Maxed Out

Amazon.com

In Maxed Out, author/director James D. Scurlock (Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders) takes on America's debt crisis. Consequently, he touches on related issues like race, corporate malfeasance, and political subterfuge. Scurlock's multi-media approach incorporates statistics, news excerpts, and interviews, but it's rarely dull (comedy bits from Louis CK and tunes from Queen and Coldplay don't hurt). Speakers include economic professors, debt collectors, pawn brokers, investigative reporters, beleaguered consumers, and even Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous). Instead of New York and Los Angeles, he concentrates on mid-size cities, like Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, and Seattle. Plenty of small towns also come into play. Though he never presses the point himself, Scurlock allows his subjects to note the similarities between the credit industry and the drug trade (others use such incendiary terms as "rape"). One thing he neglects to mention, however, is pride. If house payments are ruining your life, selling that property may be the only solution. In most cases, however, it's hard not to feel for those individuals who didn't know what they were getting into before they signed their lives away. For some viewers, this will be a dispiriting documentary--three subjects recount the suicides of relatives who found their debt too much to bear--but in explaining exactly how lenders and creditors make money, Maxed Out can help others to avoid some of their most egregious practices. In other words, debt may be a downer, but knowledge is power. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

EYE OPENING to the world of predatary lending.......2007-09-17

I am a financial planner and it amazes me to the number of families that are financially struggling to make ends meet and living paycheck to paycheck, to an extent, theres a level of responsibility that is required and many can make the claim that borrowers are the ones that lack the discipline to borrow with responsibility but we also live in a society and culture that promotes the opposite.

Throughout life, everywhere we look, its buy this spend that! It becomes programed in our heads at an early age that we make MONEY for the purpose of spending it right away. I hope that after people watch this film that they review their own day to day financial habits and realized to start SAVING for a change because the corporations are out to make a profit and not looking out for the consumers best interest.

I've recommended this film to my clients and definitely gives a reality check.

Interesting Documentary But Lacks A Solution.......2007-09-11

Maxed Out is a documentary about the financial woes of the American People. The documentary chronicle's families problems with staying afloat in a debt ridden environment. Maxed Out was able to get some pretty big names in the financial community to agree to interviews including Dave Ramsey & Suze Orman. Although I think that the documentary makes a good case that credit card companies are taking advantage of certain families with ridiculous interest rates and fees I also believe that the DVD lacks making the case for personal responsibility when it comes to credit issues. I do not feel that stronger regulation will fix the credit problem. We live in America and should try to keep government out of any industry possible. Look what government regulation did to the airline industry. The only solution to Americas ever growing credit problem is personal responsibility and more education regarding financial products.

Financial Education .......2007-08-31

I saw this video at a Finacial Education workshop this summer and thought that I would should it to my Consumer Education class grades 9th thru 12th.

The Borrower is Slave to the Lender.......2007-08-28

I like "In Debt We Trust More".

Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Valuable, if unbalanced, perspective.......2007-08-28

Maxed Out glosses over personal liability. Consumers must be held responsible for their financial decisions; however, responsibility is a two-way street. The credit card executives and collection agents shown in the film portray themselves as mere functionaries in a complex financial system. In doing so, they omit the ethical choices necessarily made by people in their chosen industry. Lending executives reveal to Elizabeth Warren that interest and penalties paid by the poorest borrowers are the cash cow of the debt industry. Debt collectors share their most humiliating techniques for extracting payment. Overly-abundant debt ruins families and takes lives as pre-approval letters continue to pour in. All the while, the profiteers are hiding behind the smokescreen of personal responsibility. Maxed Out is certainly a one-sided film; precisely the side you WON'T get from the industry PR machine.

BTW, if you want to rent a car but don't like spending money you don't have, use a debit card.

Average customer rating:

Unsettling for the wrong reasons...
devastating yet necessary
Words Do Not Describe The Impact Of This Haunting Film
It opens a dialogue
The Bridge was not what I expected...

The Bridge
Director: Eric Steel
Manufacturer: Koch Lorber Films
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000O76PXK
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Amazon.com

Director Eric Steel has succeeded in making one of the most morbid documentaries ever, The Bridge. Starring several deceased Golden Gate Bridge jumpers, The Bridge is a eulogy comprised of interviews with their loved ones and friends who reminisce about those who succeeded in committing suicide in the San Francisco Bay. Spliced between interview footage are shots of the bridge in all its majesty, surrounded by fog, and being enjoyed by tourists. Meant to represent The Bridge as a rounded character, one of beauty punctuated by tragedy, this film is assuredly touching for the affected families. It's an important step in the grieving process, but feels random viewed by one who didn't know these mentally disturbed citizens. As a conceptual investigation into suicidal motivations, the documentary succeeds, though midway through viewing one begins to feel like an interloper at various funerals. We hear of one woman's battle with schizophrenia, another man's death obsession, and several retellings of those who witnessed the horrendous events. Like Grey Gardens, The Bridge captivates by triggering one's love of sensationalism, but fortunately the film's sincerity undercuts any inkling of gossip column crime reporting. This tribute to suicide victims serves as an oblique tribute to The Bridge, as an honest portrayal of its history, gritty though important to remember. --Trinie Dalton

Description

The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic structure; a symbol of San Francisco, the West, freedom - and something more, something spiritual, something words cannot describe.
The director and crew spent an entire year focusing on the Bridge. Running cameras for almost every daylight minute, they documented nearly two dozen suicides and a great many unrealized attempts. In addition, the director captured nearly 100 hours of incredibly frank, deeply personal, often heart-wrenching interviews with the families and friends of the departed, as well as with several of the attempters themselves.
THE BRIDGE is a visual and visceral journey into one of life's gravest taboos, offering glimpses into the darkest, and possibly most impenetrable corners of the human mind.

