Michael-Gambon Movie Reviews

One has to wonder what the Chicago Sun Times reviewer was thinking of when he described this series as the greatest production in the history of television. A horribly burned man in a hospital has flashbacks about his life. While the flashbacks often are interesting, the hospital scenes involve a lot of trivial by-play that must be more appealing to Britons than to Americans. The camera always comes back to the scarred, oozing face and body of the detective. People who enjoy such images either have not been confronted with them in real life, or have a taste for the grotesque.

I first saw "The Singing Detective" in 1986 in its original BBC airing when I was on my "junior year abroad" boondoggle (still the best year of my life, BTW). For the past 17 years, I've been convinced that it was the best television program I ever saw, even if memory is fleeting: Dennis Potter's complex, witty script, Joanne Whalley's heart-melting eyes, and the amazing performance of Michael Gambon have stuck with me.

Seeing it again on DVD, I now realize that "TSD" is the ultimate horror movie, but is, somewhat unfortunately, not as otherworldly as I remembered. The performances are terrific, the dialogue is snappy, and Ms. Whalley's eyes are even better than I knew then, but the series is a melodrama that doesn't entirely satisfy. Potter was very, very good, and I highly recommend purchasing the DVD's, but I must warn you that it is almost too difficult to sit through, not due to the main character's medical problem(s), but because it is so emotionally raw.

I'm hesitant to call this a musical, though that's precisely what it is. Dennis Potter wrote several musicals over the years, using different eras of music. This one is, by far, the best! The music here is from the 1940s. The drama, however, is actually a contemporary one. A (failed?) mystery writer named Philip Marlowe is hospitalized with a severe case of psoriasis...more corrrectly, psoriatic arthropathy (which Potter also suffered from). He has this one great novel in his past, though..."The Singing Detective." Marlowe's illness is terribly severe, and throughout the film we join his delirium as he relives events from his childhood, falls into a fascinating fantasy based on his novel, and comes back (from time to time) to the events currently happening in the hospital. These three streams are brilliantly intertwined, and the resulting story is absolutely THE BEST THING *EVER* TO HIT TELEVISION! This is *not* hype or exaggeration! The other reviewers are completely correct in making this same claim. If you've never seen this one...well, it's your loss....

Dennis Potter died a few years ago from pancreatic cancer. He was simply a GREAT writer. He wrote *many* screenplays...dramas for both TV and film, as well as the "musicals" noted above. He also wrote novels. His best, I think, are brilliantly detailed studies of a mind either gradually breaking down, or gradually coming back from some kind of breakdown. "The Singing Detective" falls into the latter category. That alone would be enough to recommend this video...but the fact that it's *also* a "musical" is what makes it utterly remarkable! I honestly don't think I have the words to be able to say just how it transcends to the level of something almost divinely inspired. At the risk of saying it one too many times, folks, this one is TRULY GREAT!

If you're able to find it, there's an interview with Dennis Potter that was originally broadcast on the Bravo channel shortly before his death. He was quite sick at the time, and he took occasional sips from his flask of pain medication during the interview. He talks some therein of "The Singing Detective." Yes, Marlowe shares the diagnosis of psoriatic arthropathy...but, he's an entirely different personality than Potter himself. Based on truth...expanding into the realm of the literary. It's an interesting insight into the brilliance of Potter as a writer.

Meanwhile, "The Singing Detective" is something you really *must* see! *VERY* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

One has to wonder what the Chicago Sun Times reviewer was thinking of when he described this series as the greatest production in the history of television. A horribly burned man in a hospital has flashbacks about his life. While the flashbacks often are interesting, the hospital scenes involve a lot of trivial by-play that must be more appealing to Britons than to Americans. The camera always comes back to the scarred, oozing face and body of the detective. People who enjoy such images either have not been confronted with them in real life, or have a taste for the grotesque.

I first saw "The Singing Detective" in 1986 in its original BBC airing when I was on my "junior year abroad" boondoggle (still the best year of my life, BTW). For the past 17 years, I've been convinced that it was the best television program I ever saw, even if memory is fleeting: Dennis Potter's complex, witty script, Joanne Whalley's heart-melting eyes, and the amazing performance of Michael Gambon have stuck with me.

