Full Metal Jacket (Limited Edition Collector's Set)

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Stanley Kubrick's 1987, penultimate film seemed to a lot of people to be contrived and out of touch with the '80s vogue for such intensely realistic portrayals of the Vietnam War as Platoon and The Deer Hunter. Certainly, Kubrick gave audiences plenty of reason to wonder why he made the film at all: essentially a two-part drama that begins on a Parris Island boot camp for rookie Marines and abruptly switches to Vietnam (actually shot on sound stages and locations near London), Full Metal Jacket comes across as a series of self-contained chapters in a story whose logical and thematic development is oblique at best. Then again, much the same was said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a masterwork both enthralled with and satiric about the future's role in the unfinished business of human evolution. In a way, Full Metal Jacket is the wholly grim counterpart of 2001. While the latter is a truly 1960s film, both wide-eyed and wary, about the intertwining of progress and isolation (ending in our redemption, finally, by death), Full Metal Jacket is a cynical, Reagan-era view of the 1960s' hunger for experience and consciousness that fulfilled itself in violence. Lee Ermey made film history as the Marine drill instructor whose ritualized debasement of men in the name of tribal uniformity creates its darkest angel in a murderous half-wit (Vincent D'Onofrio). Matthew Modine gives a smart and savvy performance as Private Joker, the clowning, military journalist who yearns to get away from the propaganda machine and know firsthand the horrific revelation of the front line. In Full Metal Jacket, depravity and fulfillment go hand in hand, and it's no wonder Kubrick kept his steely distance from the material to make the point. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Excellent movie, not banned in Hague Convention.......2007-09-15

It was the Hague Convention of 1899 that banned bullets that flatten or easily expand in the body...so now militaries around the world use "Full Metal Jacket (FMJ)" rounds, which is why the movie isn't called something like "Jacketed-Hollow-Point (JHP)." Now while a JHP round has a lead core with a hollow tip, it also has a copper (generally) jacket of metal around the bottom 2/3rds or so of the body. Then when it hits target the speed of the bullet caused the tissue filling up the hole of the bullet to push the bullet walls out and make if larger in diameter causing more damage as it passes through the body. A full metal jacket bullet instead is a lead bullet completely surrounded by a copper jacket so it barely deforms at all when it hits almost anything except heavy bone, rock, metal, etc... The bullets are cheaper to make, less likely to jam and more likely to injure rather than kill.

One of the greatest movies of all time..........2007-09-13

One of the greatest movies of all time matched with one of the greatest playback formats available. Full Metal Jacket is a rite of passage alongside 'The Godfather' and 'Scarface' that needs to have the best sound and video to go with it so you hear the crispness of every curse and vehement disgust the drill sergeant spews at the fresh meat at Paris Island. It helps that HD DVD allows you to see every bit of spittle that goes with the screaming. Watch this movie, and if possible watch it in with and HD DVD player with a decent surround system with Dolby Digital capability and you will be stunned with it's greatness.

War, it is certainly no picnic... .......2007-08-17

Stanley Kubrick is without a doubt one of the greatest directors in the history of American cinema. While it's debatable whether or not this film can truly be considered a masterpiece (although most males between the ages of 18 - 45 will tell you it is) it is however an unforgettable one. I remember the first time I saw this, I had trouble sleeping that night. It's one big adrenaline rush from the moment this film begins with the boys at bootcamp to it's shocking, disturbing ending. It's absolutely riveting! I can't recall 116 minutes (the film's length) going by so fast. And this, is mainly because of Kubrick's amazing directing.

The film can also boast of some excellent acting performances, particularly by Matthew Modine (Pvt. Joker), R. Lee Ermey (Gunny Sgt. Hartman), Arliss Howard (Pvt. Cowboy) and my personal favorite the very underated Vincent D'Onofrio as poor old Private Pyle, Gunny's personal whipping boy. Fans of D'Onofrio's work on the T.V. drama "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" may have one hec of a time recognizing him at least fifty pounds heavier and playing the role of a dim-witted simpleton. It's a role in stark contrast to that of the mastermind police detective Robert Goren which he has become famous for. However, that's the beauty of Vincent as an actor, these two characters are 180 degrees apart from each other, yet D'Onofrio nails both roles, almost as if he was born to play both.

