Stateside

Description

A love story about two imperfect teenagers who find perfect love. The film follows the story of two teenagers from different worlds--Mark Deloach and Dori Lawrence--as their lives quickly spiral out of control. The rebellious but privileged Mark delves into dangerous antics resulting in a nearly fatal drunk driving accident, and Dori Lawrence, a wild actress and singer slowly loses touch with reality as she suffers from schizophrenia. Forced to straighten out their lives, Mark is sent to join the Marines and Dori is admitted into a mental hospital. In the midst of life's chaos, Mark and Dori are drawn to each other, recognizing their mutual desperation for love and understanding. Despite pressure from both their friends and family to keep their distance, they maintain their bond. While they fail to fix what's broken in each of their lives, they find comfort in each other's faults and have faith that their unconditional love will eventually heal their deep seeded wounds.

Customer Reviews:

Great Acting........2007-01-04

One of the best , least seen movies in years. Great screenplay, fabulous acting. A MUST SEE.

"Based on True Events" but still kind of dull..........2006-11-24

The first ten minutes of this film seemed promising but unfortunately it never quite came together for me. I only kept watching because I was vaguely interested in who the real "Dori Lawrence" could have been. (Online sources think that it is perhaps an actress named Sarah Holcomb.)

In the end however, I didn't find myself really caring who the real life actress was...and even the fact that this film is "based on true events" doesn't make it any more relevant and/or "real" to me.

I think it maybe tried to cover too much in too short a time period and it just came up short. Parts of it were certainly interesting, but in the end the film as a *whole* couldn't hold water. There are just too many holes.

My first comment after the first fifteen minutes: "This looks good, I think I'll have to borrow it and watch it again."

My final comment after the credits rolled: "Huh. Actually, I don't think I liked it."

Everything Including a Kitchen Sink.......2006-05-26

After a disastrous and very short run theatrical release "Stateside" has been playing regularly on cable for over a year. Playing regularly is somewhat of an understatement as those with a digital cable package can pretty much find it on some channel any day and anytime. Fortunately the film is ideal for piecemeal viewing (watching a scene here and a scene there- not necessarily in sequence until you realize you have seen the whole thing) because it is nicely written and is actually more coherent and entertaining when viewed in little snippets. This is a nice way of saying the film lacks unity and that the whole is less than the sum of its parts. But the parts themselves are well worth viewing.

What you have here is an unorganized mix of disparate elements, each typically used by themselves to carry a movie. Start with the standard Freddie Bartholomew (Captains Courageous", "Lord Jeff" etc.) rich kid from a neglectful home, add a bit of reckless prep school teen drinking which injures a Priest ("Cruel Intentions"), plus a boot camp coming of age story ("Full Metal Jacket"), for your love interest insert a female rock star and actress with mental problems ("Francis" and "Girl Interrupted"), and then a return from the war as a disabled veteran ("The Best Years of Our Lives").

Although "Stateside" doesn't work as a whole package and sets the all-time record for credibility problems there is still a lot of entertaining stuff here. Jonathan Tucker is appealing in the lead role and actually brings some credibility to a character going through enough life changes for ten movies. Rachel Leigh Cook basically does her Ruthie character from "The Big Empty", who I suspect is pretty much her real life self. Her Dori character is supposed to suffer from schizophrenia, but if you don't know what that is going into the film, you won't understand it any better after viewing. Apparently the writer thinks anyone who is irreverent, impulsive, and moody must be schizo (then again maybe they are). But since Dori's precise psychological problems are irrelevant to the plot this doesn't really get in the way of the basic story.

Val Kilmer does a good impression of a R. Lee Ermy drill sergeant. Ermy himself has gotten too old for these parts but this allows the director to show a nice human side rather than a simple caricature. Although the lyrics for "Scotty Doesn't Know kept running through my head each time he was featured.

The most compelling performance is by Agnes Bruckner, playing the best-named character this decade, Sue "of the Dubervilles" Dubois. Bruckner's scenes sparkle and you rejoice every time she appears.