Seeing it again on DVD, I now realize that "TSD" is the ultimate horror movie, but is, somewhat unfortunately, not as otherworldly as I remembered. The performances are terrific, the dialogue is snappy, and Ms. Whalley's eyes are even better than I knew then, but the series is a melodrama that doesn't entirely satisfy. Potter was very, very good, and I highly recommend purchasing the DVD's, but I must warn you that it is almost too difficult to sit through, not due to the main character's medical problem(s), but because it is so emotionally raw.

I'm hesitant to call this a musical, though that's precisely what it is. Dennis Potter wrote several musicals over the years, using different eras of music. This one is, by far, the best! The music here is from the 1940s. The drama, however, is actually a contemporary one. A (failed?) mystery writer named Philip Marlowe is hospitalized with a severe case of psoriasis...more corrrectly, psoriatic arthropathy (which Potter also suffered from). He has this one great novel in his past, though..."The Singing Detective." Marlowe's illness is terribly severe, and throughout the film we join his delirium as he relives events from his childhood, falls into a fascinating fantasy based on his novel, and comes back (from time to time) to the events currently happening in the hospital. These three streams are brilliantly intertwined, and the resulting story is absolutely THE BEST THING *EVER* TO HIT TELEVISION! This is *not* hype or exaggeration! The other reviewers are completely correct in making this same claim. If you've never seen this one...well, it's your loss....

Dennis Potter died a few years ago from pancreatic cancer. He was simply a GREAT writer. He wrote *many* screenplays...dramas for both TV and film, as well as the "musicals" noted above. He also wrote novels. His best, I think, are brilliantly detailed studies of a mind either gradually breaking down, or gradually coming back from some kind of breakdown. "The Singing Detective" falls into the latter category. That alone would be enough to recommend this video...but the fact that it's *also* a "musical" is what makes it utterly remarkable! I honestly don't think I have the words to be able to say just how it transcends to the level of something almost divinely inspired. At the risk of saying it one too many times, folks, this one is TRULY GREAT!

If you're able to find it, there's an interview with Dennis Potter that was originally broadcast on the Bravo channel shortly before his death. He was quite sick at the time, and he took occasional sips from his flask of pain medication during the interview. He talks some therein of "The Singing Detective." Yes, Marlowe shares the diagnosis of psoriatic arthropathy...but, he's an entirely different personality than Potter himself. Based on truth...expanding into the realm of the literary. It's an interesting insight into the brilliance of Potter as a writer.

Meanwhile, "The Singing Detective" is something you really *must* see! *VERY* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Opening like a charming and lightweight Irish comedy, A Man of No Importance eventually proves to be more of a pathos-laden drama. Along the way however, it never fails of be warm, with Albert Finney a joy as the kind yet internally tortured ticket collector Alfie, who is inspired to mount a production of Salome, by his idol Oscar Wilde. Throughout the film we are treated not only to Finney, but also loveley turns by Tara Fitzgerald as Alfie's idealised Princess Salome, and Rufus Sewell as the bus driver, dubbed "Bosie," the object of ALfie's unrequited affections. The story could deteriorate into a weepy drama, but it never does, and the conclusion, although sad, is somewhat life-affirming. A great way to spend an evening.

This debut from Suri Krishnamma is quite wonderful. Set in Dublin in 1963, it opens with Eartha Kitt singing "Let's Do it" and Albert Finney reading Oscar Wilde, so we know something particular is in the wind. Finney is a bus conductor who is inspired to mount a production of Salome after meeting Tara Fitzgerald. The film shows the rehearsals in the local church hall, and slowly reveals Finney's closeted sexual preference, secretly in love with someone he calls his "Bosie". What is interesting is the Vertigo relationship that develops between Finney and Fitzgerald. As her director, he recreates her the way he wishes to see her, which can be a common dynamic between certain men and the women they are obsessed with, and the situation is all the more resonant since Fitzgerald is so touching. Time allows the audience to like Finney, since at first his accent and face are off-putting. It seems he is trying too hard, but by the time he is dressed as flamboyantly as Wilde, we are won over. Brenda Fricker plays Finney's sister and is funny, but Rufus Sewell as the bus driver is unfortunately Method-y. However Krishnamma wisely removes him for a time and when he returns, we have Finney's idiot grin of happiness as a payoff.

