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Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem

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The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice

List Price: $9.97
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jack Nicholson can do no wrong!
Review: Jack Nicholson could star in the biggest bomb of all time and still come out without egg on his face, he is sheer brilliant in every film he's ever been in. The postman always rings twice is no exception. He stars with Jessica Lange (who is also spectacular) in this top-notch remake. Though i've never seen the original or read the book, I have read about them, and the original ending. I won't spoil anything for people who don't know, but the original ending sounds a bit better than the one we get in the remake... Still, It has a great plot, adequet twists, Perfect performances and a brilliant Writer (David Mamet) and Director. (Bob Rafelson) I'd recommend this film to anyone who likes Film Noir.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: wow a steller performance
Review: Jack played another great role
I agree it is about second chances
it's sad about how the movie ends
but I still watch it over and over again
The movie is funny in some parts
really touching
and once again the plot hooked me
I wanted to know what would happen to everyone that was shown in the movie
Frank loved Cora so much that it just drove him wild to be with her. I don't think he meant to flirt with other women I think he just got out of hand with loving and realized his ways. one way of learning. I think the reason the movie is called The Postman Always Rings Twice is because it's an analogy for people that get second chances in life to improve on who they are and how things can get better if you really try to work things out like Frank Chambers and Cora did. I loved it
the scenes were brilliant
the taylors who picked out the clothes were also brilliant
The locations were just simply beautiful
The lighting was perfect
the cam angles were just right in every shot shot
Go rent this movie
I have it on dvd and love it every time I watch it
It's a classic gem for a movie that goes to show you just how far love can drive you literally
*claps for Jack Nicholson on this one and everyone in it*

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: how could you go wrong with jack and jessica?
Review: ok, this one actually is deserving closer to three and a half stars but there is no option for half stars on amazon unfortunately. the film actually is not bad but how could you go wrong with jack and jessica, right? naturally, the performances are strong and they hold this mixed bag together like superglue. in fact, i think this is easily one of jessica lange's greatest and most overlooked performances to date. the depression era i think is depicted well here but the film is not flawless by any standards. for starters, the film is extremely slow and many viewers will probably not have the patience to watch this one until the end. secondly, i don't find postman erotic as most of the scnes looked forced or mechanical. aside from that, the story is good but would've been nearly perfect if they could've shortened it by thirty or forty minutes. for a more erotic thriller with a steady pace, you might try basic instinct.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Romantic scenes were great but eventually I got bored
Review: The 1981 remake of the original 1946 version stars Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. The story is about a Depression era love affair between a drifter and the wife of a café owner. The many romantic scenes were great and the centerpiece of the film. The screen sizzled with passion whenever they were thrust together. Jessica Lange looks gorgeous and I loved her hairdo. The plot held my interest with its many twists and turns, which included a murder, but I just couldn't really care for the characters. Eventually, I got bored.

There is not much in the way of extra features on the DVD and it's not presented in letterbox format, which leads me to believe it is just a reworked video.

Someday, maybe, I'd like to see the original. But I can only give this version a lukewarm recommendation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Romantic scenes were great but eventually I got bored
Review: The 1981 remake of the original 1946 version stars Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. The story is about a Depression era love affair between a drifter and the wife of a café owner. The many romantic scenes were great and the centerpiece of the film. The screen sizzled with passion whenever they were thrust together. Jessica Lange looks gorgeous and I loved her hairdo. The plot held my interest with its many twists and turns, which included a murder, but I just couldn't really care for the characters. Eventually, I got bored.

There is not much in the way of extra features on the DVD and it's not presented in letterbox format, which leads me to believe it is just a reworked video.

Someday, maybe, I'd like to see the original. But I can only give this version a lukewarm recommendation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Romantic scenes were great but eventually I got bored
Review: The 1981 remake of the original 1946 version stars Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. The story is about a Depression era love affair between a drifter and the wife of a café owner. The many romantic scenes were great and the centerpiece of the film. The screen sizzled with passion whenever they were thrust together. Jessica Lange looks gorgeous and I loved her hairdo. The plot held my interest with its many twists and turns, which included a murder, but I just couldn't really care for the characters. Eventually, I got bored.

There is not much in the way of extra features on the DVD and it's not presented in letterbox format, which leads me to believe it is just a reworked video.

Someday, maybe, I'd like to see the original. But I can only give this version a lukewarm recommendation.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Underwhelming
Review: THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981) serves as a cautionary lesson to anyone who's considering renting or buying a film on the strength of its starring leads, and then proceeds to plunk down dollars after asking the rhetorical question, "With that cast, how bad can it be?"

Jack Nicholson is drifter Frank Chambers, who washes up in a rural roadhouse run by Nick Papadakis (John Colicos) and his too young (for him) wife, Cora (Jessica Lange). The time is the 1930s, and the place somewhere in the coastal mountains between Los Angeles and San Francisco. After Chambers is employed by Nick as a mechanic in the outpost's garage, Frank and Cora soon ignite a spark of mutual lust that eventually spreads into a conflagration of betrayal, attempted murder, murder, violent sex, insurance company venality, blackmail, and bad driving.

