Rating: 
Summary: Timeless classic a must have for every DVD collection
Review: I am a movie "junkie" if you will and am very critical of movies but The Last Castle is an absolute classic. nothing short of a perfect movie. Robert Redford plays a very confident yet suttle 3 star general that was put in military prison for disobeying higher command. while in prison he plays mind games with prison commadant james gandolfini (the lead in the hbo series The Sopranos) and ultimately organizes his own army of inmates to overthrough the iron fist of gandolfini's brutality. the movie is acted very well with a great cast and several suttle but interesting plot twists. a shere classic for any action or war movie inthusiasts the script and wisdom brought across in the film is very stirring and the soundtrack is great.
a must buy.
Rating:
Summary: my bf loves this movie
Review: personally, i havent seen the movie myself. But since my boyfriend has picked this movie as his all time fave. then i have to say this movie has to have good factors, script and acts. The reason I'm writing a review because I see too many bad reviews for this movie and since I am buying this DVD for my boyfriend as a present for his b-day, i think i should defense the movie a bit. =) From what my boyfriend told me about this movie: it sounds good. The fact that they (the prisoners and the general) stand up for their right and beliefs, a side of the injustice treatment. They get together and fight. Well I will watch this movie and then write another review from my p.o.v. =) 'til then, i rate this movie 5 stars for my bf =)
Rating: 
Summary: Great Redford Performance in a Poorly Written Movie
Review: I like all movies at a price. It's the price paid that makes a value. You don't pay the same price for a Porsche as you do for a KIA. Robert Redford delivers a stunning performance in a poorly written movie. If you think too much about the reality of the situation, you'll definitely lose any enjoyment of the movie. But the movie does have interesting moments. Just don't try to analyze the consequences of the actions. A lot depends upon whether or not the warden is viewed as unnecessarily brutal. There is no indication that he thinks anyone is in his prison falsely convicted. He is the administrator of a prison whose inmates are trained warriors. He can't allow them to organize or demean his authority. Quite frankly, the warden seemed to me as someone who wanted to give some measure of respect to the Redford character until Redford wanted to exert his own authority! This is a movie for people who've never been in the military. If you believe military prisoners should have better conditions that active servicemen and women, then you'll enjoy this movie. Really, prisoners are required to have larger quarters than officers aboard ship!
Rating: 
Summary: Everybody hates a one star review but it's the truth, Ruth!
Review: Redford's acting is okay, the rest are not. The plot is predictable and not believeable. The antagonist is not believable. The ''MEN ENSEMBLE'' are laughable.
James Gandolfini is MUCH better in "The Man Who Wasn't There". NO SUBSTANCE just FLUFF... POOF!
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Earn What it Seeks
Review: I rented the DVD. I liked the idea of the movie. I didn't care if it was going to be predictable or cliched or a bit far-fetched. I was ready to feel good about heroism and leadership and good guys triumphing over oppression. I was disappointed. The filmmakers evidently thought they could deliver what I wanted by stringing together feel-good moments using contrived, cheezy plot details. What happened? Did they give the paragraph plot outline to an amateur to fill in? I did enjoy some of the acting, especially James Gandolfini as Colonel Winter, the warden. I did not find Redford compelling in his role as General Irwin. Maybe this was another shortcut - no need to develop the character, after all, its ROBERT REDFORD!
Rating: 
Summary: Chess, anyone?
Review: Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about chess. But "the chief" does. "The chief" is what many of the prisoners come to call the general (played by Redford), the newest prisoner to the Castle. One of the other prisoners, Yates, doesn't much care for chess and lets the chief know that. The warden has a bad habit of seeing only the worst in the men who must stay at his prison, and he believes that counting on the bad in the men, Yates in particular, will help him win this particular game of chess. But the chief has a way of focusing on the good in other men, pinpointing their strengths, strategically placing them on the chess board in a way that he hopes will ensure a win not just for himself, but for all the prisoners at the Castle. The chief finally calls the men to arms in order to battle for their castle, their flag, their own worth. This movie is action-packed and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie
Review: I just had a few brief comments to make. Overall I thought this was a good movie, with Redford and Gandolfini doing a nice job in their roles. But does anyone remember the Redford movie "Brubaker" from 20 years ago? Redford played a maverick prison warden who sneaks his way into his own newly assigned prison as a convict in order to see firsthand what conditions are truly like for the prisoners, and more importantly, to try to find out why inmates are disappearing without a trace. Although in this movie he's the prisoner instead of the warden, he's still fighting for justice and fair treatment for the prisoners, and I just thought the connection between two movies separated by so many years was sort of interesting, especially considering that Redford hasn't done very many movies in recent years.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Redford in two movies in the same year????
