Description
The War, a seven-part series directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four quintessentially American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greates cataclysm in history -- a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America -- and demonstrates that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
Customer Reviews:
Ken Burns Elevates WWII to "The War".......2007-09-04
There is a saying that goes something like, "Those who don't know their history are condemmed to relive it." Or in a less scolding tone, how do you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been? While few would argue that The United States of America isn't rich with stories and adventures of personal achievement what with the so called winning of the West, the age of industrialization, and our rise to becomming a world superpower being an active part of our mythology. Or is it? Gore Vidal once refered to the citizens of this fair country as "The United States of Amnesia," suggesting many Americans remember very little of their foreground and even less of their background. Yet for anyone old enought to have experienced the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and our long hard struggle to bring World War Two to a peaceful resolution both in the Pacific and Europe, this three and one half year-plus event is most likely sealed in personal memory along with the other milestones of life such as marriages, births and deaths of loved ones. One reason World War II, or as the producers have aptly named their 14 hour overview of this world changing experience, "The War," had such an impact on our citizens is that everyone, and I do mean everyone, took an active part in bringing this world disaster to a successful conclusion. But that was then and this is now and today, the military veterans or living historians of "The War" are dying as are many of the other participants - the wives, friends and relatives of our brave veterans and almost as important, their first hand recollections and memories of this world shapping event are dying as well. Fortunately for all who worry of such things, we have a national historian among us with the ability to keep our history alive especially for those who don't even like history. His name is Ken Burns and he is a film maker with the talents of a master story teller as evidenced by such interesting perspectives on American life as "Baseball" and "Jazz" and most especially "The Civil War." Now or within a few days, we will have Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's living perspective of the Second World War or "The War" to appreciate and enjoy for as long as we care to know more about ourselves both as individuals and collectively as a nation of citizens. I, for one, 'am more than pleased.
Only the biggest subjects in the American experience........2007-08-31
I do wait with anticipation for Ken Burns next work. We are all aware of his momumental Baseball. It is the definitive masterpiece. So very American, & personally my two favorite subjects, history & baseball. It isn't just a sport, it is a part of our history warts & all. Before that he did The Civil War. Without fear of argument, THE event in United States history & will be for as long as this nation survives. It illustrates the best & the worst of us. More recently his treatment of that most American of music, Jazz. Now, World War II, the most world changing event or series of events ever. His focus will be it's impact on America. I'm confident he'll do it justice.
Based on the interview with Adam Corolla.......2007-08-17
Ken Burns spoke of this series on the Adam Corolla show recently.
From what he and Adam said about this series, I'm waiting with anticipation for the release date.
According to what I heard in the interview, the way it captures a moment in our history, the way it allows the viewer to feel connected with individual soldiers and the people in their lives, and the way it sheds light on how much we as a society have changed in the last 60 years sounds like something that can't be missed out on.
The fact that he takes 14 hours to express these ideas makes this that much more of an experience.
Amazon.com
When you consider that old-fashioned tearjerkers are an endangered species in Hollywood, a movie like The Notebook can be embraced without apology. Yes, it's syrupy sweet and clogged with clichés, and one can only marvel at the irony of Nick Cassavetes directing a weeper that his late father John--whose own films were devoid of saccharine sentiment--would have sneered at. Still, this touchingly impassioned and great-looking adaptation of the popular Nicholas Sparks novel has much to recommend, including appealing young costars (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) and appealing old costars (James Garner and Gena Rowlands, the director's mother) playing the same loving couple in (respectively) early 1940s and present-day North Carolina. He was poor, she was rich, and you can guess the rest; decades later, he's unabashedly devoted, and she's drifting into the memory-loss of senile dementia. How their love endured is the story preserved in the titular notebook that he reads to her in their twilight years. The movie's open to ridicule, but as a delicate tearjerker it works just fine. Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember were also based on Sparks novels, suggesting a triple-feature that hopeless romantics will cherish. --Jeff Shannon
Description
Behind every great love is a great story. Two teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks fall in love during one summer together, but are tragically forced apart. When they reunite 7 years later, their passionate romance is rekindled, forcing one of them to choose between true love and class order.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:2 Commentaries --Director Nick Cassavettes --Novelist Nicholas Sparks
DVD ROM Features
Deleted Scenes:12 Deleted Scenes
Documentaries:Nick Cassavetes Profile Featurette Author Nicholas Sparks Featurette Locating "The Notebook" Featurette Casting Noah and Allie featurette
Other:Widescreen & Fullscreen versions on one disc Rachel McAdams Screen Test
Theatrical Trailer
Customer Reviews:
SAME OLD STORY NEVER TOLD SO WELL!.......2007-09-12
This sweet little love story rises above all it's cliches because of the likable stars and story that moves along briskly. The love story in sad enough, but the Alzheimer's angle really tears your heart out! I watched this because my wife wanted to watch it on our anniversary. I was surprised how much I liked it.....so guys don't squirm too much if your babe wants to watch this one, it's a good story and I admired Gosling's tenacity and devotion to his true love. One of the better romances I've seen in a while, so I rate it 4 stars, but it's definitely a 5 tissue movie! This was mostly because of the Alzheimer's part of the film, it's a tragic disease and having dealt with it in my family it was a little too close to home. The DVD transfer looks very good and the are some interesting extras.
BEST.LOVESTORY.EVER. Ryan Gosling is AMAZING!.......2007-08-31
I fell in love with not only this beautiful story but Ryan Gosling!!!! This is just a fantastic movie and I really can't find better words to describe it. Watch it. Own it. Love it forever!! It is my all-time favorite!!
I'm still a sucker.......2007-08-27
...for these tear jerkers. This movie will go down as a romance classic- a forbidden love about two people from the wrong side of the tracks-Romeo and Juliet for the 1940's, if you will. This film hits all my cheesy love spots and turn up aces with me. McAdams/Goslin were great as well as Garner and Rowland. This is a must see for all Chick movie lovers. Highly recommended.
