Rating: Summary: "We're on a mission from God" Review: The Blues Brothers is a true classic movie, one of the few SNL movies that is actually a good story. Joliet Jake is recently released from prison and picked up by his brother Elwood. The two discover that the orphanage they grew up in is going to be sold to the Board of Education unless they can raise $5,000 to give to the State Assesors office. The Blues Brothers try to get the money by putting their band back together and doing a few gigs. Along the way, they anger the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Nazi Party, the owner of Bob's Country Bunker, and a band from Nashville, the Good Ole Boys. This movie is great from beginning to end. The musical numbers are all great including Jake's revelation in the church, Ray Charles singing Shake Your Tail Feather, Aretha Franklin singing in her soul food diner, the peformance in Bob's Country Bunker, and finally the concert at the end including two of their best songs. As well, there is action galore from Elwood jumping a bridge with their 1974 Dodge Sedan to their chaotic ride through a crowded mall to the police chase at the end through the streets of Chicago( especially Lower Wacker Drive) and the chase up the staircase to the Assessor's office. The Blues Brothers has something for everybody and should not be missed. The Blues Brothers are played to perfection by John Belushi as Jake and Dan Aykroyd as Elwood. The two actors are hysterical together throughout as they anger just about everybody in the city of Chicago. There are far too many lines to mention, but it is obvious that they had fun making this movie. There are plenty of musical cameos also including Cab Calloway, James Brown as a preacher, Aretha Franklin as the owner of a Soul Food diner, Ray Charles as the owner of music store, and John Lee Hooker as a street peformer on Maxwell Street. The film also stars Carrie Fisher, John Candy, Kathleen Freeman, Henry Gibson, and many more. Also look out for a very funny cameo by Frank Oz and a short appearance by Steven Spielberg. Also worth mentioning is the Blues Brothers band including Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Murphy Dunne, "Blue Lou" Marini, Tom "Bones" Malone, Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, Alan Rubin, and Willy "Two Bits" Hall. The Collector's Edition DVD offers widescreen presentation, the original theatrical trailer, a making of documentary with interviews with the cast and crew, and footage not seen since the original release in 1980. This is a great movie that all viewers will find something to like in it. Do not miss this classic!
Rating: Summary: Small Town White Boy Blues Review: The Blues Brothers served as my introduction to the Blues. Sure it's a little pathetic, but ask any small town White boy blues fan under the age of 30, and you'll be suprised how many of us share the same memory. Jake and Elwood are a pair of somewhat criminal, blues musicians on a mission from God to raise money to save an orphanage while simultaneously trying to not be killed by a jilted Carrie Fisher. OK Forget the plot...the fact is that this movie is fun. It has cameos by everyone from Boom Boom John Lee Hooker to Jelly Legs James Brown. Let us not understate that this is the only SAT. Night Live skit-to-movie that works. Where Wayne's World is Marginally watchable, this one is genuinely funny. Every other example should pulled from their respective canisters and burned in a huge public ceremony immeditely after being used to hang everyone involved in their production (and perhaps knotted in order to provide Chevy Chase with a brutal flogging) In other words this film is worth owning. It makes you want to be a Blues Man. Really, what more can you ask from a movie?
Rating: Summary: Dissapointing to the true BB enthusiast. Review: Yes, its great that Universal FINALLY released this movie on DVD, but they really should have included with it a copy of the originally edited film. I love this film so much that I will have to go buy a VCR just to watch my old wore out copy of BB (my 4th copy lol) because the unedited one just screws up the whole flow and feel to the movie. The extended scenes are interesting, but this movie is NOT the blues brothers. My recommendation to you, if by some chance you havent seen it yet is to buy this film on VHS first, watch it, then get the DVD....
Rating: Summary: THE best film ever!!!! Review: Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, probably the best SNL cast members ever (along with Gilda Radner) play Elwood and Jake Blues in this comedy that I never get bored of watching. The story is engaging, the acting is great, the car chases are, well...expensive and the music is amazing. I strongly recommend this to anyone and if you have yet to see it I envy you. You're in for a real treat.
Rating: Summary: This Movie Is Funny Review: When i Heard about this movie coming out my dad took me to go see it and i loved it its funny jake and elwood blues 2 brothers on a mission trying to reunite there blues band after 3 years and to make matters worse jake and elwood gets chased by the state and chicago police plus illinois nazis it is so funny i loved it
Rating: Summary: Best blues music video - bar none. Review: When I first saw this film at the time of it's release I thought how did a couple of Saturday Nite Live people get to surround themselves by so many blues artists, do blues performing themselves and not create something that was a musical joke. Well I didn't know nuttin at the time, I'm better now. It turns out Belushi and Aykroyd were/are serious blues aficionados and they basically gave/give work and exposure to the ongoing blues scene. So this movie is not ... white guy stuff. It's a real blast from beginning to end, with lots of music both background and on camera performance. Naturally it's a comedy about the angst of modern times as experienced by two white blues men so there's lots of hyperbole concerning cop cars, shopping centers and transient living spaces and a certain supermodel of the time. The DVD is super expensive but well worth it considering the quality of the VHS. Keep them doggies rollin.
Rating: Summary: I want the original version! Review: I love The Blues Brothers. This is one of the all-time great comedies; a truly epic comedy. In it's original form, it is flawless from beginning to end. Five Stars easily. Unfortunately, this "Special Edition" dvd includes 15+ minutes of scenes. Not under a "deleted scenes" section, which would have been appropriate and very welcome, but inserted into the movie itself. To be fair, the extra footage doesn't really hurt the music scenes. But did we really need to see Elwood at his place of employment? Did we really need to see where the Blues-mobile is stored when not being driven? None of the extra footage adds anything to the movie. In fact, it really ruins the perfect pacing of the regular cut. I truly hope Universal sees the error of their ways and reissues this film on DVD with the original cut. They could even make the added footage viewable within the movie, through seamless branching, but for the love of Pete, give us the option!!!
Rating: Summary: Best movie ever!!! Review: This movie stands alone as one the greatest of all time. Timeless music, legendary musicians, and drop dead humor occupy every second of this fabulous movie! I've seen this movie 54 times, and I am still nowhere close to being sick of it. The only thing that bothers me is that such a horrible sequel followed it! Let's all pretend that doesn't exist, and just let this masterpiece stand alone.
Rating: Summary: A classic! Review: Absolutely great movie! Wonderful story line, Killer sound track, a band with actual musicians with talent to burn, cameos by some of the greatest ever to grace a stage, and a 100 car wrecks to boot. What more could you want? It is everything that Blues Brtothers 2000 wasn't. Avoid the sequel, stick with the original.
Rating: Summary: My All-Time Favorite (Almost) Review: This movie brings back so many memories of my youth. It is on my Top 5 all-time favorites. But, I was a little distressed to see that the DVD does not offer the option of watching the original theatrical release. Instead they have added the deleated scenes directly into the film, which is distracting for someone who knows this film as I do. Mind you, I am not complaining about the extra footage, especially the extended jam by John Lee Hooker on Maxwell Street, but the added footage can detract from the overall enjoyment of this classic. Thus, while the film rates a 5++++, the DVD gets a 4.
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