Defending Your Life
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.33 You Save: $2.65 (44%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.51 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Defending Your Life
Movie Review: No need to defend this movie.
Summary: 5 Stars
Albert Brooks can be a prickly entertainer for some folks. The general consensus seems to be that he's like Woody Allen with less neuroses but more anger. But *Defending Your Life* can be a Brooks film for people who don't care much for Albert Brooks. This is his most accessible movie. Having said that, it should also be said, however, that Brooks' conception of the Afterlife is probably the toughest-minded ever conceived for cinema. The idea is you're basically put on trial after you've died: you get a defender, but there's also a prosecutor. Your entire life has been "put on tape", and the "lawyers" for and against you use this tape as evidence to support their respective cases. What's at stake? The reward of moving on to the "next level". (Heaven, presumably.) If you lived your life BRAVELY, you get to move on. If not? Back to Earth you go: you have to start all over again. Albert Brooks apparently doesn't go along with the most current dogma whose Heaven seems to allow any mediocrity to crash the party. To be surfeited on mothers'-milk pop psychology won't cut it. No! You have to EARN your eternal reward! (Though Brooks IS easy on the children: they get a free pass.) The movie's premise is pretty brilliant, and is equaled by the execution: this fantasy stays true to its logic throughout, and there are many comic touches along the way. While Brooks and his thousands of fellow-recently-deceased await the outcome of their "trials", they pass the time in "Judgment City", which rather resembles Orlando, Florida. (They all arrive by trams, as if they're getting a lift from their parking space to the ticket-windows at Disney World.) In Judgment City, the defendants stay in hotels of varied luxury. Brooks' new Afterlife girlfriend, Meryl Streep, is lodged in a five-star affair . . . while he's stuck in the "Continental" (somewhere between a Best Western and Holiday Inn). Other fun details include an ability to eat all you wish without worrying about weight gain; a "Past-Lives Pavilion" hosted by (well, I won't spoil it); miniature golf courses where it's always a hole-in-one, etc. The set design for *Defending Your Life* deserves special mention. Utilizing real locations and brilliant matte paintings, the sets manage to convey a real sense of place, despite the fantastical nature of the story. Performances? Brooks doesn't have to work hard -- the premise does that for him. As noted in another review here, Streep in unusually sweet in this film, thereby adding Very-Nice-Person to her dramatis personae. (And she doesn't cry once!) Rip Torn almost steals the movie as Brooks' bluff defender. And look for a very funny Buck Henry in a cameo part.Movie Review: Funny, Uplifting, and Poignant.
Summary: 5 Stars
There are thousands of movies that deal with the after-life in some way, shape, or form. Quite possibly, the most common, is the horror films of supernatural natures, but there are many other movies involving the afterlife in some way a very recent example is "The Lovely Bones", though that is a much more depressing movie, and not as well made either.
I am not particularly a fan of Albert Brooks, some stuff he is in, I have enjoyed, others, I have not, but this movie has stuck with me since I first saw it at 6yrs, so I decided to watch it again and see if it was worth mentioning, and the good news is, it is!!!
The way this film deals with the afterlife is not about religion, so as devout Christian I would say to other Christians: check your biases at the door. This movie is more of an allegory and commentary on humanity than it is about beliefs or morals.
The story involves a man named Danielle (Albert Brooks) who is landed himself in the afterlife after a fateful meeting with a truck. He discovers that he has been there many other times to be "judged" as to whether or not he has let go of the fears that so commonly plague mankind. If it is found that he has let go of his fears, he moves stays, but if it is found that he still has fear ruling his life, he will be sent back to earth, reincarnated again.
The great thing about this movie is that it touches on something that will never be dated; the nature of man to fear what he does not know or cannot control. It does this in a very fun and touching manner as they go through various days (9 to be exact) in his life to see if he is ready to move on or not. The humor is very dry and is not slapstick or silly, and though there are plenty of laugh-outloud moments that mainly come fro Rip Torn who plays Daniel's defense attorney, it is a more cerebral humor as it pokes fun at society's common fears. The chemistry between Brooks and Streep is not incredible, but it is enough to make the movie believable, and the ending very satisfying and sweet, I even had tears in my eyes by the end.
Overall, a wonderful movie, and a delight to anyone who enjoys intelligent comedies, and it is an underrated gem. :)
God Bless ~Amy
Movie Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
This extremely entertaining film focuses on Albert Brooks as a man who dies in an accident and ends of in a stop-off point between Earth and Heaven. It turns out that when you die, your life is reviewed and if you merit it, you proceed to Heaven otherwise you are sent back to Earth to live your life again. The problem with Brooks is that he has been sent back so much that this is his last chance or he will be reduced to nothingness.
Defending Brooks' life is his lawyer played brilliantly by Rip Torn against the vicious prosecutor (Lee Grant). While in a restuarant on the first night Brooks meets Meryl Streep who is also there for the same purpose.
While Brooks' life was plagued with cowardice and failure, Streep was a valiant person that cared deeply for others. We can't figure out what Streep's attraction is for such a loser like Brooks but as their time together progresses, some of Streep's raw nerve start to rub off on Brooks.
There are some really hilarious scenes including a cameo by Shirley MacClaine in the Hall of Memories and the differences in the hotels assigned to Streep and Brooks.
I really loved this movie and can watch it over and over!
Movie Review: On my all-time Top 20 List
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently persuaded my 14 year old daughter and her friends to watch this DVD and they loved it. Since this is one of my favorite movies, I was very gratified. A witty film about life after death, DEFENDING YOUR LIFE'S premise is that fear is what keeps us from progressing both on earth and in Judgment City. Conquer your fears, and you'll continue to grow and move on. If you don't, you'll keep returning to earth until you get it right....or until the universe just gets fed up and throws you away.
Albert Brooks' low-key performance is perfect, and Meryl Streep is blissfully charming. But it's Rip Torn as Defense Attorney Diamond who steals the show. This is a subtle, quiet comedy that you can watch again and again. From the 'Little Brains' that have to go on trial while in Judgment City to the Past Lives Pavilion to the running gag that while there, a person can eat all they want and never get sick or gain weight, DEFENDING YOUR LIFE manages to be both funny and thoughtful. After all, the idea that courage or the lack of it is what keeps us from our full potential is all too true. This is Brooks' best film, and you shouldn't miss it.
Movie Review: There is only a one letter difference between Comic and Cosmic
Summary: 5 Stars
Albert does it again in one of my all time favorite movies. Other reviewers gave a fine synopsis of the plot so I won't rehash it here other than to say don't miss the snowmobile and restaurant scenes (I had a friend who had an "incident" with a rented snowmobile in West Yellowstone while on a Yellowstone vacation and he burst out laughing when I played the snowmobile scene for him).
I saw the film when it was out and the DVD several times since. I am drawn to this movie because its premise of why we are here makes as much sense to me as any other view and the comic spin works on so many levels. I don't remember the original reviews other than the glowing one given by a San Diego Reader movie critic. I am not surprised that many mainstream critics did not "get" this movie, just like they did not "get" Joe vs The Volcano.
If you like Albert Brooks and if you want to see an interesting, comic take on the afterlife then this one you must check out.
P.S. I became a big fan of Rip Torn after seeing this movie, as did the producers of The Larry Sanders Show.