It's also interesting to note, that before Lee Ermey became an actor he was an actual staff sergeant in the Marine Corps for over ten years. I saw an interview with him once where he was asked if his role in this film wasn't a bit exaggerated. Before he replied, he let go a big, sardonic smile, and said "Are you kidding?" In other words, he was a hell of a lot worse in real life than the role he played in this film. SCARY! Who in God's name would ever wish to endure such abuse (of course they had no choice back then)? I guess you have to be a special type of human being to volunteer for the Marines. A much tougher, thicker-skinned cat than I am that's for sure. Thankfully so, because whether some of us wish to admit it or not, we need people like that in today's crazy world.

The film's music is excellent as well, with many songs composed by Abigail Mead, who is actually Vivian Kubrick, Stanley's daughter. In closing, this movie is gritty, and real, and apolitical (which is kind of nice for a change), and with Kubrick behind the wheel, well you know that it's got to be pretty great.

I am already starting to miss the great director...

"What's your major malfunction".......2007-08-17

This is one of the most quotable movies of all time. I'm sure you've used some of the quotes yourself, even if you don't know where they came from. The first half of the movie is the best part. You know that for this much money you get "everything you want."

Full Metal Movie.......2007-08-15

What can you say about this film? It's a sobering look into basic training for the Marines, with a gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermy) whose drill instructor are not too far behind him. The insults and barking orders rolls off his tongue like second nature. This film is really quite a classic among 20-45 males. It's funny at times when it probably shouldn't be. You kind of start laughing until you realize just exactly what is going on. The Marine Drill Sargeant Hartman tears these young privates into pieces and builds them up the Marine Way... except for one private, private Pyle (Vincent Deoferno) who is transformed in a way no drill sergeant wants to see. The movie has a lot of unnecessary shock factor seems in it. Much of it seems like a lot of scenes with no direction, but for some reason you want to see it over and over. Not a movie for the squeamish. Must see for most heterosexual men... ladies don't tend to like full metal jacket. Can't figure out why..lol

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Lost In The Stars Tries to Find Itself

Lost in the Stars
Starring: Brock Peters , Melba Moore , Raymond St. Jacques , Clifton Davis , and Paul Rogers
Director: Daniel Mann
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000TPAD8
Release Date: 2003-11-11

Customer Reviews:

Lost In The Stars Tries to Find Itself.......2006-02-21

Based on the famous "Cry the Beloved Country", "Lost in the Stars" does its best to invoke the passion and outrage of the former, but only does so to an extent.

The songs are so-so, the directing so-so, some things are better off left as straight drama.

The Girl in the Sneakers (Dokhtari Ba Kafsh-Haye-Katani)

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is life that bad???

The Girl in the Sneakers (Dokhtari Ba Kafsh-Haye-Katani)
Starring: Pegah Ahangarani , Majid Hajizadeh , Akram Mohammadi , Abdolreza Akbari , and Mahmoud Jafari
Director: Rasul Sadrameli
Manufacturer: Facets
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ASIN: B00013D49A
Release Date: 2004-01-13

Description

"Harrowing!" - LA TIMES "Poetic!" - VARIETY ** screened widely on West Coast In the Islamic Republic of Iran, strict laws govern public interaction between the sexes. Boys and girls who are not related can be picked up by the police for doing nothing more than simply enjoying a walk together in the park. 15-year-old Tadaie and her friend Aideen undergo such a humiliation. Tadaie's furious parents forbid her to ever see the boy, but the spirited Tadaie refuses to give in. She decides to leave home and thus begins a fascinating odyssey through the Tehran streets that are not without danger to this sheltered, upper-middle-class girl. THE GIRL IN THE SNEAKERS tells a beautiful story of youthful rebellion and its consequences. Made without any moral judgment, it is a lovely snapshot of first love and its subsequent disappointment.