Customer Reviews:

Unsettling for the wrong reasons..........2007-09-09

Unlike Tad Friend's excellent New Yorker article upon which the film credits its genesis, The Bridge confuses voyeurism with empathy and rubbernecking with compassion. While documenting numerous bridge suicides over the course of its ninety minutes, the narrative continues to stalk one disturbed individual through a telephoto lens as he anxiously paces the bridge's railing, saving his plunging death for the story's climax. Did the cinematographer phone 911 while awaiting this torn soul's decision to jump? Or did he patiently keep his subject in focus for 45 minutes in order to get the ultimate money shot? Absent more information from the filmmakers, the viewer is left criminally complicit in the choice to sit back and watch without offering help as each of the mentally ill and/or profoundly depressed victims climb over the railing and jump. We are then conveniently treated to interviews with loved ones and relatives to find out more about what led them to suicide.
Strangely, there is no discussion about the city wrestling with its culpability in choosing to leave its biggest tourist attraction unmarred by safety nets. Additionally, the perspectives of family members on mental illness and depression were personal but sadly incomplete. Are these omissions because no one from the city's bridge commission or any health care professional (bound by Hippocratic oath) agreed to appear in what ends up being an ethically problematic and ultimately irresponsible film? One is left with the uneasy feeling that had the filmmakers intervened on behalf of the victims there would have been nothing to watch - or perhaps with more courage they would have ended up making a very different film. I would rather have watched that.

devastating yet necessary.......2007-09-02

i'll never again walk by, oblivious to the suffering of others after seeing this film. neither would i ever judge anyone again without having walked in their shoes. however, i'd warn those who prefer reality more filtered and packaged prettier to know exactly what this film entails before watching it. this documentary is an important lesson in empathy, and i highly recommend it. i burst into tears quite a few times, yet i wanted to see and know more about what goes on all around us when we're too wrapped up in our own dramas to notice... or even care.

Words Do Not Describe The Impact Of This Haunting Film.......2007-08-31

When I visited San Francisco last year, I honestly didn't know that the Golden Gate Bridge was the one place on planet earth in which the most suicides were carried out: roughly one self-inflicted death has occurred there every two weeks for the past seventy years. All I knew then was that the majestic bridge was awe-inspiring, and walking its length was one of the highlights of my west coast trip. Recently, though, my feelings about that fabled location changed, most likely forever, and I attribute that up to Eric Steel's documentary The Bridge.

I credit Steel with the lack of sensationalism in this disturbing but somehow dignified film. It is the work of an entire year of patient filming alongside the Golden Gate Bridge, and it is an undertaking which I'm sure will never be duplicated by any other American filmmaker. The entire tone of the movie is one of hushed, subdued stillness, and Steel does not intrude with commentary or judgment, merely focuses in on each death and provides a background to these individual tragedies. There is horror here in this subject, and yet I, someone highly vulnerable to the effects of sad events caught on tape, could not help but look on during each frame of this production, start to finish. I looked on, even as I felt the weight of loss steal into me and set my heart pounding. There was not one suicide Steel showed during which I did not want to cry out and somehow wish away what I was seeing before me, these people who were one moment alive and then they were not. "Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it," I kept thinking. And yet during the run-time nearly two-dozen people jumped and died.

I literally did not sleep the night I saw this DVD.

The Bridge is among the most powerful examples of filmmaking I have witnessed, and it is life-changing. I can honestly admit that now, a year after my first visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, I'm not sure I'd want to go back. And if I did I could never again walk across that soaring space without a keen awareness that I was passing across a site on which over 1200 people knew such misery that they threw themselves outward into death: a concept that smothers me with incomprehensible dread.

The Bridge deserves five stars. It is great. But please be aware before you see it that what you'll watch in its ninety minutes will never leave your mind.

It opens a dialogue.......2007-08-26

This is especially personal for me. The subject was handled in an incredibly dignified manner and I hope it can ease pain or at at least create an understanding of the subject of deep mental anguish and what those who are effected go through. Watch it and discuss among close friends and family. You may open wounds but the healing needs to be started.

The Bridge was not what I expected..........2007-08-25

but better. I don't want to spoil it for anyone.. but you have to be in the right state of mind to watch it. It helps you to understand the human condition and how lucky we are to be happy and able to cope with everyday life.

Average customer rating:

Another Excellent Fantasy-Sports Film
Hubby Absolutely Loves It
MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!
If you like golf and feel-good-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps movies
This is a Hindu legend, not a golf movie!

The Legend of Bagger Vance
Starring: Matt Damon , Bruce McGill , Michael O'Neill , Harve Presnell , and Lane Smith
Director: Robert Redford
Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00003CXI4
Release Date: 2001-04-03

Product Description

A disillusioned war veteran, Capt. Rannulph Junah (Matt Damon), reluctantly agrees to play a game of golf. He finds the game futile until his caddy, Bagger Vance (Will Smith), teaches him the secret of the authentic golf stroke which turns out also to be the secret to mastering any challenge and finding meaning in life.

Amazon.com

The Legend of Bagger Vance doesn't break any new ground, but with Steven Pressfield's inspirational novel to guide them, director Robert Redford and screenwriter Jeremy Leven have tilled fertile soil with a graceful touch. Redford does for golf what A River Runs Through It did for fly-fishing: the sport is a conduit for a philosophy of living, and Redford achieves the small miracle of making golf a central metaphor that's visually compelling.

Set in Savannah, Georgia, during the early '30s, the story charts the redemption of disillusioned World War I veteran and former golf champion Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon), who emerges from self-imposed obscurity in an exhibition match against legendary golfers Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill). Having earlier abandoned the socialite (Charlize Theron) who has organized the tournament to promote her late father's spectacular golf resort, Junuh now depends on the support of a young fan (perfectly cast newcomer J. Michael Moncrief) and the mysterious Bagger Vance (Will Smith), a smiling Jiminy Cricket who serves as Junuh's caddy, golf guru, and Socratic angel of mercy.

As Junuh regains the "authentic swing" he feared was lost forever, Redford guides his splendid cast through a spiritual journey that is specific to the discipline of golf and yet potently universal. As always, Redford also conveys his respect for nature and the rhythms of life as well as a sweet nostalgia for simpler times and purer values. With the casting of Jack Lemmon as the film's present-day narrator and elderly version of Moncrief's character, The Legend of Bagger Vance gains even greater dignity and, indeed, the glowing aura of legend. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Another Excellent Fantasy-Sports Film.......2007-09-17

I usually like fantasy movies and I really enjoy sports films. Combine the two well - like "Field Of Dreams" and like this movie - and I am sure to rate this extremely high. I've seen it three times and enjoyed it immensely each time.

It reminded me a bit, too, of "The Natural," but instead of baseball, this one features golf and real-life legends Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen playing the local guy, "Rannulph Junuh" (Matt Damon). Like "The Natural," this is beautifully photographed, has a wonderful feel-good ending, a variety of characters, a beautiful lead woman and good acting.

