Caligula [Blu-ray]
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Movie Reviews of Caligula [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: Epic, Beautiful Story, Full Frontal Nudity.
Summary: 5 Stars
Gorgeous sets, gorgeous people.
This isn't your typical schloky skin flick. This is a graphic retelling of the story of Caligula's ascent to power, and descent into madness.
This looks breathtaking on Blu-ray. Lots of extra features too.
Well worth it.
Movie Review: BAD BOY
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the century most controversy ever made movie and I love it and own it, specially in blu ray, MUST see it to appreciate the quality and ideas of the producers and director about this EMPEROR back in his time and place in this world.Movie Review: Not a porn but an adult movie.
Summary: 5 Stars
Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren & Peter Otoole what more do you need ta know. X rated along the lines of 'Clock Work Orange'. Put the kids ta bed and watch on the big screen.Movie Review: movie
Summary: 5 Stars
The movies I order came before I knew it.I like the idea of getting items within daysMovie Review: The Imperial Edition (Blu-ray)
Summary: 4 Stars
It's hard to view this film divorced from its controversy. To see spliced-in pornographic acts performed in a film so sumptuously photographed blurs our aesthetics; or it did mine, anyway. Whatever the final opinion, it was definitely never boring. Along with the nearly constant atrocities stemming from a complete abuse and debasement of power, it has stunning visuals going for it. Therefore a revitalized hi-def transfer makes an excellent opportunity to see it afresh. After watching Caligula [Blu-ray] ("The Imperial Edition"), and delving into all the extras, I've concluded that, despite its many flaws, it is indeed a good film. By all accounts, it could have been a GREAT film, but as often is the case with ambitious visions, conflicts led to too many compromises, eventuating to no one's satisfaction. There will never be a critical consensus on it, but still, anyone interested in films has to conclude it has its merits. This edition makes that obvious.
To sum it up, Malcolm McDowell plays Caligula as mirthfully cruel, irreverent, and giddily insane. John Gielgud, making an early departure, plays with erect Shakespearean dignity Tiberius' only friend, the wise Nerva, contemptuous of the inevitable scenario of Rome's further decline at Caligula's ascendancy. Peter O'Toole portrays Tiberius as demoralized and sardonically embittered by the trappings of power, his face scabby and scalp clumpy from the ravages of syphilis. Once Tiberius dies -- all of the actors with major theater credentials exit relatively early -- Caligula has the playground of Rome all to himself.
Having never seen the remastered SD special edition released a couple of years ago, I'm unable to compare it's image quality to the transfer on Caligula [Blu-ray]. But I can state with certainty that this Blu-ray edition is far superior to the initial DVD issued back in the 1990s. Art director and costume designer Danilo Donati gave cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti a lively palette and grand designs to work with, and it's illuminated here. While the age of the print is apparent at times, the hi-def transfer revives the lost vibrancy of the draped luxury and pillared architecture. And aside from the brighter picture, there's a cornucopia tucked away in the special features.
The extras include two versions of "The Making of Caligula"; interviews (about 30 minutes each) with director Tinto Brass, actor John Steiner (who portrayed Longinus), and Penthouse pet Lori Wagner (who, in hindsight, realizes she was in way over her head, thanks to her blind ambition); three audio commentaries (McDowell, Helen Mirren, and on-set writer Ernest Volkman); an alternate pre-release version of the film; and, rounding out the set, the usual odds and ends (deleted scenes, theatrical trailers, and so on). This two-disc edition comes with a 15-page booklet detailing the film's troubled production, in which the essayist R. J. Buffalo concludes passionately that a full restoration to its original vision is in order. It's a hell-freezes-over probability. From the artifacts among the bonus features, it's obvious that two immutable creative forces were in direct conflict. Gore Vidal, who wrote the original screenplay, eventually disavowed the film when director Brass altered how Caligula himself was presented. It must have come down to an interpretation of the script, because Vidal's earlier version is included as a DVD-ROM extra, and a lot of the dialogue was retained, some of it word for word. So, on the one hand, you have Brass wanting a sexually explicit, anarchistic romp; on the other you have Vidal's depiction of Caligula as derisive of the ruling class, and abuses power as mockery. The result is a schizophrenic montage. In my judgment, Vidal's vision edges out ahead slightly, as by the time you get to all that explicit sex, they're not festivities you'd want to be invited to. So the question remains, to whose vision would the final edit be restored?