Bottom line, virtually everyone will find something to like somewhere inside "Stateside". It gives you basic training, prep school, girl rockers, mental cases, romance, DWI, hospitals, sex, mansions, and Agnes Bruckner.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

A Diamond in the Rough!!!.......2006-03-12

I loved this Movie ..I connected on some level to the Love of my life in my younger days and I could feel the wonderful vunerability of being in Love at such a irresponsible age ,when nothing was of consequence except your feelings for that person and her feelings for you ...nobody else mattered ...Life was so simple then ...no complications ...and then we Grow up(Mature) and we are told what we should look for in a Lifetime partner !!!..But these two Beautiful individuals in this movie make we believe that I was not wrong in how I felt twenty years ago ..and maybe there is still hope that I find my True love and feel the Passion all over again ...
all the cast give superb performances...Enjoy ..

Very under rated.......2006-01-03

First I want to say how I can see how people may not like this movie. But to an any kind of movie lover you will give it a chance and like it. I really enjoy it. I cannot wait for it to come on Showtime lately.

I want to say in regards to a review listed earlier about Sue being put in a mental institute for hating her Mom and writing smutty lettters. She was commited because she is a sex addict, watching the film during the therapy sessions you will hear Sue talk about how she wanted to do this guy and how she thought about him and so on.

I never got the impression Dory was in LA. I assumed and got from it that she was in the NYC area doing her work. I might be wrong on that by cannot say for sure.

I like the love story, it is diffrent and different is good nowadays. We need things changed up a bit. My hubby is a Marine so I might be bias here. But the thing I like about the Corps in it, is that it is not showing in depth of the Corps or over indulging it like other films do. My husband thinks it is a little quirky but he knows I like it.

Go to Showtime and catch it there right now. Either way I'm buying a copy here soon. I have a huge DVD collection and think it is worth the cost to have in anyone's collection. It is like a good old black and white love story for me to watch.

Did not care for her being Schitzo but what can you do?

Touching Evil 1 Boxed Set (The Lost Boys/To Death and Back/What Amathus Wants)

Average customer rating:

Two out of three
In The Caress of Touching Evil
Another amasing British series
cant... stop... watching.
I Liked It Very Much

Touching Evil 1 Boxed Set (The Lost Boys/To Death and Back/What Amathus Wants)
Starring: Robson Green , Nicola Walker , Michael Feast , Shaun Dingwall , and Adam Kotz
Director: Julian Jarrold , and Marc Munden
Manufacturer: WGBH BOSTON
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001WTWO2
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Amazon.com

This three-volume set captures a police force totally unlike the ones U.S. television and film audiences regularly see. Gone are the gunshots and widespread violence that afflict characters on NYPD Blue and Homicide. This dark British miniseries has an unflinching focus on the pensive, slightly spooked but always confident Detective Inspector Dave Creegan (Robson Green). Of course the caseload isn't entirely alien to a pop culture audience, weaned as it is on crime novels and American television-style plots. There's an aging geneticist who is possessed by an odd infatuation--apparently not a sexual one--with children, keeping them penned in an all-white room while watching them on a remote video cam, and other deviants just interesting enough to capture extended interest. Touching Evil's pacing is intricately slow, such that evidence gathering can be seen from an inchworm-like perspective (showing tweezers extracting a single hair, for example). Green's role is structured like Fox Mulder and other U.S. television creations. Moody and a bit inscrutable, Creegan comes to the Organized and Serial Crime Unit after a long sabbatical, triggered (no pun, really!) by his getting shot in the head. Rather than give up police work after meeting with the bullet, however, he recommits to the job, treating cases as if they're his personal obsession. And they are. Creegan violates all the conventions his American TV-cop counterparts break in their unbridled passion to solve crimes, but he does it with unforced and unhurried relish. The plots in each of these episodes are singular, allowing the story lines to develop like good mysteries, even driving the viewer to suspect that Creegan's passions are leading him waywardly away from the cases. Shot with mostly stoic camera angles, the show's energy changes significantly when Creegan's heart begins to pound, the camera catches in halted visuals, and the drama builds and builds until, well, until it avoids resolution time and again, much to the viewer's delight. --Andrew Bartlett

Description

Robson Green (Reckless) stars as the smart, sexy, brash, and slightly mysterious Detective Inspector Dave Creegan in these three gripping and gritty mysteries that follow the exploits of the Organized and Serial Crime Unit.

