Affliction

Product Description

1998 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner James Coburn and Best Actor nominee Nick Nolte star in this high-powered drama about a middle-aged son trying to come to terms with his abusive past and salvaging his strained relationship with his father.

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Starring James Coburn, Jim True, Mary Beth Hurt, Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, Willem Dafoe

Directed by Paul Schrader

Running time: 114 minutes

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Paul Schrader's Affliction, adapted from the novel by Russell Banks (The Sweet Hereafter), charts the slow descent of small-town sheriff Wade Whitehouse (a raspy, gruffly restrained Nick Nolte) into violence, the legacy of the corrupt love of an abusive, alcoholic father. The story ostensibly centers on a hunting death on the outskirts of town, but as Wade digs into what may or not be a conspiracy, his personal life spirals out of control. James Coburn, who deservedly won an Oscar for his mocking, sneering performance, is Wade's father, who jumps back into the cycle of abuse when Wade moves in to care for the aging man. Chronicling the story in distant, dispassionate tones is Willem Dafoe as Wade's younger brother Rolfe, who "escaped" his father's legacy in a world of books. Schrader has made his reputation revealing the scarred psyches of American men trying to reconcile the contradictions of masculine fantasy and social reality, as in his screenplays for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, and in Affliction he creates his most poignant and powerful work. The quiet beauty of the snow-blanketed New Hampshire setting (using Canadian locations) and Schrader's restrained yet intimate cinematic style builds the underlying emotional tensions until they explode in startling close-ups, revealing the repressed fear, rage, and helplessness cracking through Wade's carefully maintained façade. As Rolfe's narration coolly analyzes his brother's affliction, he reveals his own: an emotional remove so complete that he's edited himself out of his family history. The legacy of abuse leaves no one untouched. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Haunting..........2007-08-04

I watched this movie late at night on the IFC a few years ago, and it haunts me still. The abuse of a child lingers on, and it's so evident in this movie. I have a very difficult relantionship with my own father, and found myself moved to tears in this movie. The ending shocked me, and very few movies have the power to do that to me. I highly recommend this film, as long as you understand what you're getting into by watching it.

Stellar acting makes for compelling viewing.......2007-07-06

I never watched Affliction until a few days ago, and was pleasantly surprised. The story centers around Nick Nolte, who plays a small town cop going through a rough patch, with a failed marriage, and a young daughter who seems to be growing apart from him. He pursues a shooting case that he suspects is a murder conspiracy, and things get more complicated when his mother dies, forcing him to take responsibility for an aging dad who is also violent &abusive [played convincingly by James Coburn].

There are frequent flashbacks by Nolte to his violent childhood [the make-up people did a great job in portraying a youngish looking James Coburn], and Coburn does a great job playing the abusive, alcoholic father who rages at his family [wife, and two sons].

There are good supporting roles here besides James Coburn...there is Sissy Spacek who plays Margie, the supportive lover to Nolte's character. There is Willem Dafoe, who though has limited screen time, provides the voice-over narration for the movie & also plays the younger son, Rolfe, who distances himself from the domestic tragedy that is his past by pursuing a scholarly life.

The story is not really anything new: a violent and abusive legacy that torments Nolte's character, begging the question: is the cycle of violence & abuse something that is cyclical, doomed to be repeated through successive generations? Yet, despite the predictable storyline, the acting is excellent, and the story moves along at a steady pace, as we slowly witness Nolte's cop character being driven slowly but surely towards the brink... a dark and tragic story that makes for compelling viewing.

UGH!...I lived this and still was bored to tears!!!!!!.......2007-06-20

AFFLICTION is about one thing alone; how abuse affects future generations and those that are in the path of the abuser.That said, having come from the this background myself, all I could think of is "Yes this is all sadly true. I know that. I have experienced it first hand. Why did someone feel compelled to make a film about it?" If this film was to enlighten those who lived the idyllic childhood with great parents, perhaps then that audience will be the one most affected by their own disbelief that something could be so tragic. I lived through all that this movie presented, and personally was bored with the entire plot. I knew from moment one where this film was going and NOTHING shocked me or moved me in the least...not even the ending.

AFFLICTION presents an absolute hopeless and nonredeeming story of the legacy of abuse as if there is no escape and nothing but misery and aimlessness for those that lived through it. I cannot disagree more, and this is why I found the movie dull and arriving at a wrong conclusion as far as I am concerned. True, many do not rise above these unfortunate circumstances...granted. There are just as many that do,though! This film presented the "victim" side of abuse and not the "victorious". These people in this New Hampshire town just walked about in a mindless fog,victims simply carrying out their fate. Not for me! Sorry.

