Rating: 
Summary: An excellent movie!
Review: The Insider is a powerful look into the tobacco indestry, and how they lied about the nicitene. Both Russell Crowe and Al Pacino are fantastic in the film. This movie is for anyone who enjoys a deep look into a very contraversal subject.
Rating:
Summary: the best film of 1999
Review: The Insider from Micheal Mann is a mesmorizing examination of the 60 Minutes report that took down the tobacco industry. Altough not all of it may to accurate it is an absolutely engrossing film that never has a dull moment. Russell Crowe gave the best performance of the year as Wigand a man whose life gets turned upside down when he speaks out about Big Tobacco. Al Pacino is also solid as the 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman who wants the piece to air but has trouble convincing the CBS execs. Another standout is Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace. He embodies Wallace completely right down to his hand gestures. This was a film that was overlooked at the box office, but take the opprotunity to see it on the small screen.
Rating: 
Summary: Good.
Review: It's obvious to see why the Insider was nominated for best picture, but I don't understand why it was the only movie not to be rereleased (atleast not in my area). However, I found that often it was very slow. Plus, the widescreen version of the VHS is very annoying. Why the hell do the movie makers do that then advertise it like something people would like?
Rating: 
Summary: STOP THE ADVERTISING!
Review: Great film. However, a troubling trend is starting to appear on DVDs--the dreaded pre-show trailer advertising that has infected VHS, as well as films shown in theatres. It will not be too long before we're subjected to watching Coca-Cola, Ford Motors and cotton industry advertisements prior to watching the movie we've paid for. I recommend that no one purchase or rent any DVD that subjects viewers to pre-show trailer advertisements--regardless of how good the film is. This is the only way to prevent this practice from becoming standard operating procedure for studios like Touchstone (a.k.a. Disney). Note: you can't bypass the trailer advertisements by hitting the "DVD Menu" button. The only option available is to hit the fast-forward button. This is NOT an acceptable option. I strongly urge all reviewers to mention whether the DVD under review possesses pre-show trailer advertising on it to discourage the practice (knowing that movie executives read these reviews). NOTICE TO FILM STUDIOS: THIS PRACTICE MUST BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY OR YOU'LL LOSE SALES!
Rating:
Summary: Why so little press?
Review: I just saw this movie on video for the first time...and I'm wondering...why didn't it get more mainstream press and a huge publicity campaign? After all is said and done, I believe this film will rank among the top 100 of all time for several reasons. 1)The story is compelling and gives the public a glimpse into the true power structure of our country. (2) The writing is excellent. The movie's characters are highly intelligent people with great communication skills. The writers did a marvelous job in getting this fact across to the audience. (3)Pacino's work should be required research material for anyone who wants to act OR be a journalist. He's at the top of his game here. (4)The 60 Minutes Interview was the beginning of the end for big tobacco. Twenty years from now, that interview will be remembered as one of the most important events in corporate history. This is a great film on a lot of levels. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A very pleasant - and surprising - surprise...
Review: Despite all of the buzz, hype, great reviews and so forth, I maintained a complete lack of interest in seeing The Insider. American Beauty was my movie of the year, and no matter how good Insider was, it couldn't surpass that masterpiece. Hmmm... lesson learned. I think that this is a fantastic movie, primarily as a result of the phenomenal performance of Russel Crowe - for those of you who have seen Gladiator, it's almost impossible to believe that these charaters are played by the same person. His bearing, demeanor, appearance, movements, etc. ad naseum are so subtle and different that it is a joy to watch! I was skeptical, too, that the story would hold my interest, particularly given the fact that the pulic has been made aware that tobacco companies' knowledge of the addictive qualities of cigarettes - harldy earthshattering now whether or not it was then. But it is utterly fascinating watching the behind the scenes maneuvering at CBS and the threat of lawsuits should they air the piece. And while Crowe's character is not the most pleasant of individuals, Crowe manages to make him likable to the extent that you really care about what happens to him as Wigan (sp?). It is a great movie, and I think EVERONE should be sure not to miss the chance to see it! This comes with my highest recommendation, despite the fact that one can't always quite tell what is the producers' artistic license and what actually happened!
