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Summary: What Happen To Our Choice of Viewing Format?
Review: I recently purchased a DVD Player, and choose Gladiator as my first DVD movie purchase. I will be the first to admit I did not understand the technical factors involving aspect ratios and their final effect on the viewing size of the movie on my television. I currently own a 35 inch 4/3 aspect ratio television, and I expected to see a full screen version when viewing this movie. Instead, I was presented with a "ribbon" of a picture, barely 13 inchs high, on a screen capable of showing nearly 29 inchs of vertical picture. I owe my thanks to anamorphic widescreen 2.35 to 1 technology. I did not enjoy the movie, due primarily to eye strain trying to watch it. What is the purpose of having a 35 inch TV if you are forced to watch a "ribbon" of a movie on it with no options for a different format, such as "letterbox" at 1.77 to 1 or even full screen at 1.33 to 1. If this is a veiled attempt to move me to the purchase of a new widescreen HDTV, it is a failed attempt. According to my calculations, a widescreen TV with a 16/9 aspect ratio would still not format Gladiator at full screen, thanks to the 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio of the DVD. I do not intend to purchase any additional DVD's that provide only the 2.35 to 1 ratio. Thanks to anamorphic widescreen 2.35 to 1 technology, I will continue to watch my movies in VHS format.
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Summary: Best Movie!
Review: I love this movie. Russell Crowe demonstrates why he is the best actor for 2000. The DVD alone is worth the money as it includes many bonus features like never-before seen portions of the movie and the making of gladiator.
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Summary: Own the legend:
Review: Gladiator is a great movie. I saw it in the theatares. I loved it. I own it on DVD. It has two discs. One has the special features and the other one has the movie. It's about a emperire who became a slave and then becomes a gladiator and then goes into battle with his enemy. That's all I'm gonna say. Watch it for your self. One last thing, It's kind of gory so no one under 16 should watch it. Buy it.
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Summary: One of the greatest movies of all time
Review: This movie is simply excellent! I was captivated in the theatre and have since purchased the DVD and watched it several times! This DVD won't dissapoint and I would suggest purchasing it to everyone!
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Summary: UNBELIEVABLE!!
Review: I cannot say in words how much I like this movie. Russel Crowe does the BEST acting of his carrier, along with Jaquin Phoenix who does an extremely good job of a bone-chilling villain. I wish I could give this movie a hundred stars!! The action is great, and their is little gratuitus violence.
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Summary: An Embarassment
Review: This has to be the worst movie ever to win an Academy Award for best picture. The opening battle scene is impressive, but the movie takes a nose dive from there. The plot is incoherent. The action sequences are edited in such a way as to completely obscure the action. The acting is not terrible, but the script is simply ludicrous from beginning to end. This movie wasted two and a half hours of my life that I will never get back.
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Summary: Woderful Epic
Review: This was a great movie. It was sad, and intense, exactly the kind of movie I like. Russel Crowe has been dissed for his acting, but my most humble opinion is that he did a good job. The movie is one of the best I have ever see. It is worth all of the money, you will spend on it. And don't worry that it's not historically accurate, it entertains :) and that is exactly what it is meant to do. Oh yeah, and if you are over emotional like Me, you will probably cry through the last twenty minutes! The ending is fitting however. One cannot acheieve much more than the status of a hero.
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Summary: Great dvd treatment of a very good film....
Review: Now the very first thing I have to say is that I was one of the ones who was disappointed when Gladiator won the best picture oscar this year. Having said that, let me make it clear that while I thought there were better films last year, I still enjoyed Gladiator quite immensely and would put it in my top 10 of the year without a moment of hesitation. The epic proportions of the production were a daunting task to pull off properly and Ridley Scott, along with cast and crew did a magnificent job here of creating a mood and a period in time perfectly. The story is one of a man named Maximus [Russell Crowe] and his fall from a general in the Roman Empire, to a slave being sold for combat in the massive coliseums of the day. His fall is brought upon by the jealous son of the Emporor Of Rome, who wants to step up to command Rome, but knows his father would never allow this, as he wants Maximus to rule. His family is slaughtered, his position in the army taken away, and he begins a new life, as a slave to used for comat to amuse the masses. Once set loose on the file of battle he quickly shows amazing skill and wins fight after fight eventually performing in the massive Roman Colliseum before the very man who sent him away so many years before. Video is in 2.35:1 lbx and looks fantastic throughout the entire film, with sharp edges, great color saturation, and very little grain. Sound is presented in a spacious Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that makes nice use of both the sub and the rear surrounds to place the viewer in the middle of the battles that take place throughout the film. This is a two disc collection, with the film on disc one and tons of extras on the second disc, too numerous to begin to try and list. The entire package is wonderful, a great film treated the way all movies deserve to be on dvd, so please pick it up and enjoy it.
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Summary: Wonderful moral tale with worthwhile violence
Review: The fact I sat thru the whole end of the movie where they show the credits and where it was filmed should tell you something. This is one of my top 5 favorite movies. Yes it is violent, sad, and sadistic in many ways. But it also has a rich moral and ethical thread that I think most films lack. Especially ones that have action and violence. Russell Crowe is the heroic general Maximus, who doesn't succumb to the tempatation to kill just to kill, but sees the bigger picture. I mean, how many real men could stay centered and NOT wish at least, to kill the bastard (evil emperor Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix) who sent his men to not only kill your wife and son, but looks you in the eye and tell you in a mocking tone that your wife cried like a whore and you child sounded like a pig being slaughted when they were being murdered? Lucilla (Connie Nielsen)is Commodus' sister and there is a serious incestious undertone to the story so be forewarned. Commodus is a bitter shallow and immature man who hates his Father because he had chosed Maximus to rule and not Commodus. So not only does Commodus embrace his father (Richard Harris) in tears but with a knife to kill him. Then he sets about to make sure that Maximus is destroyed! Oliver Reed plays the trainer of Gladiators who buys and trains Maximus,not aware that Maximus will someday fight the Emperor. Derek Jacobi plays a member of the Roman Senate and I have adored this man since his days in PBS-Masterpiece Theatres I Claudius. The secenry of Morocco in NW Africa is gorgeous as anyone who has seen it can attest to. The coliseum (see how the word is really spelled?) scenes are nothing short of artistic as well as realistic. There are no perfect movies. But there are movies if you are willing to watch them who will teach you some valuable lessons, if you are open to them. Others have shared what they remember and liked about the film, and I agree with most of them.
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Summary: Hollywood's Roman Empire
Review: The only thing that really makes this movie worthy of wasting our time is Russel Crowe's acting as "Maximus", a Roman general. I have to say, however, that this movie was a brave attempt to make an epic like those of Hollywood's golden age. Unfortunately it didn't work out and one of the main reasons for this is probably the arrogance of the filmmakers that literally distorted and changed the entire Roman history so it could fit in there movie, as if the history of the great Roman Empire was not interestig enough for hollywood. The worst of all is that Hollywood underestimated the audience's intelligence by filling the movie with frenetic scenes of battles and putting aside the real roman story(wich is much more intersting)as if the public could only be impressed by scenes in wich someone's head is cut off and not by the amazing history and legacy of the Roman Empire.
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