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Rome: The Complete First Season by Michael Apted, Allen Coulter, Timothy Van Patten
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Ciaran Hinds, Indira Varma, James Purefoy, Lindsay Duncan, Polly Walker Director: Allen Coulter, Michael Apted, Timothy Van Patten Brand: hbo DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled) Format: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Running Time: 619 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-08-15 Studio: HBO Home Video Product features: - (HBO Dramatic Series) Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people; epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corru
Movie Reviews of Rome: The Complete First SeasonMovie Review: One of the best series HBO has ever produced... Summary: 5 StarsI was hesitant coming in to this one because it didn't look too interesting. I think I saw one clip a while ago of the fat guy who announces news to the Roman citizens. I was turned off. Then I came across it again and decided to give it another shot. I was hooked from the opening scenes and couldn't get enough.
The history behind the series is almost spot on. Anyone who has studied Roman history would be able to immediately see who faithful to history the producers and writers were. The facts are all there. For a television drama this is amazing since the actual history in most shows is one of the first things to be sacrificed in order to make for a more interesting show. Not so with Rome since in this case the actual history is more interesting than anything the writers could have created.
Add to this the detailed depiction of the day to day lives of the Romans, both Patrician and Plebian, and the series is so rich that it feels real. Following Vorenus and Pullo around, watching their friendship, was just as interesting as following Caesar around, which shows that the writers were up to the task of creating fictional characters to accentuate the real historical characters.
One of the best series that has ever come out of HBO. A dead bang winner.
5 stars.
Summary of Rome: The Complete First Season(HBO Dramatic Series) Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people; epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corruption and excess. After eight years of war, two soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo unwittingly become entwined in the historical events of ancient Rome. A serialized drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, husbands and wives, ROME chronicles a turbulent era that saw the death of the republic and the birth of an empire.DVD Features: Featurette Other Photo gallery
Family dysfunction. Treachery. Betrayal. Coarse profanity. Brutal violence. Graphic (and sometimes brutal) sex. No, it's not The Sopranos, it's Rome, HBO's madly ambitious series that bloodily splatters the glory of Rome just as savagely as Monty Python and the Holy Grail soiled the good name of Camelot (but with far fewer laughs; very few funny things happen on the way to this forum). Set in 52 B.C. (Before Cable), Rome charts the dramatic shifts in the balance of power between former friends Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham), leader of the Senate, and Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), whose imminent return after eight years to Rome after conquering the Gauls, has the ruling class up in arms. At the heart of Rome is the odd couple friendship between two soldiers who fortuitously become heroes of the people. Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is married, honorable, and steadfast. Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is an amoral rogue whose philosophy is best summed up, "I kill my enemies, take their gold, and enjoy their women." Among Rome's most compelling subplots is Lucius's strained relationship with his wife, Niobe (Indira Varma), who is surprised to see her husband alive (but not as surprised as he is to find her upon his homecoming with a newborn baby in her arms!) Any viewer befuddlement over Rome's intrigues and machinations, and determining who is hero and who is foe, disappears the minute Golden Globe-nominee Polly Walker appears as Atia, Caesar's formidable niece and a villainess for the ages. In the first hour alone, she offers her already married daughter as a bride to the recently widowed Pompey. One eagerly awaits to see what (or who) she'll do next as much as we anticipate her comeuppance in the final episode. Rome is a painstakingly mounted production that earned eight well-deserved Emmy nominations in such categories as costumes, set design, and art direction. Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter) was honored with a Director's Guild Award for the first episode, "The Stolen Eagle." But artistic considerations aside, instantly addicted viewers will agree with Atia, who notes at one point, "I adore the secrecy, the intrigue. It's most thrilling." --Donald Liebenson Beyond the Series  The Roman Empire in film and television |  The Roman Empire in documentaries |  More HBO DVDs | Stills from Rome (click for larger image)
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