This film is a truly unique and enchanting experience. From the Wilde poem, "The Harlot's House" recited by Alfie(Albert Finney)to his bus passengers to Alfie's sweet and kind obsession with Wilde by dressing like him when he goes out to the bar, you will be delighted by the deep sensitivity of Finney to the role. The video is one I watched several times and enjoyed each time. It is absorbing, funny, tender and best of all respectful to Oscar Wilde.

Opening like a charming and lightweight Irish comedy, A Man of No Importance eventually proves to be more of a pathos-laden drama. Along the way however, it never fails of be warm, with Albert Finney a joy as the kind yet internally tortured ticket collector Alfie, who is inspired to mount a production of Salome, by his idol Oscar Wilde. Throughout the film we are treated not only to Finney, but also loveley turns by Tara Fitzgerald as Alfie's idealised Princess Salome, and Rufus Sewell as the bus driver, dubbed "Bosie," the object of ALfie's unrequited affections. The story could deteriorate into a weepy drama, but it never does, and the conclusion, although sad, is somewhat life-affirming. A great way to spend an evening.

This debut from Suri Krishnamma is quite wonderful. Set in Dublin in 1963, it opens with Eartha Kitt singing "Let's Do it" and Albert Finney reading Oscar Wilde, so we know something particular is in the wind. Finney is a bus conductor who is inspired to mount a production of Salome after meeting Tara Fitzgerald. The film shows the rehearsals in the local church hall, and slowly reveals Finney's closeted sexual preference, secretly in love with someone he calls his "Bosie". What is interesting is the Vertigo relationship that develops between Finney and Fitzgerald. As her director, he recreates her the way he wishes to see her, which can be a common dynamic between certain men and the women they are obsessed with, and the situation is all the more resonant since Fitzgerald is so touching. Time allows the audience to like Finney, since at first his accent and face are off-putting. It seems he is trying too hard, but by the time he is dressed as flamboyantly as Wilde, we are won over. Brenda Fricker plays Finney's sister and is funny, but Rufus Sewell as the bus driver is unfortunately Method-y. However Krishnamma wisely removes him for a time and when he returns, we have Finney's idiot grin of happiness as a payoff.

This film is a truly unique and enchanting experience. From the Wilde poem, "The Harlot's House" recited by Alfie(Albert Finney)to his bus passengers to Alfie's sweet and kind obsession with Wilde by dressing like him when he goes out to the bar, you will be delighted by the deep sensitivity of Finney to the role. The video is one I watched several times and enjoyed each time. It is absorbing, funny, tender and best of all respectful to Oscar Wilde.

The Insider was an amazing film with a great performance by Russell Crowe while Al Pacino gives his usual over the top performance (which for the most part works in this movie). Although the story could've ended up being another sappy Hollywood "pus-job" as someone else put it. Michael Mann uses his great directing skills to turn it into much more. He studies the role ethics play in business and doing the right thing vs. protecting yourself or your family. The only gripe I have with Mann is his choice of music in the film. It's okay most of the time, but in the end when Al Pacino makes his exit to a bass laden rap/techno fusion soundtrack I'd had enough. But the rest of the film is so good I added this movie to my collection a couple days after renting it.

The DVD transer is good and the sound is good too, but the extras are dissapointing. What they call a making of featurette is actually just a really short (under 10 minutes) segment with a couple interviews. A great film that didn't get the treatment it deserves on DVD. Oh well, if you're a big fan of the film it'll probably be worth it.

Not 10 minutes into Michael Mann's "The Insider," CBS "60 Minutes'" reporter Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) launches into a tirade at the notion that someone might control one of his interviews. His target begins as an Arab gunman protecting his leader, then transforms to everyone in the room. Wallace storms off by himself. The gunman rescinds his demands. And quietly, carefully, the "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) approaches Wallace to see if he's "warmed up."

