Rating: 
Summary: BE CAREFULL. You won't like the new cut.
Review: I just rented this film last night, and didn't realize it was the "New" Cinema Paradiso. As you know, this is the director's cut, and has EVERYTHING in it, which is probably more than you want. The story is much different, even a bit disturbing, whereas the original cut was much more charming, and loveable. In this new version we learn about everything, including how the adult Toto stalks his childhood girlfriend's modern-day daughter (who is protrayed by the same actress who played his original love interest). He finds the daughter's home and sees her drive off with his old friend (the one he beat to the punch in the original encounter with Elena) who is now obviously the young girl's father. He realizes this is the home of his now married, Elena. He stalks the house and gets the nerve to call his long lost girlfriend. They have a private meeting and finally make love for the first time in his car (after waiting 30 years). He continues to be creapy with her for a few more days and finally goes on his way to embrace his now clearly pathetic life of as a single, loney adult who waited his whole life for nothing. Sorry if my spoiler here spoils your view of the movie, but I recommend you buy the original cut and continue to enjoy the story you loved in 1990. Besides this issue, the new cut is so long, you really just get to a point where you want it to end. Hope this helps.
Rating: 
Summary: Ten Stars ********* The best movie ever!
Review: If I would only have one DVD in my collection, this is it... Cinema Paradiso. It is a real life movie, with no special effects, or action, or Hollywood fancy tricks; just a plain excellent movie that should be the best movie of all times. It is a love story that would make you cry and laugh. It reminds us of the best things in life such as love, family, and hardwork. I can say many, many, many good things about this movie but I will just tell you that you wont be disapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Cinema Tedioso
Review: Sorry, i know a lot of people adore this film, but it made me slightly nauseous. It tugs so relentlessly at the heartstrings that it got on my nerves frightfully. Cute little boy who adores cinema, gruff but kindly old man who befriends him, boy saves old man's life in fire and ends up doing his job, crikey, all it needs to complete it is a lovable hairy dog. Also I was shocked that when the boy leaves home he never comes back once to see his mother in 30 years. What kind of a son is he? He could have come back to see his mother on her birthday at least, or for Christmas. I thought Italian men were supposed to be nice to their mothers. Disgraceful. This film kept on trying to make me cry, but I remained resolutely dry-eyed. I prefer films that make me laugh anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful story
Review: Cinema Paradiso is a beautiful coming of age movie. Worth seeing just for the film montage in the last scene.
Rating:
Summary: See it again for the first time.
Review: The New Cinema Paradiso is an updated version of the classic film about the movies that won an Academy Award for best foreign film in 1990. Those people who have seen the Academy Award version of this movie have a treat in store for them. Much that was left on the cutting room floor has been restored and now the film leaves much less to the imagination about what happened to Toto, the young boy in love with the movies, as he grows to be a famous director. Even without the addition of the new material, Cinema Paradiso has been a favorite with those folks who want to see a fine film about the power of the movies to influence our lives. The best part of the film is the portrayal of young Salvatore Di Vita, Toto, played by Salvatore Cascio. I don't think I have ever seen a more winning performance by a child. Whenever young Cascio is on the screen, we are won over completely by his performance of a boy who loves the movies like his own family -- perhaps better than his family. Toto, perhaps eight or nine years old, goes to the movies as often as possible in his small home town in Sicily and makes friends with the projectionist, Alfredo,played capably by the fine French actor, Philippe Noiret. At first Alfredo tries to kick Toto out of the projection booth, but Toto will not be denied and eventually he wins over Alfredo's heart. Alfredo becomes his surrogate father, replacing his real father lost in Russia in the Second World War. The relationship between Toto and Alfredo changes both of their lives. Alfredo realizes that Toto is a creative and talented child and he does all he can to force him to leave Sicily to find his vocation in Rome. When Toto is a young man and ready to strike out on his own, at the train station Alfredo tells him to never return, and Toto takes Alfredo's advice, only returning many years later to attend Alfredo's funeral. By this time Toto is a famous film director known all over Italy for his entertaining movies. Alfredo and Toto are the heart and soul of the original version of Cinema Paradiso. In the new version, the great first love of Toto takes a more prominent role in the story. Toto falls in love with Elena, the daughter of a banker, sent with his family to Sicily, who has contempt for the Sicilians, and Toto in particular. While not as interesting or important as the relationship between Toto and Alfredo, the love story is satisfying, nonetheless. Toto and Elena are separated in the middle of the film to be reunited, if only for a brief time, at the end of the story. Much has been written about the power of this film to entertain film buffs, but I think the new version will entertain everyone. Young Toto lights up the screen and our lives. We care deeply about what happens to him. We delight in his success and we are saddened by his loss. We will not soon forget him.
