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Blow-Up

Blow-Up

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Again a review for the Yardbirds and not the movie
Review: The movie is crap. Just admit it, the only reason people hunt this movie down is because the Yardbirds appeared in it when they had a line up that included both Page and Beck. Unfortunately most people who look for the movie don't stop to look at who is playing what. If any body would bother to look Jimmy is not playing co-lead guitar with Jeff Beck but instead is playing the bass guitar, which is why he was asked into the band. It would be another 3-4 months before Jimmy and Jeff would share lead duties and then only long enough to record only two songs together. On an aside about the movie, when was the last time anyone heard Vanessa Redgrave plug the movie herself? Thats what I thought.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Peter Brunette's excellent commentary
Review: Blowup, made in 1966, was a wonderful movie experience when I saw it then. And now seeing it in a wonderfully restored verison on DVD made me understand why I enjoyed it so much. This is due mainly to the very insightful commentary by Peter Brunette. Peter, I believe, as set a new standard for very prepared and thoughtful commentaries for DVDs. He describes each scene, explains the importance of it, and gives how other critics have looked at it.

Most importantly, Prof. Brunette has a keen understanding of the political atmosphere of the period. He allows the viewer to gain a valuable sense of what Antonioni was trying to accomplish with this film and gives us an understanding of the late 1960's.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A message to Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page fans:
Review: All stars for the Yardbirds, none for the movie. Beck and Page were -together- on guitars in the Yardbirds just long enough to make one single,("Happenings Ten Years Time"), and this movie, so fast forward and see what would have been the greatest two-guitar lineup ever, if they'd stayed together. Beck quit, Page bought the name, and the 'New Yardbirds' soon became Led Zeppelin. I won't tell you why Beck is using such a weird guitar, you'll find out soon enough, (just be aware that director's original choice was the Who).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This film should be victim to a BLOW UP!
Review: Super lousy. Don't wAste your time and money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great film from another era, an icon of the 1960s
Review: As a teenager in the sixties, I had already made my mind up to be a photographer, but this film influenced me into being comfortable in the profession of a photographic artist, which in turn has given me a wonderful life adventure on a creative rollercoaster. I hadn't seen this film for many years but upon review I find it dated for today's audiences, yet for me it still holds up as an icon of the 1960s.

David Hemmings plays a photographer, a dreamer, a curious individual who lives the busy life of a high-flier, photographic artist, much like the popular London photographers of the time; David Hamilton and David Bailey. He treats his work as a part of everyday life, as with most artists, but he also has the arrogance of someone who is good at what he does, and knows it. The film is very European in many ways yet it became popular cultural in the London of the sixties.

The art of photography is about imagination and make-beleive, and so is the world of Blow Up where nothing is exactly as it seems. It is all manufactured, including the truth. Is it there? Yes. No it isn't, so lets make-believe it is, or lets make it happen. In this uncertain world the photographer suddenly stumbles on a mystery where he tries to uncover the elusive truth, but he then becomes unraveled by the enigma of what truth is. Is it there or not?

People have been trying to find meaning in this film for years but Blow Up is an ethereal romp where nothing is as it seems. So if in the end the meaning is meaningless, just enjoy the ride.

Sorry, but the commentary track is senseless. Don't know who did it but it comes from someone trying to find meaning. And that's his problem. Turn it off and enjoy the film.

