25th Hour
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.23 You Save: $6.76 (68%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.25 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of 25th Hour
Movie Review: Intense, Incredible!
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this film. Edward Norton plays a thoroughly decent, likable fellow who makes his living on the wrong side of the tracks dealing drugs. The movie focuses on Monty's last night before going to prison for seven years. It explores how his going up affects the lives of his two best friends, his father, and his girlfriend. The movie reminded me a great deal of Meet Joe Black. The two movies have vastly different topics, but each one has rich, fully realized scenes. Norton and Hopkins take each scene and wring every emotional shred from it. Their facial expressions and body language leave you feeling the dread that they are burdened with. Monty's impending imprisonment becomes overpowering by the end of the movie and I was close to tears from pity for him.The film quality of the DVD is a little spotty. Some scenes looked really grainy with a lot of noise in them. The audio however is among the best I have ever heard. There is a scene in which the group is at a posh nightclub, and the pounding bass heavy music such places typify is expertly captured on this disc. Despite the heavy bass, the vocals were quite clear and not a struggle to hear.
Great movie!
Movie Review: 25th Hour - An Urban Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
There are very few Caucasian actors who, in my view, can pull of street cool on the screen: George Clooney, a young Steven Seagal and Paul Walker. But this Ed Norton is unique, and he chooses scripts that tell an important story. He is, in my view, one of the finest young actors to come along since Sidney Portier.He doesn't push it, but is laid back and lets the action come to him. Norton is having his last night out before heading to prison. His lovely lady (the seductive Rosario Dawson)loves him and so do his buddies. He wants to do the right thing, but like Al Pacino in "Godfather 3" they keep trying to "pull him back in." Although this movie is tight from beginning to end, it is the flashback at movie's end which endears you to the lead character. Norton knows how to use facial expressions to fill up entire scenes, and has the smarts to know when to pull back from a scene and let the environment do the talking.
Great movies are difficult to describe because they transcend words. This movie, in being as unique as it is, falls within that category. Rent it and watch it. You might learn something about yourself.
Movie Review: One of Last Year's Better Films!
Summary: 5 Stars
Though often branded and criticized for outrageuously stupid reasons, Spike Lee has once again demonstrated that he is top notch director, sort of the African American version of Standley Kubrick in that it perhaps takes more than what the standard moviegoer is willing to do to understand what he or she is seeing, the story that is unfolding and be interested in the characters enough to keep on watching that screen. There are some points in which the film tends to lag, however the dialog is crisp and smartly written. Seemingly focusing on the depth of Monty's ordeal and the challenge that he must face, that on some level we all must face which is change and taking responsibility for every action whether good, bad or committed in the face of having no other option but to go. This movie I think deals more with reality, though I question a little about what I would do if I were in Monty's place. Telling his friend to make him "ugly" for prison was bit much, though I can see what Spike was trying to say. I don't want to give too much away, I suggest that you rent this film first since like Kubrick, Lee is an accquired taste.Movie Review: One of Spike Lee's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an unusual movie for Spike Lee. Its one of the few movies that he has maed that really holds your attention from start to finish and does not feature some snarky slam on white people.
Ed Norton is the star here as a yuppie who has messed his life up. Norton's yuppie is the sort of ordinary guy who most folks can identify with. Norton's character has reached a crossroads where he has three choices: Go on the lam, commit suicide or go to prison where his good looks ensure that he will be subjected to homosexual rape.
Before he makes his decision, Norton's felon wants to see 3 people: His retired fireman father, his best friend and his second best friend. There are other characters who he must deal with such as his girlfriend and some gangsters who push heroin.
In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, all of the above elements would add up to a mess. However, Spike Lee is able to balance everything together into a perfect equilibrium that results in a strong movie.
If you want to see a great movie by Spike Lee, then the 25th Hour is a great choice.
Movie Review: a powerful, emotional film.
Summary: 5 Stars
After about 20 reviews have been written, I usually don't bother. However, I have to urge you to experience this movie. It is so subtle but so amazing and meaningful. I actually watched it all the way through with the directors commentary on, which I have never done after watching a movie once. In this movie about drug dealers, russian gangsters, police raids, and murder, there is not one chase scene, and not one murder. This is an emotion film relying on the intelligence of the watcher to bring it together. You really feel for Monty (Norton) in this film, knowing that he's got 24 hours left before surrendering to 7 years in prison. The film is not constructed as a "yepee for drug dealers" flick, but you feel for him in that he knows that he messed up, and the show of regret in his face is very powerful. Anyone who has ever done anything they regreted (everyone) will really feel this. Watch the deleted scenes. There are several that should have been left in, in my opinion.