Blues Brothers 2000
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.36 You Save: $5.63 (56%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.15 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Blues Brothers 2000
Movie Review: Blues Brothers 2000
Summary: 4 Stars
I really like this movie; I wouldn't have ordered it if I didn't.
The reason for the review is mainly to inform of first rate service from the moment I pushed "enter". Between the vendor and the USPS the DVD was in my hand in less than a week. Good job!!
Movie Review: too funny for comfort
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this dvd for my brother and his thoughts were HILARIOUS. He has always been a huge fan of the Blues Brothers and would like for the saga to continue.Movie Review: Tight Riffs!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Plot is silly but this movie teams up the best blues & rock Musicians INTO the SAME BAND.A MUST SEE/HEAR CLIMAX CONCERT ENDING!Movie Review: Excellent music, pitiful script
Summary: 3 Stars
Elwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd) is released from prison only to find that his brother Jake (John Belushi) has died in his absence. And that's not the only thing that's changed. The orphanage where he grew up is closing, and Sister Mary Stigmata asks for his help in raising money for the children's hospital that will be taking its place.
The answer to which is, of course, putting the band back together. Oh, and in the meantime, the good sister wants Elwood to spend a couple of hours with Buster, one of the last kids from the orphanage.
There are the usual hijinks with putting the band back together, and Elwood forgets about taking Buster back. So the cops, including Cab, the illegitimate son of Curtis (Cab Calloway, who also died in the meantime), who's sort of an honorary stepbrother, are after him for kidnapping the boy. And of course there are a bunch of other groups after him, including some of those from the first movie who are after revenge.
Once again, it's a race to get to The One Gig that'll earn them the money they need. This time, it's a battle of the bands in New Orleans.
The problem is, my summary sounds a lot more cohesive than the plot is. Starting with the obvious question of why Elwood was the only one in jail (at the end of the last movie, they were all in jail. Granted, the other band members might have had lesser sentences, but Jake's should have been the same as Elwood's).
The Mission From God wasn't really a mission from God, this time. The orphanage is closing regardless, and Elwood's quest is more along the lines of a charity drive, so there's no urgency there.
Buster and Cab... well, I didn't much see the point. They seemed like tangents to me. Cab's story could have been pretty good--learning about and then eventually embracing his musical heritage--but it's barely touched on.
And then once they get to New Orleans, there's some completely out-of-left-field magical voodoo effect that make no sense and doesn't have anything to do with the plot. It's almost like a few minutes of footage from another film got spliced into this one by mistake, except that the same actors are in it.
On the other hand, there's the music. It's no surprise that the DVD has 3 stars, while the soundtrack has 4.5. The sheer number--and quality!--of famous musicians who appear in this movie is amazing. In the jam sessions at the end, we made a game of trying to see who could identify more of them.
Mostly, the plot is rushed through to get to the music. Which is, I suppose, understandable, unless you compare it with the original, in which the plot, while simplistic, still made sense, and was funny as hell. It feels like they tried to add too much to make up for the absence of Belushi and Calloway, when a simpler plot would have worked better--it could have been more completely explored, and it wouldn't have been so obvious that the plot was sacrificed to the music.
It was great music, though. So much so that my kids argued with me about giving this 3 stars, saying it deserved more just for the music.
Movie Review: The Blues Are Back
Summary: 3 Stars
After 18 years, Elwood is finally getting released from prison (though 18 years from 1980 is 1998, so why on earth was this called 2000? I know Blues Brothers 1998 just sounds stupid but they could've always had gone with Blues Brothers 2). There really is no semblance of plot, though there is an objective and that's to get to Queen Moussette's Battle of the Bands. What plot there is, well, its pretty much the first film all over again. What song opened the first film? A song by Taj Mahal. What opens this film? A song sung by Taj Mahal. Does Aretha Franklin sing to get her husband to stay in the first? Yes. Does she sing again in this to get him to stay? Yes. Do cast members sing snippets of the end credits song in both? Yes (more so in this than the last). I'll stop the list there as I'd hope you get the point. One thing they harp (3 characters give their condolences) on in the beginning is the absence of John Belushi, and knowing that trying to get a new actor to play Jake would be like spitting in the face of the Brothers' fans, the character is also conveniently "gone", as no one in this movie actually says the word dead. Even when The Penguin tells Elwood about Curtis, she doesn't say dead. It sounds like I'm rambling about this but it just bugs me. Just say the guy's dead! John Goodman is a decent replacement for Belushi and can sing well but its a shame that once Cab is in the picture he's pushed to the sidelines in terms of singing (but he pretty much does that to Elwood when he's introduced). Joe Morton is also pretty good but I think his inclusion into the band only happened because the director wanted to recreate the church scene again. And then there's J. Evan Bonifant as Buster. I just don't like him, he adds nothing to the story and with that, makes four leads in the band which, I think is too much. There are too many WTF moments in this compared to the previous one like Elwood being able to hide in the car. Literally. The car going underwater (that's a little more extreme than all the fantastical stunts from the first) and all the magic elements in the last thirty minutes of the film. They don't belong in there. And whereas the first film had great car chases, the one's featured here are not as memorable. I think the only thing they accomplished was beating the record they set from the first. The music on the other hand is the only standout in this. So many great singers and musicians together in one film that you'll probably never see that happen ever again in cinema. All in all, this isn't a terrible sequel but it isn't good as the first. It's just OK.