I have watched many versions of this opera but love none so much as this one. I am very sad that the Met sells it only in a large box of stuff I don't want for an a price too large to justify just the purchase of this beautiful gem. I think they did it on purpose to induce people to by stuff they would otherwise never purchase. I have to make do with scraps on youtube.com. The staging as well as the joyful acting and beautiful singing make this a paradise. I know many do not like Kathleen Battle or her problems that caused her to be dropped, but here is a perfect cast, Count Almaviva by Thomas Allen, Frederika von Stade as Cherubino, Ruggier Raimondi as Figaro and Carol Van Ness as the Countess...truly a cast to sigh over. The settings are done with such beauty and care - it is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.
Reviews
10 Reviews
listen to audiotapes of the books....
21 July 2009
Little at a time the movies erode the actual storyline adding more Hollywood's scenes and less of the magic of Rowling's extraordinary books. This was the most disappointing of all the movies so far and I was SO looking forward to it...If people can't bring themselves to read the books (they are large and time consuming), listen to the audio books, especially Stephen Fry's version which will bring so much more to the stories than these movies. I have loved and watched them all over and over and now this one is finally feeling like a movie made from a book...really disappointing and missing the mark. I won't buy this one.
Star Trek
(2009)
Excellent portrayals of beloved characters
14 May 2009
I loved the characters in star trek - I am one of the 60's original star trek fans who thought the stories stunk till the movies came out but I always loved the characters. This remake is a little too much star wars like as has been sited in the other reviews, and I have never been a star wars fan - never engaged in the characters or storyline. I also found the music annoying at times, pulling me me out of the scene and back into a theater where I was irritated by the music. But I loved the actors portrayals of beloved characters. Since there can be no more star treks with the old crew as we are all old, I would love to see some new ones with a new crew who keeps alive the original characters. Since I cannot return to a simpler time, I do appreciate what has been offered as homage to Gene Roddenberry and the actors who came back from a justifiable cut from television (really BAD scripts and stories) to create one of the most beloved series of movies in my lifetime.
Too much story to fit into a standard length movie
7 August 2007
This film was an okay bridge to the next sequence of events. I guess all readers feel sorry for those who have only "seen the movie" rather than read the books... More than ever I would encourage anyone with a slight interest in the books but no time or inclination to read the hefty tomes to LISTEN to them on CD or tape or MP3. There is no way they could give anything more than a fast sketch of events for the last 3 books. This one felt a little wooden in spots simply because the characters other than Harry were given so little time on screen to develop their characters. I still enjoyed it but unlike the previous Potter films I don't have a special desire to see it again. Alan Rickman is still totally hot :-)
Cinderella Man
(2005)
more unnecessary lies
4 June 2005
Why use real stories if you are going to "make it better" with lies? Just makeup your own original story and leave history alone. Couldn't we have cheered on the underdog without defaming the character of his opponent? It is an unnecessary detraction from the storyline to make it so black and white, feeds unsuspecting readers a lie that a generation comes to believe as truth, and creates a great deal of sorrow and pain for those who knew and loved Max Baer. Like a Beautiful Mind the truth has been twisted to tell a good story. Read the real stories of Nash and Baer. Nash's life was far more interesting and complex, he paid many times for his disease and certainly did not sit around the house and the college all those years till he could get back his life. It was a process that was far more interesting, less beautiful, and more really like schizophrenia than Howard's production. People said "He made me really know what it is like to be schizophrenic." Ha ha. Read the real story if you REALLY want to know what it is like to be schizophrenic. And look at the truth about the evil "Black Bart" Baer before deciding about the man. Howard makes pretty pictures that paint lies as truth and sells it to millions to make money, not to tell a true story.
A new opportunity for Carrey to shine
19 December 2004
I was so delighted to see Carrey move out of his funny-man roles into a role that could have been played well by Tom Hanks a few years back. So gifted in his visual humor, I was happy to see him just be a low-key gentle guy. And what a great movie - kind of like a kinder, gentler Memento in its boundary stretching view. I really enjoyed it and wished I had spent the money to see it on the big screen. I wish we had a classics theater that would show second chance films for those of us who don't run out to see big screen movies unless we KNOW it is a big screen movie like X men, Spiderman, or The Lord off the Rings Trilogy. I gave it a 10/10 for creativity.
Till Human Voices Wake Us
(2002)
This is a mental/emotional movie - not meant for action-lovers
3 May 2004
I was reading some of the previous reviews and realized that not everyone would get or like this movie - it is not one I would recommend to many friends, but I loved it. Painful, real, acknowledging of life's moments to regret- it made me think of the line from the Big Kahuna when Danny Divito says you have lots to regret, you just don't know it yet (paraphrase) - another great non-action movie. I saw nothing of the paranormal in this movie - I think that is an interpretation by those who do not get it. Beautifully done and tenderly told, I heartily recommend this movie to a small handful of special people which included my 15 year old daughter.
A Beautiful Mind
(2001)
THIS IS NOT A BIOGRAPHY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIC
26 January 2003
It is a fantasy someone made up. Educate yourself about the real life of John Forbes before you decide how you feel about this movie or at least before you vote and comment on it here. Or maybe state your disinterest in knowing the real life a schizophrenic lives and your preference to embrace a Hollywood warm and fuzzy notion instead. John Forbes' true story could've been told with just as much craft and made a real step toward understanding a schizophrenic's struggle but instead we were dealt a manipulated schmalsification of a real life lived in the grip of an overpowering disease. I have had schizophrenia in my family and I have watched their realities unfold out there for the rest of us to gaze upon with twisted Malcolm in the Middle faces...it is achingly painful and takes a terrible toll on all those who love them. His life with a few small twists? Get outta town! This could've been a great movie - Russell Crowe delivered a flawless performance and the presentation of the actual schizophrenic events was excellent, but there it stops. Want to know what schizophrenia really does to a life? - read the true story and don't be sucked in by this Hollywood fuzzy camera lens smoothing out all the trauma and scars.
Little Nicky
(2000)
I usually find Sandler's movie a waste of time if not offensive
26 January 2003
But this one I loved! Easily his best ever. Seeing the commercials for this I was certain it would be offensive and NOT funny and no one could've ever dragged me kicking and screaming to see it on the big screen, but then my 13 year old daughter said, "Mom, I think you'd like this movie." Sometimes I have seen good movies only because of her recommendation so I gave it a try. It is one of my favorite comedies, along with Ruthless People, Clerks, Big Business, and All of Me, to name a few. So, if you enjoyed these others I've listed, give it a try. No guarantees, comedy is an amazingly distinctive taste unique to each of us, but do at least give it a try. Oh, by the way - I loved Mr. Wrong, and couldn't stand Something About Mary, so go figure.
The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus
(2000 Video)
Positive role model for kids
14 December 2002
My son loves this and it is beautifully animated. Unlike the 1985 version of this same story, the angel of death is beautifully unthreatening. Let your kids try it out and you might not mind watching either. To quote my son, "It's kind of cheery watching these Christmas shows."
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