The no-name child actor in here, J. Michael Moncrief, who plays "Hardy Greaves," narrates the film as an older man looking back on this story. The kid is a fine actor, too, and I really enjoyed his Georgia accent. Charlize Theron is the beauty, playing "Adele Invergordon," a woman who organizes this famous golf match between the greatest amateur player of the world, the best professional and "Junuh," who is the focus of this story. Theron's known for her dramatic roles but she exhibits a nice comedy touch in here.

Damon does his normal fine job of acting and Will Smith, as the angelic caddie "Bagger Vance," is uncharacteristically low-key, which I found nice to see. Bruce McGill did a good as Hagen and Joel Gretsch, likewise, for Jones. McGill is obviously the best real-life golfer here among these actors. Damon had to learn the game from scratch, and did a fine job with his swing.

Hubby Absolutely Loves It.......2007-08-02

I bought this for my husband since it is one of his favorites. He watches it a lot and know nearly all the lines.

MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!.......2007-05-13

This film received mixed reviews and may not be for everyone. It's a good movie with interesting characters that moves at a leisurely pace...... kind of like golf. If you like golf, you'll probably like the movie. If you don't like golf you still might like it. I don't play and I liked it!

If you like golf and feel-good-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps movies.......2007-05-13

Not a movie that you have to have to complete your Matt Damon or Will Smith collections but a decent film. It's predictable and trite at times but your wife will enjoy watching it with you.

This is a Hindu legend, not a golf movie!.......2007-02-14

It's hard to believe that not even the Amazon reviewers recognized this movie as an update of the Hindu legend of Arjuna and Krishna. Will Smith essentially plays Krishna to Matt Damon's Arjuna (Randolph Junah -- R-Junah, or Arjuna!). Arjuna was a confused, down and out former warrior who was going into battle during hard times. Krishna's wisdom guided him to his true self and victory. Does the film make sense now?

Average customer rating:

Desert for Cinema
Sofia Needs a Challenge
Weak and thrown together.
Sensual and tragic
The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides
Starring: Danny DeVito , Kirsten Dunst , Scott Glenn , Michael Paré , and Jonathan Tucker
Director: Sofia Coppola
Manufacturer: Paramount
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ASIN: B00003CXH1
Release Date: 2000-12-19

Amazon.com

Previously criticized for her marginal acting skills, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides and silenced her detractors. No amount of coaching from her director father (Francis Coppola) or husband (Spike Jonze) could have guaranteed a film this assured, and in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides's novel, Coppola demonstrates the sensitivity and emotional depth that this material demands. Surely the pain of youth and public criticism found its way into her directorial voice; in the story of four sisters who self-destruct under the steady erosion of their youthful ideals, one can clearly sense Coppola's intimate connection to the inner lives of her characters.

Played in a delicate minor key, the film is heartbreaking, mysterious, and soulfully funny, set in a Michigan suburb of the mid-1970s but timeless and universal to anyone who's been a teenager. The four surviving Lisbon sisters lost a sibling to suicide, and as its title suggests, the film will chart their mutual course to oblivion under the vigilance of repressive parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods, perfectly cast). But The Virgin Suicides is more concerned with life in that precious interlude of adolescence, when the Lisbon girls are worshipped by the neighborhood boys, their notion of perfection epitomized by Lux (Kirsten Dunst) and her storybook love for high-school stud Trip (Josh Hartnett). Unfolding at the cusp of innocence and sexual awakening, and recalled as a memory, The Virgin Suicides is, ultimately, about the preservation of the Lisbon sisters by their own deaths--suspended in time, polished to perfection, and forever untainted by adulthood. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Desert for Cinema.......2007-07-30

The Virgin Suicides is a movie for kids about kid's world.
Five unjustifiable suicides are added to give a thrill and make the adults consume too.
Cecile's suicide is the only enigmatic one. For the others, why not wait to become eighteen? Lux was seventeen less than one year older and she could leave home.
What I wonder is what made americans turn the book into a besteseller!!!!

Sofia Needs a Challenge.......2007-07-28

The reviewer who characterized this film as a "two-hour tampon commercial" put it so aptly that I have little to add. It's understandable that a woman director should be inclined towards women's stories but enough already with sultry and girlish emotions! Break away! Make some movies. A couple of ideas: Biker Chicks from Mars! Or, Granny Got Her Gun! This will be my last Sofia Coppola film for a long time.

Weak and thrown together........2007-07-20

The Virgin Suicides. When I think about the name of this movie and the actors/actresses who play the lead characters, a different sort of plot comes to my mind. I pictured a silly high school comedy. Instead, I got a supposed "deep" film about suicide.

No, Josh Hartnett and Kirsten Dunst aren't playing their normal roles. Fans of theirs will be shocked to see how different this movie is from the rest. However, this isn't a good thing.

What's The Virgin Suicides about? I'd attempt to tell you but there's a lack of a consistent plot. While watching the first 20 minutes or so, you hear the narrator say clear and concisely what is going to happen at the end of the film. Which leads to absolutely no climax nor surprise. So now that we know how the movie ultimately ends, the writer must then fill preceding scenes with important events in order to keep the audience entertained, right? Not so much. I knew before watching this film that it was based on a book and it is incredibly obvious considering it seems as though the majority of the scenes were randomly picked from the book, regardless if they were important or relevant to the storyline or not.

I was left with the impression that you have to be one of those artsy people who love to analyze things (poems, books, movies) in order to think this movie was any good. Let's get one thing straight. You don't need to have sex, attractive actors/actresses, bad jokes, a great lesson, thrills, or a beginning, middle, and end to make a great movie. What you DO need is to try to pull in the audience and attempt to tug at their emotions (whether you want them to feel scared, sympathetic, happy, or whatever). And when there is a lack of evolved characters (as there was in this movie), there are no emotions. No emotions, just questions. Like were there other secret meanings behind certain scenes that appeared to be completely irrelevant? Was I supposed to feel sympathy for the girls for killing themselves when there was not only a huge lack of character development but also no valid explanation for why it was done? Was I supposed to understand why the boys were so infatuated with the girls? Was there a point to this movie?

Bottom line, if the idea of a movie about 4 girls killing themselves because their parents punished them for missing curfew sounds bad to you, skip this movie. In my opinion, the 5 star reviews that were given for this movie came from people who read the book and/or people who try to make the movie deeper than it actually is. As a movie based on a book, this movie can in no way stand on its own.