Despite James Coburn playing the drunk and violent father, I still believe that his Oscar win was a sympathy nod due to his age.I have seen this role done better and with more force from Dicken's adaptations. Nolte was nothing special and neither was Sissy Spacek. Willem Dafoe has little screen time and does deadpan narration. This film is as bleak as they come and nothing special...especially for those who broke the "affliction" of violence in their own lives.

As important a subject as abuse and violence is, that does not mean that with an assemblage of Oscar winning actors makes it at all a great, watchable or even necessary film.

Films such as the French A LOVING FATHER handled this subject with alot more panache and evenhandedness.

Okay....you can come after me now!!! Let's see where the violence is lurking in you!

Crap.......2007-06-09

Just because a movie is "indie" and isn't "Hollywood" does not in itself mean that it's good. Based on the evidence of this and The Sweet Hereafter I feel pretty sure that Russell Banks' books, while they may make for acceptable fiction, are not suited for the screen.

The performances are good, particularly Coburn. It's so nice to see Sissy Spacek in ANYTHING, and Nolte was fine, but his performance in The Thin Red Line was much more intense and said much more (to me) about male pride and violence that this entire movie did.

First of all, are we really all shocked to learn that violent and abusive parents beget violent and abusive children? Is that news? Is there anything else this movie has to say? I left the theater feeling that the performances and direction were fine, it's just that what this film had to say just wasn't very interesting. I can see why actors wanted to be in it, since there are so few characters these days, but why make this movie? What does it really have to offer anyone? And why see it?

This is actually one of the movies that was most instrumental in my decision to sharply reduce the amount of movies I see in the theaters, and to stop seeing all these crappy "acclaimed indie" movies of the week. Paul Schrader, if you ever read this, please know that your film put at least me not just off that film, but off of watching movies forever! You know, if you can reach just one person...

Tour De Force, a bit chaotic.......2006-05-31

Excellent idea, nolte, coburn, and spacek carry this movie through a somewhat chaotic script. Different, deep and thought provoking, unlike most mindless dribble comeing out of hollywood.

Average customer rating:

Dragon Ball GT - A mixed bag
A (Semi) Perfect DVD
The Truth Behind The Devil's Manga Dragon Ball GT
DONT BUY
It's true: FUNIMATION IS GREEDY

Dragon Ball GT - Affliction (Vol. 1)
Starring: Masako Nozawa , Yûko Minaguchi , Takeshi Kusao , Shinobu Satouchi , and Masako Katsuki
Director: Minoru Okazaki
Manufacturer: Funimation Prod
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008DDUI
Release Date: 2003-04-15

Product Description

The adventures of Goku continue, but this time our hero has a small problem; the devious Emperor Pilaf has wished Goku back to childhood through the power of the Eternal Dragon! What s worse is that Goku and Trunks are on the verge of having their bodies used for twisted scientific experimentation on the machine planet, M2. All hope lies in Pan, Goku s own granddaughter. Will Pan arrive in time to thwart the plans of the wicked Dr. Myuu? And what about the incredibly powerful General Rilldo? Plus, an evil power looms large on the horizon, a power that threatens to destroy all humanity!

System Requirements:
Special Features:

Character Profiles

Textless Songs

Japanese and English Languages

English Subtitles

Scene Selection

Trailers

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Dragon Ball GT - A mixed bag.......2007-05-07

Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997.)

INTRODUCTION:
The Dragon Ball Z anime had ended. Finally, Akira Toriyama's entire Dragon Ball manga had been translated to anime form. He had lost interest in the series and went on to pursue other projects. But Toei Animation had other plans. The company who had translated the manga to anime form wanted to cash in on the franchise one last time, and thus created an entirely new, non-canonical Dragon Ball series, GT. Read on to see how the series fares.

OVERVIEW (DVD):
FUNimation began releasing Dragon Ball GT DVDs in America in 2003. The series is broken into twenty DVDs (the five "lost episodes" DVDs that start the series, and volumes one through fifteen that follow.) Each DVD is uncut, with a dub and sub track, and some modest bonus features.

OVERIVEW (SERIES):
GT picks up a couple of years after Z leaves off. Goku has been training Oob, the young man he went away with at the end of the tournament that concluded the Z series. But things go terribly wrong. Emperor Pilaf gets a hold of a second set of Dragon Balls that was created back before Piccolo and Kami split - and accidentally turns Goku into a child again! And that's not the worst of it. The Dragon Balls have scattered across the universe! If the balls aren't reunited in a year, the Earth will be destroyed. The universe is full of villains who will stop at nothing to have them for themselves. As the series progresses, other new villains rise, including Baby, a creation of a race the Saiyans once wiped out, Super 17, a fusion of Android 17 and a duplicate created in hell by an old foe, and evil dragons who rise from the old, overused Dragon Balls. But Goku and company aren't going to give up that easily, as Goku discovers a level of Super Saiyan beyond level three that will help him to compete with these new villains.