"I've got my heart going now," Wallace says.

The scene sets the perfect tone for the "The Insider," an unflinching look at modern journalism. After that, can we look at Wallace straight? When, in another tirade, he accuses a corporate drone of strong-arming him, is he, in fact, strong-arming her? When he cries, are his tears real? And if Mike Wallace is an icon in this business, what does that say about the ethics of everybody else?

Mann takes those questions and applies them to the trials of Jeffrey Wiegand (Russell Crowe), a tobacco whistle-blower whose interview with "60 Minutes" was delayed for more than three months because of CBS's fear of lawsuit. Wiegand, under legal pressure from Big Tobacco, loses everything in the process: his wife (Diane Venora), money, reputation, freedom. And CBS hangs him out to dry.

The specific details of exactly what Wiegand knew - laid out nicely in the Vanity Fair piece "The Man Who Knew Too Much" - are inconsequential in the movie, for they merely confirm what we've supsected for half a century. More provocative is Mann's two-fold approach that shows Wiegand's downward spiral, and Bergman's fight to keep the interview intact.

The film's second half proves it, as "The Insider" shifts to a behind-the-lies look at the CBS decision and Bergman's counteroffensive to get executive producer Don Hewitt (Philip Balker hall) and Wallace back on board. Bergman's crusade is a little simplified - Pacino's performance plays up the "one-man-and-his-mic" fantasy - and yet because Wiegand's livelihood is at stake, we root hard.

Mann, a master technician, jams the camera up in everybody's face to create intimacy rare in a movie this big Cinematographer Dante Spinotti has always been superb, and the visuals are crisp and have a full-bodied atmosphere to them.

And then there is Russell Crowe, in the role that put him on the A-list. Wiegand, a brash, sometimes compulsive personality, is played body and soul by Crowe as a determined, principled man who refuses to be pushed around.

"All the President's Men" got most of its thrill in how it utilized the anonymous insider "Deep Throat." This time, we know exactly who Deep Throat is, and how, unlike the 1970s, he doesn't call the shots anymore. That's how much journalism has changed.

Let me preface this review by saying that "The Insider" is the only DVD in my collection that I purchased WITHOUT having seen the film beforehand. The reasons? Michael Mann, Al Pacino and Russell Crowe. With names like these credited to a motion picture, it's almost a can't-miss situation.

I wasn't disappointed. Many people seem put off by the film's overlength. I say if the movie has you in it's grasp dramatically then it's more for your money... Russell Crowe is absolutely rivetting as the flawed protagonist. He expresses more with his facial expressions and subtle eye movements than most actors can by screaming dialogue and flailing their arms about. There is a priceless scene towards the end where a scruffy, pathetic Wigand comes undone in a hotel room - ethereal, haunting and compelling.

The always-dependable Al Pacino complements Crowe's implosive performance with his own passionate portrayal of 60-minutes producer Lowell Bergman. Pacino's Bergman struggles hard against forces aligned against journalistic integrity: corporate tobacco's smear campaign against Wigand, the pressures posed by CBS not to air the news segment, not to mention the lack of support by his comrades. Both Bergman and Wigand deal with the pressures differently within their own element and when they clash it is drama of the highest caliber. Outstanding supporting performances by Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace and Philip Baker Hall as Don Hewitt add icing to the cake.

Michael Mann builds an air of suspense and paranoia in ways that few directors can. Scenes such as those of Wigand at a golf-driving range and Wigand being woken by his daughter in the middle of the night provoke tension. As a viewer, I could relate to Wigand's claustrophobia and his fear for his family. Mann accomplishes this with flair and style to spare with arty close-ups and slow motion, hand-held camera shots and an absolutely breathtaking score by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke (- Any wonder that their music appears on Crowe's next film, "Gladiator"?)

I loved this movie. Please see it with an open mind, and not just the "Gee, smoking is bad for you... DUH." attitude. You won't be sorry.