~Have a box of tissue handy~.......2007-08-08
Although I'm not going to give away any spoilers ... this is a love story like no others. I think that everyone can relate on some level to this movie. You will fall in love with this couple & become drawn in to their story. I recommended this to my mother who after the movie called up crying her eyes out. Even my husband enjoyed this movie. If your looking for a movie that will make you laugh, cry & touch your heart ... this is a must-see.
Beautiful Tale Well Told.......2007-07-25
If you haven't read the book, the movie will not leave you feeling short changed.
A marvellous story about lovers, life and loss.
Highly recommended.
If you're interested, once you watch the movie, read the book The Wedding - it is the follow up from The Notebook.
Nicholas Sparks ROCKS!!
Amazon.com
Last Stand of the 300 is an interesting 90-minute documentary from the History Channel explaining the details of the ancient Spartans' showdown with the Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae. It's long been a fascinating subject, but it hit popular culture in a big way with the 2007 feature film 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Last Stand of the 300 helps explain the background behind the battle as well as many of the details not covered in the movie, including how the Ionian Revolt and the famed battle of Marathon led to Themopylae, the naval front led by Thermistocles, and what happened afterward. Numerous scholars and authors (including the writers of Gates of Fire and Empires at War) explain the rigorous Spartan training, military strategy, the Oracle at Delphi, the Persian technological advantage, different kinds of weaponry and vessels (the Spartan hoplon, dory, and xiphos, and the trireme), and how one of Miller's famous lines came from Herodotus ("Then we shall have our battle in the shade"). The maps are extremely helpful for showing how the geography affected the battle (one detour would have cost the Persians an extra two years of travel time), but the reenactments look kind of simple compared to the extremely stylized feature film. --David Horiuchi
Description
The legendary battle of Thermopylae is still acknowledged today for its brilliant military maneuvers and the well-trained and fearless soldiers who fought to the death. THE HISTORY CHANNEL® presents a detailed account of this legendary battle, examining the events leading up to the conflict, the tactical expertise that allowed the outnumbered Greeks to stall their mighty foes, and the bloody encounter itself. Find out how an army of a few hundred men overcame impossible odds and witness the conflict that altered the course of Western civilization.
Customer Reviews:
The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae.......2007-09-09
Excellent resource for teachers and amateur historians - the real facts behind the theatrical release "300."
The acting is stiff and the narration is stilted, but it is a fascinating bit of history and a must-have companion to the film.
The History Channel Presents Last Stand of the 300 - The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae.......2007-09-06
Outstanding reference DVD and a great addition to any library about Ancient Warfare, weapons and tactics.
Too commercially oriented.......2007-08-27
Not completely worthless, it has more information that one would expect from a purely commercial and teenage oriented product. The few commentators give their views in typically bombastic words, but focus too much on the fighting itself. No time is dedicated too explain the historical context, the societies involved in this clash of civilizations. What was at stake? What were the choices? What were their cultures like? A lot is missing, the most important. They convey the importance of these 3 consecutive battles (Thermopylae, Salamis and Platea) but don't explain why they were so.
Still, if this if for your kids, it might still be worth watching as its better than nothing; I believe there's another documentary out there about the same and even worse.
Another lack was the real scenery and, instead, having to imagine or recreate the scenes with video-gaming technology; even the maps had a computer design touch. Awful presentation. One real view of today's landscape where the battle was fought would have been much appreciated. The History Channel should be history. Read a book.
300 spartans, history, true story.......2007-08-24
well done, an excellent look into the past at the greatest battle in the Western world.
Well Done Documentary.......2007-08-15
The History Channel did a great job in retelling the story of the 300. It brought in perspectives that you wont see in the screen version. The special effects are great. Its shows what leads up to and the aftermath of this historic battle and what it meant to us now. I would watch this before seeing the movie "300" because it will give you background and insight that will help you better understand the battle and the legend that surrounds it .
Amazon.com
Critically hailed as an instant classic, Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima is a masterwork of uncommon humanity and a harrowing, unforgettable indictment of the horrors of war. In an unprecedented demonstration of worldly citizenship, Eastwood (from a spare, tightly focused screenplay by first-time screenwriter Iris Yamashita) has crafted a truly Japanese film, with Japanese dialogue (with subtitles) and filmed in a contemplative Japanese style, serving as both complement and counterpoint to Eastwood's previously released companion film Flags of Our Fathers. Where the earlier film employed a complex non-linear structure and epic-scale production values to dramatize one of the bloodiest battles of World War II and its traumatic impact on American soldiers, Letters reveals the battle of Iwo Jima from the tunnel- and cave-dwelling perspective of the Japanese, hopelessly outnumbered, deprived of reinforcements, and doomed to die in inevitable defeat. While maintaining many of the traditions of the conventional war drama, Eastwood extends his sympathetic touch to humanize "the enemy," revealing the internal and external conflicts of soldiers and officers alike, forced by circumstance to sacrifice themselves or defend their honor against insurmountable odds. From the weary reluctance of a young recruit named Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) to the dignified yet desperately anguished strategy of Japanese commander Tadamichi Kuribayashi (played by Oscar-nominated The Last Samurai costar Ken Watanabe), whose letters home inspired the film's title and present-day framing device, Letters from Iwo Jima (which conveys the bleakness of battle through a near-total absence of color) steadfastly avoids the glorification of war while paying honorable tribute to ill-fated men who can only dream of the comforts of home. --Jeff Shannon
Description
Nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima tells the untold story of the Japanese soldiers who defended their homeland against invading American forces during World War II. With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of Iwo Jima itself, the unprecedented tactics of General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai) and his men transform what was predicted to be a swift defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and resourceful combat. Their sacrifices, struggles, courage and compassion live on in the taut, gripping film Rolling Stone calls "unique and unforgettable." It is the powerful companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers.
