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The Player - New Line Platinum Series

The Player - New Line Platinum Series

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Forget it unless you're an Altman fan
Review: I rented this movie on the advice of a friend that it was "a great movie". I'm still not sure what she saw in the film, but I definitely was not entertained. The film never got the groove going and you'll know how it ends well before Altman gets around to summing it up. If you aren't interested in "fashionable" films then you can feel comfortable skipping this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Player? you mean The Sleeper!
Review: Tim Robbins' performance as Griffin Mills in the only redeaming thing that this movie has to offer. The plot is very weak and moves along with all of the swiftness of molasas uphill. This movie was at least one hour to long. I realize that it was supposed to be a spoof on the real Hollywood process, but come on! The film techniques that were used made the plot entirely to predictable. I knew how the movie was going to end fifteen min. into it. If you are looking for an exciteing and a fast paced movie, this one is not it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Surprisingly dissapointing
Review: I found the 4 1/2 star rating a bit surprising and decided to review my 1st movie. The film seems to be very popular among people with good taste in movies, but (without taking myself out of that group) I have to say that it just wasn't very good.

Hokey performances (although Tim Robbins is still great), over-dramatization, and silly plot turns make this film very forgettable. The over-the-top melodramatic acting reminded me of 1920s film noir, and it just didn't sit right in the early-90s Hollywood setting.

A satire on Hollywood is a great topic, and few people are as fed up as I am with the usual garbage produced for the masses, but this movie just misses the mark. It gets caught up in a silly, predictable and nearly suspenseless murder mystery and fails as true satire. It's more of a caricature than a scathing commentary on Hollywood. At this point, the movie is not only hokey but dated. In my opinion, not worth the rental fee.

The unusual camera work and the "film-within-the-film" ending were great, but not enough to earn more than a star or two. I have a feeling people over-rate this movie because films about films are somehow fashionable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Player - a must have!!
Review: I never write reviews. However, this film is the exception. I bought it on VHS and then later DVD. "Why?", you might ask. Because it is that great of a film. Unlike so many other releases out of Hollywood, this film holds up to many viewings. The plot takes unexpected and unpredictable turns. This alone would set it apart from the formulaic movies Hollywood tends to foist on the world. But it doesn't end there. A fine script and focused direction from Altman keeps the viewer tense with anticipation. Tim Robbins turns in yet another home run career performance. Great camera work. Allow yourself several viewings of this fine film. Bravo!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Forgettable -- and how
Review: I've seen this movie three times. You might ask, how could I have seen this movie three times and yet call it forgettable? Because I forgot I'd seen it and rented it twice more. My SO and I stood at Blockbuster and said, "Oh, I heard this one was good," and then paid the money for it, took it home, stuck it into the VCR and realized, "We've seen this before..." and the last time "TWICE". I find the acting excellent, the cavalcade of stars interesting -- but overall, I found the movie superficial and boring.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "I¿ll have a Perrier with a twist of¿"
Review: I saw THE PLAYER the first time in a packed theater in Santa Monica. The audience, which no doubt contained many people from the entertainment community, laughed knowingly throughout. I couldn't help thinking, though, that the biggest joke was on them. For if THE PLAYER depicts a corrupt environment, it's the people in that world that make it that way.

As usual, Altman gets all the details right: the receptionist being coached in the proper way to answer the phone; the asinine rationalizations of non-talents hawking fifth-rate ideas; or the constant shifts in fashion represented by my favorite joke, the running gag about the bottled waters. Also as usual, any deeper insight is lacking. Altman focuses on greed and power hunger, and daringly implies they may be the cause of Hollywood's problems. It's not much of a recommendation for a satire that it "reveals" something everyone knows going into the theater. (If the film showed the people around Robbins cognizant and accepting of his guilt, for example, or if it showed audiences reacting favorably to the mish-mash he ends up producing, it would have more punch.)

It's been said that every film about Hollywood tells basically the same story, and there's a reason for it. Stories, as works of art, have an inherent form. They are logical, and inevitably impose that logic on the events they recount. Hollywood is essentially illogical; it cannot be captured by story-telling, because no narrative can express its inherent flight from reason. Exaggerations like allowing an executive to get away with murder are momentarily diverting metaphors, funny twists which nonetheless pale before the daily insanity of a town running on bluff, incompetence, deceit and stupidity. Besides, if any Hollywood filmmaker came close to showing its real depravity, he'd never work again. Breaking Tinseltown's code of silence is its one unforgiveable sin.

THE PLAYER is certainly a reasonable addition to the films-about-Hollywood genre, and fits well on Altman's resume. It's moderately entertaining, and harmless enough as long as you recognize that its depiction of Hollywood is about as accurate as GONE WITH THE WIND's depiction of the Civil War. It flatters audiences into thinking that they're thinking, when in fact they are reacting precisely as planned. In short, pure Hollywood.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Enjoyable, but not that brilliant
Review: I am not a huge fan of Robert Altman- he is, in my opinion, one of the few major directors out there with no real visual "style," and while style isn't everything, in a film, it's at least one third of the substance. Anyway- do we really need more movies telling us how awful Hollywood is? We get it. Most of us will never actually be _in_ Hollywood, so what's the big deal? It's satire made for and by the industry it satires. Still- Robbins is great, as always, and it's an interesting story. Check it out if you're an Altman fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Classic in Every Sense of the Word
Review: I absolutely love this movie. You will never find a more in-depth look at inside Hollywood than this. The acting is top notch, and the direction has that magical feeling that only Robert Altman can provide. The plot concerns Hollywood producer Griffin Mill, and the threatening postcards he is receiving from what he thinks is a screenplay writer he did not respond to. The confrontation with the writer turns into murder. But what is the right person? This movie manages to include both extremely funny moments and extremely dark ones. Tim Robbin's best acting job to date, and one of my favorite films of all time. A must-see for any movie fan, or anyone for that matter.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie, wonderful commentary track
Review: Altman is terrific talking about his movies, and this is one my favorites. It is by no means a deep film (the book was more substantial, but I found it too heavy-handed), and it has a breezy, irreverant feel despite being a movie about treachery and murder. There are some deleted scenes on the disc that are interesting, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE PLAYER
Review: WHAT A GREAT CAST, I LOVE LEEZA GIBBONS SHE IS RATED 10 STARS !


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