Rating:
Summary: TORNATORE'S ODE TO FILM, AN UNFORGETTABLE "EXPERIENCE"
Review: What a spellbinding piece of film making! For this magnum opus alone, Tornatore deserves a place in the Top 10 movie-makers of all time! The much talked about "New version" or "Director's Cut" is a pretty long movie, about an hour longer than the 1989 original I believe -- and thus the one I recommend. But I was glued to the screen for every single moment, engulfed in that one long slice of life not unlike yours and mine. For me that is what it is: a captivating retrospective of an ordinary life with such enormous simplicity that is quite difficult for some people to believe how breathtaking it can be. Every conceivable ingredient of the film -- the riveting piano score, the stunning visuals of small-town Italy replete with its mammoth town square and adorable blue-ocean vistas, the camaraderie of the characters, the two-stories-in-one (almost) theme, the quintessential romance between the two protagonists of a love unrequited but doused in that longing maturity, the eternal wisdom in the words of Alfredo or Toto's mother, the loose-ends that the movie throws all along but remembers to tie it all up in the end... ...I could continue waxing eloquent, but any word said eulogizing this film seems to take away from the sheer personal experience that it represents. I really do not know how to explain this to someone who has not "experienced" the film. It is by far the number that occupies the Numero Uno spot in my list of all-time favorites, something I bet I'll relish EVERY TIME I watch it, and I definitely have been moved into watching it more than once. I suspect the film's power will do the same to anyone. Required Viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Paradiso.
Review: I was able to see the extended version a few years ago. I paid dearly for a VHS copy from Ebay. As much as I loved and enjoyed viewing the original, I wanted to see the extra footage, primarily to find out what happened to Elena. During the end credits of the original version, there were two quick shots of an adult "Toto" and "Elena". That meant there was more to the film. Having seen the extra scenes, I feel, like many of you, that the story had changed. The original theme or point, which to me always has been, the love of the cinema and movies was now regulated to the background. This change didn't diminish my love for the film, but I feel the sweetness, the innocence, the spirit of the first version was lessened. Like so many have said before me, the extra sex scenes were completely unneccessary, as were the scenes of Toto visiting with his sister's family. But a few others added to the story. The scene where Alfredo mentions having a another wife and child die in childbirth added to his sad state. It only reinforces his quote that he was a slave to the cinema. He probably loved the movies as much as Toto did, but he was not rewarded. He suffered losses, both emotional and physical. The added scenes at the end where Toto finally learns what happened to Elena and that they are able to meet are a good closure to their story, though I did feel the scenes were longer than needed to be. I liked knowing Toto finally finds his Elena again, but I would have been content in seeing that he learn she always loved him and ended it at that. Like another viewer said, it is the soldier and princess story. They were never meant to be together. If should have been enough for Toto to know, Elena loved him so he could move on and not let her loss haunt him anymore. As for the scene where we learn it is Alfredo who asks Elena to let Toto go, I am unsure whether this added to the film or altered it. I will say it does add a bit to the story which is Toto's love for the movies. I have read many other viewers comments saying the film is about the love between Toto and Alfredo, or between relations and how they affect your lives. I agree in part, but I feel this film centers on Toto's one true passion, his love for movies. We see it early on before he even starts to develop his unique and special friendship with Alfredo or before Elena enters the picture. Toto's main love affair has always been with movies. The relationships he developed with Alfredo and Elena only added to this. Toto felt strong ties to his family, to Alfredo, to Elena, to the cinema paradiso, and to his little village. But they are only a part of what made him the man he is. The driving force has always been his desire to do what he always loved, making movies. Alfredo knew this, that is why he felt it neccessary to end the relationship between Toto and Elena. His mother knew this, that is why she wished him love and good fortune when he left for Rome, knowing it was right. Elena knew this, that is why she left the cinema before Toto could return. Although leaving the note was her was of saying, "Yes, I do love you."