Maverick police detective Creegan is the newest member of London's Organized and Serial Crime Unit (OSC), an elite, rapid-response crime squad. The OSC uses their diverse crime-fighting skills to bring justice to society. Along with his stalwart partner D.I. Susan Taylor (Nicola Walker, Four Weddings and a Funeral), Creegan squares off against some of England's most dangerous criminals-a serial murderer of children, a killer intent on murdering hospital patients, and a cyber-criminal who lures young Web-surfers with a gothic fantasy game and manipulates them into committing violent crimes.

Special DVD features include: link to the Mystery! Web site; scene selections; and closed captions.

On three DVD5 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: 4 x 3 full frame.

Customer Reviews:

Two out of three.......2007-02-23

4 stars for the program.
1 star for DVD features.

"Touching Evil" is the story of Detective Inspector Dave Creegan (Robson Green) who returns to the Organized and Serial Crime (OSC) Unit after recovering from a bullet wound to the head. Creegan's injury as changed him in unpredictable ways but his boss wants him back because he is a genius at getting into the mind of serial killers. Creegan and his partner, D.I. Susan Taylor (Nicola Walker), investigate the most serious crimes in England including a serial killer of children. The show was originally broadcast on British television in 1997 and was more recently shown in the US on PBS's program, Mystery. USA Network produced their own short-lived version of the show in 2004.

The show is much less violent and more thoughtful than we are used to on American television. It is also very stylish in its way. Using dark sets and odd lighting it creates a strange and uncomfortable mood. Robson Green is excellent in the lead roll. He has intense blue eyes and rugged good looks and makes himself completely believable as the detective who can concentrate on his job while his personal life crumbles. Creegan is a loner forced to work with a partner who can't trust him. The other members of the OSC aren't sure if the Creegan is as sane as the man they once knew.

The first episode deals with Creegan's return to OSC and his investigation of several young boys who have been kidnapped and left in an airtight room to suffocate. The kidnapper has left a broadcast camera so he can watch them die. Creegan and Taylor have to crack the case before it is too late. The second episode deals with a serial killer of hospital patients and realistically deals with Creegan's own demons of having come back from the dead in the ER the night he was shot in the head. The two episodes are excellent and the script and the acting are perfect. The two episodes move along well but also concentrate on developing believable characters.

The third episode was a big disappointment. An attempt to bring cyber-space into a story line, it suffers from being written in 1997 by writers who don't quite understand cyberspace. The killer is completely unbelievable as computer whiz or as a psychological manipulator of teenagers. For example, the police arrive at the college where they suspect the criminals are and demand that all students be given user id and passwords to get into the computer system. Amazingly, the very next day every student has a new computer id. Even the reason for the initial police investigation isn't quite believable as the crime that has been committed is horse mutilation. The character of the killer is completely undeveloped and we never get a chance to discover who he is or why exactly he is committing these crimes. I found this the weakest of the stories.

Throughout the episodes there are dark scenes designed to provide a mood. To some extent this works but sometimes (especially in the last episode) it interferes with the story by being so "in your face". For example, the offices where the detectives work are always dark. I find it hard to believe that someone could read a file or do some paperwork in these offices. An interview room will be a large dark room with a small reflective table in the middle. A single spotlight will shine onto the table and provide reflecting light onto the faces of those around the table. This might be good for cool looking cinematography but it isn't really believable. Another scene in the offices has red light shining through a window onto the face of one of the detectives while the office itself is lit only by one small spotlight. Dust is floating everywhere so light is always tempered by what looks like dust or smoke. This episode feels very badly overstaged.