Sensual and tragic.......2007-06-12

I've been hypnotized by this film from the moment it came out, and by the book before it.
Eugenides' novel reads like a series of glimpses into the mystery that is (or was) the Lisbon girls. I think Sofia Coppola does a wonderful job of transferring that humid, dreamy atmosphere to film.
There is a danger that because the film is so delicate it may float away, but the soundtrack keeps it anchored; in particular, the use of Heart songs throughout the Lux and Trip love affair.
Kathleen Turner is great as Mrs. Lisbon, making her human and making the audience feel for her even as she puts her four daughters in lockdown.
Kirsten Dunst, of whom I am a fan, is pitch-perfect as Lux, struggling with womanhood in the stifling atmosphere of the Lisbon household. I think it is best expressed when Lux conducts various affairs on the roof. She rebels even though she is virtually tied to the house. Kirsten Dunst pulls it off with a subtlety one can also see in films like Interview with the Vampire and Marie Antoinette, another film by Sofia Coppola.
This film is definitely worth seeing over and over again. Check it out!

The Virgin Suicides.......2007-06-10

I read the book about two months before I saw the movie. I read the book over and over again, asking the same question that the confused teenaged boys did in the story: Why? Now, they never figured it out, and did not intend to, seeing as how the fantasy of the five sisters was more important than the questions of reality. However, unlike the neighborhood boys, I thought I'd missed something. A word, a phrase, a motif that went unnoticed. I figured out that I hadn't missed anything, and was partially put off by the fact that I couldn't find a concrete explanation.

After seeing this film, I understand a little more than I did when reading the book. Ms. Coppola takes direction of an already concrete literary work, and changes perspective so that the things that cannot be explained are at least felt in some manner. The book focuses on the boys perspective ( which is the fantasy focus of the book)just enough to make readers wonder more about the girls. Sofia, shifts that just enough, not to lose the dreamy fantasy quality, but to layer it on top of the reality. We understand and feel the boys' desire becoming something that resembles a dream/fantasy, but we also get into the girls' minds just enough to take the edge off of the desire to know why. We are in the room with all five of them as they listen on the telephone trying to reach out to a world that they've been snatched out of ( in the book, we get more of a view of the condition of the lawn, the fact that no one leaves to go to the store, but has grocery delivered, etc.). We see the sun rise and set as the days go by, knowing that the sisters can only watch from a window. Those small moments, that feed the story from a different angle, make this movie great. Its delicately crafted direction and touch of feminine perspective makes the movie something you can watch without fear of another book-turned-movie catastrophe.

Average customer rating:

Great movie
a poetic masterpiece in high definition
I can recommend this

What Dreams May Come [HD DVD]
Starring: Rosalind Chao , Jr. Cuba Gooding , Annabella Sciorra , Max von Sydow , and Robin Williams
Director: Vincent Ward
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: HD DVD

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ASIN: B000RF1QDI
Release Date: 2007-08-14

Customer Reviews:

Great movie .......2007-09-13

This is one of my all time favorites movies. Now in HD-DVD it cames with some nice features and with an incredible quality

a poetic masterpiece in high definition .......2007-09-01

If you want to demonstrate yr neighbours about your new HD equipment this is surely one of the top 10 HD DVD to use and to own.
as for the sound profesional reviewers said the sound is not at the level of quality like the picture... I think this is a very severe judgement.The sound dynamic is brilliant and clean. the surround effects are appropriate and the subwoofer channel is doing well.You don't need more for this kind of movie.

as for the film this a real surrealist poetic movie of it's own kind with fantastic acting of robin williams.
so conclusion =5 stars.

I can recommend this .......2007-08-18

As far as HD goes, the colors in the movie are quite amazing. They were bright to begin with on SD, and shine very bright in the HD version. Few specks or EE here and there, but nothing to write home about. This is a disc you can show friends. They will say "Whoa" freaky bright colors. In the "Hell" scenes it is very dreary and dark, and does a pretty good job with black levels. The only part the disc suffers is in Audio. Perhaps they dont do lossless sound because it's mainly a talky movie I dont know, I just wish the audio had more oomph. So, dont expect a WOW factor with audio.

Now as for the movie, you will either love it, or hate it. It's a head trip, and challenges your notions about God,heaven,hell, etc. If you dont want a "thinking cap" movie with a taste for the dreary at times, this is not for you. If you like "Different weird" movies, this is for you.

Average customer rating:

Too Egalitarian to Honor the Heroes
stunning...
A Movie Worth Seeing
With the blessings of the familes...
Historical tradegies make for difficult film review.

United 93 (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: J.J. Johnson , Gary Commock , Polly Adams (II) , Opal Alladin , and Starla Benford
Director: Paul Greengrass
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
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ASIN: B000GH3CR0
Release Date: 2006-09-05

Amazon.com

One of the most shocking events in modern American history gets a skilled and respectful treatment in United 93. The movie begins by following the four terrorists who hijacked the plane that never reached its target on 9/11/2001, tracking them as they enter the airport and wait for their flight, surrounded by the people who will die from their actions. From there, it cuts to and fro among air traffic controllers and the military as, gradually, it becomes clear that planes are being hijacked and crashed into buildings. As the focus turns to the captive United Flight 93, the passengers discover, due to cell phone connections with family, that they're on a suicide mission and--almost paralyzed by stress and anxiety--decide to fight back. Most movies create tension by implying what might happen, but with United 93 the audience knows exactly what happened: Every person on that plane died. As a result, the movie is more relentlessly gut-wrenching than suspenseful (though the dawning realization of the air traffic controllers has an effective creeping dread). But writer/director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) manages to keep the scale of the events human; there are no glamorous heroics, only terrifying confusion and desperate, hopeless bravery. One can only hope the movie brings some peace to the families of the passengers, as United 93 is the cinematic equivalent of a war memorial, commemorating lives lost in a moment of horrible, harrowing conflict. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Too Egalitarian to Honor the Heroes.......2007-09-17

While this film does a great job of portraying the horror of the events and the evil of the terrorists, I can only give it three stars out of five because of too many grievances I have with it.

There were four men who made names for themselves on this flight: Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett, Jeremy Glick and Mark Bingham. Only Burnett and Glick are recognizable in this movie. For most of the movie, I thought the actor playing Mark Bingham was supposed to be Beamer until he was swearing like a sailor which seemed out of character. Then I thought maybe he was Glick until the Glick character said his name on a phone call. I should not have had to do an internet search to figure out who the characters were.