Customer Reviews:
The other side of a war........2007-09-15
Clint Eastwood deserves huge kudos for tackling the 'other side' of a big war movie, and so close to 'Flags of Our Fathers', which I also enjoyed immensely. The Japanese actors are excellent and the dialogue was snappy and original, though I had to re-wind a couple times because my eyes couldn't keep up with the subtitles. I tend to go 'cross-eyed' if it's fast. I especially love the baker character who didn't really want to be there and left a young, pregnant wife at home. The movie was excellent in showing how many get caught up in a war they don't necessarily believe in.
Chrissy K. McVay - Author
The bad guys aren't really that bad.......2007-09-11
Its not often that Hollywood makes a movie about soldiers experiencing a defeat. Even more rare is a movie about enemy soldiers being defeated by the home forces; American soldiers. Amazingly, it took Clint Eastwood to make such a movie. Released late in 2006 as a companion of the other Eastwood movie, Flags of our Fathers, this is one of the best war movies this decade. Set entirely on the island of Iwo Jima, it examines the defense and conquest of this island by the US military in 1944 as seen from the eyes of the Japanese defenders. The Japanese soldiers are played by Japanese actors; which is exemplary, and their on-screen dialogue is Japanese, another plus of authenticity.
Not "anti-war" but anti-cliche. .......2007-09-04
Okay, so don't expect the intensity of the battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan or the surrealism of Full Metal Jacket Here. Once I got over my pre-conceptions about what a "war movie" was supposed to be like, I was fine. Also, if you like happy/neat endings...this is not the movie for you. What you will find is a war movie in which you care about the characters and feel torn about many of the issues/dillemas presented. You will vacilate greatly over the course of the movie: one moment disgust/shock, the next admiration/reverence. So, if you are up for a non-traditional war movie, and a roller coaster of emotions, give it a spin.
Interesting Struggle.......2007-09-03
What I liked about this movie is that you walk away with an understanding of how life would be if you where put in that situation. I personally have never been in war but the concept of giving your life for war is disturbing. The consideration that factors of pride or that another man can control your life by ordering your death for the sake of cultural pride..... is mind boggling when analyzed objecively.
Anyways... this movie makes you wonder..... and that to me is a good movie.
Letters From Iwo Jima.......2007-08-31
While there were some "slow" areas in the film, it was nevertheless an OUTSTANDING film due to the unparalleled realism of the the actors in their respective wartime roles, providing great insights into the "Bushido" code thinking of the officers versus the thinking of the common soldier. It also showed both positive and negative actions of each side (Japanese soldier versus American soldier), and shows how real leadership inspires the soldiers. The second bonus disk is a great addition to this movie. I highly recommend this 5+ star movie. This was much better than "Flags of Our Fathers".
Average customer rating:
- I didn't Laugh Once.
- Peter Sellers at his best!!
- funny story but bad timing
- Sellers at his best!
- Better Each Time I See It
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Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition)
Starring:
Peter Sellers ,
George C. Scott ,
Sterling Hayden ,
Keenan Wynn , and
Slim Pickens
Director:
Stanley Kubrick , and
David Naylor
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
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Fail-safe (Special Edition)
ASIN: B000055Y0X
Release Date: 2001-02-27 |
Amazon.com essential video
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
I didn't Laugh Once........2007-09-09
I asked for a bunch of comedies from the 60s & somehow this war satire landed in the pile. At least it was't one of those lame 50's propoganda films & had a somewhat interesting twist; this time an introverted American biggot nutcase is the bad guy, with his own president against him at every step, & Russua is the innocent victim. I couldn't get through more than 1/2 of it.
Peter Sellers at his best!!.......2007-09-01
I have been used to Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther movies but this 1964 movie is WONDERFUL! One movie..three different roles. Dr. Strangelove has stood the test of time since its release. If memory serves me correct this movie was originally to be released in late 1963 but was delayed due to the assassination of President Kennedy. George C.Scott did a superb job in his role. The scene in which the President (Peter Sellers) calling his Russian counterpart was hilarious. Worth watching again!!
funny story but bad timing.......2007-08-28
The first time that I saw this film, I thought it was the funniest.
but now, in this current time frame, it was sad, knowing that a war was
going on and our men were being killed for no good reason.
Sellers at his best!.......2007-08-23
For years I have heard about this movie, and I finally bought it at a time when I had the opportunity to watch it. Wonderful!! Sellers is a comic genius, and the subtly of the laughs is the great thing in Dr. Strangelove.
Better Each Time I See It.......2007-08-22
I have to admit that when I first saw this, it didn't actually make me stop worrying and love the bomb. However, almost everything about it is just perfect- from the gun battle in front of the Air Force's "Peace is our profession" sign to the Russian ambassador taking secret photos in the warroom after the end of the world to Dr. Strangelove's miraculous cure (when my 15 year old daughter recovered from her stroke, I had her rise from her wheelchair and say, "Mein Fuhrer, I can valk!"). Highly recommended as one of the greatest, if grimmest, comedies ever.
Average customer rating:
- Time Bandits
- The raising of the flag should be an event best left to history.
- THROUGH A SOLDIERS EYES!!
- Found it high quality but boring
- Important film for all generations
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Flags of Our Fathers (Widescreen Edition)
Starring:
Ryan Phillippe ,
Jesse Bradford ,
Adam Beach ,
John Benjamin Hickey , and
John Slattery
Director:
Clint Eastwood
Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video
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Blood Diamond [HD DVD]
ASIN: B000M4RG42
Release Date: 2007-02-06 |
Amazon.com
Thematically ambitious and emotionally complex, Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers is an intimate epic with much to say about war and the nature of heroism in America. Based on the non-fiction bestseller by James Bradley (with Ron Powers), and adapted by Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis (Jarhead screenwriter William Broyles Jr. wrote an earlier draft that was abandoned when Eastwood signed on to direct), this isn't so much a conventional war movie as it is a thought-provoking meditation on our collective need for heroes, even at the expense of those we deem heroic. In telling the story of the six men (five Marines, one Navy medic) who raised the American flag of victory on the battle-ravaged Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23rd, 1945, Eastwood takes us deep into the horror of war (in painstakingly authentic Iwo Jima battle scenes) while emphasizing how three of the surviving flag-raisers (played by Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) became reluctant celebrities - and resentful pawns in a wartime publicity campaign - after their flag-raising was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in the most famous photograph in military history.