But that is only one clinker out of three and the others discs are most certainly worth the price of admission. The DVD's themselves are of good quality but have no special features. There is no commentary or interviews. The episodes appear on the DVD exactly as they appeared on the Mystery TV program so each 2 hour episode is broken into two 1 hour programs. This means that at the end of the first hour there are closing credits and then opening credits of Mystery followed by Diana Rigg's introduction which in some cases gives more of the episode away than I would have liked. It would have been much better if they had been edited so that it was possible to watch the episodes without the break.

In The Caress of Touching Evil.......2005-08-24

Ten beyond darkness. I've set up the first episode of 'Touching Evil 1 - The Lost Boys' - in my player. I'll probably watch the opening credits by eleven pm to see who Inspector Dave Creegan is. I've left one city - Twin Peaks - waking up somewhere in England for something that I've already decided has to be the next step beyond where I was yesterday. I'm sure that this series has something to do with my life or I wouldn't have been brought to it?

'Touching Evil 1's lead character - Dave Creegan? I like him. A man of dark currents who's personnal life is a complete mess; but, he manages to function professionally in his job as crime investigator.

Well? Sometimes things happen that cross into his personnal life that take his professional life on a side road that might be inappropriate. But. That makes his vulnerabilities a unigue defense when he steps into that darkness of depraved souls who lurk in places outside humanity / compassion / human soul!

-Touching Evil is very methotical / slow moving / observant / voyeuristic-You get to be in another man's controversy / contridiction / confusion / resolution / reflection I've only gotten thru episodes 1 and 2 of session one

The Lost Boys - Creegan tracking down the killer of children

To Death and Back - Mercy Killings of Terminally Ill patients / revelations of his own death Intrigued / caught up in soul stealing mysterys of another man's life! - can't wait to get to

- episode 3 tomorrow night -

' 'What Amathus Wants '

This is a compelling series that won't let you sleep until
the final chapter

Another amasing British series.......2005-06-04

As great as Wire in the Blood. Robson Green is also amazing in the police detective Creegan character. Another British series that focuses on the psychological side of characters in a superb way, catching you atention so quickly that you can see one episode after the other with no brake. This first Touching Evel episodes grabed my interest so quickly that I will buy the next two.

cant... stop... watching........2004-11-01

this is the best cop drama i haver seen, it's dark with out beeing depresing, and totaly involving.

I Liked It Very Much.......2004-10-31

I rarely watch American TV anymore because of the chance to see crime drama at it's best like the "Touching Evil" series. I have epals that I share my favs with and visa-versa. The "Touching Evil" series was recommended by an epal because of it's intelligent drama. I rented it, for the lowest price, of course, just in case it wasn't worth the cash. I really liked it.

I do have my favorite episodes, though. The first episode, "The Lost Boys" of the series and the first episode in Series 3. Series 2 and 3 do not have specific episode titles, so I call this one, "Hearts".
"The Lost Boys" introduces Detective Inspector Dave Creegan(Robson Green) to us. Creegan is volitile, yet brilliant. He had been wounded in the line of duty, which was followed by psychiatric counselling. It makes one wonder why ACC Enwright(Michael Feast) called him back into service. Creegan's emotional volitility caused the breakup of his marriage.
After getting to know Creegan as a character, the audience can see why. Creegan is a "driven" man and has instincts that can see through the mask of a criminal as he does in "The Lost Boys". Creegan sees through the mask of university professor Ronald Hinks(Ian McDiarmid-Sen. Palatine from Star Wars). Creegan fights with Enwright and other team members to get Hinks arrested for kidnapping 3 boys, but Hink's lawyers have a larger case for Creegan's harrassment of Hinks.

Creegan is teamed up with DI Susan Taylor(Nicola Walker), Detective Sargent Jonathan Kreitman(Adam Kotz) and Detective Constable Mark Rivers(Shaun Dingwall). There is conflict almost immediately between the team members.