Blow Up is a "FAB" film, definitely high on my list.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: GREAT FILM - VERY BADLY PRODUCED DVD
Review: How can Warner Brothers get away with such aweful sound and compression! This is really a badly done dvd of a great movie. I am happy to own it on dvd, but it is a very disappointing dvd.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best Films of All Time!
Review: Michelangelo Antonioni's breathtaking masterpiece is without a doubt one of the all time greats(probably around #25-30 ever). It had almost become a forgotten gem until it finally got released on DVD. Nows a chance for everyone who says that they are film buffs to indulge in one of the best mind game movies ever. This is probably the second best art film ever, behind David Lynch's "Eraserhead" of course. The plot is not really important in the grand sceme of the movie. It is more about the arc of the main character, how he feels about his love life, career, and his place in society. The symbolism and imagery in the film is endless. Even though Blow Up has been analyzed and watched frame by frame by so many people, for so many years, I still doubt that anyone has discovered the true meaning of the film. But enough of the praise for the film, and on to the DVD. The quality is amazing. The colors that Antonioni chose so carefully are shown so clearly that they begin to bleed right into your head. You will be seeing colors and images from the film in your mind for weeks afterward, as I have. The sound is also great. The DVD is well worth the relatively low price. The commentary track is not as bad as everyone says, it is just that the author does not really take a stand on the films multiple meanings. But all in all, you can't say you know movies until you have seen Blow Up. And if you don't like it the first time, I recommend seeing it a second time. Little details become alot more interesting & clear on second viewing. You will be treating yourself to a masterpiece.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Wonderful film, horrible commentary
Review: I was in my early teens when this movie first came out, and it really knocked me out. It still does. It is full of mystery and art, beauty and pathos, banality and the sublime. I didn't fully understand it either then or now, and maybe Antonioni didn't altogether either, but he certainly knew he was on to something. It is beautiful and mesmerizing in any case, and one of a handful of films I really enjoy seeing over and over...decade after decade.

That said, I was driven nearly apoplectic by the driveling idiocy of the commentary track on this new DVD. This blithering hyena would have ruined the film for me forever had I not had the presence of mind to shut him off after the first 25 minutes or so. From informing us all that there is "no such thing as nature" (it's just a "social construct"...right, like an "avalanche") to hammering home ad nauseam that men are evil oppressors and women are their innocent victims (it couldn't be that both sexes are prone to selling themselves out...as the film so clearly depicts), this imbecilic clown bludgeons any viewer with a remnant of a functioning brain with what a total boondoggle collegiate "Film Studies" are.

Do the whole world a favor, and buy this great movie on VHS, which has excellent quality. Don't reward the mindless drudges of P.C. academia by buying this disc.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Terrific DVD Release (finally)
Review: What can you say: it's a fabulous film and it's now available on DVD for the first time. Trust me, "Blow-Up" has never looked better, and it's in 16x9 widescreen. The VHS versions of Blow-Up have all been desaturated and washed-out in color, and when you see this DVD for the first time, you will be amazed at what a vibrant colorful film this is.

The sound quality is also far better than in any VHS versions before, naturally. There's also an excellent commentary soundtrack by a film expert that will heighten your knowledge and enjoyment of this now-legendary film by Michelangelo Antonioni.

I would tell fans to not hesitate to run out and buy this DVD and put any old VHS versions to rest. You won't regret the improved visual and sound quality and a chance to see Blow-Up like it probably hasn't been seen since the late 60s.

There could have been a few more extras such as any existing documentaries on Blow-Up or Antonioni, as well as actor commentary, etc, but what the hey. Often more extras just mean more fluff that force the MPG of the film to be further compressed and we wouldn't want that.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Blow up...fizzled
Review: I have vague memories of seeing "Blowup" as a teenager and thinking it was kinda neat and creepy, so I bought the DVD when it came out.

I must say that 30 years later it is hilariously bad. Oh, the actual blowing up of the photographs is still neat and creepy, for sure, but the rest is just laughable.

The nameless photographer is such a jerk (I'm being delicate) that no one would want to work with him. There are other photographers with talent - why do business with a total jerk that yells at you to try to get you to smile?

Also the funny thing is, even when he is supposedly taking these great photos in his jerky way, he is so close to his subject that 90% of the pix would be out of focus, compounded by not using flash, so he must shoot wide open even with Tri-X film, thereby adding to his out-of-focus problem. Further, he handles his Hasselblad clumsily, and during a shoot with several models at various distances from the camera, again he does not use flash - again, laughable photographic technique. Enough about photo non-technique.

Another scene has the photographer entering a nightclub where Jimmy Page and the Yardbirds are playing - and the entire audience is motionless - as in zombies - except one couple who dance (badly). Huh?

There is an over-rated scene which may be the first non-porno film to show a glimpse of female pubic hair. It is not erotic, however, and in fact, could be mistaken for Daniel Boone's coon-skin cap. Don't get the movie for this.

There is much pot-smoking - also, I suppose, a "film first". Big, big doobies that look like cigarettes...

Other than the movie itself, there is a commentary by an "Antonioni film" buff. Even he has a hard time explaining some of it. However, some people like head-scratching movies. If you do, here you go.


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