Customer Reviews:

is life that bad???.......2005-02-28

a young girl who is in her teens is plagued by the realities and expectations of her life. living in what is assumed to be a middle class lifestyle, she is arrested in the beginning of the film because she is seen by police walking with a boy and talking to him in the park who is unrelated to her. this type of casual contact among the sexes is not acceptable. the parents are notified and after being examined and confirmed that she is still a virgin, the carges are dropped, and she is sent home with her parents. distraught and depressed by her life she skips school the following day and plans to run away. she wanders around tehran and bumps into all sorts of people. in a state of ignorance and being overtrusting that people are geniunly good and will understand her plight, she starts to realize that her situation is really not that bad. one man she encounters appears to console and defend her plight, then trying to take her home, she realizes he is out for his own interests. she meets a homeless woman and her son, and feels sympothetic to their situation, and joins them, but becomming fearful as night falls, she becomes unable to rest either alone or among the homeless camp of people she is introduced to by the woman she has met. she finds that people are desperate and how gone to terrible lengths to survive. throughout the entire film, in between her wandering and meeting people, she is constantly at a phone booth trying to reach the boy she was with in the beginning of the film. she beleives he will come meet her and they will run off together. as midnight approaches and she is just about fed up and reached her endurance of the street life, she finally finds the boy she is waiting for has appeared, but the movie doesnt end happily.
if you are not used to iranian film you will find the movie to be without a sense of direction. it is more symbolic, and my take is that, things arent as bad as they seem, there are others worse than you, sometimes when trying for better and a fairytale, you get a worse taste of life than you had...that type of meaning.. i enjoyed this film, but i also enjoy iranian films for their more meaningful and simple direction. the movie is farsi spoken with subtitles in english.

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Excellent italian comedy, with serious undertones
COMING OF AGE-ITALIAN STYLE
Better than average movie
A Film Filled to Overflowing with Stories and Information
Slight

Caterina in the Big City
Starring: Claudio Amendola , Flavio Bucci , Margherita Buy , Sergio Castellitto , and Galatea Ranzi
Director: Paolo Virzì
Manufacturer: Empire Pictures
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ASIN: B000AYELX8
Release Date: 2005-11-29

Description

A coming of age story about a 15-year-old provincial girl who moves to Rome and finds her new tony private school is a microcosm of the cultural and political divisions of Italian society When her parents, Giancarlo (Sergio Castellitto) and Agata (Margherita Buy), move from a seaside town in Tuscany to an ailing aunt's apartment in the big city, Caterina (Alice Teghil) is ready for something new. Dad, a teacher in a tech school, has undisguised social ambitions and is delighted to see a list of famous last names attending Caterina's new school. Her class is split between revolutionary no-globals and rich kids who parrot their parents' conservative ideas. Both sides try to bring the new girl into their sphere of influence. She's first drawn to Margherita (Carolina Iaquaniello), a mercurial hippie princess whose mom (Galatea Ranzi) is a politically active intellectual. This first phase of Caterina's social education ends when Margherita gets her drunk and tattoos her arm. Giancarlo arrives, intending to get Margherita's mother to find a publisher for his novel, which he has given her daughter to read. Abruptly switching from fawning to outraged, he insults everyone before dragging the vomiting Caterina home. Caterina soon falls in with the flighty Daniela (Federica Sbrenna) and her circle of rich, cell phone totting mall-rats. After making her over into an urban sophisticate, they introduce her to a quiet young aristocrat with a disapproving mother and to Daniela's father, a right-wing undersecretary (Claudio Amendola) in Berlosconni's government. As her parent's marriage disintegrates in the face of her father's social frustrations, Catherina finds comfort in her extended family and hope for the future in a budding romance (and perhaps the prospect of emigration someday) with a boy from Australia. The film lays bare Italy's great political divide and absence of middle ground, a situation some US viewers may recognize uncomfortably close to home.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent italian comedy, with serious undertones.......2007-01-31

