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Punch-Drunk Love (Single Disc Edition)

Punch-Drunk Love (Single Disc Edition)

List Price: $19.95
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Weak
Review: Sure, it's deep, imagery is wild, amusing at times. But it just isn't entertaining, and unless you like "weird" movies that really have no rhyme or reason (those are most independent film fans) this just isn't very entertaining. A movie most will forget the next day, and NO I don't care for the average Hollywood movie fodder either. It's reality, but we watch movies to escape reality - they warned me at the movie store, and after seeing it, and understanding it - I just didn't enjoy it. It's one I'm glad I didn't spend $... to see in a theater. As you'll see by the reviews, you'll either really dig it, or hate it. I thought it was just weird.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: If only more movies could be made like this...
Review: Paul Thomas Anderson is easily one of Hollywoods brightest directors. For a man who barely broke 30, he's made two of Hollywoods finest films of the 90's. The two epic films he created, Boogie Nights & Magnolia, are some of the most polished, dedicated, and loved films of the last decade. Thats a lot to say for a young blood. Time for another Anderson picture. He brings us Punch-Drunk Love. Like his other films; its a refreshing if not, artistic piece that would surely put a smile on any pure film snobs face. Unlike his other films; its much shorter, and focuses on the life of one character. To put it simply, Adam Sandler is Barry Egan. Try watching this movie and imagine another actor playing Barrys role. You cant. You feel sorry for Sandler as a sad and lonely young man. You care for him because, like other characters he's played before, he plays his character with such a sweet yet inarticulate manner that its hard not to feel for him. By the end of the movie, youll be startled by Sandler. Anderson and his actors together will take you on a ride you will never forget. By saying that, Im talking of course by the awkward dialogue, color bars, story development, and anything else you can expect by Anderson. Of course, like Im sure youve read in other reviews, this film is not for an average Adam Sandler film. If your expecting a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler involved, you will be sorely dissapointed. However, if your looking for an artistic film that will leave you thinking for another month or two, this film would fit that description. Do give this one a try.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "He neeeeds me. He neeeeds me, He neeeds me!"
Review: What a wonderful, purposely quirky, extraordinarily beautiful, exceptionally well-written film, with great acting using few words! You must see this lovely picture.

P. T. Anderson is one of my favorite new writer-directors. You want to allow him to "speak" through his cinematic work, not come to his films with your own pre-conceived notions of what you think the film 'is' about, or 'should be' about. Just enjoy! Also, after seeing this picture, I had to rush out and buy 'Popeye' on DVD! Can anyone guess why?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I have a love in my life that makes me strong.
Review: This film is pure cinematic heaven. It is as simple as that. Barry Egan is fun to watch. This is certainly one of the best love stories I have ever seen, mainly because it is totally unique in its approach to an often very tired subject. Love is strange and often times hard to explain. This movie captures those feelings perfectly.

I think some may find its appeal lost on them, but anyone willing to slide completely into this beautifully strange world will be rewarded in the end with smiles. And, it is only about 90 minutes long, so your commitment to it won't take long.

On top of all that, the score is pretty great as well. So, sit back and enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A beautiful, lovely film
Review: "Punch-Drunk Love" is unlike any other Sandler film out there. I am a big fan of most of Sandler's work, with the exception of "Anger Management" and "Mr. Deeds". In these films Sandler played a nicer, less aggressive person. In "Happy Gilmore", "The Waterboy", and some others, he played a pretty aggressive character. Sandler is much funnier in these roles. In "Punch-Drunk Love", Sandler gives his best performance of his career. However, this is not Sandler's funniest film, but it is his best.

Having read other reviews of films on the amazon, I find more and more that many people give formulaic comedies five stars, and then give deep, great films that are dramas somewhere between one and three stars. Why is this? People love films like "Just Married" and "National Security" to name some recent ones. First of all, these films are not funny. The jokes are tired, and the whole thing is predictable. We know pretty much the whole layout of the film.

