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DVD The Kid Stays in the Picture
Not only did movie mogul Robert Evans produce some of the greatest movies ever made--Chinatown, The Godfather, and Rosemary's Baby, as well as huge hits like Love Story and Urban Cowboy--but he defined Hollywood high life, dating models and movie stars and, eventually, succumbing to cocaine addiction and scandal. You don't live like this without having a huge ego, and that ego is gloriously on display in The Kid Stays in the Picture, a brilliantly dishy documentary on Evans. What puts this cunning compilation of movie clips and digitally manipulated photos over the top is that Evans himself narrates the movie with a riveting mix of narcissistic self-aggrandizement and cool self-assessment. There are no interviews with other people to give any outside perspective on this man's life; for the duration of the movie we are plunged into Evan's own head, and it's funny, sad, and always fascinating. --Bret Fetzer
I just didn't get it. The movie was painfully boring. The only remotely redeeming aspect was some interesting cinematography.
Cool
I had no idea what to expect before watching, but I was really happy I made time for this one. It's a doc / experimental piece unlike anything I've seen. Of course I've known about and appreciated the many films he's been involved in, but never of the man himself. I love the visual cut-motion style and a superb, evocative mix including music of the times then. Of course, how could anyone not be hypnotized by his speaking voice, which oozes that knowing which comes from having lived the life. While I'm happy for any guy who lands his dream girl, the footage of him in the supplements with his latest made me wince. It definitely should have been made into a difficult-to-find easter egg. The film itself is one of those that once you start, you are compelled to see to the end. Loved it.
He knows everybody
Maybe the most engaging documentary ever made. Brilliant style is used in telling the story of one of the giants of the movie industry, producer Robert Evans. Giving magical illumination and motion to still pictures in a way that I could only describe as psychedelic.
Being a film fanatic for the last 43 years I was shocked and ashamed to find that I had not heard of Robert Evans. In all my reading of credits over the years I had somehow missed his name. I had remembered seeing William Castle's name at the beginning of Rosemary's Baby but not Evan's. Then, at finding out that he was the driving force behind Love Story, The Godfather, The Godfather Pt.2, Chinatown and one of my personal favorites The President's Analyst and that he was a big reason why those movies were so good, well I was just dumdfounded. And these are just a fraction of the films he's produced.
Of course he didn't start as a producer. He had been in women's apparel with his brother and accredited their endeavours as the reason why women wear pants today. While lounging around a pool one day he was discovered by Norma Shearer, lauching his career into show biz. It seems he knows everybody and I mean everybody.
After watchng this extraordinary film I called my father to ask him if he had ever heard of this astonishing personality. I queried, "Have you ever heard of Robert Evans?" anxiously awaiting a "No" so I could tell him all about this amazing show biz entity. He replied, "You mean Bob Evans." Yes, it seems he knows EVERYBODY. My father had come across him as a buyer for Macy's. I asked, "Do you know what he does now?" "He's some sort of movie director or something now, isn't he.", Dad answered. I bought him the audiobook.
Evans narrates both the documentary and the audiobook, both which are drawn from his autobiograghy by the same name. His voice is almost as amazing as his story and probably greatly enabled his prowess. He also lent his voice to the short-lived, hysterically irreverent cartoon series Kid Notorious that still airs on Comedy Central.
All in all, whether you know Evans or not this is a fascinating, beautifully made film about a producer who's achievements are arguably greater than Thalberg's and Selznick's combined. The story of his life and loves is the stuff of legends and it goes on and on. This is a must see for anyone interested in Tinseltown. PS:I don't usually care for the added features but these are worthwhile and the credits to the main part of the documentary are alone worth the price of the disc. What a hoot and more proof that he knows everybody. Ask your dad. Who knows?
This BBC production is a companion to Peter Biskind's 1998 book by the same name, an excellent dish on the 1970s American movie scene. It roughly follows the same path, tracing how maverick filmmakers revitalized Hollywood, from Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider to the triumphant quartet of Coppola/Lucas/Spielberg/Scorsese. Any fan will want to listen in as nearly 50 actors and artists remember the day. However, the star meter is on low wattage, with today's most successful directors only talked about, and seen in often bemusingly vintage clips. The better-produced, higher-star-wattage A Decade Under the Influence covers much of the same ground. An on-screen Biskind would have helped matters, but he is nowhere to be seen. Yet there are moments from the book that come to life, be it... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Kenneth Bowser DVD Release Date: Released the 11 May 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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How did Hollywood make so many great, challenging, offbeat films in the 1970s? A Decade Under the Influence lists the reasons--or rather, lets the people who did the filmmaking list the reasons. The decade-shaping interviewees include Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Francis Coppola, et al. The film's argument has actually been conventional wisdom for at least 10 years, but it's well-supported by an abundance of clips, which should inspire even hardcore film buffs to seek out rarities such as Thunderbolt and Lightfoot or The King of Marvin Gardens. One might observe that the scarcity of women directors or black filmmakers suggests that the decade was not entirely golden, and the memories may be burnished a bit by nostalgia. But there's no question that the big studios... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): William Friedkin Director(s): Richard LaGravenese - Ted Demme DVD Release Date: Released the 30 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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One of the most acclaimed films of 2003, American Splendor is also one of the most audaciously creative biographical movies ever made. Blending fact, fiction, and personal perspective from the comic books that inspired it, this marvelous portrait of Harvey Pekar--scowling curmudgeon, brow-beaten everyman, insightful chronicler of his own life, and frustrated file clerk at a Cleveland V.A. hospital--is an inspired amalgam of the media (comic books, TV, and film) that lifted Pekar from obscurity to the status of a pop-cultural icon. As played by Paul Giamatti in a master-stroke of casting, we see Pekar and his understanding wife (played by Hope Davis) as underdogs in a world full of obstacles, yet also infused with subtle hope and (gasp!) heartwarming perseverance. We also see the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Shari Springer Berman - Paul Giamatti - Harvey Pekar Director(s): Robert Pulcini - Shari Springer Berman DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Roman Polanski's brooding film noir exposes the darkest side of the land of sunshine, the Los Angeles of the 1930s, where power is the only currency--and the only real thing worth buying. Jack Nicholson is J.J. Gittes, a private eye in the Chandler mold, who during a routine straying-spouse investigation finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a jigsaw puzzle of clues and corruption. The glamorous Evelyn Mulwray (a dazzling Faye Dunaway) and her titanic father, Noah Cross (John Huston), are at the black-hole center of this tale of treachery, incest, and political bribery. The crackling, hard-bitten script by Robert Towne won a well-deserved Oscar, and the muted color cinematography makes the goings-on seem both bleak and impossibly vibrant. Polanski himself has a brief, memorable cameo... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Faye Dunaway - John Huston - Jack Nicholson DVD Release Date: Released the 23 November 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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