This excellent Italian comedy is very similar in plot to Mean Girls (who came out on theaters in about the same time). The difference is that this is a much more politicized film. Caterina is a shy teenager from a small town in Italy, who moves to Rome with her long-suffering mother and her teacher father, when he is assigned to a new job there. In her new school, she has to choose to what clique to belong: the children of the progressive intellectuals or the children of the rich industrialists. The left or the right. What this film says is that these people are not terribly different between themselves. They both hold a degree of fame and power in Italian society, and look down upon those who don't. The outstanding performance in the movie is that of Caterina's father, the teacher Giancarlo (Sergio Castellito), a hothead angry that others have gotten all the breaks in life, who rants against the rich and privileged but who would sell his soul in a second in order to join the establishment. He is a familiar type of malcontent in real life but one who is seldom shown in the movies. There is a silly subplot of Caterina falling in love with an Australian boy, but all in all, this is one of the best Italian movies of the last years.

COMING OF AGE-ITALIAN STYLE.......2006-09-09

I had read a favorable review of this movie earlier this year in the N.Y. Times and was pleasantly surprised to find it on the shelf at our public library. What a pleasant surprise.

This is a coming-of-age film about a 13 year-old girl who moves from a small and remote Italian town to the ultra-sophisticated world of Rome. Think "Mean Girls", with a touch of Amy Heckerly's "Clueless". But "Catarina" rises above the usual teen farce by integrating Catarina and her classmates into the {corrupt}adult world around them. The fine editorial review above is an excellent summary of the story and I will not try to duplicte it.

As the Times' reviewer pointed out, "Catarina" shows how we now have a global youth culture. The girls of Roma are easily recognized as variants on American teens, with their own clothes, issues, etc.

Alice Tergil is superb as the sweet, but naive, newcomer. An excellent cast all-around.

Blaine in Seattle

Better than average movie.......2006-08-14

I really enjoyed this film. Caterina is a country girl who moves to Rome with her parents. Her father is a teacher who has a grandiose vision of himself as a great writer (his work reads like a cheap paperback). Her mother is kind and pretty but a bit of an airhead. Caterina is trying to fit in at school. Does she belong with the Bohemians or with the rich socialites (think teenage Paris Hilton)?

It's a charming coming of age movie. I couldn't help but think that Italy has the same social and political divide as we do in America. I found it amusing some classmates called her a "Hillbilly". Back in Detroit in the '70s I knew a Sicilian who called himself an "Italian Hillbilly". I thought it was kind of funny but I bet he was called that as a kid. I think anyone who remembers being a teen will like this flick.

A Film Filled to Overflowing with Stories and Information .......2006-07-02

'Caterina va in citta' ('Caterina in the Big City') is an Italian film that takes as its storyline the coming of age of a young teenager transported by her family from the quiet Tuscany seaside village of Montaldo Di Castro to the challenging realities of Big City Rome, but that is only the means to an end of exploring Italian politico-social life and its effects on the youth of today. It comes very close to drowning in its own excesses, but at the root of the film is a sensitive tale of a young girl's struggles with growing into an adulthood that puzzles, frightens and challenges her.

Caterina (Alice Teghil) finds her greatest moments of happiness in her home town singing mezzo soprano in the choir: simple pleasures in a simple setting surrounded by country folk content to live life day to day. Her father Giancarlo (Sergio Castellitto) is a teacher who can't hold a job, partially because he is so outspoken and partially because he is a raving truly obnoxious person. Her mother Agata (Margherita Buy) is subservient, a woman with few coping mechanisms who allows her odious husband to run an abusive household. Giancarlo's aunt is ill in Rome and with the idea of finding a job where his talents are respected, Giancarlo uproots his little family and moves to the big city. There the social castes are evident and Caterina is judged a country hick until she is befriended by first a rebel who bonds with Caterina, introduces her to tattoos and liquor, and causes a schism between her important mother (Giancarlo hoped to have is novel published by the woman), the daughter and his family. Caterina then is absorbed into the rich and spoiled rank and file of the wealthy, not fitting in until the girls do a make over. That situation is again disrupted by Giancarlo's blindly inappropriate behavior. The true Caterina is somehow lost, still dreaming of becoming a fine mezzo soprano, but tagging along with the crowd du jour. Ultimately Giancarlo's multiple and consistent failures drive him away from the family, he rides off to oblivion on his restored motorbike, and Agata and Caterina both bloom.

