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Amelie

Amelie

List Price: $19.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It changed my life
Review: Words, numbers, and stars can not do this movie justice. It's flawless. I used to think that "The Shawshank Redemption" was the greatest movie of all time. That changed upon my purchase of Amélie. Just what is this movie about? It follows the life of the title character- Amélie, as she helps the lives of other people after finding a box of memories left by some boy who lived in her apartment many years ago. She does everything she can to find the person, and eventually does: causing her to be the do-gooder of the town. From Amélie's comedic, yet tragic childhood until she matures, this film is too precious to not like. There's something for everyone here, but it's considered a "romantic comedy". But please don't think of it like another "10 things I hate about you" or something- Amélie is like no other movie.

All of the characters are real people to me. Every single one of them has their own unique personality- something rare in films from 1994 to now. (Can Audrey Tautou get any cuter?) I'd go so far as to call Amélie the perfect girl. She never does anything wrong, save a little prank on someone that really had it coming to them, but you'll love it. The settings are beautiful. Camera angles are even better. Amélie blew me away. I went in not knowing what to expect, and came out a changed person.

The DVDs themselves set a new standard for what is a quailty dvd release. The sound and visuals are crystal clear. There are no previews you have to skip to get to the movie itself or the menu. Most of the special features are on the second disc. Things like auditions for the main actors/actresses, test scenes, question and answer bits that are pretty funny, pictures, and of course: the pictures of the gnome in different locations. They're all real nice, but you probably won't watch them on a regular basis.

I apologize for how bad this review is. I really can't say too much without ruining the movie. Just look at the other reviews that all say the same thing and you should get the hint. Anyone who doesn't find this movie the least bit charming has no heart. Just do yourself a favor and buy this movie. It will change the way you look at things, and life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Perfect Tonic
Review: It's hard to imagine a more perfectly composed meditation on love and life. This ingenius tale about the all redeeming power of love for life, yourself and most importantly your fellow man is quite simply cinemas crowning glory.

Amelie Poulin is the directors magical incarnation (played to perfection by the innocent beauty that is Audrey Tautou) of all that mankind can and should aspire to be. After a couple of hours in the presence of such a pure and simple humanity, you find yourself experiencing a warm and pleasant restoration of faith in human nature and mankinds inherent capacity for love and understanding.

Jean Pierre Jeunet has pulled a plethora of visual devices out of the box, which in tandem with the bravura editing and carefully coded set design helps to create what is one of the most visually arresting evocations of Paris ever comitted to film. A wry wit runs throughout the film that is best illustrated in the unique way in which we are introduced to the various characters, and the sly humour behind the string of tricks that our heroine instagates against the bullying grocer Mnsr Collingnon.

There are many unforgettable/ magical momements, scenes and images that are far to many to mention, suffice to say that this film should be prescribed on the national health as a tonic to be taken by as many as possible, as often as possible.

Failing that, buy this immediately and show as many of your friends as possible.

Finally, as tempting as it is to switch on the directors commentary, i strongly advise you all to listen to the plea of Jean-Pierre Jeunet at the start of his commentary and don't listen because it will break the spell and ruin the poetry that makes this film so special.

You can learn all you need to know by simply watching it over and over again.

Spread the Love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: It is simply beautiful, it's not almost perfect; is perfect.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What a shame!
Review: This otherwise wonderful movie has been spoiled by two very explicit sex scenes, which it could have really done very well without. The story of Amelie is a touching one. She is very lonely but is persuing a young man in a very unorthodox, shy manner, since she senses he could be her true love. In the meantime she does things anonymously to help others. This movie would have received five stars from me, were it not for the sex scenes, which do somehow ruin it, at least for me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This movie does for good deeds what Chocolat did for candy..
Review: This was one of the sweetest, most whimsical movies I've seen in a long time! Audrey Tautou (The Venus Beauty Institue) is absolutely beguiling as Amelie, an extremely shy and eccentric young woman. When Amelie sees the delight she brings to a man after she anonymously returns his long-lost box of childhood treasures, she devotes her life to helping others find this same joy. While Amelie is doing all of these good deeds, she discovers a young man as charmingly eccentric as she is, but can she find the courage to bring herself the same happiness she has brought to so many others?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: See It. Now.
Review: I can't say enough good things about this movie, so I won't even try. But it really is the only movie I could call "cute" and not cringe afterwards because it was so sappy. Not just for fans of art movies and subtitles either. But after you watch (and love) it, make sure you see the DVD extras, and be amazed at how every shot was set up perfectly, acted perfectly, had the colour adjusted perfectly, etc. and appreciate it even more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amelie!
Review: I loved this movie! But the only parts I did not like was the ones with all the sex. That was a little too much for me to handle. Overall, it's very good. The colors are vivid, the actors and actresses can communicate really well with one another.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The most delightful film I¿ve seen in years!
Review: This fantastical, charming Parisian tale about a painfully introverted café waitress who discovers happiness as a result of being either the do-gooder or devil in her friends' and neighbors' lives is one of the most delightfully playful and extroverted movies I have ever seen. Its freshness and originality are both cute and captivating, the performances strong, and the directing by Jean-Pierre Jeunet zestfully well done. Amelie is a cordial film that teaches its viewers to help others, awaken our spirits, and find joy in life's simple pleasures.