As the surviving flag-raisers reluctantly play their public roles as "the heroes of Iwo Jima" during an exhausting (but clearly necessary) wartime bond rally tour, Flags of Our Fathers evolves into a pointed study of battlefield valor and misplaced idolatry, incorporating subtle comment on the bogus nature of celebrity, the trauma of battle, and the true meaning of heroism in wartime. Wisely avoiding any direct parallels to contemporary history, Eastwood allows us to draw our own conclusions about the Iwo Jima flag-raisers and how their postwar histories (both noble and tragic) simultaneously illustrate the hazards of exploited celebrity and society's genuine need for admirable role models during times of national crisis. Flags of Our Fathers defies the expectations of those seeking a more straightforward war-action drama, but it's richly satisfying, impeccably crafted film that manages to be genuinely patriotic (in celebrating the camaraderie of soldiers in battle) while dramatizing the ultimate futility of war. Eastwood's follow-up film, Letters from Iwo Jima, examines the Iwo Jima conflict from the Japanese perspective. --Jeff Shannon
Beyond Flags of Our Fathers
Other World War II DVDs |
Essential DVDs by Director Clint Eastwood |
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley |
Stills from Flags of Our Fathers (click for larger image)
Product Description
From Academy Award-winning director Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven) comes the World Was II epic Flags of Our Fathers, produced by Eastwood, Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List), and Rob Lorenz (Mystic River), and from a screenplay adapted by William Broyles, Jr. (Cast Away) and Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash).
February 1945. Even as victory in Europe was finally within reach, the war in the Pacific raged on. One of the most crucial and bloodiest battles of the war was the struggle for the island of Iwo Jima, which culminated with what would become one of the most iconic images in history: five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. The inspiring photo capturing that moment became a symbol of victory to a nation that had grown weary of war and made instant heroes of the six American soldiers at the base of the flag, some of whom would die soon after, never knowing that they had been immortalized. But the surviving flag raisers had no interest in being held up as symbols and did not consider themselves heroes; they wanted only to stay on the front with their brothers in arms who were fighting and dying without fanfare or glory.
Flags of Our Fathers is based on the bestselling book by James Bradley with Ron Powers, which chronicled the battle of Iwo Jima and the fates of the flag raisers and some of their brothers in Easy Company. Bradley's father, John "Doc" Bradley, was one of the soldiers pictured raising the flag, although James never knew the full extent of his father's experiences until after the elder Bradley's death in 1994.
Customer Reviews:
Time Bandits.......2007-09-17
I am a big fan of Clint Eastwood as a director. In my opinion, he is second only to Woody Allen as the best active American director. I had planned on viewing "Flags of Our Fathers" at the movie theater but it was only there one week. I started reading some rather negative reviews and wondered if the problem was with the reviewers. I finally rented the video last night and I must admit that my first impressions were mixed.
The main problem that I had with "Flags of Our Fathers" was the frequent time shifts both forward and backward. This is becoming a more common techique, I'm finding. Usually it works (otherwise, why would a director utilize if if he didn't have a purpose in mind?). However, sometimes it doesn't and the audience is left unintentionally confused or out of the loop. I was not confused by this technique in FOOF but I did feel out of the loop.
This is a story that works along the lines of the classic Western "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". We look at reality through the eyes of how it occurred and how it was perceived. In TMWSLV we have the great line, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend". That was essentially what the protagonists were suggesting in FOOF and, although the reasons varied, the characters were still pawns in something bigger that they were. In "Flags of Our Fathers" the message was essentially spelled out in the closing monologue and the gist of it was there were no heros; just common men placed in uncommon situations who, through luck and pluck, realized different outcomes.
The famous flag waving on top of Mt Suribachi is something we're all familiar with. The movie asks us to examine the picture and its' patriotic meaning in our common heritage and to review reality and perception. We are led to focus on the reality (although there are several times when the charlatans in the movie make their case for "perception" with eloquence). The three surviving soldiers from the event are wisked back stateside to boost war bond sales to jump-start the failing war economy. Their intro-spective perception was that they were no heros; just three people in the right place at the right time. Their main focus were their comrades who died leaving their names meaningless in comparison. That's where I realize the time shifts failed; the lack of character development up to that point in the movie left me knowing way more about the three main characters and wondering just who the other three were. This may have been intentional but it wasn't helpful. Eventually we are reunited back in time and follow what happened to the other three; soldiers we realize we'd met earlier but to whom we weren't properly introduced.
The movie closes strong and that altered my impression initially but the misunderstanding along the way I blame more on the director than myself. I was also bothered by my perception that the writer and director gave us just the information we needed to come to the same conclusion that they did which, to me, was the same method and purpose of the big shot publicity people in the movie. In the end, it is the individual soldier who has had to make it through all of this and make his own peace with the past; that was the aspect of "Flag of Our Fathers" that I liked the best.
The raising of the flag should be an event best left to history........2007-09-12
What is the point of this movie . . that American Indians have an alcohol problem, or that the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima was somehow a show, with meaning only for the publicists at that time. That a flag was raised twice is fine, and that there was some confusion over who was actually in the picture is also credible. But harping on one of the soldiers sour disposition, and his drinking problem just didn't seem to belong. And the insistence that the USA would run out of money unless the surviving soldiers put on shows across the country to help raise funds didn't seem appropriate either. Of all the problems we were faced with during the Good War, the inability for the Government to print money when required was not one of them.
This movie tried to sensationalize a very somber event, representing a major triumph of US forces over the Japanese. It shouldn't have. The raising of the flag should be an event best left to history.