Rating:
Summary: Great real life story ,Forced Previews!
Review: This is a great movie based on a real life insider in the tabbaco industry.The story is great but a times slow.As for the DVD,Disney forces you to sit though almost 10 minutes of previews!If you buy or rent this DVD ,be forewarned fast forward though the stupid previews!i buy DVD so I do not have to sit and wait though previews!Only buy if like the movie and avoid the previews!
Rating:
Summary: Al Pacino is the real John Wayne...
Review: Or the Ronnie Reagan of the left. I mean this in both the positive sense that he is a cultural hero, and in the negative sense that he is a celluloid hero. I have seen so many Al Pacino movies that I feel not only that I know him, but that he is actually a character from my own life. I like him here as Lowell Bergman, a radical ex-Ramparts Magazine editor grown into middle age but still fighting the good fight from within the establishment of CBS and 60 Minutes. His hair still flies about, showing that he is a free soul who cares more about substance than appearance. (We realize that the dye job is a necessary concession to the media world in which he lives.) And the passion still burns bright in his dark eyes, and he's still as wiry as a teenager. But is this history? Is this the truth about what happened with Jeffrey Wigand, big tobacco and CBS? Or this "revisionist history" dressed up dramatically to make the good guys look good and the bad guys look bad? I wish I could say this is how big time journalism really works, and that we have been afforded a true view inside the system. But it's hard to tell where the truth leaves off and dramatic license takes over. We learned in journalism long ago that there is no real objectivity; that all is to some extent interpretive. In fact I recall a college text we used in the sixties with the (then) arresting title, "Interpretive Journalism." Today's text might be called "Subjective Journalism" and tomorrow's "The Age of Tabloid Journalism." Nonetheless, this is a very good movie. The script by Michael Mann and Eric Roth sparkles with the immediacy of today's headlines, and Mann's direction is clean, crisp and dramatically very sharp. Russell Crowe as Wigand, the biochemist who blew the whistle on big tobacco and lost his wife and children to divorce in the process, is excellent. His subtle and restrained interpretation of Wigand reminds me so much of those guys from my generation who opted for the security of the corporate structure, only in his case the misgivings got to him. Diane Venova is chilling in a small role as his wife, a house and home centered woman who leaves him because she doesn't think it's fair to subject her and the children to the dangers and financial uncertainties of his whistle-blowing activities. Wigand is the reluctant hero and she is the woman who did not stand by her man. Christopher Plummer does a good job of playing 60 Minutes's Mike Wallace, who gets plenty of egg on his face here. He looks pathetic in the scene where he talks about what he will be remembered for. I'm sure Wallace is mad as hell about the portrayal, but I don't think anybody is going to sue the producers of this movie, since it is so popular and so much in tune with what most of us believe to be true. Gina Gershon appears briefly as a greedy bottom line lawyer who cares nothing about journalism or the ethics of journalism. John Wayne fought the enemies of our culture on celluloid with true grit and an unwavering, if sometimes moronic, sense of what's right. Al Pacino does the same here, except our enemies have changed and what's right isn't so clear anymore and the war room has become the board room. The really melancholy thing is I guess I wanted to believe in John Wayne when I was a kid, and now as a middle aged man, I want to believe in Al Pacino and 60 Minutes. This movie helps.
Rating:
Summary: Suprisingly grate
Review: I expected this movie to be a bunch of bussiness and interviews nothing special. But this moviw was grate. And it is strange and a little sad seeing what this man had to go threw with his story. I mean this is a true story and I dont actually usually like true stories they are about somebody there lifes are boring and then they think they can turn it in to a movie and it will be incheresting I dont think so. But this one was and I say this is a must see movie.
Rating:
Summary: Best Move of 1999.
Review: 'Sirus' is obviously a Steven Segal fan. Sorry, some movies have no guns and explosions.
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