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Spy Game (Widescreen Edition)

Spy Game (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $12.98
Your Price: $9.09
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A very good movie...... a definite CIA movie.
Review: If I didn't know better -- I'd have thought the CIA actually wrote & produced this movie. How it played out is actually very different from the impression & ideas I got from the commericials. This is definitely a movie you do not want to miss a second of..... otherwise you may miss something and "fall behind".

A very good movie.... lots of action & it keeps you guessing until the end. I'll admit there are a few parts you kind of have to "think your way through" -- a little too much in my opinion. Hence the reason it isn't 5 stars.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good movie, but possible DVD technical problems
Review: Apparently some DVD players will display closed-captioning (very annoying since it's in about 1000-point type) every time a scene changes on this DVD. We tried two different copies from Blockbuster (happened on the store's player as well), as well as a purchased copy. It happened every time. A friend tried our purchased copy, and it didn't happen. His DVD player was new last Christmas; ours is two years old. We finally saw the movie all the way through on VHS with no problems. We've written Universal Studios about the problem but have not heard back. Be aware of this possible glitch between the disk and your player when you purchase!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Operation: Cool premise, long, boring movie.
Review: All too often, great ideas are blundered onto movie screen, and unfortunately Spy Game is no exception.

For one thing, the character development is almost non-existant, and could have been handled much, much better. Character development is essential to creating a sense of compassion for Pitt's character, so we really want him rescued. They should have shown more of *why he did* what he did so we get a feeling for who he is--make it a little more personal. Instead we get inane sequences of cardboard cut-out characters in a government bureaucracy and its internal politics, mixed with other scenes that seem out of place. Maybe they thought that getting Pitt and Redford, actors whose performances I have liked in the past, would be enough to carry the movie?

I honestly had a difficult time watching the entire movie--there are some semi-interesting scenes, but not interesting enough to wait through. In my humble opionion, this DVD isn't worth the money I wasted to rent it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: English Sub-titles Distraction
Review: Great Movie, but I could not get the English sub-titles to go away on my Mitsubishi DD-6000 player. So I watched it on an old RCA DVD player, where the problem did not repeat itself. I suspect this is a defect on the DVD, since others are having the same issue.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Redford rescues the bad structure and hyperactive editing.
Review: Robert Redford wasn't able to quite elevate The Last Castle from its limp, oversimplistic depths, but he certainly succeeds in Spy Game, a thriller constantly threatening to sink under its own weight but ultimately succeeding on old-fashioned star power.

The role of Nathan Muir allows Redford to resurrect the irreverent, witty persona that had launched him into superstardom in the first place, in classics such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. The best scenes in Spy Games are hands-down the ones where Muir spars verbally with Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), and the centerpiece -- a montage where Muir instructs Bishop on the tools of spying -- is terrific, also forming the theatrical trailer which had tempted me into watching this film in the first place.

It's too bad this movie moves forward in lurches and spurts. Bogged down by too much flashback, the central problem of rescuing Bishop becomes entirely moot. I can't say the flashbacks were all uninteresting; I just wish they had been more economical. Bishop's love interest (Catherine McCormack, stuck with a very vague role) enters the movie way past the halfway point, resulting in a seriously off-balance narrative. MTV-style overcutting also hurt. Veteran action director Tony Scott has generated much more excitement with much less empty flair in the past, in films like Top Gun, The Last Boy Scout and Enemy of the State. At times, the camera and editing trickery simply serve to drag down the performances, the multiple locations and schizophrenic music also coming together jarringly.

But thankfully, just when things get too grandiose for their own good, we come back to Redford's scenes. It's simply a lot of fun watching Muir manipulate everybody around him. The idea of a high-ranking CIA director messing with national security is a pretty disturbing one if you think about it, but after all, Spy Games is popcorn entertainment and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: scouse
Review: This is a pretty good movie but I'm placing this review to warn buyers that many reports are now coming in with problems playing this disc. On many players, Toshiba particularly, the close captioning for hearing impeared appears after running a few minutes and can't be switched off. These are much worse than subtitles as they cover a large part of the screen at times and makes watching the movie very frustrating. Wait until the studio produces a repaired copy or you will risk having a title you can't watch and wait months to get a replacment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: On the edge of your seat thriller
Review: Spy Game was by far one of the best movies of the year. It keeps you completely focused and wondering what will happen next...most of the time you don't even suspect what happens. It is gripping and dramatic yet keeps you tuned in. There was not a moment in this movie in which my mind was wandering. See this movie...you will not regret it!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What's up with the subtitles every other chapter?
Review: I picked up this dvd today and had a problem right off. Every other chapter the english subtitles would come on, then go off for the next chapter. Other than that the movie rocks. Great soundtrack and effects!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: With Redford and Pitt as stars you know it's going to be a good flick.. But this was outstanding! I will be watching this many more times. Buy it.. watch it.. then watch it again!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Can't turn off captions
Review: To turn off the captions in this movie, one has to go all the way back to the menu [the regular 'subtitle' hot key is locked off for the dvd], wait through 5-10 seconds of music clip, scroll through the menu, turn them off, and once that happens, they stay off for 1-3 minutes at a time.

note, these are the captions [which are mostly on screen, not just near the bottom edge, either], not the discreet subtitles.

I doubt it will affect every dvd player, but it was extremely distracting... it was an effort to get through the movie.


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