Rating: 
Summary: Russell Crowe in his first Academy nominated performance.
Review: Based on a true story that unfolded behind-the-scenes on the CBS tv series "60 Minutes", Russell Crowe (L.A. Confidential) plays a scientist, Dr. Wigand, now a teacher, who use to work for a tobacco company. The producer, Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) wants him to do an interview for 60 Minutes, however Dr. Wigand life ends up in danger. Someone is stalking him around the new house and sends a threat to kill by email. Christopher Plummer plays "Mike Wallace". Lidsay Crouse (All The President's Men [1976], Places In The Heart [1984]) also has a role. Russell Crowe gained 40 pounds for the role and was nominated for an Academy Award. Christopher Plummer was also nominated. The next year Crowe got back in perfect shape for the film "Gladiator" (2000) and won the Academy Award for Best performance by An Actor. Then the next year, he was nominated again for an Academy award for "A Beautiful Mind" (2001). Many people thought he should have won for outstanding performance by an actor for A Beautiful Mind. I'm sure Russell Crowe will be nominated again for an Academy Award in the future, perhaps sooner. He is considered the most modern, versitile and talented actor of our time. DVD includes a seven-minute production featurette, go inside a scene, read notes to actors, read the script, view the scene, and rated "R" theatrical trailer. Thanks for filming in Louisville, Kentucky and the Seelbach Hotel.
Rating: 
Summary: Russell Crowe is superb in this tale of corporate intrigue
Review: Michael Mann's The Insider is one of the most important films made since the 1970s. It is a superb dissection of the corporate amorality that is rampant in America and is a seminal film in that it shows the collaboration of the media with the corporate state. Russell Crowe is outstanding as the tobacco company executive turned whistle blower who is betrayed by the powers that be in the media world. Al Pacino is at his best (and least hammiest) as the 60 Minutes producer who tries to break Crowe's story. (Christopher Plummer also is fine as 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace.) Mann has a through understanding of the paradoxes of the modern capitalist society. 60 Minutes will not run the story of the whistle blower due to its fiduciary responsibility to its own stock holders since it cannot do anything negative that will adversely affect its own financial portfolio and hurt the investment position of its own corporate officers. The only morality, ultimately, is money. This is a world far removed from the Hardy Boys ethos of All the President's Men. An important film with a great performance by one of the outstanding new talents of the cinema.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent drama! No problem with the DVD version!
Review: One of the reviewers stated they could not skip the previews on the DVD version. I have had no such problem. This is an excellent film!
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: brain-damaged DVD design
Review: Although The Insider is an excellent movie that I recommend watching, I must warn you *not* to buy the DVD edition. Disney has put about 10 minutes' worth of previews at the beginning of the DVD that CANNOT BE SKIPPED OR FAST-FORWARDED. You have been warned!
Rating:
Summary: Before Russel Crowe was a Jerk
Review: The man can act, and this movie proves it. Yeah, he's obnoxious in interviews and he needs to learn a thing or two about humility, but the real reason he won his Oscar was not for Gladiator. It was for this movie (the Academy had to keep it in mind). The Insider is both dramatic, sheds light on our system, and happens to be true on top of all of that. Own it and think about what you'd do in the protagonist's situation.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every second!
Review: This movie is extra long, but I didn't really notice. The extra intensity of this movie keeps you wondering what will happen all the way to the very end. I learned about corporate misdeeds and also about the terrible poisons that nicotine holds. This is one of the best "whistleblower" movies I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. Al Pacino was his usual awesome self, but Russell Crowe REALLY gets the award. The acting job he did was stupendous! I was truly amazed at the way this man morphed into his character, he even had some odd tics that could only come from this character's stress level & personality type.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Pictures of 1999
Review: Wow! The entire movie, all that I could think of was "this is a great movie." I was never bored, and who could be with Al Pacino and Russell Crowe? This was an incredible movie, and I am so surprised that it didn't receive any of the 7 academy awards for which it was nominated. Anyway, I think that this is certainly Russell Crowe's best work, even better than his academy award winning performance in the following year's "Gladiator." Al Pacino once again delivered a stunning performance, and even Christopher Plummer had his moments. All of the actors got into their roles, the cinematography was great, the dialogue was gripping. This was a 5 star movie, but probably not one that kids would enjoy, for several reasons, including the 2 hour 40 minute length. Not that it would be appropriate for children anyway; it's R rating was a deserved one, with a substatial amount of explicit language. Other than the language though, there is nothing "wrong" with the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Lengthy, but with healthy intentions
Review: A slightly overlengthed film hailed for Russell Crowe's performance should actually be hailed for a few other things; first off, both Al Pacino and Christopher Plummer are magnificent here. Secondly, the cinematography is breaktaking and beautiful, with its vivid use of color, high contrast levels, and focus-changing shots within a small depth of field, perfectly matching the harmonic vocals that complement the movie's poignant score. Lastly, the film's conclusion, with the plot's full Sixty Minutes interview actually airing on television to audiences everywhere with the anti-Tobacco Industry interview, more than makes up for the film's overlength (a trend in 1999, with "The Green Mile" and "Magnolia" each lasting over three hours); the ending is addictively gratifying.
Rating:
Summary: Smoker? Watch it!
Review: This is one reason you shouldn't smoke cigarettes. The other requires smellivision.
Rating:
Summary: The Ugly American
Review: Before the Academy Awards a couple of years ago, I had only seen one of the several movies nominated for best picture of the year award: the movie "American Beauty". I vowed after the awards to see some of the other movies included in various categories.The first movie I picked up for my new DVD player was the film, "The Insider". Russell Crowe, with whom I first became acquainted in "L.A. Confidential", is positively Deniro like in his depiction of the major protagonist. Crowe's performance was much meatier than the Best actor performance of Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. The film itself was also far superior to "American Beauty". Michael Mann delivers here as he did in the movie "Manhunter" where we first meet the infamous Dr. Hannibal Lector. Why this crew didn't receive its "props" from the established motion picture industry I'll never understand (tongue in cheek). Of course we know that the answer really is that "Hollywood" like the tabacco industry is quite happy to avoid controversy when it serves big business'interests.
"The Insider" is a great motion picture with riveting performances by all of the actors. This movie is a must for your permanent collection.
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