I would like to see a 4th "Touching Evil" series, if only to clean up some questions before ending this intelligent series. My biggest question, of course, is "Why did Enwright bring Creegan back in the first place?" Creegan made it clear that he was a "one-to-one" person and that selling ice cream would probably be the best job he would enjoy AND he was psychologically unstable. There is also the question of why Taylor was picked to partner with Creegan.

"Hearts" is just plain brilliant. All the actors are at their best in this one, but Robson Green stands out. After the murder of a friend, he finally crosses that psychological line. Green is brilliant followed by Andy Serkis(Dr. Michael Lawler). The other actors follow closely behind.

Do I recommend this series. YES, but only the British one. When we Americans try to recreate a wonderful program like this, we always fall short.

Average customer rating:

Lush
Starring: Joseph Chrest , Jared Harris , Don Hood , Laura Linney , and Campbell Scott
Director: Mark Gibson
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
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ASIN: B000A2X41K
Release Date: 2005-08-25

Living Landscapes HD Hawaii (WMV-HD Version for Windows Media and PC's)

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Living Landscapes HD Hawaii (WMV-HD Version for Windows Media and PC's)

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000M32TVS
Release Date: 2006-12-21

Description

Rejoice with the morning birds at Maui's Emerald Pool. Experience the magic rays of sunrise peaking through golden clouds from the rim of Haleakala Crater. Watch the Earth itself being formed as fresh lava flows into the sea. Feel warm ocean spray leap into rainbows, as seawater roars from hidden blowholes. Hawaii's most delightful beaches reveal multi-hued sands of red, black and green, as the warm ocean washes over your feet. The Living Landscapes HD Collection is a series of High Definition programs designed to create sensory-immersive experiences of the world's most beautiful natural environments. These mesmerizing programs use High Definition video and 5.1 surround sound to bring your home theatre or computer screen to life. Transform your living room into a Living Landscape. Replace the static pictures on your wall with more lifelike imagery. Living Landscapes HD Video Collection will forever change your experience of television! This DVD-R contains Windows Media Video High Definition (WMVHD) content. View WMV-HD content on a Windows PC (3GHz or faster recommended) with Windows Media Player for the true HD experience of 720p and stereo sound. It will not play on a standard DVD player. WMV-HD FORMAT. Available in HD-DVD and Blu Ray DVD Spring 2007. Also available in Standard Definition now.

Living Landscapes HD Hawaii (Standard Definition Version)

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Living Landscapes HD Hawaii (Standard Definition Version)

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD-R

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Hawaii: Oahu, Maui, Kauai, And the Big Island

ASIN: B000MM0ZTW
Release Date: 2007-01-12

Description

Rejoice with the morning birds at Maui's Emerald Pool. Experience the magic rays of sunrise peaking through golden clouds from the rim of Haleakala Crater. Watch the Earth itself being formed as fresh lava flows into the sea. Feel warm ocean spray leap into rainbows, as seawater roars from hidden blowholes. Hawaii's most delightful beaches reveal multi-hued sands of red, black and green, as the warm ocean washes over your feet. The Living Landscapes DVD Collection is a series of programs designed to create sensory-immersive experiences of the world's most beautiful natural environments. These mesmerizing programs use state of the art High Definition video and 5.1 surround sound to bring the world's most beautiful natural environments to your home theatre or computer. Whether you choose to transform your living room or home theatre environment into a tropical paradise, or simply want to replace the static pictures on your wall or desktop with more dynamic and lifelike imagery, the Living Landscapes Video Collection will forever change your experience of television. STANDARD DEFINITION FORMAT. Available in HD-DVD and Blu Ray DVD Spring 2007 WMV HD available now

Average customer rating:

Disappointed

Living Landscapes Olympic Rainforest

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000LXGWF8
Release Date: 2006-12-11

