Review(s): DVD Academy Award Winning Movies - Volume I (Chicago/Frida/Life is Beautiful)
Miramax - get your facts straight!
All three of these volumes claim to contain versions of their respective movies that are "Enhanced for 16x9 televisions" yet upon closer examination, each of the volumes contains at least one (and in the case of Volume III, TWO) movies that are in the same crappy matted widescreen format that Miramax has been pushing for the last several years. The culprit in the this volume is Life is Beautiful. I have nothing against widescreen - just let the DVD player insert the matting and use the full resolution of the DVD for useful picture information. I suspect these box sets are a way for Miramax to dump the older (non anamorphic widescreen) versions of these movies on unsuspecting 4x3 t.v. owners - chances are they'll never know the difference until they try to watch them on a newer 16x9 t.v. - at which time it will be too late to return them.
Related DVD's Academy Award Winning Movies - Volume I (Chicago/Frida/Life is Beautiful)
I purchased both this volume and Volume I from a local bricks and mortar store after I saw the labels indicating that the packaged DVDs contained widescreen anamorphic (a.k.a. "Enhanced for 16x9 televisions") and Dolby Digital 5.1 versions of The English Patient, Il Postino, and Shakespeare in Love. Sadly, 'tis not true. I don't know whether the false labeling on the packaging was accidental or intentional but it appears that Miramax has simply packaged the same crappy widescreen (non anamorphic) DVD versions of these movies that I've been refusing to buy for several years now. Needless to say, all of the movies are going back tomorrow. As far as I know, Il Postino and The English Patient are STILL only available in a matted widescreen format. Only Shakespeare in Love is available in an... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ralph Fiennes - Juliette Binoche - Willem Dafoe - Kristin Scott Thomas Director(s): Anthony Minghella DVD Release Date: Released the 10 February 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Frenchman Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson), imprisoned for stealing bread, is paroled after nearly two decades of hard labor. A gift of silver candlesticks from a kindly priest helps him begin anew. Forging a decent and profitable existence, he finds success as a businessman and as the mayor of a small town. He even takes in a pregnant young woman (Uma Thurman) and raises her daughter as his own. When a former prison guard (Geoffrey Rush) recognizes Valjean, his past catches up to him. Director Bille August culls mesmerizing performances from his cast, but loses us with an ending that panders to teen audiences. The focus shifts dramatically, and uncomfortably, from the haunted Neeson and his hawk-like pursuer, to his daughter (Claire Danes) and her romance with a handsome revolutionary. After... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Bille August DVD Release Date: Released the 03 November 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Steven Spielberg had a banner year in 1993. He scored one of his biggest commercial hits that summer with the mega-hit Jurassic Park, but it was the artistic and critical triumph of Schindler's List that Spielberg called "the most satisfying experience of my career." Adapted from the best-selling book by Thomas Keneally and filmed in Poland with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, Spielberg's masterpiece ranks among the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust during World War II. It's a film about heroism with an unlikely hero at its center--Catholic war profiteer Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who risked his life and went bankrupt to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps.
By employing Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Steven Spielberg DVD Release Date: Released the 09 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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