The biggest rallying cry of 9/11 came from Todd Beamer's, "Let's roll," but when I saw this in theaters I didn't hear it at all. On video, I had to play back the ending a second time to find out that Beamer's famous statement is whispered so quietly in this movie you can barely hear it over the engine noise. Then, after all the passengers seem to ignore him, he says, "Let's go" - and they continue to sit in their seats! Later, it is Glick who is shown leading the charge, but not in response to "Let's roll."

Of those four, only Glick's family is interviewed in the documentary. In the commentary, Greengrass does not even mention Beamer's name. He just says, "That's the actor, David Alan Basche." It's up to us to figure out the character's name. Why the subtle downplaying of the biggest folk hero on the plane? He hardly even got any screen time. But to watch this film, you would think every passenger in the plane was equally heroic in the fight against the cockpit. Excuse me, but I don't honestly believe the trembling, crying women were battling the terrorists. I'm sorry.

This is why the movie did not do well at the box office. We wanted a movie that showed us our heroes. Instead, we got a lot of egalitarian, "Everybody's a hero" hogwash. To see the heroism that was, we have to see the TV movie, Flight 93, instead.

stunning..........2007-09-10

I finally brought myself to watch this film always fearful that I just was not ready for a 9/11 film. This is exquisite filmaking about the toughest day in our history for many Americans. Shot in documentary style with no star power but solid acting all around. Paul Greengrass respectfully chronicles the last flight of United 93 as passengers and crew arrive and terroists prep themselves for their mission. Knowing what will happen and watching the events unfold was riveting. I felt myself unable to move. It's gutwrenching at times especially as flight controllers watch the towers get hit right across the river from them. The crew and passengers of United 93 turn from passengers to heroes as they become aware of what's going on and that other flights have been rammed into the towers and the pentagon. That American can-do spirit leaves you feeling that we can overcome any horrible terror by coming together. An unbelievable movie experience. Be prepared to shed a tear and to feel some gutwrenching but do watch it.

A Movie Worth Seeing.......2007-09-04

September 11, 2001 will live in infamy just as December 7, 1941. Both days are extremely important in America's history. This movie does something different. It's a chance for us to not only remember the day but celebrate the bravery of the passengers on one flight on that tragic day.

Definitely a move worth seeing. Beautiful, passionate, and well directed. This day will live with all of us for the rest of our lives. A movie like this helps us to remember that some people on that day showed their bravery and hopefully it will inspire us.

I recommend that everybody should see this. You'll definitely look at life differently.

With the blessings of the familes..........2007-08-22

As previous reviewers have said, this is a difficult film to watch; some say it's too soon, but the total unbelievability of the events of 9/11 are screaming, still, for answers. In the brilliant hands of British director Paul Greengrass, we have a film of passion, confusion, and full-circle resolution that is presented with the utmost care and concern; and profound respect. I was fascinated, riveted to the screen, and terribly moved by the film. The DVD extras, interviews with the famiies, are quite moving. This is really a film to be seen by all, if only to let people know that evil can be overcome with grit and determination. There is definitely strength in numbers. Bravo to the editors, the humility to those relatively unknown actors playing the parts, and to Paul Greengrass for delivering a sad slice of American history with such sensitivity.

Historical tradegies make for difficult film review. .......2007-08-19

Reviewing this film is difficult as there seems to be two camps at work here that will find fault with whatever one writes about this important film.

I would like to take time to address these camps as in introduction to my review. Some argue that this moment in our history is so terrible, so ungodly, so inhumane and still so raw in our memory that any attempts by Hollywood to reproduce that time is an insult to the memory of the victims and shows Hollywood for all its callousness and greed. I agree that some passage of time is necessary for us to heal from pain, but we can't ignore that the medium of film is a form of memorial as much as any plaque, statue, or monument. In addition, one should recognize that film can be and often is a cathartic experience that allows us to express our hurt and, thus, aid in the healing process. Therefore, it is not, in my view, so questionable for Hollywood to make a film about a fairly recent tragedy, but it is questionable whether boycotting such films serves the purposed intended by those who believe we should.

Should we boycott such films as Schindler's List, Pearl Harbor, and all other such films based upon true tragedies because one can view them as profiteering off of another's pain? I would think that it is more important that we never forget the various tragedies in history and film does assist with that. How about boycotting films about natural disasters, famous murders and murderers or films about those mentally or physically challenged? Isn't someone profitting off of these tragedies as well? Shouldn't we boycott them as well? I think this is all just too extreme. Yes, films need to make a profit, but that doesn't mean a film is devoid of purpose or that it can't be beneficial to many outside of weighing box-office receipts. Can these films, while making a profit, not provide a fitting tribute to those victims and the survivors, and, in the end, provide some comfort? I think so.

The other problem with Hollywood, and it's been around since the silent era, is the viewpoint or vision presented by those making a film. As far as a film being bias with the writer's or director's unique perspective, or an actor's interpretation of a character (real or not) is a rather moot point as that is a given with ANY film. It is THEIR take on a topic just as an impressionistic painter is creating his view of something onto canvass. The medium is different, but both have a right to their perspective. I do agree, however, that when dealing with great human tragedy one must be very careful in how he interprets and presents facts, but one's personal bias can rarely ever be objectively overcome no matter the medium of expression. If this is all new to you, then you need to stop watching films completely until you come to terms with this reality as this has been around since the dawn of film making.

For those that criticize Hollywood for "taking advantage of the victims and their survivors" let's not ignore that the families connected to this film gave their stamp of approval for it to be made (Hollywood rarely ever even asks for that) and were extremely satisfied with the end result. Also, a portion of the money made from this film benefits them (via a memorial). That is rarely done in Hollywood and they deserve some praise for that. So much for callous greed. This also means that boycotting this film may actually be hurtful to these families that deserve whatever we can give them either monetarily or via a memorial.

The other camp in relation to making films about historical tragedies finds that any criticism of the film an insult to the memory of the people in which the film relates. Sadly, these folks have difficulty seeing the difference between criticizing a film and criticizing people or an event. I was a bit disappointed with Oliver Stone's World Trade Center for cinematic reasons, but I quickly found myself defending my own patriotism in the comment section of that review (that section has since been "edited"). I ran into similar issues when criticizing the recent Disney TV remake of The Miracle Worker (the true story of Helen Keller). Criticizing such films does not make me unamerican or intolerant of those with disabilities. Finding fault with "United 93" doesn't mean one doesn't appreciate what those individuals went through that day. The film may be based on true events, but that doesn't mean the film itself or the director's vision is flawless.