Early on in the film, the character of Amelie Poulain (played by Audrey Tautou) has her life changed when she finds a small, rusty tin box filled with precious childhood relics hidden in her apartment bathroom. Amelie decides that if she is able to return the simplistic childhood treasures to its former owner, and if the former owner is happy as a result of the returned items, then she will live her life by changing the lives of others. She succeeds in this mission, and changes the lives of those who surround her in simple, albeit significant ways. However, Amelie realizes that she needs to change herself for the better in addition to being the guardian angel or imp in the lives of her acquaintances.

While Amelie is either enlivening or worsening the lives of those around her, she plays a wonderful game of cat and mouse with a man as lonely as she named Nino Quincampoix (played by Mathieu Kassovitz), who keeps a scrapbook of torn and reassembled photos of photo-booth customers. Amelie tries to build up the courage to meet Nino face-to-face and is mentored on how to succeed in doing so by her self-contained, artist neighbor Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin). As Amelie is coached by the eccentric and sage-like Raymond, she secretly provides him with vignettes recorded from television of wondrous events, such as a horse escaping from its stable to run in the Tour de France, and the peg-legged Sam "Peg Leg" Jackson dancing animatedly on a dirt path.

The characters of Amelie are either marvelously likable or highly detestable. The latter includes a mean-spirited grocer named Collignon (Urbain Cancelier), who treats his simple-minded colleague Lucien (Jamel Debbouze) with so much abhorrence and unkindness that the viewers find the fate of Collignon (which is a result of Amelie's doings) to be well deserved. Other characters (Amelie in particular) are so overtly affable, good-natured, and jovial, and are so embraced with deriving pleasure from life's simple things, to the point where they are nothing short of irresistible, and even mesmerizing.

The well-crafted work of the A-list collaborators (which all takes place on location in the postcard-perfect setting of cobble-stoned Paris) is superb. The cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel is--simply put--the best of 2001. Delbonnel's contribution to Amelie transcends the word "abstract". The original music by Yann Tiersen more than compliments the film with its unique and entrancing sound. In addition, Aline Bonetto's production design, Volker Schafer's art direction, and Marie-Laure Valla's set decoration provide Amelie with a look that is colorful and almost dreamlike.

Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet makes the world of Amelie a surreal blend of fantasy and wonder that could only be realized by a truly gifted artist and storyteller. His accomplishments in the film are individual and praiseworthy and are superlative to his past acclaimed works (which include Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children). Furthermore, the writing of the film (the story is by Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and the screenplay and dialogue are by Laurant) is frankly the best original writing of 2001.

Amelie is on my top ten list of 2001, and I give to it the highest amount of praise possible. It tugs at your heartstrings, makes you both smile and laugh out loud, toys with your humor, and ultimately succeeds in lifting your spirits. There's magic and delight in this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: for hopeFUL romantics everywhere
Review: there is very little i could say that others haven't already said. i only buy dvd's that i know i will watch over and over again and after watching it once, i had to go out and get it. enjoy!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What a wit!
Review: The first time I saw "Amelie," I knew I had to buy it!

Audrey Tautou plays the adorable Amelie, a young woman with a mission to help make good people happy and punish the bad with mischeviously clever tricks.

This is a charming movie, very well played by the entire cast of actors.

If you want a movie that'll make you giggle, this is it!


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