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DVD Men of Respect
A fatally ambitious gangland enforcer (John Turturro) collides with destiny after following the murderous advice of three fortunetellers and his shrewish wife . . . does any of this sound familiar, Shakespeare fans?
While this occasionally effective, mostly hilarious drama may not be the first film to transplant the tragedy of Macbeth to a modern-day milieu (that honor goes to a 1955 obscurity with the wonderfully blatant title of Joe Macbeth), it's surely the most brazenly literal, with a jaw-dropping amount of anachronistic boogying by cast and crew. (Viewers familiar with the Bard are advised not to drink milk during the reworking of Lady M's famous "Out, damn spot" soliloquy, lest they run the risk of having said dairy product forcibly eject itself via nasal passage.) The result is a failed experiment to be sure, but a well-acted (especially by Dennis Farina and the perfectly cast Steven Wright as the Gatekeeper), oddly watchable one all the same. An altogether more successful reimagining of the source material can be found with Akira Kurosawa's masterful Throne of Blood. --Andrew Wright
Men of Respect is an excellent movie. It has so many similarities and some differences to the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by Shakespeare. I would have to say the number one similarity of the two would be the characters' names. Such as Macbeth, in the movie Men of Respect, his characters' name is Michael Battaglia, and the similarity would be they have the same initials. Then there is Banquo who is Bankie Como, Macduff is Duffy, Lady Macbeth is Lady Battaglia, and so on. In the movie, as in the play, there are witches who give Macbeth and Michael prophesies. The only difference is that in the movie they are called fortunetellers. There are still three of them but instead of the three weird sisters it is a mom, pop, and son, and they are in a backroom fortuneteller's parlor, and they watch a television show on cooking a lambs head, where in the play the witches have a cauldron, which is a large kettle or boiling plot, and they actually cook a lambs head in it. Some more would be the murder of King Duncan, or as in the movie Padrion D' Amico, who is the Godfather of the mafia. Lady Macbeth and Lady Battaglia both persuade Macbeth and Michael into mudering him and are both power hungry. Lady Battaglia has visions of stains of blood, as did Lady Macbeth, but instead of saying "Out, out damn spot!" when Lady Macbeth sees the blood, Lady Battalia starts throwing linen from the tables of the restaurant off and onto the floor saying that they are dirty and have stains on them. The only real big difference is when Macduff's family is killed. He is there and the murdereres are with him, and he is on the pone while the mom and son are in the are and they start the car and it blows up. Then there is when Lady Battaglia kills herself, Michael actually cares, where Macbeth did not care too much. Other then that, there was a lot of similarities as of what they said and did throughout the movie. I recommend the movie to anyone who does not understand Macbeth because this movie truly helps and gives better definition and understanding to the play The Tragedy of Macbeth.
A brilliant reworking--don't listen to the "experts"
John Turturro pulls out all stops here in this gangster version of Macbeth in the 'title' role (Michael Battaglia), ably complemented by his real-life wife, Katharine Borowitz as Lady Macbeth/Mrs. Battaglia. Also contributing with great performances are Rod Steiger as the aging mob chieftain (the King), Peter Boyle, Dennis Farina, Stanley Tucci, and, in an inspired bit of casting, comic Stephen Wright. The performances are truly riveting. It's a shame that the 'expert' critics can't see the power and ingenuity of this film.
Far more than a shlock version of Shakespeare's masterpiece, it's an intense, flawless work, updating the Bard's lines with the brutal lingo of the mob. William Reilly, the writer-director, also co-wrote Mortal Thoughts, another sadly overlooked razor-sharp film. And he really knows how to write; the script here allows the performances to be as great as they are.
Don't pay attention to Leonard's totally-missing-the-boat words of condemnation. In fact, I would say, Out, out, damned Leonard. Rent this movie--better yet, buy it. You won't be disappointed.
Leonard Maltin [once again] left clueless
This film is flawless. Don't let the TRULY pretentious Shakespeare snobbery of the reviewers put you off if you're fans of the mob genre or the greatest writer of all time. Done with a more modest indie budget, it compares equally with "Goodfellas" or any other example you care to name and the Shakespearean quality remains in the timelessness of human lust for power. Maltin's talking about flashlights shows a genuine density of insight, as the character is actually wandering at night in a trance of insanity. Its not about sleeping disorders, Leonard!