Now there is one other camp at work here, and they are the "conspiracy theorists" who have decided to use this forum not to review a film, but rather to exploit the victims of 9/11 in a manner worse than anything Hollywood could do and indirectly cause much more harm to us than what the terrorists did on that fateful day. We have the right to freedom of speech, but we are expected to use that appropriately too. I can't yell "FIRE" in a crowded movie theater without criminal consequences. In that light, I don't march, shout obsenities, or picket the funerals of our soldiers because I may not believe in a war our country asked them to fight as that is not MORALLY my place to exercise my so-called freedom of speech and is unnecessarily hurtful to others who are already suffering. This is called using discretion and it's what our founding fathers expected us to use.

To read on here, in what is supposed to be just reviews for a film, and find what are merely personal assertions (with little or no facts), propaganda by groups seeking "the truth" (as long as it fits their myopic views), and slander regarding that tragic day on 9/11 without regard for the individuals truly involved is rather disheartening and certainly self-serving by those involved who have little concept of the "truth" other than some website they try to direct us to which often contain little more than hearsay, doctored photographs, and other such nonsense.

Even if I agreed with all these conspiracy theorists and "9/11 Truth" groups and I ignored any and all evidence to the contrary and sincerely believed that the events of 9/11 were the result of an "inside job", television special effects, government propaganda, fantasy and so forth, I would NEVER think of so vocally expressing that here, which may be my right, because if I am wrong in my assertion, the harm I would inflict on the actual families and friends of those who personally suffered from the events of 9/11 would be unthinkable to me. I have read far too many "this was all faked by the government" or "it never happened" comments and "reviews" (I use the term loosely here) that I can't imagine the deep hurt experienced by those who truly did lose loved ones that day even though I am one of them." For me, personally, this is beyond cruel and literally inflicts more harm than anything the terrorist did that day. Are we ALL allowed our opinion? YES, but some descretion is called for in such extreme situations such as those connected to 9/11 and some form of decency, respect, and discretion should be paramount before we open our mouths or type on the computer.

Now having addressed both camps and the conspiracy theorist group that have more than made themselves know here by commenting, sometimes viciously, on one's review I offer my perspective on this film. "United 93" is an extraordinary film that plays out more as a small independent docu-drama than a traditional big-budget Hollywood film. Paul Greengrass's direction is straight-forward, confident and unobtrusive; however, his script faults in just a few places where some stilted dialogue is present. His brilliant casting of unknowns (actors or even the real people involved in some cases) was a respectful move in order to not promote a specific star's career and this allowed the focus to be on the real-life characters portrayed within the film with no distractions.

In addition, while some have criticized the film for being overly speculative, I found it rather fair treatment of events that unfolded that day as careful analysis of cell/plane calls, witness testimonies (some even by phone), news reports, aircraft recording devices, government documents, and so forth were the foundation for much of what was presented in this film. Contrary to the callousness of our conspiracy theorists there is no solid evidence for Greengrass to consider of United 93 being shot down or having landed in some secret location. In fact, all the evidence concretely contradicts these ludicrous notions. There speculative moments within the film as we can't know exactly what was said and done at all times on that flight; however, ALL films, I'll say it again, ALL films on true events are speculative by nature and events are often open to interpretations. I simply found this film to be realistic and fair based upon what was known about that day. I felt good judgment was used in presenting what happened and what most likely happened that day on United 93.

Our heroes, as presented in this film, where very much the way I imagine them to be: ordinary people who were scared to death. There was no Jason Bourne or John McClane onboard United 93, just everyday ordinary people placed in an extraordinary situation. Some were too scared to do anything, some were in a state of panic, some prayed for deliverance, some just hoped for the best, and some took desparate measures. ALL were heroes for facing what I would never want to face myself. Facing death, even when afraid of it, is heroic, especially when it is forced upon us.

The film is in "real time" and that heightens the tension and our appreciation for what those poor souls experienced that day. This allows the story to move brisquely and with purpose as it demonstrates the overall feeling of confusion that occured that day. Most of us could not believe what was happening and it didn't matter if we were the everyday guy on the street, a government official, a pilot, or a teacher in the middle of a lesson as I was that day. We were all caught off guard and in disbelief and this film captures that well. There are no unnecessary diverging scenes within this film.

I found this film to be generally flawless (except for some dialogue problems at times), one of the best of 2006, and a fitting tribute to those who so bravely faced what most of us would find unimaginable. "United 93" is a haunting, frightening, realistic, moving film, and a triumph of the human spirit. I know that is a cliche term, but it is most fitting here.

In conclusion it important to observe that we all lost something on 9/11, some indirectly and some directly. As former New Yorkers, my wife and I lost co-workers, friends, and a sense of security oddly found in the skyline of that great city that no longer looks as it did when we last were there. We both worked in and around The World Trade Centers (I actually witnessed them be built). I worked at the base in a department store and my wife worked on the 96th floor for a bank. It's hard to imagine that most of our co-workers and friends from there are gone. I have yet to return to New York, but I know I will one day; I must. In the meantime, I find films like "United 93" to be an emotional outlet, a reminder of the fragility of life and the evil man is capable of committing, and the fight to survive that is in all of us.

This is why I defend the making of such films on 9/11 and why I'm also so appalled at the callousness of some here abusing their freedom of speech by shouting such obscenities as "this didn't happened", "it's a big cover-up", or "it's all fiction" and back it up with websites that are an insult to the memory of those who perished that day. I guess my friend present at the WTC didn't see that plane hit it as she said she did. It was television special effects or a bomb planted by our government to mislead us. I guess both the flight recorder and those who spoke to loved ones on United 93 moments before the attempt to break into the cockpit had it all wrong as well as they were "shot down by our own Air Force" or "landed safely in a secret location" as our conspiracy theorists claim or have doctored photos to "prove it." My dad once told me that it is "better to be silent and only thought to be a foul then to open your mouth and remove all doubt about it."