THROUGH A SOLDIERS EYES!!.......2007-09-02
flags of our fathers was a nicely done film. at some points it made me feel as if i was there. seeing what they saw, living what the lived, all the blood, corpses, and not knowing if they would live or die. everything they would go through, friends they would lose, and family they never know if they would see again. they would return, not feeling like heroes, but feeling empty, alone, with no one to understand, only those who lived and died during war. they would be traumatized, with images and voices they would never forget, but never share. this movie was very well done, a good thumbs up for catching that accuracy of the feeling only those who've been to war know about. clint eastwood nice job. great actor, and director. through this you can see just what people of all backgrounds, and race have done to give all of us what we now have.
Found it high quality but boring.......2007-09-02
I was looking for something more like "Letters from Iwo Jima" which was an excellent movie. Although FOF is typical Eastwood quality, I found the movie itself boring and still haven't finished it. I guess if you're into WWII history and character studies it would be better, and although the story about the two flags is interesting the movie just didn't do much for me.
Important film for all generations.......2007-09-01
Bought this for Father's Day, as my late father was a Navy Medic in Iwo Jima, just as the main character in the film. It was moving in so many ways, primarily to see what he went through, but never spoke of. The Marines had no medics, so they borrowed them from the Navy. They carried no weapons, and saw the most horrific action. The scam fostered by the government was an indictment and an embarrassment, but part of our history that must be told, and the Native American experience was also something I was not aware of. A must see for all Americans.
Average customer rating:
- Imaginative story that keeps our child's interest
- Neverending Enjoyment
- Love this movie, but where's the special treatment
- Great movie
- They don't make movies like this anymore....
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The NeverEnding Story
Starring:
Barret Oliver ,
Gerald McRaney ,
Drum Garrett ,
Darryl Cooksey , and
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Director:
Wolfgang Petersen
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B00005LKHZ
Release Date: 2001-09-04 |
Amazon.com essential video
Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire) made his first English-language film with this 1984 fantasy about a boy (Barret Oliver) visualizing the stories of a book he's reading. The imagined tale involves another boy, a warrior (Noah Hathaway), and his efforts to save the empire of Fantasia from a nemesis called the Nothing. Whether or not the scenario sticks in the memory, what does linger are the unique effects, which are not quite like anything else. Plenty of good fairy-tale characters and memorable scenes, and the film even encourages kids to read. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Imaginative story that keeps our child's interest.......2007-08-25
This movie is great for kids who have no problem with imagination and who like to READ. Our four-year old can get bored with some movies since they are not as good as a book (his words!) but this movie keeps his attention just fine. It does have some rather scary parts in it but nothing graphic or poor language and as long as you are watching TOGETHER and explain what is happening, there should be no problem with fright or nightmares. We bought the three-part movie series to our delight.
Neverending Enjoyment.......2007-08-24
The Neverending Story has been a perfect childhood movie since it's induction into the greatest kids' movies of all time. I've watched this movie growing up and continue to share it with the younger friends and family.
Love this movie, but where's the special treatment.......2007-08-17
This was a seminal movie for me in my childhood (along with The Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Goonies and others) and I love it to this day. The only thing I'm disgrunteled about is it's poor treatment on DVD. I want a special edition: with a making of documentary highlighting the whole process from the actual book to the script, character sketches and concepts, set design, creature design and building, and all the goodies real film enthusiasts love to watch. And interviews! I mean, even if there is no older footage of the process of making the film can't the people responsible put something together to honor this film. Atleast a director's commentary or something. I love this film and I will continue to watch it from time to time...I just wish that the DVD editions had just a lil' bit extra for all the fans and enthusiasts of this wonderful fantasy.
Great movie.......2007-07-28
Great movie, one that you can watch over and over for many years. But if you want the full experience, you should read the book by Micheal Ende.
They don't make movies like this anymore...........2007-07-06
Remember that moment at the end of Wizard of Oz when the Good Witch tells Dorothy she's had the power to go home all along? Remember the collective "What the (BLEEP)..." from everyone watching, regardless of their age?
I had a very similar reaction when I reached the end of this movie.
That's not to say I was disappointed. Quite the contrary. It was like a slap in the face of "why didn't I think of that?" Often times the best endings are so obvious you overlook them and this movie is a testament to that fact.
That having been said it's also one of the best fantasy rides you'll ever take in 2 hours. A turtle whose shell is an island. A talking wolf. A luck dragon. Two sets of sphinx like characters, both offering riddles. A horse whose own sadness nearly is is undoing... oh and a rock biter.
These are just a few of the fanciful elements that make this very under-celebrated movie worth high praise!
If you saw it as a child and you now have children, show it to your children. Make it something you share for generations. You'll be glad you did.
They don't make movies like this any more. The more we can teach our children to have imaginations, the more likely they are to dream big dreams... and the more likely they are to turn those dreams into reality.
Amazon.com essential video
Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II.
The Second World War was different from other wars in thousands of ways, one of which was the unparalleled scope of visual documents kept by the Axis and Allies of all their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much through written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis were particularly thorough in documenting even the most abhorrent of the atrocities they were committing--in a surprising amount of color footage. The World at War was one of the first television documentaries that exploited these resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable visual guide to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say nothing of the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights:
- A New Germany 1933-39: early German and Nazi documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the impending attack on Poland
- Whirlwind: the early British losses in the blitz in the skies over Britain and in North Africa
- Stalingrad: the turning point of the war and Germany's first defeat
- Inside the Reich--Germany 1940-44: one of the most fascinating documentaries that exists on life inside Nazi Germany, from Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth
- Morning: prior to Saving Private Ryan, one of the only unromanticized views of the Normandy invasion
- Genocide: this film is one of the most widely shown introductions to the Holocaust
- Japan 1941-45: although The World at War is decidedly focused more on the European theater, this is an important look into wartime Japan and its expansion--early 20th-century history that lead to Japan's role in World War II is superficial
- The bomb: another widely shown documentary of the Manhattan Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki
The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of World War II, analogous to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No serious historian should be missing The World at War in a collection, and no student should leave school without having seen at least some of its salient episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J. Macki
Customer Reviews:
5 Stars Of Course! But.......Some Faults You Have to Admit!!!!!!.......2007-09-06
Before you touchy Brit's go hitting off on the "not helpful" button. The World At War is the BEST!!!! OK???? Ok now that I have said that, I am not going to reminisce about every episode, I watched the whole series in pieces on PBS during the 70's and 80's and later, and now on DVD (it's wonderful).