Description

Explore the rich verdant beauty of the wettest spot in North America. Enjoy the first jewel drops of dew dangling on fern fronds and refreshing mists of cascading waterfalls. Watch salmon spawn in streams that flow through one of the most beautiful, temperate rainforest valleys on Earth. Fill your world with the sounds of birds, frogs, squirrels, and flowing waters. Sink into the sublime stillness of the mystically lit forest floor to improvisations of Eric Satie's Gymnopedies as interpreted by master musician Raphael Sharpe. The Living Landscapes DVD Collection is a series of programs designed to create sensory-immersive experiences of the world's most beautiful natural environments. These mesmerizing programs use state of the art High Definition video and 5.1 surround sound to bring the world's most beautiful natural environments to your home theatre or computer. Whether you choose to transform your living room or home theatre environment into a tropical paradise, or simply want to replace the static pictures on your wall or desktop with more dynamic and lifelike imagery, the Living Landscapes Video Collection will forever change your experience of television. STANDARD DEFINITION FORMAT. Available in HD-DVD and Blu Ray DVD Spring 2007 WMV HD available now

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed.......2007-05-20

I FOUND THIS PRODUCT TO BE DISAPPOINTED AND DIDN'T DELIVER AS ADVERTISED. I WANTED A VIDEO THAT SHOWED THE RAINFOREST IN ALL ITS NATURAL SOUNDS. THERE WAS NO NATURAL SOUNDTRACK. IT WAS ONLY CANNED MUSIC.

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Lush World: Brazilian Babe Wave
Starring: Lush World
Manufacturer: Woodhaven Ent
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ASIN: B0007IO6DW
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Average customer rating:

Wonderfull movie
Think twice about this movie!
HOUSE OF BREDE ... DID THE PRODUCER READ THE BOOK?
I guess I should read the book
A Few Good Movies Left

In This House of Brede
Starring: Diana Rigg , Pamela Brown , Gwen Watford , Denis Quilley , and Judi Bowker
Director: George Schaefer
Manufacturer: Vci Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305986932
Release Date: 2003-01-24

Customer Reviews:

Wonderfull movie.......2007-03-05

I understand a lot of you have been disapointed by the movie after having read the book. But isn't often the case with books translated to movies ?
I couldn't recommend this movie enough. It is just pure wondefull acting, many of the actors are no longer alive and none, part from Dame Diana Rigg were known to me. This leaves you thoughtfull about the amount of talent there is in the UK, whatever generation and this coming..........from a frenchman.
Every caracter is real and moving. How not be touched by Diana Rigg and Judy Bowker ? and denis Quilley and Nicolas Clay, both no longer alive and who play men who've lost the women they love to God. You'll see very touching display of love and no tight british upper lip there I assure you.
Dame Catherine ( Gwen Watford ) is the lady Abbot one would wish to have is a nun and Dame Agnes part ( Pamela Brown ) is not an easy one to play and I was very touched to see that Pamela Brown died the same year when she plays her own death in the movie.
I have ordered the book and I am looking foward to reading it.
By all means, do buy it and you'll enjoy a very beautifull and inspiring story played by very talented actors.
I am not a christian but this movie really touched my heart.

Think twice about this movie!.......2006-11-01

Anyone who's read the book will be profoundly disappointed with this movie because all the significant issues [e.g., the reason for Philippa's avoidance of Elspeth (sister Cecily in the book, Sr. Joanna in the movie); the relationship with Elspeth & the choir director--forgot this sister's name, etc) never happen in the movie. It's unbelievable that all these incidents were left out & the movie hooked (not wove!) tiny pieces of some incidents without giving any relationship or connection to the characters. A fabulous story which would've been an epic movie was ruined to become absolutely NOTHING!! I'm sorry I bought it & glad I didn't pay $45 or so for it. What a waste of good acting by a very good cast, but even they couldn't save a movie which really has no story whatsoever!

HOUSE OF BREDE ... DID THE PRODUCER READ THE BOOK?.......2006-02-07

I was so excited to receive this DVD as I had very recently completed reading the book. It took perhaps 8-10 hours for me to finish the book... and this movie is 1 hour, 35 minutes. A total waste of time.

Where to begin - in the book there was magnificent DETAIL and character development. No such thing existed in the film. Nothing was developed.

