called "meta" today; the documentary itself is framed with images of a movie theater where people are attending a screening of, you guessed it, The Man with a Movie Camera. If nothing else, these scenes alone-- unheard of at the time-- would cement Vertov's place as one of film's pioneers.

Its importance in the greater scheme of cinema would be hard to overstate; Vertov's little self-aware documentary was a direct influence on hundreds, if not thousands, of movies that followed (most importantly Triumph des Willens, which changed not only the face of filmmaking, but the face of the entire marketing industry as well). Eighty years later, The Man with a Movie Camera has as much power to impress as it did when it was released-- as long as you're willing to take it on its own terms. ****

Pure Cinema.......2006-09-11

THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA is a film you're either going to love or hate, and it's unlikely you'll find a comfortable mid-ground. It's silent, Russian made, experimental. It opens with a manifesto rejecting inter-title cards, and an affinity to or reliance on theater and literature. It won't reject any of the tricks of cinema, though - including stop-action animation, slow motion, and at times dizzying, machine fire montages. It uses documentary footage to tell its story.

Although it doesn't tell a traditional story the movie does have a structure. It opens in an empty movie hall, records a projectionist queuing up reel one. Cuts to the hall, stop-action animates chairs unfolding. Cuts to the orchestra - conductor's baton is raised, the orchestra is readied and suspended. Enter audience. Love it or hate it, this movie never forgets it's a movie. I loved it. And I loved when the projector started and the real movie started.

And that journey - the one the movie takes - is well described by the second American title, `Living Russia.' We seem to spend most of the movie following a man with an old, hand-cranked, tripod supported movie camera as he travels through some Russian city or other. We, over his shoulder, seem to go everywhere and observe everything - a young woman sleeping in bed, people sleeping on park benches, store-front mannequins at rest. Eventually the woman and bench sleepers awake, the mannequins are animated, and we travel in time through the work and recreational life of a city. Then it's to the foundry, the cigarette packing plant, the beach, the volleyball court....

Some people will find this art house movie terribly self-absorbed and its lack of a conventional narrative frustrating. If you only like movies that throw a good story at you probably won't care much for this film. If you're not sure give this one a try - beneath it's lack of `story' is a fascinating story written on celluloid, vibrant, wry, and witty.

These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks..........2006-07-01

seriously, I can see how the camera work might of blown people away back when this was made (especially the scene in the factory where it keeps flicking like a strob to all the loud factory noise.) but today it just wont excite. Like the first light bulb ever...WHOA HOLY [...] THATS INCREDIBLE! But how often do you catch yourself saying that when you enter your bedroom everyday? Important film but very dated...only watch it to look cool & get chicks...trust me it'll work bruv!

Propaganda, but very well done........2006-05-13

Dziga Vertov's film is an amazing and quite daring foray into the realm of experimental cinema (I say this with some reservations -- see below). The viewer is quite literally transported to the Soviet Union of the past. We witness love and loss, happiness and sadness, life and death. We witness the beginning of a day and the end of a day, a wedding and a divorce, a birth and a funeral. All the scenes are real -- the birth is a real birth, the funeral a real funeral, the divorce a real divorce. Nationalistic and cultural boundaries begin to fade since the events depicted say more about human nature than they do about a particular people.
The music is quite inventive and amazing, especially when one considers that only three young men are performing it. The editing is some of the most astonishing ever to come out of Soviet silent cinema.
That said, there is a somewhat irritating political message that comes forth -- that industrialization will solve the problems of humanity, that those who follow the Party line are the ones depicted as being sober and responsible. So many people are shocked by Nazi propaganda films such as "Triumph of the Will," -- I find it sad that more people are not troubled by Soviet era films which tout the beauty of Marxist-Leninism while ignoring the carnage and sometimes outright genocide (i.e. the Ukranians)carried out by the Soviets for over seventy years. The fact of the matter is that Soviet Marxist-Leninism slaughtered millions of people and enslaved millions of others. This is a troubling hunk of history that is difficult to ignore when watching this otherwise masterful work of filmmaking.

NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music........2006-02-20

I watched this movie after hearing how highly rated it was. VERY disappointing. Musical score over shots around Russia, or Europe. I couldn't tell since there was no story, no words (even subtitles). Just a guy with a movie camera recording everyday people in their daily lives.

The music was NOT good, certainly not great. Even movies like The Third Man (1949) had amazing music. Not here.

So you have video and music, with no plot. No words, even silent era subtitles like Chaplin-NOTHING. If the music and video can't keep you interested... Skip this.

There are great films from this era. This is not one of them.

Walt D in LV

Average customer rating:

Excellent Play, Very Good Film
A Slice Of The Real Life
Great film - moronic title
Misleading cover art for a depressing "slice of life"
Odd and funny film

Hellcab
Starring: John Cusack , Paul Dillon , Moira Harris , Michael Ironside , and Harry J. Lennix
Director: John Tintori , and Mary Cybulski
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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

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ASIN: B00079HZSY
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Product Description

It's the darkest day of the year - winter solstice - 6:00 a.m. andi20 degrees below zero when an unsuspecting cab driver picks up his first fare. Unaware of what's to take place, the cabby drops the strange passengers, setting into motion an unstoppable, unalterable, unfathomable series of events. It's as if the cab mysteriously draws the most bizarre and dysfunctional people in the city. Exhausted and afraid, the driver summons all his courage to make it through his shift, but will he survive what's become the longest night of his life?