However, one must admit that it is heavily biased in the UK's view, and it's abhorrent that in a 30th anniversary edition, that there are no CLOSED CAPTIONS!!!!!! I think you Brit's take it too personal dislike that others cannot understand you but you must remember, there are many Americans, Germans, Poles, French, Asians, and many more speaking in English. Is that not enough to offer in a 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, plain old closed captioning??????? How about this one, are there no deaf people who live in the UK?????? Give me a break A&E. I can only understand about 75% of the narrative in this series (including our esteemed narrator!), I also am no back woods hick from America, I have traveled the world and have to focus to understand a lot of the narrative, it makes for good repeat viewing I guess but c'mon, other Americans may get less than half, honestly. If you want to call me lazy so be it but I want to be entertained and whats more important, I want to have my children draw an interest, I wonder if they will fully (?), not really understanding what is being said with the thick Cockney accents? OK its still great, I guess for the price you cant beat it since it's much lower now than 5 years ago, and I absolutely was riveted seeing Karl Doenitz (who I understood better than many of the Brits interviewed! Still the CC would have been nice.) interviewed; that footage along with all the other aides and Generals and Admirals and Minister's was priceless! The last of the BBC's glory days to me.
The Gold Standard for Documentaries.......2007-09-05
I watched most of these episodes on public TV 30 years ago, and many of the interviews and footage were still vivid in my mind. Watching again makes me appreciate the brilliant job done by all concerned.
The documentary was made at precisely the right time in history -- when the war was distant enough for some perspective, but not so distant that the witnesses were dead. This work is the gold standard for documentaries.
The opening and end of the series keys on a massacre in France done by retreating Germans who were themselves killed a few hours or days later. The footage of the wrecked town preserved as a monument and Olivier's narration are pure artistry.
Visually, the most unforgettable clips are from the air battles and bombing runs. Emotionally, I was most struck by interviews of German and Dutch citizens dealing with the guilt from being forced to collaborate on some level.
The Holocaust is dealt with in one episode, which is structured perfectly to start with the Nazi racial theories, leading to wrenching interviews with survivors, and ending with the most affecting clip of the whole series (bulldozing the dead at a concentration camp). The subject probably should have been done, however, in two or three episodes. The bonus DVDs correct this by including two large segments with more survivor interviews and incredible use of German propaganda footage.
An entire episode is devoted to the atomic bomb and is extraordinarily well done. It does tend toward favoring the European perspective that dropping the bomb was unnecessary, though it includes interviews making the contrary case. I tend to agree that the bomb did not have to be dropped. But the editors miss the point -- after 6 years of total war, the world was so brutalized that no one was going to hesitate to use any weapon that could conceivably advance the war to any measurable degree. The editors miss the point that it was only after the bomb was dropped that even people like Truman started having second thoughts about all the dead children -- and the world, over the years, started coming to terms with the reality of total war in the nuclear age.
Not enough time is devoted to the war in Russia, which was the most determinative of the war's outcome and where most of the people died.
A lot of the bonus material is just extra footage spliced in with what you've already seen in the previous episodes. But the Holocaust segment in the bonus material does add to and improve the overall work.
This is a classic that is worth the time and money.
Volume problem on the World at War.......2007-08-31
The series is still priceless. I had a real problem with the DCDs themselves - being able to hear all the commentary. Sometimes it was so low that I couldn't even hear it with my ear next to the TV speaker. It may have been a problem emmanating from the VCR, but I still don't know.
I finally was able to solve the problem by hooking up my Bose radio/CD player via AUX cables. Then I used the volume on the Bose. That solved the volume problem and I have been able to enjoy the set tremendously - and learn a lot too.
I noticed the same problem with other DVD's made from old (probably) VHS. When I put a new movie on the DVD player, such as the Harry Potter movies on DVD, the sound is perfect. I think the problem lies with the old programs that are redone onto DVD.
Has Some Big Flaws...but still the best documentary on WW2.......2007-07-17
Jeremy Issacs has won all sorts of recognition for this series, and all the plaudits are well deserved. This is by far the most compelling work on World War Two and is well worth adding to your collection. Sir Laurence Olivier's narration coupled with archival footage and crude (remember it's the 1970's) but effective graphics make this a great primer on the most destructive war in history.
While the overall series is excellent, some notable highlights include:
* The opening three minutes of episode one, an incredible piece of filmmaking.
* 'France Falls' does an excellent job of showing how France was beaten long before the first shot was fired.
* 'Banzai: Japan Strikes' does an exceptioanlly good job of explaining why Japan took increasingly agressive action in Asisa throughout the 30s. Plus offers excellent insight into what Japan hoped to accomplsih with its attack on Pearl Harbor.
* 'Stalingrad' captures the brutality of the most brutal battle of WWII
* 'Whirlwind' explains how military leaders struggled to understand the application of an entirely new way of war, strategic bombing.
* 'Nemisis' brilliantly catalogues the final days of the Thousand Year Reich.
Some puzzling weaknesses are:
* The overall British point of view. Issacs produced this for an English television audience. I believe if Issacs knew beforehand the worldwide audience he would eventually reach, he would have made a more balanced series giving the Americans more due.
* The episode 'It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow: Burma'. There is no reason to devote a whole episode to a side-show of the war.
* Overall sketchy coverage of the Pacific war. Burma gets a full hour, but the battle of Midway gets 10 minutes. Guadalcanal gets less than that.
* 'Wolfpack' tries to explain submarine warfare, but once again leaves out action in the Pacific where submarines played an even bigger part than in the Atlantic.