Turturro by the way gives this film his best performance ever and all the casting is outstanding.
Somewhat of an excuse to throw together four hot young actors of the moment in a serious environment, Mobsters nonetheless is a decent treatment of the rise of four of the most infamous gangsters of the 20th century. Christian Slater and Patrick Dempsey play Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky, respectively, best friends since they were kids on the mean streets of New York. When Prohibition hits, these young ambitious hoods--along with Bugsy Siegel (Richard Grieco) and Frank Costello (Costas Mandylor) make their move to take over the rackets, even as it jeopardizes their friendship. Featuring cameos by Anthony Quinn, Michael Gambon, and F. Murray Abraham, Mobsters is a guilty pleasure if a not too serious one. --Robert LaneMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Christian Slater - Patrick Dempsey Director(s): Michael Karbelnikoff DVD Release Date: Released the 30 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Cate Blanchett blazes through The Missing, a new Western directed by Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13). The camera truly loves the planes of her face; even dusty and bedraggled, she radiates star power--which is good, because The Missing needs it. When her daughter is kidnapped by renegade Indians, Maggie Gilkeson (Blanchett) is forced to turn to her estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black, The Fugitive), a man who abandoned her as a child to join an Indian tribe. Together, they pursue a malignant brujo (or witch), who sells young girls in Mexico. The Missing features solid supporting performances from Evan Rachel Wood, Eric Schweig, Aaron Eckhart, Val Kilmer, and feisty young Jenna Boyd as Maggie's youngest daughter... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tommy Lee Jones - Cate Blanchett - Evan Rachel Wood Director(s): Ron Howard DVD Release Date: Released the 24 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Marking a welcome return to the breezy style of Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men reminds us that the director of Gladiator is equally adept with quirky comedies and offbeat characters. Smoothly adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia and set amidst the sunlit, 1950s-style architecture of L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, this gently dramatic comedy centers on Roy (Nicolas Cage), a divorcée whose career as a con artist is complicated by: (1) his ongoing struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, which manifests itself through various quirks and rituals; (2) a wily partner (Sam Rockwell) whose criminal ambitions are greater than Roy suspects; and (3) the arrival of 14-year-old Angela (Alison Lohman), claiming to be the daughter he's never known. Turns out... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Nicolas Cage - Sam Rockwell - Alison Lohman Director(s): Ridley Scott DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The director/producer team that created Trainspotting turn their dynamic cinematic imaginations to the classic science fiction scenario of the last people on Earth. Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma to find London deserted--until he runs into a mob of crazed plague victims. He gradually finds other still-human survivors (including Naomie Harris), with whom he heads off across the abandoned countryside to find the source of a radio broadcast that promises salvation. 28 Days Later is basically an updated version of The Omega Man and other post-apocalyptic visions; but while the movie may lack originality, it makes up for it in vivid details and creepy paranoid atmosphere. 28 Days Later's portrait of how people behave in extreme circumstances--written by... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cillian Murphy - Naomie Harris Director(s): Danny Boyle DVD Release Date: Released the 21 October 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The up-and-down career of director John Milius had no finer moment than The Wind and the Lion, a dandy adventure tale. It's based on fact: An American (played by Candice Bergen) and her two children were kidnapped in 1904 Morocco by a Berber tribe, an international incident settled by President Theodore Roosevelt's "big stick" military muscle. The film's sweep and swagger are unabashedly old-fashioned, even as Milius occasionally pokes fun at the grand characters. Some of the peripheral material is sloppy, but as long as Milius keeps his sights locked on the two powerful protagonists, he's dead-on: Brian Keith makes a gutsy Roosevelt, and Sean Connery is in splendid form (with Scots accent in place--got a problem with that?) as the dashing Berber chieftain. Perhaps overshadowed... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sean Connery - Candice Bergen Director(s): John Milius DVD Release Date: Released the 06 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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