There's a good story here somewhere, so how did it go so badly wrong? Most damaging, there's no likable character for the audience to champion. Nicholson's character is as sleazy and vicious as any role he's ever done. Cora, married to an unsuitable older man for reasons we never learn, initially gains some audience compassion, perhaps. But then, after she demonstrates a cold-bloodedness worthy even of Frank, I ceased sympathizing with the character. Of the lot, only Nick is blameless, but he's such an old fool that it's hard to care.

The supporting cast is no better. The award for Worst Performance In A Negligible Role (Female) has to go to Anjelica Huston as Madge, a lion tamer and manager of a traveling wild cat show, who sports a goofy accent and hairdo worthy of Natasha (of "Boris and Natasha" on the old Bullwinkle TV series). The same award for a male actor is due William Traylor as Sackett, the Los Angeles DA out to nail our heroic couple.

There are only three reasons to view this film. First, if you're a diehard Nicholson fan. I'm not. Second, if you're a diehard Lange fan. I am. But, while she's undeniably gorgeous and indulges in tempestuous sex that would make my Mom blush and fuels my personal fantasies, prurient interest isn't enough to carry the day. Lastly, the scenery surrounding the roadhouse is beautifully pastoral.

I haven't seen the 1946 release of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, nor do I intend to because Jessica isn't in it. This 1981 version is over-acted, over-scripted, under-edited, and implausible. It's just silly in a lurid sort of way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All happiness demands its prize!
Review: There we have a well remade from the James Cain's novel . It's good to remind that Visconti made a superb film in 1941 with Ossesione but without this cast and this atmosphere ; Visconti is concerned about other issues and abandons the clues of the film noir.
Nicholson is hired to work in a gas station ; the seductive Jessica Lange (who lives a ficticious live with an alcoholic and inhuman greek husband) establishes the chemical and sexual rapprot with Nicholson and become lovers.
There will be too much to watch in this sordid , nocturnal and bitter tale ; but the dazzling direction of Nichols , the ravishing acting of Lange and the cold blooded mind of Nicholson make a team hard to equal . There are smart twists about Macbeth and his wife in this one (a man without ambition is not a man) . I've always thought the film noir is the last son of the greek tragedy: any happiness is innocent ; and only under this gaze it's possible to understand and to discuss a film like this.

Excellent and fundamental in your golden collection. A cult movie and a classic sample of the purest film noir.
It's remarkable to state that the best trilogy of films noir in the eighties were with this one ; Bad timing and Body heat .

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hauntingly Trite
Review: This film is certainly unique. Despite a wonderful cast and an engaging cinematic style, it leaves one with the feeling of 'Why'? In this case, the 'Why?' doesn't refer to the storyline or the implausible events that occur, but rather to the entire motion picture itself. One is left wondering what prompted the producers to bring this hacked story to life, and once the end credits get rolling, one feels both relieved and bewildered, both of which are not signs of one having been witness to a stellar motion picture event.

The film is based on a book, and although I didn't know this before I saw the film, I realized it half-way through the film. This fact reaffirms itself in the rushed climax, which in my opinion completely tore to shreds any mood or theory the film had attempted to communicate. Watching Jessica Lange being tossed out of a moving truck is bad enough, but watching Jack Nicholson attempt a grief-stricken bed-hopping husband is even worse. To top this, the credits start rolling almost immediately after this dismal scene is through.

The DVD transfer is friendly enough, the colors bright and crisp, though everything about the Eastman technicolor feel screams out that this is from the same time period as 'Silverado' or other Western classics from the same period. Most reviewers agree that Jessica Lange's troubled performance was her 'breakthrough' and broke her 'King Kong' mould. I haven't seen many of Jessica Lange's performances in other films, but this is by far one of her worst. At times she reminded me of Michelle Pfeiffer's laughable turn in 'What lies beneath'. Jessica's performance here is filled with innuendo, as if she knew what a crappy storyline she was sifting through, and she lends her character a dark sense of humor that a film of this ineptitude does not deserve.

Jack Nicholson on the other hand is predictably menacing, and part comical. While it is unbelievable that Jessica's character would leave her husband for a balding rogue such as Nicholson, it becomes clearer when we are introduced to her husband and his family - Greek immigrants who are as misplaced in their current American setting as Anjelica Huston is playing an accented circus babe.

The storyline is simple. Ugly farm-like rogue meets passably attractive poor motel-owner's wife. The two exercise their loins on the dinner table and then decide to do away with the husband. They get caught (with characters so dyslexic, is it any wonder?) but the law somehow sets them free. Pregnant and carefree, the two attempt to ride away to their new life when a terrible accident kills off Jessica and makes mush out of Nicholson. This is not so much a story as an accident in itself, and one wonders what movie critics saw in it to name it an instant classic.

The best thing about this DVD are the three theatrical trailers. The first is for 'Mildred Pierce' starring Joan Crawford, the second for the original 'Postman' from 1941, and the third for the new version. Upon first blush, one can confidently state that the theatrical trailers for the two afore-mentioned films are perhaps the best reason to purchase this DVD. And while many a soul will enjoy the feature film therein stored, I personally found it a fascinating indulgence, if only to realize how Lange and Nicholson built their careers.

Mildly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jessica Lange is Extraordinary
Review: This is one of those rare films where the actor and the actress are equals. Jessica Lange was certainly not a mere decoration. Her performance actually outshone Nicholson's clumsy portrayal of Frank. Jessica Lange alone makes this film a must see. Few women had been sexier.


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