Review: Hard to believe, since one of the ultimate stars of this century shuns the camera in favor of directing or helping to bring us Sundance, one of this countries biggest film happenings every year. I got a chance in one weekend to see both "The Last Castle" and "Spy Game" (see next review) on DVD. Kind of a rush! In TLC, Redford plays one of his two primary screen types....the stoic hero (The Natural, Jeremiah Johnson). He's aged well and
is believable in the part, although it pales in comparison to the other 2 "stoic movies" named above. Finished the movie with a pleasant sense of excitement. Not often that I do that and still give it only 3 stars (!) But, as I reflect on it, I really disliked the screen play, the moral message, and the directing and editing. Gandolfini is OK as the smarmy prison warden, and there are some notable supporting performers. But the film just, well, lacks. If you review the scenes that were chopped off, you will see a couple that should have been retained to help maintain the characterization. One scene shows the camaraderie between Redford and other inmates, and you can understand why they would follow him. One scene shows the same chemistry between Gandolfini and his men, and it helps you see why the men carried out his self-serving orders...when he is with just them, there is definitely an aura of leadership. There's also a scene of
understated cruelty....Gandolfini taking his sweet time to work out in the yard while all the prisoners are pent up and frustrated because they can't go out while the warden has the exclusive run of the premises.... Seeing these scenes as "out" and others less meaningful still in, such as the meaningless cameo about Redford's daughter make you wonder if it couldn't have been a better film. And the battle scenes, where we focus on the implausible way that the prisoners make and use their weapons, instead of understanding the underpinnings of the art of war, and the historic "storming of the castle"....well, its a waste. Not a Rod Lurie fan, I think this is the second time I've seen him rewarded with an interesting premise and fabulous actors, only to produce a lukewarm movie. In both this film and "The Contender", he could easily have been outdirected by the stars, Redford and Oldman. Rent, don't buy!
Rating:
Summary: More Hollywood pap about prison reform
Review: Welcome to a world where the bad guys are good and the good guys are despicable. The "castle" is a military prison run by a harsh, ego maniacal warden (James Gandolfini) and it seems bad things are being done to bad people in the name of discipline. Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) finds himself incarcerated with these reprobates and promptly finds the good in them, ultimately inspiring them to enlist in his noble inmate army to fight for humane prison reform. Once again, Hollywood gets on its soapbox to preach to us about the rights of these fine upstanding violent criminals who are being victimized by society by having to endure the injustices of the penal system, just because they killed, maimed, raped or broke some other really unfair and irrelevant rules. You see they are really decent guys at heart. This must be a pet cause of Robert Redford's because this is the second prison reform film in which he has starred. The other was "Brubaker", where a reform minded warden enters the prison population to experience life in the yard, so he can get a prisoner's view of the conditions before he takes command. Needless to say, he finds them entirely too inhospitable and immediately reforms the prison so they can all become model inmates and future civic leaders. The problem I have with this Hollywood version of reality is that they always make the authority figures evil, corrupt and sadistic, while making the prisoners into pure souls who are just trying to get by while living in these oppressive conditions. Clearly, in real life the opposite is true, which is why I have major difficulty conjuring up any sympathy for them. The film itself pulls all the right strings, but it is contrived and unrealistic at every turn. General Irwin's personality is completely different from the background information we have about him. All the character development about his past indicates a hard boiled career officer. Yet, what we see in prison is a soft spoken, touchy-feely pussycat that sees the good in everyone. The entire plot to take over the prison is full of improbabilities and incredulities (as if they could be building a makeshift trebuchet without raising suspicion; and prisoners would have easy access to gallons of flammable liquids with which to make Molotov cocktails). Also laughable is the notion that a guard in a tower, sharpshooter or not, could consistently hit a prisoner in the head with a pump shotgun with rubber bullets and no scope from the standing position at a distance of two to three hundred feet. How gullible do they believe we are? The acting is excellent and director Rod Lurie keeps the story moving, while drawing us in emotionally to identify with the plight of the prisoners. The action sequences are well done. This is a technically excellent film that is effective at what intends to do, namely turning the bad guys into heroes and getting us to root them. Still, not many of the movie-going public fell for it as the film failed to gross even one third of its $60 million budget. This is a good film with naïve political subtext and an utterly contrived plot. I rated it a 6/10. If you really want a great film about overcoming adversity, where the prisoners actually ARE the good guys, see "The Bridge on River Kwai".
Rating:
Summary: No sex, but Redford takes off his shirt
Review: There was no sex whatsoever in this movie. For his female fans, however, Robert Redford took off his shirt, something that hasn't happened since I can remember, anyway. And for a 65 year old guy, he is lookin' pretty good, even with all the other, younger, naked male chests around him. Women, go see this movie just for the views. The plot is thin, but there's lots of opportunity for swooning. I just wish I were the female MP who got to take Redford's uniform away from him at the beginning of the movie.
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