REVIEW (SERIES):
GT is a hit and miss series. When it sucks, it sucks. When it's good, it's good. You can tell Akira Toriyama wasn't the creative force behind the series, and it shows in many places. The characters seem to have gotten a lot weaker and stupider, and the battle sequences pale in comparison to those of Z (though some of the later ones come close.) One of my biggest disappointments is Pan, Goku's grand daughter. They make her one of the main characters in this series, and she's basically annoying and weak, and spoiled. Essentially she's a retread of Chi Chi, which isn't something the series needed. Vegeta's role is also significantly lessened up until the end of the series, which is a huge letdown for fans of the Saiyan prince. There are plot holes galore, as well. It's clear Toei wanted to make a series that was a combination of the original Dragon Ball's adventure/comedy feel, and Dragon Ball Z's pure action feel. But as a whole, it's a compromise at best. Do yourself a favor and don't come into the series with high expectations - it does not surpass any previous chapter in the Dragon Ball story. Remember - Toriyama didn't create it himself, so it's essentially professionally-made fan fiction. It's not as bad as everyone says, though.

REVIEW (DVD):
If you've seen FUNimation's uncut DVDs for the other Dragon Ball series, you'll know what to expect here. Two language tracks, with the Japanese featuring translations by Steven J. Simmons, as well as modest bonus material (profiles, previews, etc. nothing special.) The dub is not great, though it's not FUNimation's worst work either. I have some complaints with the Japanese subtitled version that need to be voiced though. Kakarotto is translated as Kakarrot. Saiya-Jin is translated as Saiyan. Tsfuru-Jin is Tsfuruian. Oozaru is Great Ape. If they keep in all the name titles (kun, sama, etc.), why can't they keep this stuff straight? Also, old episodes refer to the Dragon Balls as the numbered ball they are, whereas later episodes change it to the weird Mandarin Chinese names. I wish they'd gone one route or the other from the beginning and stayed consistent, not switched halfway through. Still, these are little faults in the long run.

OVERALL:
Overall, GT is a good series but not a great one. It's better than most people say, but still falls short of the original series and Z. If nothing else, it's good for a weekend rental - but you will have to endure some boring, tedious episodes before you get to the good stuff - BE WARNED! Final verdict? If nothing else, GT is at least good for a rental.

EDITION NOTES:
I'm not sure if these DVDs are still in print or not. But just the same, Amazon's independent sellers have all of them in stock, and you can get them for very low prices now - hell, that may be even cheaper than my previous suggestion of renting them!

A (Semi) Perfect DVD.......2005-07-01

You may not know it, but FUNimation did us a favor in releasing this DVD. The first 16 episodes were skipped but can be picked up on "Lost Episodes" DVDs.The English version has horrible music, rap. The menus look bad. The extras are bad(with the exclusion of the Japanese Textless Songs). The English Version overall is bad. But FUNimation has a PERFECT JAPANESE VERSION. Unlike Dragonball/Z DVDs it has the original Kanji Credits and the next episode previews in each episode. For any Japanese Version Fan who cares for GT should get this!

The Truth Behind The Devil's Manga Dragon Ball GT.......2005-07-01

In this review, you will find why DBGT is the devil's manga and why I will eternally hate it forever.

Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z artist, was a sucessful artist expecially after his hit series Dragon Ball. After sucessfully ending the series, Akira decided to quit the Manga buissness and spend the rest of his retirement taking care of his children. But the producers didn't want him to quit. After trying over and over again to persuade Toriyama to write a new series, he gave in. Thus, he created his last manga ever, Dragon Ball Z. The true reason he named this series Dragon Ball Z was because Z meant the last letter of the alphabet, thus the last manga he will create. His true intentions was to end at the Frieza saga, but did the producers let him? NO. After dragging him into 16 saga, Toriyama finally decided to end this, his kids now 14 and 16. After retireing, the producers continued to push him into going back. They also preposed the idea of haveing another die hard Dragon Ball fan take over his career, but Toriyama declined. After his death, producers now had no one stopping them from creating the true devil's manga, Dragon Ball GT. The series launched in Japan was a tottal failure, they didn't even make a manga, they went right into anime. After getting bankrupt in Japan, the producers set their eyes on the manga inexperienced country, America. Thus, they released it in America. Their reaction was tottaly opposite from Japan. Japan hated GT so much, they went bankrupt in 64 episodes. On the other hand, America loved GT so much, their thinking about makeing MORE Dragon Ball series.