The Insider was an amazing film with a great performance by Russell Crowe while Al Pacino gives his usual over the top performance (which for the most part works in this movie). Although the story could've ended up being another sappy Hollywood "pus-job" as someone else put it. Michael Mann uses his great directing skills to turn it into much more. He studies the role ethics play in business and doing the right thing vs. protecting yourself or your family. The only gripe I have with Mann is his choice of music in the film. It's okay most of the time, but in the end when Al Pacino makes his exit to a bass laden rap/techno fusion soundtrack I'd had enough. But the rest of the film is so good I added this movie to my collection a couple days after renting it.

The DVD transer is good and the sound is good too, but the extras are dissapointing. What they call a making of featurette is actually just a really short (under 10 minutes) segment with a couple interviews. A great film that didn't get the treatment it deserves on DVD. Oh well, if you're a big fan of the film it'll probably be worth it.

Not 10 minutes into Michael Mann's "The Insider," CBS "60 Minutes'" reporter Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) launches into a tirade at the notion that someone might control one of his interviews. His target begins as an Arab gunman protecting his leader, then transforms to everyone in the room. Wallace storms off by himself. The gunman rescinds his demands. And quietly, carefully, the "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) approaches Wallace to see if he's "warmed up."

"I've got my heart going now," Wallace says.

The scene sets the perfect tone for the "The Insider," an unflinching look at modern journalism. After that, can we look at Wallace straight? When, in another tirade, he accuses a corporate drone of strong-arming him, is he, in fact, strong-arming her? When he cries, are his tears real? And if Mike Wallace is an icon in this business, what does that say about the ethics of everybody else?

Mann takes those questions and applies them to the trials of Jeffrey Wiegand (Russell Crowe), a tobacco whistle-blower whose interview with "60 Minutes" was delayed for more than three months because of CBS's fear of lawsuit. Wiegand, under legal pressure from Big Tobacco, loses everything in the process: his wife (Diane Venora), money, reputation, freedom. And CBS hangs him out to dry.

The specific details of exactly what Wiegand knew - laid out nicely in the Vanity Fair piece "The Man Who Knew Too Much" - are inconsequential in the movie, for they merely confirm what we've supsected for half a century. More provocative is Mann's two-fold approach that shows Wiegand's downward spiral, and Bergman's fight to keep the interview intact.

The film's second half proves it, as "The Insider" shifts to a behind-the-lies look at the CBS decision and Bergman's counteroffensive to get executive producer Don Hewitt (Philip Balker hall) and Wallace back on board. Bergman's crusade is a little simplified - Pacino's performance plays up the "one-man-and-his-mic" fantasy - and yet because Wiegand's livelihood is at stake, we root hard.

Mann, a master technician, jams the camera up in everybody's face to create intimacy rare in a movie this big Cinematographer Dante Spinotti has always been superb, and the visuals are crisp and have a full-bodied atmosphere to them.

And then there is Russell Crowe, in the role that put him on the A-list. Wiegand, a brash, sometimes compulsive personality, is played body and soul by Crowe as a determined, principled man who refuses to be pushed around.

"All the President's Men" got most of its thrill in how it utilized the anonymous insider "Deep Throat." This time, we know exactly who Deep Throat is, and how, unlike the 1970s, he doesn't call the shots anymore. That's how much journalism has changed.

Let me preface this review by saying that "The Insider" is the only DVD in my collection that I purchased WITHOUT having seen the film beforehand. The reasons? Michael Mann, Al Pacino and Russell Crowe. With names like these credited to a motion picture, it's almost a can't-miss situation.

I wasn't disappointed. Many people seem put off by the film's overlength. I say if the movie has you in it's grasp dramatically then it's more for your money... Russell Crowe is absolutely rivetting as the flawed protagonist. He expresses more with his facial expressions and subtle eye movements than most actors can by screaming dialogue and flailing their arms about. There is a priceless scene towards the end where a scruffy, pathetic Wigand comes undone in a hotel room - ethereal, haunting and compelling.

