Rating: Summary: Apocalypse Now is a cinematic classic. Review: This film has a special meaning for me.I had just completed a two year teaching position in Australia in 1976.My wife and I and 2 year old daughter took the long way home via Indonesia.One stop was the Phillipines.A canoe trip took us to the set of Apocalypse Now.It had been devastated by a hurricane and was in the process of being rebuilt.During our lunch break we were fortunate enough to chat with some of the crew and listen to the tales of frustration and difficulty with getting the film shot.The behind-the-scene stories were the complete opposite of the glamorous image I had about movie making.When I finally saw the film in 1979 I remember whispering in my wife's ear "we were there". My only wish with the DVD release is that it doesn't contain the two alternate endings that were supposedly shot and previewed to advance audiences.The DVD format is ideal to support this additional material.
Rating: Summary: Make that 6 Stars-One of of Man's Greatest Works. Review: What can one say about brilliance. Coppalla draws from everywhere to create this haunting, jarring, piece of... Well, it defies description. I love books and film, devouring both voraciously. No where else have I encountered a work this powerful. Coppalla drwas from everywhere; some of his sources are obvious, as he tells us (The Doors, Jessis Weston's "From Ritual to Romance," Fraser's "The Golden Bough," T.S. Elliot) to those buried (Twain's "Huckleberry Fin," Bergman's "The Seventh Seal"). The end result is superior to anyother film and much of the world's great literature. If you have never seen this film, you must. If you saw it and hated it, try watching iot again.
Rating: Summary: Worth Every Penny Review: I originally bought this movie on VHS Widescreen. While I watched the whole movie more than once, it was the attack on "Charlie's Point" that I returned to watch again and again.I sat there mesmerized watching with friends, who themselves are warriors - US Navy SEALs, USMC Force Recon, Rangers and the like, while the spectacle of Coppala's nightmare raged in full surround sound around us. We wore those 23 minutes right off that analog tape. I swore that I would not buy a DVD player until THIS movie was released in DVD format. Well, my time has come...finally! While I certainly will enjoy having the player to watch many other great movies, I have spent over $1000 upgrading my system to include a top-line player, digital reciever, and a bunch of other stuff I never knew existed, so that I can queue up that 23 minute scene and watch thunderstruck, with my friends who have been there, and want to go back. Indeed, it does and I do so here, glamourize war, but I am young. Oh, the inhamunity. So I have to say, $1000 later and at the risk of sounding casual about war, I expect it's worth every penny.
Rating: Summary: Haunting . . . masterful . . . Review: Searing, an INTENSE war movie, a memorable commentary on the effect war has on humanity, much in the style of recent war novels like "The Triumph and the Glory, or "War of the Rats" or The Killer Angels". (filmed as "Gettysburg" on TNT if I recall correctly) Most war novels don't necessarily transfer well to the screen, much is lost in the process. "Apocolypse Now" needs to be watched more than once to fully appreciate all that is involved.
Rating: Summary: AN INTENSE WAR MOVIE THAT MUST BE IN YOU'RE DVD LIBRARY Review: Wow! What an intense movie. This movie had me sitting at the edge of my seat the entire time. Like father like son. It must feel good for the Sheens to be in the 2 greatest war movies ever made. This was a very dark, deep, and sinister movie that dives deep into a soldiers mind. The battle seens are very realistic. The director puts you right into the middle of the action,thats how involving this movie. You are right there, a member on the boat, traveling further and further down that erie river,the further you go, the more you feel like you will never come back.Anyway, once again one of the greatest war movies of all time. A must own.
Rating: Summary: Sigh ... I don't think you guys get it Review: As my one-line summary said , I don't think you guys get it (or girls for the matter). This movie IS a war movie. This movie IS a moralistic movie. This movie IS a religious movie. This movie IS a surrealistic movie. This is a period of time in which artist moved from drawing pictures which are truths - to pictures which they believe to be true. Had Cappola truly desired each and everyone one of you to interpret his movie and have each and everyone of you force their ideas on eachother , he would not have made it. Cappola has created such a movie that you, the reviewers can each relate to it in your own fashion. From the war and anti-war view. Clearly Cappola describes the intense battles with his depiction of helicopters dropping napalm on villages, North vietnamese, viet-congs, and cambodians. From the music , "Flight (ride) of the valkaryies ( sorry i suck at spelling) " to the hacking of inoculated arms, it is all true. The Vietnamese war was Cruel, Harsh, and Evil. A second tier of thought and intellect brings the reviewers to examine the movie at the moralistic point of view. Cappola brings Martin Sheen back to the jungle- the heart of darkness - the primortal man. With each scene, Captain Willard reverts. Each scene, he becomes more savage: He is even rolled in the mud before he can see Kurtz- stripped of his "civilization". Moralistically, is he right to kill Kurtz ? Is the war right ? How about the heroic enemy at the time ? Clearly distorted - Cappola sends Lt. Colonel Kilgore to altruistically "give" water from his own canteen to the dying viet- ironically - the media is right there to film it. A third their is the religious aspect. From good to evil. From God to Satan. Watch the movie- see how the the light fades to black as they get further and further. Watch as they go through the river - catch the crucifixes that pass by quickly on the right and then watch the pagan symbols on the left. It seems as thought there is a fight between "good" and "evil". The tailfin of the bomber though seemingly unimportant - is filmed like an idol- the ox represents the "golden" ox in the Bible. Kurtz seems to be Satanic. His tribe (family) are pagan. You cannot watch this film once and immediately form your own opinion on others! Finally, the surrealistic view - from the erie alien (another viewer's word) music to the unusual use of multicolored flares and fog - the movie becomes fantasy. Cappola has used the camera to depict what HE thinks is reality. Surrealism : distored reality. He brings out from the white eyes compared to the black camo faces to the man with the gun as Cpt. Willard answers Kurtz questions what he believed was the war. This movie was not made for everyone to trash in their own fashion. This movie was made to evoke the imagination of the mind - to have people come up with their own insights - pertaining to themselves (by the way i KNOW this is a contradiction but shaddup :). But anyways ... this movie is what you make it to be, not what someone wants it to be. I'm just lucky to have a great english teacher to help me figure that out.
Rating: Summary: MANKIND'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT Review: When the aliens land in my backyard, and they come to me and they say "Earthling, tell us what is the greatest single thing you Earth people have ever accomplished so that we may document your planet's contribution to the Universe" that's when I will hand them my copy of 'Apocalypse Now' and humbly say "here"
Rating: Summary: This is the end! Review: This film is more freightening than John Carpenter, Steven King, and Friday the Thirteenth rolled into one. The arrow attack on the PBR makes Fort Apache look like kid's stuff. The sound track screams for DVD while Morrison has never sounded more sinister.
Rating: Summary: It Doesn't Get Any Better Review: One of the greatest movies ever made. Further comment would be simply redundant.
Rating: Summary: I love the smell of napalm in the morning! Review: This movie is in my top 5 favs right behind Godfather I&II and right ahead gf III. This napalm line is a great and the helicopter attack is the best. It does get a little weird toward the end but it doesnt hurt the moive at all. If you havnt seen it go out and rent it or buy it now.
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