I've watched these episodes multiple times. Even with some of the weaknesses, it's always compelling veiwing. A true monumnet to documentary filmaking!
totally truncated don't BUY!.......2007-07-16
While I enjoy the series,buyer beware this NOT a faithful reproduction.
Case in point the invasion of poland.That was a whole episode,and quite frankly it set the tone for the whole series of battles that followed,it totally truncated the conquest of poland.By my estimation about 20 minutes!.A truly great episode.I have not reached the the phony war episode yet....but if i don't get the song....."le boomb.etc" just before the germans attack this babby's goes back to COSTCO!
Average customer rating:
- Classic to share with a new generation
- good movie
- The movie is cool, BUT THE SPANISH SUBTITLES WHAT ABOUT IT???
- Instant Teen Classic
- It Takes Two Hands To Handle A WOPR
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War Games
Starring:
Matthew Broderick ,
Dabney Coleman ,
John Wood ,
Ally Sheedy , and
Barry Corbin
Director:
John Badham
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
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Hackers
ASIN: 0792838467
Release Date: 1998-04-29 |
Amazon.com
Cute but silly, this 1983 cautionary fantasy stars Matthew Broderick as a teenage computer genius who hacks into the Pentagon's defense system and sets World War III into motion. All the fun is in the film's set-up, as Broderick befriends Ally Sheedy and starts the international crisis by pretending while online to be the Soviet Union. After that, it's not hard to predict what's going to happen: government agents swoop in, but the story ends up in the "hands" of machines talking to one another. Thus we're stuck with flashing lights, etc. John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) directs in strict potboiler mode. Kids still like this movie, though. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, theatrical trailer, Dolby sound, director commentary, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh
Description
Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) star in this compelling drama filled with action, suspense and high-tech adventures! Featuring superb performances by Dabney Coleman and Barry Corbin, WarGames is "brilliant...funny...and provocative" (New York)a fast-paced cyber-thriller. Computer hacker David Lightman (Broderick) can bypass the most advanced security systems, break the most intricate secret codes and mastereven the most difficult computer games. But when he unwittingly taps into the Defense Department's war computer, he initiates a confrontation of global proportionsWorld War III! Together with his girlfriend (Sheedy) and a wizardly computer genius (Tony AwardÂ(r) winner John Wood), David must race against time to outwit his opponent...and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.
Customer Reviews:
Classic to share with a new generation.......2007-08-08
I've had a great time sharing this title with my kids. It's a bit of a nostalgic look back at the era of my own youth. If you don't spend much time on the sappy "no one wins global thermonuclear war" message, it's quite fun to watch.
good movie.......2007-08-07
When I watched this movie for the first time, I was only a teenager and I loved it. Now that I got to watch it again, I loved it again, but I had to add some nostalgia and good memories to it this time!
The movie is cool, BUT THE SPANISH SUBTITLES WHAT ABOUT IT???.......2007-07-10
I was expecting the new releases of this movie can be now with spanish subtitles, but I'm comfirming now many spanish-talking people can't enjoy the movie because the MGM guys failed in the final edition and they never put the spanish subtitles.
The movie is great, nice 80's value, cool older remembranza but all of us who were expecting to find the spanish subtitles option active now are deceptioned.
Bad move for the latin-american talkers MGM.
Instant Teen Classic.......2007-06-28
In the era when nuclear threat was real and era of the Personal Computer birth, this film with an excellent story played by the wisecracking young Mathew Broderick and the really young Ally Sheedy (What happen to her she was really good and pretty) introduce us to the world of computers and hacking in the era of Cold War Tech with two countries fighting for supremacy and they stuck in the middle.
This film makes me go to college and study Computer Science, John Badham excellent direction and the Art Background is superb.
This Classic has to be in your collection if you where young in that time and if you haven't see it, would be educational to see what computers look like in the early eighties and what they could do.
It Takes Two Hands To Handle A WOPR.......2007-06-10
All storytelling revolves around three themes: Man against Man, Man against Nature, and Man against Himself. In the latter half of the Twentieth Century, a fourth paradigm was added, that being Man Against Machine. Largely told in the cinematic mode, Man against Machine has given us any number of low-budget American International Pictures releases, as well as such classic films as FAIL SAFE, DR. STRANGELOVE, COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, the TERMINATOR films, THE MATRIX and its sequels, and WAR GAMES.
WAR GAMES is a late Cold War Era entry (1983), and probably the only Teen Angst movie of this kind. Despite the inherent weaknesses of the Teen Angst genre, WAR GAMES manages to have been (and remain) satisfyingly entertaining, even after a quarter century. WAR GAMES remains timeless.
David Lightman (played by a pimple-faced, squeaky Matthew Broderick) is an underacheiving teenage computer genius who spends his time entertaining himself by hacking into the school computer and changing people's Grade Point Averages. Somehow, David manages to hook up with the pretty and popular Jennifer (played by a presumptively virginal Ally Sheedy). While trying to impress Jennifer with his pocket-protector machismo, David hacks into what he believes to be an online War Gaming site. Presented with a whole plethora of possible games, David, of course, skips over such boring choices as tic-tac-toe, poker, chess, and even the intriguingly named Falken's Maze to play Global Thermonuclear War.
David HAS hacked into an online War Gaming site. Unfortunately for David, and for us, it's NORAD. Having just completed a study showing that human button-pushers won't push their buttons in the event of an attack, NORAD has given the ultimate responsibility for button-pushing to a new computer, WOPR (the acronym is a little vague). WOPR doesn't realize that David is a hacker. WOPR also doesn't know that it's all a simulation. So WOPR starts World War III. David and Jennifer, realizing that it is all a terrible misunderstanding, spend the rest of the film trying to turn off the rambunctious little toaster oven. The ending is a Cold War parable.