The always-dependable Al Pacino complements Crowe's implosive performance with his own passionate portrayal of 60-minutes producer Lowell Bergman. Pacino's Bergman struggles hard against forces aligned against journalistic integrity: corporate tobacco's smear campaign against Wigand, the pressures posed by CBS not to air the news segment, not to mention the lack of support by his comrades. Both Bergman and Wigand deal with the pressures differently within their own element and when they clash it is drama of the highest caliber. Outstanding supporting performances by Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace and Philip Baker Hall as Don Hewitt add icing to the cake.

Michael Mann builds an air of suspense and paranoia in ways that few directors can. Scenes such as those of Wigand at a golf-driving range and Wigand being woken by his daughter in the middle of the night provoke tension. As a viewer, I could relate to Wigand's claustrophobia and his fear for his family. Mann accomplishes this with flair and style to spare with arty close-ups and slow motion, hand-held camera shots and an absolutely breathtaking score by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke (- Any wonder that their music appears on Crowe's next film, "Gladiator"?)

I loved this movie. Please see it with an open mind, and not just the "Gee, smoking is bad for you... DUH." attitude. You won't be sorry.

Director Tim Burton excels at developing moody, dark atmospheres for his films, and it is the milieu of Sleepy Hollow, with its severe architecture and dark, creepy forests that stands out. However, there is more to this film than that: Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci turn in fine performances, as do an expert cast of seasoned character actors. Washington Irving's classic story has been reimagined successfully by Burton and his screenwriters, Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker. In this version, Ichabod Crane is an iconoclastic New York police inspector who is an early believer in the value of forensic science. Exasperated by his insistance on adhering to scientific method, his superiors send him to Sleepy Hollow to solve a series of decapitation murders. Crane is a reluctant hero with a weak stomach--he is afraid of spiders and his first encounter with the Headless Horseman causes him to lock himself in his room for three days! All of this makes for a supremely entertaining mix of thrills and humor.

Sleepy Hollow is Tim Burton's stunning adaption of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In the turn of the 19th century, New York investigator Ichabod Crane (Depp) is assigned to investigate a series of gruesome murders in the mysterious town of Sleep Hollow. The townspeople believe that the murders were the work of a ghastly being known as the Headless Horseman. Crane who disbelieves in ghosts and witches, sets out to prove that the story is a hoax, but learns the terrible truth behind these unusual deaths. The movie is a visually stunning and powerful suspense mystery with a supernatural twist. Tim Burton delivers another crowd-pleasing spectacle. The cast is terrific. Johnny Depp delivers a great and often comical performance as Ichabod Crane. Christina Ricca is enchanting as the beautiful Katrina.

Sleepy Hollow DVD is quite good. Paramount has finally delivered a better quality disc. The picture quality is sharp and clear. The sound is great. Unlike previous Paramount DVDs, this one has more and better special features like commentaries and behind-the-scenes footage. Overall, Sleepy Hollow earns a "B+".

I absolutely love this movie. I had not had the luck to see it in the theatre, but after renting it I had to buy my own copy. Tim Burton does a fantastic job of creating a dark mood. Even the photography has muted colors, which adds to the atmosphere of the movie. Johnny Depp's character, Ichabod Crane is a quirky and amusing. The best is Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman. I could not think of anyone better to play this part. Overall, this is a horror movie that actually has horror, not just blood and gore, not to mention a believable plot, which most horrors fall short on.

Director Tim Burton excels at developing moody, dark atmospheres for his films, and it is the milieu of Sleepy Hollow, with its severe architecture and dark, creepy forests that stands out. However, there is more to this film than that: Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci turn in fine performances, as do an expert cast of seasoned character actors. Washington Irving's classic story has been reimagined successfully by Burton and his screenwriters, Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker. In this version, Ichabod Crane is an iconoclastic New York police inspector who is an early believer in the value of forensic science. Exasperated by his insistance on adhering to scientific method, his superiors send him to Sleepy Hollow to solve a series of decapitation murders. Crane is a reluctant hero with a weak stomach--he is afraid of spiders and his first encounter with the Headless Horseman causes him to lock himself in his room for three days! All of this makes for a supremely entertaining mix of thrills and humor.