I really hope I changed some people's veiw of Dragon Ball GT with this story. As a die hard japanese manga loving shonen, I will enternally hate Dragon Ball GT and wish for its much desired end to come soon.

DONT BUY.......2004-07-25

Do not buy this unless you want a horrible memory of DBGT! Funimation did the worst job I have even seen bringing a Anime to America, First the cut out the 1st 15 episodes of DBGT, then they changed all of the music and the opening to some trash Rock/Rap. And the voice acting is horrible. 3 years ago I downloaded Super5's Sub DBGT's of the japanese series, and it was the best anime I had ever seen. It was the best Dragon Ball series. But when Funimation came out with this Id have to say its the worst Anime. The music on the origanals was so good, I just loved the opening theme with the animation. And now they have crap cuts from the show that make it look bad. If you want to watch DBGT how it was ment to be seen search "Super5" on your fav p2p software.Its breaking the law, but you may never see it in your life. But only buy this if you want some crap that will leave bad memorys of the end of the Dragon Ball saga

It's true: FUNIMATION IS GREEDY.......2004-03-20

Funimation is a greedy company that gouges fans for money.

The dub stinks. Even under Saban, they at least hired professional voice actors. But ever since Funimation hired those *random* people, dubs have been incredibly subpar. Characters have scratchy, annoying, grunty, constipation induced voices. They are so stingy, that they make one guy do the voices of over 10 characters. They expect us to pay more, despite their miserly cheap production.

And the music is bad. Did you know the guy Funimation hired to make the American DBZ music originally wrote stuff for Discovery Channel? What a complete 180.

The only reason Funimation chose these people is because they live close to Funimation headquarters. They all live in Texas so it would be more convenient for Funimation.

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Customer Reviews:

Haunting..........2007-08-04

Stellar acting makes for compelling viewing.......2007-07-06

UGH!...I lived this and still was bored to tears!!!!!!.......2007-06-20

Crap.......2007-06-09

Tour De Force, a bit chaotic.......2006-05-31

Excellent idea, nolte, coburn, and spacek carry this movie through a somewhat chaotic script. Different, deep and thought provoking, unlike most mindless dribble comeing out of hollywood.

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose (March 17, 1999)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose Inc.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

In a rebroadcasted interview that originally aired March 8, 1999, Sir Ian McKellen discusses his Oscar-nominated role in "Gods and Monsters", his perspectives on acting, and his career working with some of the leading figures in films and on stage.||Then, in an interview that originally aired Jnuary 5, 1999, Nick Nolte, Oscar-nominated for "Affliction", talks about his World War Two movie "The Thin Red Line", his collaboration with Terrence Malick, and the process of filmmaking.

Charlie Rose with John Travolta, Steven Zaillian & Jonathan Harr; Nick Nolte, Willem Dafoe, James Coburn & Paul Schrader (January 5, 1999)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with John Travolta, Steven Zaillian & Jonathan Harr; Nick Nolte, Willem Dafoe, James Coburn & Paul Schrader (January 5, 1999)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

John Travolta, screenwriter/director Steven Zaillian and novelist Jonathan Harr discuss the new movie A Civil Action, which is about a lawyer who pursues justice on behalf of a group of families whose children suddenly start dying of leukemia. Then, Nick Nolte, Willem Dafoe, James Coburn and Paul Schrader talk about their film Affliction, adapted from Russell Banks' novel about a dysfunctional family and the downward spiral of a small-town cop.

Average customer rating:

Haunting...
Stellar acting makes for compelling viewing
UGH!...I lived this and still was bored to tears!!!!!!
Crap
Tour De Force, a bit chaotic

Affliction [Region 2]
Starring: Nick Nolte , Brigid Tierney , Holmes Osborne , Jim True-Frost , and Tim Post
Director: Paul Schrader
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00004VYHB

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Customer Reviews:

Haunting..........2007-08-04

Stellar acting makes for compelling viewing.......2007-07-06

UGH!...I lived this and still was bored to tears!!!!!!.......2007-06-20

Crap.......2007-06-09

Tour De Force, a bit chaotic.......2006-05-31

Excellent idea, nolte, coburn, and spacek carry this movie through a somewhat chaotic script. Different, deep and thought provoking, unlike most mindless dribble comeing out of hollywood.

DVD:

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