Names were changed, nuns were completely omitted from the story, the financial mystery was never even hinted at, the Chicago sculpture was never mentioned... so you didn't see the before/after Altar, or the repaired statue.

Other significant omissions: the cross with a genuine ruby, the way Phillipa's baby died ... for reasons I cannot imagine, the sex of the baby was even changed. The death of the Phillipa's child introduced such a significant story line and did indeed altar Phillipa's recognition of what was a genuine accident. For those of you who didn't read the book, the child was not killed by a car.

Even the Japanese representative had a different name. Why? Why not keep it Mr. Konishi?

This film was awful. It was shallow and pointless. If I had just seen this movie, I would never even be tempted to read the book. I read some reviews wherein viewers thought highly of this movie. If they read the book they would bring their rating down a notch or two. While reading the book, one has such a wonderful view and feeling of monastic life and the struggles experienced. The introduction of the film just shows Mrs. Talbot gathering her things and getting out of dodge. It doesn't give any background as to the success of this 40 year-old worldly woman's decision to enter Brede to become a nun.

I'm very confused as to why the movie was even made. The movie doesn't do the proper justice to Rumer Godden's beautiful story.

I guess I should read the book.......2005-12-07

I expected more of this film based on the topic and reviews. Lizzie Darcy's review makes me suspect that the problem is in the film version rather than the underlying story. The film is just too glib, and doesn't seem to do justice to the important themes.

A 40-something, attractive, successful woman, apparently sincerely loved by a man wooing her, enters the convent after getting well-fortified with whisky and cigarettes. Just unraveling that much and it's aftermath would have been a worthy story. Eventually we learn "the reason" but it is not worked out very well. Nor is the process by which she comes to some resolution.

The building tension and then crisis between love and "duty" seemed promising but then seemed to almost magically melt away. Perhaps film just isn't the medium to paint the psychological and spiritual journey of contemplation.

For what I think is a much more engaging and thought-provoking, presentation, consider the book, The Hawk and the Dove: A Trilogy, by Penelope Wilcock, which you'll find here on Amazon.

A Few Good Movies Left.......2005-07-28

This is my favorite movie of all time. The human and moral values expressed are of the very highest quality, while expressing all the humanity of man.
I wish every person in the world would see this film and realize the uplifting and world changing values.

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Lush World: Girls of South America
Starring: Lush World
Manufacturer: Woodhaven Ent
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ASIN: B0007IO6DM
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Living Landscapes HD Olympic Rainforest (WMV-HD for Windows Media Players and PC's)

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Living Landscapes HD Olympic Rainforest (WMV-HD for Windows Media Players and PC's)

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000M8N76Y
Release Date: 2006-12-28

Description

Explore the rich verdant beauty of the wettest spot in North America. Enjoy the first jewel drops of dew dangling on fern fronds and refreshing mists of cascading waterfalls. Watch salmon spawn in streams that flow through one of the most beautiful, temperate rainforest valleys on Earth. Fill your world with the sounds of birds, frogs, squirrels, and flowing waters. Sink into the sublime stillness of the mystically lit forest floor to improvisations of Eric Satie's Gymnopedies as interpreted by master musician Raphael Sharpe. The Living Landscapes HD Collection is a series of High Definition programs designed to create sensory-immersive experiences of the world's most beautiful natural environments. These mesmerizing programs use High Definition video and 5.1 surround sound to bring your home theatre or computer screen to life. Transform your living room into a Living Landscape. Replace the static pictures on your wall with more lifelike imagery. Living Landscapes HD Video Collection will forever change your experience of television. This DVD-R will not play on a standard DVD player. It contains Windows Media Video High Definition (WMVHD) content. View WMV-HD content on a Windows PC (3GHz or faster recommended) with Windows Media Player for the true HD experience of 720p and stereo sound. WMV-HD FORMAT. Available in HD-DVD and Blu Ray DVD Spring 2007. Also available in Standard Definition now.

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DVD