A curious scene in both versions always stuck with me. When an adult Toto returns for Alfredo's funeral, there is a scene between him and his mother when he tells her, he feels as though he abandoned her. I felt it was just the opposite, that he was the one who felt abandoned. When he left for Rome as a young man, he found success, but he was alone. He did not have the comfort of his mother's love, of Alfredo's love and guidance near him, nor the sense of belonging, the familiarity of his village. That sense of loss, or abandonment shadowed his life. He still fulfilled his dreams but he wasn't happy. He forgot how much the movies meant to him. He wallowed instead in the loss of Elena and how he never set foot in his childhood home for 30 years. I feel it was Alfredo's parting gift, the film of Kisses, that reminded him how much he truly loved the movies. He just needed someone to remind him. The scene where the Cinema is destroyed is dramatic and poignant in the way that it shows the passing of time in the real world and Toto's life. Keeping away from his old town preserved the place and the people there to the same time as when he left. To him, the town remained as he wanted to remember them. But seeing that it did change, that everyone grew older, and that the Cinema had to go because it had no place in this new day was the cross over into reality which he had not wanted to see in 30 years. He felt abandoned because it all changed without him. But he had Alfredo's gift and it was the way he could remember it. With all the passion each kiss gave, and the power to move him to tears.
Rating:
Summary: NOTHING SHORT OF SPECTACULAR - A MASTERPIECE!
Review: "Cinema Paradiso" is the poignant tale of 'Toto', a young and impoverished Italian boy who comes to love the movies when a lonely projectionist allows him a back stage pass into the world of fantasy. However, Toto soon learns that life and fiction don't co-exist in a world of all too real heartaches and tragedy. Bring Kleenex, for this sumptuously told tale of young love.
TRANSFER: Well, let's see...for starters there are two versions of the film on this disc: the original theatrical cut which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a new director's cut that is 59 minutes longer. Trust me on this one: you want to see the director's cut. It fleshes out character motivation and the latter half of the story in ways that make the viewing experience so much richer.
Both versions have been 'digitally remastered' in anamorphic widescreen. The original cut is presented in Dolby Stereo, the new version in 5.1 stereo. Both are visually rather lack luster in their presentation - with overly dark contrast levels and subdued colors. Nevertheless, age related artifacts are not present and aliasing, edge enhancement and some pixelization inherent in the original release are not present on the special edition. Over all the film looks very clean. Nothing can detract from the performances - there's not a one to fault in this beautifully told masterpiece.
EXTRAS: NONE! A genuine shame! No, make that a crying shame!!!
BOTTOM LINE: You must see "Cinema Paradiso". Brilliant, poignant, tragic, but ultimately a moving experience that - in this age of digital generated this and reality based that - will make you remember why it is that we all go to the movies! This is the reason why motion picture entertainment was invented. A MUST!
Rating: 
Summary: Total Sleeper
Review: I watched both versions. The new, updated version is much better... still a sad story, but if you are into that.... you'll like this movie about personal loss and lost love.
Rating:
Summary: I challenge you not to be bowled over by this film
Review: Surveys show that a majority of U.S.-raised filmgoers will rule out any movie that features subtitles. They'd rather go for more subtle, sophisticated domestically-produced fare like 'Freddy Got Fingered' and 'Dude, Where's My Car?'. That's a shame, because it's a big world out there and many of today's best cinematic experiences are coming from a diverse range of places like Spain, Argentina, Denmark and Iran. Want to get that certain someone over their subtitle-phobia? No better place to start than 'Cinema Paradiso.' This Italian picture won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1988. The movie itself depicts the power of cinema to change someone's life. It transcends language. It could only be in Italian, and seeing it in that language only adds to the pleasure of the viewing experience. The subtitles are never a distraction. The ending of the film is a stunner. In fact, it's perhaps one of the most emotional and brilliantly conceived endings ever filmed. I challenge any filmgoer to rent/buy 'Cinema Paradiso' and not be bowled over by it.
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