Sleepy Hollow is Tim Burton's stunning adaption of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In the turn of the 19th century, New York investigator Ichabod Crane (Depp) is assigned to investigate a series of gruesome murders in the mysterious town of Sleep Hollow. The townspeople believe that the murders were the work of a ghastly being known as the Headless Horseman. Crane who disbelieves in ghosts and witches, sets out to prove that the story is a hoax, but learns the terrible truth behind these unusual deaths. The movie is a visually stunning and powerful suspense mystery with a supernatural twist. Tim Burton delivers another crowd-pleasing spectacle. The cast is terrific. Johnny Depp delivers a great and often comical performance as Ichabod Crane. Christina Ricca is enchanting as the beautiful Katrina.

Sleepy Hollow DVD is quite good. Paramount has finally delivered a better quality disc. The picture quality is sharp and clear. The sound is great. Unlike previous Paramount DVDs, this one has more and better special features like commentaries and behind-the-scenes footage. Overall, Sleepy Hollow earns a "B+".

I absolutely love this movie. I had not had the luck to see it in the theatre, but after renting it I had to buy my own copy. Tim Burton does a fantastic job of creating a dark mood. Even the photography has muted colors, which adds to the atmosphere of the movie. Johnny Depp's character, Ichabod Crane is a quirky and amusing. The best is Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman. I could not think of anyone better to play this part. Overall, this is a horror movie that actually has horror, not just blood and gore, not to mention a believable plot, which most horrors fall short on.

Director Tim Burton excels at developing moody, dark atmospheres for his films, and it is the milieu of Sleepy Hollow, with its severe architecture and dark, creepy forests that stands out. However, there is more to this film than that: Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci turn in fine performances, as do an expert cast of seasoned character actors. Washington Irving's classic story has been reimagined successfully by Burton and his screenwriters, Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker. In this version, Ichabod Crane is an iconoclastic New York police inspector who is an early believer in the value of forensic science. Exasperated by his insistance on adhering to scientific method, his superiors send him to Sleepy Hollow to solve a series of decapitation murders. Crane is a reluctant hero with a weak stomach--he is afraid of spiders and his first encounter with the Headless Horseman causes him to lock himself in his room for three days! All of this makes for a supremely entertaining mix of thrills and humor.

Sleepy Hollow is Tim Burton's stunning adaption of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In the turn of the 19th century, New York investigator Ichabod Crane (Depp) is assigned to investigate a series of gruesome murders in the mysterious town of Sleep Hollow. The townspeople believe that the murders were the work of a ghastly being known as the Headless Horseman. Crane who disbelieves in ghosts and witches, sets out to prove that the story is a hoax, but learns the terrible truth behind these unusual deaths. The movie is a visually stunning and powerful suspense mystery with a supernatural twist. Tim Burton delivers another crowd-pleasing spectacle. The cast is terrific. Johnny Depp delivers a great and often comical performance as Ichabod Crane. Christina Ricca is enchanting as the beautiful Katrina.

Sleepy Hollow DVD is quite good. Paramount has finally delivered a better quality disc. The picture quality is sharp and clear. The sound is great. Unlike previous Paramount DVDs, this one has more and better special features like commentaries and behind-the-scenes footage. Overall, Sleepy Hollow earns a "B+".

I absolutely love this movie. I had not had the luck to see it in the theatre, but after renting it I had to buy my own copy. Tim Burton does a fantastic job of creating a dark mood. Even the photography has muted colors, which adds to the atmosphere of the movie. Johnny Depp's character, Ichabod Crane is a quirky and amusing. The best is Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman. I could not think of anyone better to play this part. Overall, this is a horror movie that actually has horror, not just blood and gore, not to mention a believable plot, which most horrors fall short on.

For those viewers who fondly remember, and miss, Robert Duvall's role as Augustus McCrae in the 1989 TV miniseries LONESOME DOVE, take heart. Duvall is back in the saddle again as "Boss" Spearman in OPEN RANGE. It's been way too long.

