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The Funeral

The Funeral

List Price: $24.98
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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This movie was the pits. Don't even bother.
Review: How can a great director like Ferrara take a great cast and a decent budget and turn it into a horrible snooze-fest? It must have taken a lot of work. If you have trouble getting to sleep at night but don't want to be groggy in the morning try this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The (...) scene
Review: I enjoy almost every thing that Christopher Walken is involved in so too this mob film. However, does anyone else remember that when this film was released, there was a rumor, that the (...) scene was....................real?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good movie, though Goodfellas it ain't
Review: I love movies like Goodfellas and Casino and Carlito's Way and Scarface and the Godfather series and the rest of THAT kind of mafia movies. And so The Funeral was a surprise to me. There actually are American-made movies with unlikeable mobsters who get everything wrong, kill the wrong people for wrong reasons and themselves, too! Picture that!

But it was a good surprise at that. I can sympathize with another reviewer's unliking of the acting of Chris Penn and Walken's hair, but those are minor flaws. First and foremost, this is a drama of the Italian American culture. You've seen all the same stuff in the more popular movies, but they weren't honest about it. They were just brutal. As good as Scarcese and Coppola and De Niro and Pacino are, they make it their first priority to make the mobsters likeable. Sure, they got their bad sides (as in, wacking people), but come on, they are people, too. Well, they are people, but that doesn't mean they aren't cruel, bloodthirsty vigilantes.

I felt that The Funeral portrayed the mobsters with much more humanity. It's a fact that most people don't have all-rounded personalities. This movie shows that perfectly.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ferrara shows discipline
Review: I saw walken and penn on a press conference after the movie was shot ,having fun with the fact that a ferrara movie is always controversial,and because of that they showed the world their finest acting.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A shockingly bad transfer
Review: I'll join those who laud Ferrara's darkly inevitable gangster film. A great cast hits just the right notes (excepting the incessantly odd Benecio Del Toro), and Christopher Walken is a marvel of (for once) subtlety, all bringing alive a meditative, literate script that avoids nearly every mob cliche. Ferrara's direction wisely stays out of the way.

It's unfortunate, though, that Pioneer and Artisan were so lazy in producing the DVD. The transfer appears to come from a video master, and the picture and sound are, as a result, awful for DVD. There is not a single extra on the disc -- not even a theatrical trailer. Worst of all, the film is presented in a pan-and-scan version, and the packaging fails to disclose it -- a first among DVDs I've seen. There have been situations when a director prefers the pan-and-scan version -- see Kubrick's The Shining -- but even then, the packaging is usually very clear. This version borders on deceptive, and at a ridiculous price to boot. I put this up there with the pan-and-scan DVD of Peter Weir's Fearless (priced as a "bargain" DVD, unlike this) as one of the most infuriating and inexcusable abdications of entertainment companies' responsibilities to people who love film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: slow meditation, viral violence
Review: Saw this film this weekend on cable and was wonderfully surprised by the somber atmosphere, striking performances, and the director's intent to not provide the kind of action and conclusions demanded by the ganster movie genre. This film is not Scorese's milleau; rather, it offers a familial portrayal about the viral effects of violence within a small family--and where that compulsion can lead. The cast is excellent, performances are rich, and the mise-en-scene is perfectly dark for the subject matter. Be patient, and be rewarded.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Superb, atypical gangster film
Review: Sure, if you've been used to films like Casino, Goodfellas, The Godfather, etc. you might find The Funeral somewhat boring. But it's an introspective film that grows on you. It's less concerned with the violence, and more concerned with what lies underneath. One of Christopher Walken's better films of recent memory, and just as good as his earlier Ferrara effort, King of New York. Excellent supporting cast.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BEWARE:SHAMEFULLY BAD DVD
Review: This is a great film, one of Ferrara's best.

But the DVD is terrible. The transfer looks worse than an overwatched VHS and it is not letterboxed.

It is shameful for companies to release such bad DVDs, especially when the films deserve a whole lot better.

Unfortuantely not buying these badly released films does not punish the companies but the filmmakers.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Now what the hell is this?
Review: WOW! that's all i have to say... For me being a huge fan of movies especailly strange one... This one i thought was unusual...
It was Christopher Walken in one of his best! Chris Penn was outstanding! Benicio Del Toro well, maybe when we didn't know him, hiding his accent would have been a little more unoticeable... And VIncent Gallo is great...
This movie (and I love mafia movies.) was great. But filmed strange and had a strange story or at least it flowed weird... But i reccomend this movie to anyone who is a fan of the genre or actors...


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