System Requirements:

Running Time 96 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Play, Very Good Film.......2006-08-20

Will Kern's "Hellcab" is an excellent play by a talented writer, and like many stage productions, a risky transfer for the big screen, but the list of executive producers alone would indicate that several money-players in Hollywood felt the story was worth the effort. Is the movie up to the standards of the play? Probably not, but it is still a damn good film and perfect for those cerebral evenings where action and physical comedy take a backseat to highly literate cinematic entertainment.

A Slice Of The Real Life.......2005-07-28

Not to disagree with others on this terrific film, I believe that the producers and directors of this fine art film got it just right. To those people who take cabbies for granted and beleive that their lives are just boring non-descriptive airheads aimlessly driving through the streets of doom, simply waiting for that maniac to get into their cab and shoot, cut or mame them for life, this is a true to life glimpse of the way things really are for the drivers. Their real thoughts, dangers and anxieties are right on. Take it from someone who really knows about what it is like to drive a hack for a living and although this film is a little dark, that is how life is for cabbies. A little dark. Like my other favorite cabbie film, 'Driven', not to be confused with the Stallone movie, this movie shows the frustration of people dumping their problems on the driver as well as prying into his business and the constant fruitless efforts to help or 'not to help' some of the passengers, not to mention the true and real dangers. I found this movie to be as close to a day in a cabbies life as you can get with maybe the exception of even more drama. There is only so much that you can capture in a couple of hours. For anyone who ever thought about driving a cab or what it must be like, this is a drivers guide. Not pretty, but truthful. Paul Dillon as the main cast 'driver' has cleverly captured the demeanor, frustration, fear and comedy of a day in a cabbies life. Smart casting of smaller parts and cameo's by Michael Ironside, Laurie Metcalf, John C. Reilly, Gillian Anderson, John Cusack and Jullian Moore add to the experience. Although this movie was originally made a few years back and under another name 'Chicago Cab' I was pleased to find that the producers went back to the original title. John Cusack also, an executive producer of this movie plays a perfect villan near the end of the film. Well worth the fare!

Great film - moronic title.......2005-05-24

We agree with Ian. This was a great movie with some very intense moments. We thought it was a shame that thy gave it this idiotic name. It propbably would have had a wider audience.

Misleading cover art for a depressing "slice of life".......2005-05-21

Don't be misled by the title, cover art, or log line: "Dare You Pay The Fare?" HELLCAB is not a horror film.

HELLCAB is a boring art film (and normally, I love indie/art films). It's about the depressing day in the life of a Chicago cabby. Each passenger gets one or two minutes of screen time, including "star" Gillian Anderson, who struggles with an Italian blue-collar accent.

Film is a series of vingettes; nothing is ever resolved. We see the passenger, their situation set up, then go on to the next passenger. I kept waiting for a story to gel, but there is no story. And no point other than: see how depressing this guy's life is? Yes, it is. This is not a pleasant or fun film to watch. Nor is it engaging or involving. We feel sorry of the cabbie, but don't particularly like (or dislike) him.

HELLCAB has a few strong moments (the rape victim, the architect, the sleazeball played by the always talented John C. Reilly) but not enough to make this cab ride worth it.

According to the credits, HELLCAB was based on a play. I suppose they put some chairs on stage with the actor in the driver's seat, and other actors coming in and out.

A much better film about cabbies is DRIVEN (not to be confused with the Sly Stallone film of the same name). DRIVEN has its depressing moments, but it has fully fleshed, memorable characters, with interesting story arcs.

Curiously, both HELLCAB and DRIVEN occur around Christmas time, and use that to contrast the cabbies' depressed lives with the joyous yuletide lights.

Odd and funny film.......2005-05-02

Although the packaging says it is fullscreen, the film is presented in a letterbox format. Aside from the cabbie, everyone else (Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Gillian Anderson, etc.) appears for only minutes as they take a ride through Chicago. Originally titled Chicago Cab.

Average customer rating:

Not a film as much as a language.
Pure Cinema
These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks...
Propaganda, but very well done.
NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music.

Man with a Movie Camera
Director: Dziga Vertov
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Battleship Potemkin
Avant Garde - Experimental Cinema of the 1920s & 1930s
Kino-Eye/ Three Songs Of Lenin
Nanook of the North - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00008WJC0
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Customer Reviews:

Not a film as much as a language........2007-02-28

Pure Cinema.......2006-09-11

These other guy's are only saying this is good to look cool & get chicks..........2006-07-01

Propaganda, but very well done........2006-05-13

NO story. Good cinematography. Okay music........2006-02-20

Average customer rating:

Casey Siemaszko Rules!!

The Big Slice
Starring: Casey Siemaszko , Leslie Hope , Justin Louis , Kenneth Welsh , and Nicholas Campbell
Director: John Bradshaw
Manufacturer: Trinity Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001Z4OWO
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Customer Reviews:

Casey Siemaszko Rules!!.......2005-01-19

This is a great comedy starring Casey Siemaszko and Heather Locklear about a novelist dealing with the mob and the police in order to write his book.It's a must see!!

Average customer rating:

The Big Slice

Manufacturer: Trinity Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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