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DVD Short Cuts - Criterion Collection
If aliens came down to earth to see if humanity was worth saving, showing them Short Cuts, Robert Altman's bluesy riff on life in L.A. in the '90s, would not be a good idea. Based on the stories of Raymond Carver (adapted by Altman and Frank Barhydt), this ambitious film is a devilish valentine to living in L.A., where happiness comes at a premium. There are at least eight separate stories that crisscross, most about people who choose not to relate to the lives they are living. Seemingly by design, none of the stories (nor the performances for that matter) have more impact than the others--this is a true mosaic film. The most representative plot deals with a group of friends (Buck Henry, Fred Ward, and Huey Lewis) who decide to keep fishing even after discovering a body in the river. The story works as a morose comedy and a flag holder for the movie: the inability to take the correct action. Others would rather talk about seeing Alex Trebek than discuss their faltering relationships. A huge and talented cast twists in the wind, bumping into moments of truth, sex, and passion. Some even come out all right in the end. The accidental nature of life--a common theme in many Altman films--has never been so maddeningly persistent, or absorbing. The score by Mark Isham with songs sung by Annie Ross (also a cast member) fuels the moodiness, as does the opening number in which Medfly helicopters spray the town to the tune "Prisoner of Life." Delivering the film a year after his biggest hit in two decades, The Player, Altman proved his artistic tenacity as an aged artist with the heart of a new filmmaker: he's not afraid of risking it all. --Doug Thomas
As Criterion is the only studio to releasing the extrodinary film, it didn't take much to satisfy me. The dvd (as are most criterion dvds) is approved by the director Robert Altman. If anyone else is releasing this film (which is highly unlikey) will NEVER top this.
First off, the new high-def transfer is great. Supervised by editor Geraldine Peroni and approved by Altman.
An excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack mix. An isolated soundtrack also.
An informative, yet a bit boring conversation between Altman and Tim Robbins. I'm not complaining because there is NO SUCH THING AS A BAD EXTRA FEATURE!
Luck,Trust,and Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country,A great documentary on the making of Short Cuts. Maybe one of the best movie docs I've seen on a dvd. I believe it was made during the filming of the movie(maybe because the vhs quality of it).Mind-Bogglingly(I hope thats a word) extensive. 90min
To Write and Keep Kind, a PBS documentary on the life of Raymond Carver. It's O.K. almost irritatingly informative,but good.
a look inside the marketing of Short Cuts,deleted scenes, one hour audio interview with Altman, a clip from a BBC show tracing the screenplay.
It also includes a book especially made for criterion.
GREAT PACKAGING! Criterion comes through again. An obivious Must Buy.
10 outta 10
ghastly
This is the kind of movie that makes you just want to check out of the human race, to deny ever having had anything to do with it!
The only glimmer of relief, though, is that there were humans sensitive and self-aware enough to have brought such a film off so beautifully, so that is some comfort.
An unshakeable experience, a deluxe DVD
The Criterion Collection DVDs always have one trick or another up their sleeve to make you certain you must spend at least $30 on a movie you remember having an impact on your life, and on Short Cuts, they give you exactly what you want. The (it should be said, beautifully decorated) set comes with the 8 short stories and one poem that were transferred into 9 of the 10 stories that make up Short Cuts wide maze of characters and arcs. Doing so does a great service to both Short Cuts and the Raymond Carver stories, not because Short Cuts necessarily make a definitive adaptation of Carver, but because Altman uses the stories to create a totally unique creation. Like Coppola transferring Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam war, the context and meaning of Carver's minimalist humanity is given full vigor by everyone in the cast - unarguably one of the most thrilling acting ensembles ever assembled. People have complained the movie feels like an endless whine about how cruel people are, but I find great hope in the bleak, unhappy, occasionally tragic, occasionally hilarious interweaving of Short Cuts - a community so cruel to each other yet so unknowingly intertwined? The gods themselves tremble at how close these people are without knowing it, and how easy it would be to stop their fake smiles and manipulations. That moment - if you've seen it, you know the one I'm speaking of - is a shaking alive for all of us - we're closer than we think to all just getting along.
In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, director Wes Anderson takes his familiar stable of actors on a field trip to a fantasy aquarium, complete with stop-motion, candy-striped crabs and rainbow seahorses. And though Anderson does expand his horizons in terms of retro-special effects and a whimsical use of color, fans will otherwise find themselves in well-charted waters. As The Life Aquatic opens, Zissou (Bill Murray), a self-involved, Jacques Cousteau-like filmmaker, has just released a documentary depicting the death of his best friend Esteban, who was eaten by some sort of sea creature--possibly a jaguar shark. Zissou’s troubles also include his waning popularity with the public, and a nemesis (Jeff Goldblum) who hogs up all the grant money. Hope arrives in the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Wes Anderson DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 6 to 11 days
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With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Alexander Payne DVD Release Date: Released the 05 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Something like a perfect artistic union is achieved in the major components of Paris, Texas: the twang of Ry Cooder's guitar, the lonely light of Robbie Muller's camera, the craggy landscape of Harry Dean Stanton's face. In his greatest role, longtime character actor Stanton plays a man brought back to his old life after wandering in the desert (or somewhere) for four years. He has a 7-year-old son to get to know, and his wife has gone missing. The material is much in the wanderlust spirit of director Wim Wenders, working from a script by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson. If the long climactic conversation between Stanton and Nastassja Kinski renders the movie uneven and slightly inscrutable, it's hard to think of a more fitting ending--and besides, the achingly empty American... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Harry Dean Stanton - Nastassja Kinski - Dean Stockwell Director(s): Wim Wenders DVD Release Date: Released the 14 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Brutal and breathtaking, Sin City is Robert Rodriguez's stunningly realized vision of Frank Miller's pulpy comic books. In the first of three separate but loosely related stories, Marv (Mickey Rourke in heavy makeup) tries to track down the killers of a woman who ended up dead in his bed. In the second story, Dwight's (Clive Owen) attempt to defend a woman from a brutal abuser goes horribly wrong, and threatens to destroy the uneasy truce among the police, the mob, and the women of Old Town. Finally, an aging cop on his last day on the job (Bruce Willis) rescues a young girl from a kidnapper, but is himself thrown in jail. Years later, he has a chance to save her again.
More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 16 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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