Where as in a movie like "Punch-Drunk Love", we don't know what would happen next. The movie is so intriguing. Not just in plot, but in everything. The characters are so odd. They have motives we are unsure of, yet we want to know about them. They are deep people, with a background. Ashton Kutcher in "Just Married" i not a deep character. He was born, goofed off his whole life, and then married Brittany Murphy. This is boring.

"Punch-Drunk Love" is such a nice movie to think about and to watch. The picture is lovely, and the way it's shot is absolutly beautiful. What a marvelous film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: bohemian rhapsody
Review: "Punch-Drunk Love" is a compelling and strange film - sort of an avant-garde romantic comedy - centering on the love, trials and tribulations of a frustratingly socially inept character, Barry Egan, played with remarkable skill by a person who hitherto was thought of as good for only big dumb laughs, Adam Sandler.

As many have observed, this is indeed a love-it-or-hate-it affair that will alienate and confuse Sandler fans who only like him for those dumb laughs and lowbrow films. But, it should be noted, Sandler isn't really stepping into entirely new shoes; his character is more of an extension of the one he already plays, just plumped for more depth to suit the needs of the movie. He's still the same awkward, overgrown kid who seems ready to explode at any moment from pent-up angst.

But get behind the arty nature of this film, its terrific off-beat percussive soundtrack and its stunning color palate, and you have a movie that, true to the romantic-comedy tradition, will make you feel warm and fuzzy by the end. It's a misfit love story, a tale of two people who are starved for intimate human connection but lucky enough to find and be drawn to one another. Barry, due to the unforeseen circumstances he finds himself in, is forced to muster up the strength to confront and shut down his enemies and aggressively pursue what he wants in an inspiring chain of events.

To my eye and standard tube 27-inch TV, the transfer of picture and sound on this DVD is impeccable, and certainly worth the price of admission considering that it's a two-disc set. It is also packaged very nicely, as marketing heads have probably figured out that, while it may be taboo to judge a book by its cover, people generally don't have qualms about doing so to a DVD case yet. Thankfully your purchase won't fall apart once you get to know it better.

Paul Thomas Anderson is an incredibly talented filmmaker. While not exactly prolific, he has already produced four outstanding films with not one dud while still in his early 30s. It's comforting to know that at least one director out there will, if abiding history, put out movies that will always be worth the $... to see, and then some. "Punch-Drunk Love" differs from his earlier films such as "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" in that it is constructed on a smaller scale, but shares with those long epics an energetic storytelling vision of the painful lives of dysfunctional people.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Adam Sandler romance...
Review: Summary:
Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) is an entrepreneurial businessman with some very serious psychological issues stemming from years of abuse/torment from his sisters. Despite the problems he seems to be making a go of life with a growing business and a stunning blue suit (you have to watch the movie to get that joke), but things are about to change. Feeling lonely he calls a 900 phone sex service on the eve of finding the love of his life, Lena Leonard (Emily Watson). When he calls the phone service he is tricked into giving them all sorts of information by which they can extort money from him. Initially he is willing to pay, but when their bullying tactics injure Lena, with whom he has developed a very unique relationship, it's time for the bullying to end. Channeling his psychological rage, Barry convinces the thugs and the ring leader to call it off in order for him to pursue his budding relationship with Lena.

My Comments:
In reading over my summary I'm kind of surprised that the plot is actually is simple as I made it out to be. The movie isn't that short and definitely doesn't seem to be this simple when you are watching it, but that is mostly due to the numerous sidetracks that the story takes, like Barry buying several thousand dollars worth of pudding to get a million frequent flyer miles or his stealing of a Harmonium that is dumped on the side of a street for no known reason. In reality, none of these tangents really influence the story, they just develop Barry as a character.