The noise level of this film is such that it is difficult to watch: the young girls means of communication is a mixture of screaming, loud talking, and fighting and otherwise making us uncomfortable. Yet underneath all of the political and social expose and brandishing is a truly wonderful young Caterina whose life as a soap opera is watched tenderly by an Australian boy who plays the guitar and observes her family from a window across the way from Caterina's Rome home. The moments toward the end of the film when the playback comes justifies the fuss of getting there.

This is not a film this viewer would sit through again, but reflecting on the story after all the commotion is over, hearing Mozart's 'Ave Verum Corpus' and Verdi's 'Nabucco" etc as the inspiration behind Caterina's honest dreams, makes is a more memorable experience. In Italian with English subtitles. Grady Harp, July 06

Slight.......2006-04-23

Caterina in a nutshell: a social climber husband who thinks he has the soul of a poet but really has the soul of a brutish cretin; a verbally abused wife with a friend on the side, their daughter, the new girl in the big city, courted and dropped by the cool clique; and the Australian boy in the apartment across the alley who watches that family soap opera drama while living his own. This familiar theme movie is somewhat redeemed by the acting of the spirited Caterina and her mother. Otherwise, it just barely slips into three star territory.

Tears of Gold: Gold Star Wives and the Men They Lost

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Tears of Gold: Gold Star Wives and the Men They Lost
Starring: Various
Manufacturer: Ent. Software
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009EIP2
Release Date: 2003-05-06

[10 Sci-Fi Movies] Things to Come (1936), Metropolis (1927), the Lost World (1925), Frozen Alive (1964), the Day Time Ended (1980), Slipstream (1989), Journey to the Center of Time (1967), Unknown World (1951), in the Year 2889 (1966), K-Pax (2002)

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A comment on K-Pax

[10 Sci-Fi Movies] Things to Come (1936), Metropolis (1927), the Lost World (1925), Frozen Alive (1964), the Day Time Ended (1980), Slipstream (1989), Journey to the Center of Time (1967), Unknown World (1951), in the Year 2889 (1966), K-Pax (2002)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video
Product Features:

Digitally Remastered For Superior Picture Quality
Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound
Chapter Stops
scene selections
interactive menus

ASIN: B000H6HDNO

Customer Reviews:

A comment on K-Pax.......2006-10-09

Please note that this review is just on the movie, K Pax, in this set.

K-Pax was one of the better movies of the year when it came out in 2001, and I found I liked it better than I was expecting. Spacey is excellent as usual, and Jeff Bridges as his therapist has a very sympathetic role and also does a great job. Interestingly, this time Bridges plays the earthman instead of the alien visitor, as he did in his 80s movie, Starman, an underrated Bridges flick that deserves to be better known. Spacey almost had me convinced that he really was from another planet, expecially after the great scene where he amazes confounds the assembled astronomers with his knowledge of the distant solar system.

The movie is somewhat schizoid because of the contrast between the first and second halves of the movie, but I really didn't mind that too much. The first half of the movie has a much lighter tone and is the most fun, as we learn about Prot, Spacey's otherworldly (literally) character from the planet K-PAX, and the relationship between Bridges, the psychiatrist, and Spacey, is developed.

But the movie takes on a distinctly dark and sinister tone in the second half, as Dr. Powell becomes convinced that Spacey could turn violent and sets out to discover the true nature of Spacey's past, which leads him to an abandoned farm in New Mexico.

My only complaint is that they could have found a better ending. By the end of the movie, you've come to like and sympathize with the unworldly, eccentric but likable Prot character, but then he basically turns into a vegetable at the end of the film and the movie falls flat. But except for that, overall I enjoyed the movie. Big Bubba says go see it and don't Bogart the popcorn.

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