After two and a half decades part of the fun of watching WAR GAMES is looking at all the quaint high-tech antiques. The computer geeks are an army of screaming, whining, barely toilet-trained four-eyed migraine makers. David's modem is a hard dock model that basically swallows telephone receivers. Reel-to-reel tape drives still look impressive. 5.25 disk drives are on the cutting edge. PCs as such don't exist, but 8088 integrated monitor-dual floppy drive-keyboard models are everywhere. No one's heard of the Graphical User Interface yet, and everything is reduced to green typing on black screens, the equivalent of computer cuneiform. DOS doesn't and Windows wasn't. Amazingly, David's home dinosaur can turn the typed word into an audio feed, allowing WOPR to talk. Tres cool, man!
As for the WOPR itself, it is appropriately named, being about a third of the size of a typical Burger King restaurant. Very well endowed with more beeping and flashing things than a Vegas Casino, WOPR has about as much computing power as an abacus, and works just about as well, but it is pretty to look at.
Even though the WOPR couldn't play a DVD, your computer can, and WAR GAMES is a fun popcorn-and-soda flick that's worth having in your collection.
Amazon.com
Though Hannibal Rising's Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) is a pussycat compared to Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, this sequel's story of revenge is grizzly enough to satisfy lovers of Thomas Harris's epic tale. After young Hannibal (Aaron Thomas) is forced to watch his little sister, Mischa (Helena Lia Tachovska), devoured by starving soldiers in his homeland Lithuania, Hannibal vows to avenge his sister's death by slaying those who committed not only war crimes against the Lecters, but also against other families during WW II. In detailing Hannibal's revenge plan, the film investigates the psychological implications of witnessing cannibalism to justify Hannibal's insatiable appetite for human flesh. The most interesting aspect of Hannibal Rising—its analytical connections drawn between Hannibal's childhood traumas and his murderous adult obsessions—is also the film's weak point. The links oversimplify Lecter's complex character. For example, though titillating to see flashbacks of Lecter's sister hacked up and boiled while Lecter visits a Parisian meat market, the reference is too obvious. One learns why he excels in his medical school classes dissecting cadavers, and we're given explicit explanation for why he slices off and eats his victims' cheeks. The story only complicates when Hannibal interacts with his sexy Aunt, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li). When Murasaki educates him in the art of beheading, the viewer sees Hannibal's sword fetish as a manifestation of physical lust. --Trinie Dalton
Description
(Horror/Suspense) The terrifying Silence of the Lambs prequel that reveals the history of the infamous Hannibal and how he came to be a cannibalistic murderer.
Customer Reviews:
The Producers don't want smokers to buy this DVD.......2007-09-16
I watch movies on DVD's at home and not at the Cinema, because I can smoke at home. I find it unacceptable that this DVD starts with an anti-smoking campaign advertisement. They have no right since we pay for the DVD to bombard us in the privacy of our home with their campaign.
If I wanted to see advertisements I would not pay for a DVD but switch on my TV.
I'm pleased with this one.......2007-09-07
I think this prequel answered some questions regarding Lecter's murderous start. It's worth watching for those that have enjoy the Lecter stories.
Stunning Visuals, But A Disappointing Story.......2007-09-06
As a fan of all the Hannibal Lector films, I was expecting another film I'd enjoy and thinking this would be a terrific character study of man who is one of the most famous fictional killers of all time. What I got instead was more of a simple revenge story than the character study. Oh, yeah, we do learn some background of the famous "Dr. Lector," but not enough of what really made him the weird combination of intellectual and cannibal.
Although portraying and having someone in the film label the young adult as "monster," the filmmakers (actually, author Thomas Harris) really made him more of a sympathetic character instead. They took the easiest road, out, too, making an easy target the villains: the Nazis. How often has Hollywood done that, even today 60 years after the conclusion of WWII. What we get is a revenge story of how Lector went from a child captive of the Nazis for a short time, to a medical student in Paris and how he tracked down the Nazis who killed the rest of his family.
The best part of the film was the absolutely gorgeous cinematography. This is beautifully filmed, first frame to last. Gaspard Ulliel as Hannibal was okay but certainly not as riveting in the role as the mature Anthony Hopkins was in his three performances. Why a young French actor, who has all the accents that Hopkins doesn't have, would play the role, I don't know.
Truly Shocking And Extremely Well-Made Origin Tale For Dr. Lecter.......2007-09-04
With each new entry into the Hannibal Lecter story, my appreciation for the series as a whole, and for each previous chapter, grows. And this time it's been done with a prequel that goes all the way back to Hannibal's childhood, a story that I - and probably quite a few other fans - wasn't sure was a good idea to tell. Didn't the excellent "Red Dragon" reveal enough of Lecter's backstory? Was going back further going to do anything other than take away the air of mystery to the character?
Fortunately, "Hannibal Rising" only deepens the impact of the character and his previous films. Beginning in World War II Lithuania, we see the deaths of young Lecter's family, not at the hands of Hannibal himself, but by Nazis and a band of marauding Lithuanian ex-Nazi collaborators/turned 'freelance' looters and terrorizers. Through a ghastly set of circumstances best left to be seen in the movie itself, the surviving Hannibal is found by the Russian forces moving in at the end of the war, a mute child wandering through the woods with a chain around his neck. Raised in a Soviet orphanage, the amnesiac and still-mute Hannibal seemingly develops into an unlikely defender of the oppressed ("You go against the way of nature, Hannibal", an orphanage official tells him, "Always hurting the bully"), Lecter eventually frees himself and makes his way across Europe to the residence of some disrant relatives, where the bulk of the movie takes place. The older but still mute Hannibal (played by Gaspard Ulliel in the male breakout performance of the year so far) is cared for by the widow (Gong Li, another great performance in a highly well-acted movie) of his deceased uncle, later becoming more deeply involved with her.
It's upon regaining his memory of the events in the war that the transformation really begins. The bloody path of Hannibal Lecter as we know him begins as revenge, but as we already know from the previous movies, it doesn't end there. Hannibal ends up travelling from innocent child to a dark, violent avenger, to what he is when "Red Dragon" takes place (although "Hannibal Rising" wraps up many years before Dragon commences - maybe we haven't seen the last of the pre-Anthony Hopkins Hannibal). As the end of Hannibal Ris
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