Those of us who witnessed or were otherwise connected to 9/11 have it all wrong and have been fooled by the government that set out this elaborate plan (in which it would take thousands to orchestrate and keep secret) to kill thousands of American lives and destroy national landmarks in order to create a war for fun while wrecking the already financially crippled airline industry and putting a death grip on our overall economy that would take years to recover. The same people who would have us believe that utter nonsense are now shouting how we should dishonor those we lost that day by pretending the events of 9/11 never happened and check out their websites to review doctored "evidence." I think not. These individuals embarrass themselves only assist at rubbing salt in a hard to heal wound that was made by the terrorists that clear day on September 11th. A day that should be remembered as it was and not as we would like it to have been.

Under the Volcano - Criterion Collection

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Under the Volcano - Criterion Collection
Starring: Albert Finney , Jacqueline Bisset , Anthony Andrews , Ignacio López Tarso , and Katy Jurado
Director: John Huston
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000TXNDVQ
Release Date: 2007-10-23

Description

Under the Volcano follows the final day in the life of self-destructive British consul Geoffrey Firmin (Albert Finney, in an Oscar-nominated tour de force) on the eve of World War II. Withering from alcoholism, Firmin stumbles through a small Mexican village amidst the Day of the Dead fiesta, attempting to reconnect with his estranged wife (Jacqueline Bisset) but only further alienating himself. John Huston's ambitious tackling of Malcolm Lowry's towering "unadaptable" novel gave the incomparable Finney one of his grandest roles and was the legendary The Treasure of the Sierra Madre director's triumphant return to filmmaking in Mexico.

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Serious Eating Disorders
Timeless and Informative
The great one
For love of this movie

For the Love of Nancy
Starring: Tracey Gold , Jill Clayburgh , Cameron Bancroft , Mark-Paul Gosselaar , and Michael MacRae
Director: Paul Schneider
Manufacturer: Direct Source Label
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000O785X8
Release Date: 2007-04-24

Customer Reviews:

Serious Eating Disorders.......2007-09-06

I liked this film. The seriousness of the theme is a crucial event in our time and I believe it gives plenty of information for those going through the same thing.

Timeless and Informative.......2007-09-03

I first watched this movie on TV when it came out. I thought it was good then, so I decided to purchase the DVD. It's still very good. One thing that helps this movie is that Tracey Gold could draw from her own experience of having Anorexia Nervosa. I think she was still recovering when this movie was made. The other characters were very realistic as well. If I remember right, this was loosely based on a true story. Even if it's not, it's probably inspired from many families' stories. I would recommend this movie to people who want to learn more about eating disorders. I would caution people who are either actively engaging in or recovering from AN about watching this movie, as it could be triggering (that has been my experience).

The great one.......2007-06-16

I agree with the above.

This is certainly the best movie I have seen dealing with an eating disorder. It takes you into the mind of the sufferer...and a true one at that. Because Tracy Gold made this movie just getting out of treatment for anorexia, it trult depicts what hell a person is in with this demond. It also shares light on what a famiuly goes through as a loved one suffers. Alothough not everyone suffers the same, has the same help, or suffers from the same reasons I am sure that if you suffer from an eating disorder, or have a loved on who does yoiu will relate.

For love of this movie.......2007-05-16

This isn't the first movie that deals with eating disorders, but it's the best. The acting is first rate, the story is compelling and it's told in a sensitive manner that others haven't been able to accomplish. This is a true story and that fact makes this movie all the more touching. This could be any family, in any city or town in America. You really care about the people in this movie and hope everything turns out okay. I think that it's some of the best acting I've seen from any of the actors especially Tracey Gold who drew on her own experiences to portray the devestating effects these illnesses cause.

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"Paradise Now" should be renamed "Nihilism Now"
Long Due
It's the economy, stupid.
Paradise Now
A puzzle of encountered feelings, duty, bigotry and alienation!

Paradise Now
Starring: Lubna Azabal , Hamza Abu-Aiaash , Kais Nashif , Lotuf Neusser , and Ali Suliman
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B000E0OE44
Release Date: 2006-03-21

Amazon.com

Two men, best friends from childhood, are summoned to fulfill their agreement to be suicide bombers for the Palestinian cause. Khaled and Said (Ali Suliman and Kais Nashef, both making striking film debuts) believe fervently in their cause, but having a bomb strapped to your waist would raise doubts in anyone--and once doubts have arisen, they respond in very different ways. Paradise Now is gripping enough while the men are preparing for their mission, but when the set-up goes awry and Khaled and Said are separated, it becomes almost excruciatingly tense. The movie passes no judgment on these men; impassioned arguments are made for both sides of the conflict. This is a work of remarkable compassion and insight, given the shape and sharpness of a skillful thriller. Its psychological portrait goes beyond the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and resonates with fanaticism and oppression throughout the world, be it related to a religious, nationalist, or tribal cause. A stunning film from writer/director Hany Abu-Assad. --Bret Fetzer

Description

"PARADISE NOW" follows two Palestinian childhood friends who have been recruited for a strike on Tel Aviv and focuses on their last days together. When they are intercepted at the Israeli border and separated from their handlers, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions.

Customer Reviews:

"Paradise Now" should be renamed "Nihilism Now".......2007-09-05

Khalid and Said are self pitying Palestinians who blame Israel for their own culture's moral bankruptcy. They embrace a nihilistic ideology combining Islamic extremism with secular Marxism.
Israel is supposedly the imperialistic aggressor victimizing helpless Palestinians. Conveniently ignored is the fact that the Israelis have gone out of their way to live peaceably with their Arab neighbors.

These two existentially confused individuals have agreed to go on a suicide mission. We watch while they psychologically prepare themselves for their final moments on this Earth. "Paradise Now" ignores the anti-Semitism pervading the mindset of the Palestinian militants. Never for a moment is there an admission that Jew hatred and a sense of cultural inferiority prevents the Palestinians from enjoying productive and rewarding lives. A win-win solution is not considered a valid option. The Arabs will not be satisfied until the Jews are driven from the Middle East. You may want to view this film to better understand the intense hatred of these people for Jews and the rest of the "decadent" West. I cannot recommend it otherwise.

Long Due.......2007-08-19

This is a film that needs to be seen. It punctuates the reasons behind so-called terrorism through the eyes of the victims of colonial abuse.

It's the economy, stupid........2007-07-24

One sided view, but worth exploring as food for thought.

Bring the standard of living to Middle East, jobs, education, health care, everything that the western world has, and they would forget about suicide missions in an eye blink. Allah panderers and hatemongers would be out of job the next day.