The lead role in this western actually belongs to Kevin Costner, who plays Spearman's trail partner and employee, Charlie Waite. Boss is a cattleman that practices free-range grazing, i.e. driving his herd from place to place, only staying long enough for the animals to deplete the available food supply. But it's 1882, ranchers are beginning to fence in the West, and freegrazers are an endangered species. So, its no surprise when Charlie and Boss are ordered to take their beeves and get out of Dodge, so to speak, by big time rancher Baxter (Michael Gambon), who also owns the local town and its sheriff. Waite and Spearman are soon backed into a corner when the latter's two other hired hands, Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and Button (Diego Luna), run seriously afoul of Baxter's thugs.

It would be hard to choose between the better performance - Costner or Duvall - both playing characters so strong, self-reliant and silent that neither knows the other's full name. And they've been riding the West together for ten years! Nor does Boss know Charlie's violent history, which included being a Civil War raider, and then a hired gun much like the ones now working for Baxter. When Charlie falls in love with Sue (Annette Bening), the spinster sister of the local sawbones, his guilt over his rough-edged past is a self-imposed handicap that Sue, who sees Waite's inner goodness, must overcome.

Moviegoers accustomed to a steady diet of mindless, FX-laden action thrillers may find the first three-quarters of OPEN RANGE slow going. It's called "character and plot development", an intelligent change of pace. And when the final shoot-out comes, it's perhaps the best ever filmed. While most such western confrontations seem like a choreographed ballet, this one shows them for what they were: relatively short, extremely violent, chaotic, and lacking in fancy gunplay and sharpshooting finesse.

Big Screen westerns are such a rarity nowadays that it's hard to compare this one with any other in recent memory. Though perhaps not as memorable as DANCES WITH WOLVES, this Old West morality play is certainly the best since UNFORGIVEN. Admittedly, we've seen similar plots before: the small homesteader/Big Ranching feud in the classic SHANE, and Big Mining vs. the small prospector in PALE RIDER, Clint Eastwood's transparent re-scripting of the former. However, the acting, cinematography and costuming of OPEN RANGE are excellent. Duvall surely deserves a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and the production as a whole may merit a Best Picture nod. My only complaint lies with the editing, which left in one too many leave-takings between Charlie and Sue, the last being completely superfluous. That said, however, this is a five-star tribute to loyalty, rugged individualism, integrity, and simply doing what's right. I think, sometimes, that Hollywood has forgotten what those qualities are all about.

For all the hits and misses he has had in front of and behind the camera, Kevin Costner never fails to put his money where his mouth is. Such is the case with OPEN RANGE, which I hope will revive that most American of film genres, the Western.

Set in 1882, OPEN RANGE stars Costner and veteran Robert Duvall as cattlemen only trying to drive their cattle across the open prairie of Montana. But they soon run afoul of a ruthless land baron (Michael Gambon) out to rid the land of free-grazers like Duvall and Costner; and to prove his point, Gambon has one of Duvall's men (Abraham Benrubi) killed and another (Diego Luna) seriously wounded. The stage is set for a traditional but classic shoot-out to the finish.

If not on the epic level of Costner's 1990 Oscar-winner DANCES WITH WOLVES, or the standards set by people like Clint Eastwood, John Ford, Howard Hawks, or Sam Peckinpah, OPEN RANGE nevertheless demonstrates Costner's comfortability with the Western. His is a determined performance, and his direction is equally fine, with stunning photography, done on location in southern Canada, and a fine Michael Kamen score. Gambon is about as nasty a villain as there has been in any film in recent times, and James Russo does his natural evil best as a half-crazed town sheriff. It is Duvall, a veteran of many westerns (TRUE GRIT; LAWMAN), however, who really shines, as is typical of this kind of caliber actor. Always offering some wry advice but ready to take retaliation for having been wronged, Duvall is a tower of strength. Annette Benning also does good work as the town doctor's sister, who also becomes Costner's love interest.

The Western genre has not run out of stories or ideas, and never will; it just needs people of integrity like Costner to keep it going. OPEN RANGE proves that in spades.

Wide open skies... historical significance... loyalty and friendship... tragedy... love... the lighning crack and visual realities of real gunfire... Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Michael Jeter, Annette Bening... all in concert telling a tale that will live on with the best of the genre. Bravo!!!