Event Films Collection: Noah's Ark, Merlin, Alice in Wonderland, Cleopatra

Starring:Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen, F. Murray Abraham, Carol Kane, James Coburn, Mark Bazeley, Jonathan Cake, Alexis Denisof, Emily Mortimer, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Sonya Walger, Dino Marnika, Michael O'Malley, William Dayble, Joseph Spano, Jonathan Encavey, Jonathan Biggins, Howard Stanley, Daniel Daperis, Julie Day
Director: John Irvin, Steve Barron, Nick Willing
Studio: Hallmark
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The chemistry between Leonor Varela, who stars as the bewitching queen Cleopatra, and Billy Zane, as the steadfast Marc Antony, is undeniable. Their love scene is one of the steamiest to hit network television. However, once you move beyond this couple's sexual energy, the movie tends to droop, leaning toward the lackluster.

Amazon.com

The chemistry between Leonor Varela, who stars as the bewitching queen Cleopatra, and Billy Zane, as the steadfast Marc Antony, is undeniable. Their love scene is one of the steamiest to hit network television. However, once you move beyond this couple's sexual energy, the movie tends to droop, leaning toward the lackluster.

Customer Reviews:

For Insomniacs, A Rainy Day Off From Work or Timothy Dalton Fans.......2007-07-02

The 2 stars are for Timothy Dalton. Honestly, he was the only reason I was able to watch this film. Pure eye candy. As a chick flick, the film failed even in terms of wardrobe. What was with the ugly serpent headpiece Cleo wore through the film? The actress playing Cleopatra portrayed her not as a queen of a nation, but a rich girl with nothing to do but make trouble for family members and sleep around with important men. The worst scene is when Cleo actually asks Ceasar "Do you love me?" I expected her to start doing his laundry or making meals for him in the next scene. The other members of the royal family were equally laughable, especially the rotund general/advisor of brother Ptolomey. Please do not spend any money on this film. The writers are truly the culprits of this film. Wait until a baseball game gets rained out and the film gets scheduled as a filler. Unless, of course, you simply can not get enough of Timothy Dalton.

Historically inaccurate and exaggerated.......2007-07-02

I find it funny how this movie tries to make cleo patra into a superwomen type leader. Are we supposed to believe that Cleopatra with her small female frame who never lifted a finger to do anything consisting of labor can out dual and kill trained roman soldiers as what was shown in this movie.. Aside from that the other rediculous portrayal was not correctly pointing out that she had 2-3 kids with Marc Antony. Neither did they accurately portray that Octavian did kill Ceasarian but, instead we are lead to believe that he was given safe passage to india to one day return as a ruler of egypt and reinstate Cleo's legacy.
The main inaccuracy of this movie was to imply cleopatra had egyptian ancestory. The truth is that she was of Greek Ancestory. Her family which included her fathers Ptolemy's lineage were part Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt. Hence the name of the city of Alexandria where Cleo resided.
In spite of this, the movie is entertaining. The wardrobe of the romans and egyptians looks real and the scale of the buildings look authentic.. The ships and some of the background scenaries such asn the sphinx however look fake which taints the visual quality of this film.
I'm a sucker for historical epic's so I will give it 3 stars. It wasnt terrible but, I expected a lot more from elizabeth taylor's cleo patra remake.

Overblown Dialog Spoils Much.......2007-01-04

I got this DVD as part of a set of Hallmark mini-series and hoped it would be as good as some of the others. The other mini-series were fantasy-based so unrealistic dialog worked just fine in them but this one was full of overly theatrical and unrealistic assertions which not only ruined the story by robbing it of any depth but also made it very difficult for the actors to perform well. After all, it's hard to credibly deliver one sweeping statement after another with little in between to connect those statements or build relationships to the point where they make sense.

I think the writers (perhaps properly) assumed viewers were familiar with the basic characters so they just skipped character development and went straight to having the characters speak in a macro fashion. This was a mistake and the entire miniseries suffers for it.

Timothy Dalton seems to give it his all despite poor material and Billy Zane either by virtue of his character or adequate acting chops does alright. Leonor Varela, unfortunately, is simply not up to the task of playing Cleopatra as she deserves to be portrayed. While waiting for Caesar, she seems to be waiting anxiously for her prom date to show up. In her scenes with Dalton, she seems to be acting in love rather than coming across as actually in love with him. She does look great though and can wear the revealing costumes well.

I wouldn't have bought this DVD on its own and I'm uncertain if I'll watch it again. I like mini-series in general and many of the Hallmark productions specifically but I'm afraid I can't recommend this one.

Cleopatra.......2006-09-06

I thought this movie was so wonderful, I just love everything about cleopatra and egypt! I have the movie on vhs and i just ordered the dvd! You will just love this movie and be truly amazed at how beautiful cleopatra(Leonor Varela) looks in this movie.

Excellent Remake Of The 1960 Movie. Recommended For Those Who Prefer The Short (Psuedo) History Version Of "Cleopatra.".......2006-09-06

Franc Roddam's 1999 telefilm "CLEOPATRA" isn't so much a remake of the classic 1963 epic film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Though I enjoy the 3 hour 22 minute spectacle, I think that this version is the DEFINITIVE version of the story, though there are some historical errors (which I won't attempt to discuss; if you want history, you'd better stick with the 1963 movie). Too bad the producers decided to make it as a straight-to-video film. The acting, especially from the three leads (Billy Zane as Mark Antony, Timothy Dalton as Julius Caesar and newcomer Leonor Varela as Cleopatra) is strong. I've seen the two male leads in other films, so I knew this one would be worth viewing. Ms. Varela is drop-dead gorgeous. This film is Not Rated.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Revenge of the Dragon

Anti-Trust

Patch Adams [P&S] [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Perfect Target

Bon Jovi - This Left Feels Right