Keep the region unstable and impoverished, and there will be unlimited supply of desperate and/or indoctrinated kids like these. Makes you wonder if someone out there benefits from keeping the Middle East a powder keg... Hm, some sticky deep dark stuff...

Paradise Now.......2007-07-23

One of the only films to examine the phenomenon of suicide terror through the eyes of its perpetrators, Abu-Assad's intelligent, nail-biting drama generated heated controversy when it debuted in 2005. While the film dramatizes the murderous mindset of professional terrorists, it also provides insight into the psychology of those who murder not out of religious fanaticism, but rather a sense of futility and aggrieved humiliation. Taut pacing, agile direction, and great performances by Nashef, Suliman, and Lubna Azabal (as Said's friend and love interest, Suha, the lone voice of reason) made "Paradise" an Oscar contender.

A puzzle of encountered feelings, duty, bigotry and alienation!.......2007-07-18

This is a hard movie that shows us the enormous ideological bariers in the other side of the world when two men are hired and designed to make a suicide mission working out as "human bombs".

But the theoric plans fall out when the human factor apperas and so both of them will take by different paths. One of them changes of mind and tries by all his means to avoid his partner takes over woth the original mission.

The dialectic confrontation, the confuse and awful dramatis personae will appear in this movie whose only default is its narrative pulse, extremely slow, supported by a discrete photography.

But these are simple details that doesn't permeate the dramtic essence of this engaging film.

Average customer rating:

Buy it
It's ok overall a typically chiche story.
Roselyn Sanchez Lights Up the Screen!

Yellow
Starring: Bill Duke , D.B. Sweeney , Jaime Tirelli , Manny Perez , and Sammi Rotibi
Director: Alfredo de Villa
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000QGEB1C
Release Date: 2007-07-31

Product Description

After the death of her crippled father, who was once a great ballet star in New York City, Amaryllis (Sanchez), decides to move from her native Puerto Rico to the Big Apple in search of a new life. Upon her arrival, with no job and nowhere to live, Amaryllis turns to working in a strip club to make ends meet. She quickly creates a new family in New York by befriending an older man in her building, a washed-out poetry professor named Miles Emory, as well as her co-workers at the strip club. Increasingly desperate, Amaryllis seriously injures herself during a performance one night at the club, only to be saved by Christian (Sweeney), a doctor in the audience. Miles' poem "Yellow" inspires Amaryllis to seek a Broadway dancing job and her emotional connection to Miles helps to give him a reason for living that eluded her father. As Amaryllis' relationship with Christian turns into a love affair, she must make a choice between the security of his love and following her dream.

Customer Reviews:

Buy it.......2007-09-03

I'll be brief. This is an excellent art flick. Well written, exceptionally cast and acted. Apart from a gripping script, the music and dancing are outstanding. I watched it twice in one night, and I'm buying it now. You should do the same.

It's ok overall a typically chiche story........2007-08-19

Alright it's not awful, but it's not likely to make my collection either. It's textbook cliche. Poor girl with crappy life in poor place (In this case Puerto Rico) escapes to find better life in the big city of NYC and to fulfill lost dream of her father. Struggles to find hope by working as a stripper hoping to make it big on Broadway some day, but meets nice rich doctor guy and fall's in love; however he is moving overseas and wants her to come just as she is getting her first big break. (What are the odds? ... 1:1?) Faced with the choice of either choosing the love of her man or the love of her passion of dance, she must decide. What will she do?

It's an tired story line that has been done to death in one way or another 100's of times before. The acting is fair at best, there are not awards in anyones future from this film. The is Roselyn Sanchez first attempt at writing and producing, likely to be one of her last too. She's a pretty women, but she's just not lead quality and while she can dance, Grace Kelly she's not, but few are. The supporting case was fair albeit at times they seemed to be walking through their scenes. Bill Duke who plays Miles Emory is by far the shining light here in the acting department as he played a washed up poetry professor now working in a plebeian job, but tries to hold on to his passion as well and acts as the wise old fool who guide the now lost way of Amaryllis Campos (Roselyn Sanchez). There are a few lose ends that don't seem to tie in anywhere else, but overall there is a story and a plot, even if it is predictable.

The DVD is a little skimpy on extras only deleted scenes and "Roselyn Sanchez on Yellow" a short promo for the film. Oh don't forget the previews, no DVD is complete without an hours worth of previews. Sound quality is ok, a little soft at times and only comes in 2.1 stereo.

Watch it if you want to, but don't feel like you are missing a lot if you don't see it. It's 'ok' at best and for that it gets 2 stars. I'd give it 2.5 if it was an option and 3 stars would be to mislead you. I don't think you'll feel ripped off or wanting your 90 minutes back at the end, but you not going to feel like you hit the movie lotto either (or a scratch off for that matter.) It's more of an 'Ok, I've seen it, now what?'

Roselyn Sanchez Lights Up the Screen!.......2007-08-03

YELLOW may be fairly easy to dismiss as a soap opera story of little girl makes good despite a troubling journey, but the presence of Roselyn Sanchez is reason enough to see this little art film, She has what it takes to make a film magic, she acts well, dances well, and creates a credible persona from a rather superficial script.

Based on a story by Nacoma Whobrey about the gifted daughter of a once famous male ballet dancer who leaves her native Puerto Rico in the grief of her father/tutor's death to find a better life in New York - the city where her father found fame. Amaryllis Campos (Roselyn Sanchez) worshiped her famous father (Jaime Tirelli), learned ballet under his tutelage, then grew up in a home after her father's leg crushing accident, with a mother (Erika Michels) and a live-in druggie boyfriend Angelo (Manny Perez), supporting her helpless family by delivering pizzas. When her life falls apart one person befriends her - Hilde (Nancy Millan) - and provides her money to move to New York and a cousin with whom to live.

Once in new York Amaryllis finds the cousin's apartment occupied by a sweet old poet Miles Emory (Bill Duke) who allows her to stay. Finding work proves difficult until she signs on as a pole dancer in a sleazy nightclub. There she meets an emotionally bruised physician (D.B. Sweeney) who befriends her and who with the help of her new found friends finally makes her way back to the legitimate stage.

Yes, the story has been done before, but it is the pacing of director Alfredo De Villa that keeps the film pulsatile, and the shimmering screen presence of Roselyn Sanchez that makes this lit