So, how is the story? It's pretty good. There weren't any noticeable plot holes and given the leeway that psychologically disturbed characters demand, the story made logical sense. I found it to be both intriguing and funny, though there were some slow spots.

What about the acting? I thought it was also pretty good. I can't really think of any actors that stood out as being particularly bad or just mediocre; they all gave fairly convincing performances.

So why not five stars? Well, it was just strange, that's all. Perhaps over time the idea and story will grow on me and I'll change my mind, but for now I'm still trying to figure it all out. If you like Adam Sandler, you'll probably be a bit surprised as he seems to be trying to branch out from his traditional role into something a bit different; but I think you'll still enjoy this movie. It is a bit weird, but entertaining and funny nonetheless.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Should've read descr better(CAUTION-Partial storyline given)
Review: I feel so disappointed with this movie. It is like someone tried to stick together random scenes that went to different movies. There really was no need for the MANY sisters to even be in the story, the stupid car crash and piano at the beginning should have given me a clue as to just how horrible this movie was going to be. But it was Adam Sandler, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and watched it all. I feel so mad that I've wasted time in my life to watch this.

It made no sense. It's the normal "he's bad with women, then out of the blue pops in this girl that he instantly falls for and who likes him to" ... But they add in odd things that really just confuse you, and make no sense. I think it was very poorly written, and can't believe it ever made it as far as letting people endure watching it. I own over 400 DVDs and have watched more movies than I care to count, and this is one of the few that is just so horrible and BORING that I'd give anything to get that time back!

I mean, it opens with a street where a car crashes, then some van drops a small piano on the street and takes off...Adam Sandler then meets this girl, and then we meet his many many siblings, who really have nothing to do with the movie, except the 1 sister who sets him up...he calls a 900 number and talks to some weird woman giving her ALL his personal info that in real life, nobody would ever be stupid enough to give out. But instead of that being the end of it and the movie progressing with the "love" story, the woman asks him for alot of money and when he says no her friends/family chase him down and beat the crap out of him and take the money. I really don't think this part with the phone sex lady's issues was needed in the movie either...

He finally gets mad at the end of the movie and you're thinking, alright, finally something interesting is about to happen to make this movie worth sitting through...but no, he barely lets out a yell, and the bad guy backs off like there's no tomorrow. And to top it off, it has annoying red and blue tones throughout the entire movie. Very very disappointing movie. I wouldn't even recommend buying it if you're a die hard Adam Sandler fan, it is THAT bad. I've no doubt it would have never been made in the first place, let alone made ANY money if it did not star Adam Sandler. He should just stick to comedies, cause this was just a nasty film that never should have existed.

Sorry to you that liked it, but I really can't begin to imagine how you could. It ranks along with "Full Frontal". Which, if possible, was even worse than PDL. At least PDL wasn't made with some guy walking around with a camera on his arm, looking like they went out back and video taped a movie...pretty close to it though.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The "Gentle" Side of P T Anderson
Review: Many recent reviews have well summarized this film's brilliant, off-centered, and thoroughly indie-minded love story-- suffice to say, Anderson shows here that he can pull off the small scale narrative as well as the grandiose Altman-esque tapestries of "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" and, perhaps even more impressively, that he is a truly gifted "actor's director," giving Sandler both the scope and discipline for what may prove his best performance (unless the other Anderson decides to work with him as well!). And it shouldn't be forgotten that P T Anderson's ingenuity and skill as a director was indeed recognized by critics: he received the "Best Director's" award at Cannes this past year-- a far more honest (and meaningful) privilege than an Oscar...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The guy above doesnt know what he's talking about....
Review: yes there are scenes where slience is heard for a long period of time and yes wierd things do happen throughout the movie but it all has a point. directors just dont put these random scenes in movies cause they think it's cool they do it to express their emotions, thoughts, and creative self within. this movie is really amazing. i hate adam sandler with a passion in most of his movies but he pulled a fast one and i love it. go rent/buy it now!


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