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Platoon (Special Edition)

Platoon (Special Edition)

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $11.21
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A wartime novelty
Review: This is a very fine piece of 'war critic' movie. It is one of the best until Private Ryan. If you had enough of this stuff and even Ryan was unbearable for you I do not suggest you to buy it. Otherwise if you want to breathe the atmosphere of Vietnam this is an excellent choice.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What the....
Review: Sure, it's good, but how the heck did this get a better rating than it's superior: "The Deer Hunter?" 4 1/2

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No one, I think, has ever made such a perfect Vietnam movie
Review: Platoon is an excellent movie. Charlie Sheen is a unstable infantry Nam soldier, Chris. Throughout the movie the director, Oliver Stone, shows Charlie Sheen maturing into a pure killing machine, with a concience hanging over him. Also Williem Dafoe, a retired hippie, one of Chris's friend in the movie portrays a solitary fighting soldier.Tom Berenger is also in Platoon, Barnes, plays a bloodthirsty Sergeant wanting revenge which only he knows. No matter what happens all of their Platoon soldiers back eachother up, until pure emity between two sergeants tear their Platoon appart. For they both have a major disagreement concering the war. One thinks that it is a lost cause, the other just would like to wipe out the whole This is one of the best Vietnam movies that reveal how Nam really was and show the hardships that our soldiers had to overcome. Stone put out all he could to create this wonderful masterpiece.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jungle fever
Review: MGM has redeployed "Platoon," Oliver Stone's Vietnam War classic, as a "Special Edition" release that marches in lock-step with the Pioneer Special Edition laserdisc of 1995. The DVD shares all of the special features of that innovative collector's edition laser.... "Platoon's" original low-budget look has been spit-shined on previous video reissues, and the transfer here shows off the improvements to great effect. Nighttime jungle scenes creep onto the screen with dramatic contrast while daytime scenes startle with vibrant greens. The aspect ratio of 1.85:1 remains from the laser and the previous DVD release of summer 2000. Still half-stepping is the 5.1 Dolby Digital mix, which is dutifully stingy in doling out surround information. Entire chapters roll by without use of the rear speakers, giving the effects an undue emphasis when they finally do kick in. Stone's film -- released at Christmas 1986 -- has been followed by a host of Vietnam War films, but it remains in the upper tier because of its strong young cast, terse storytelling and attention to detail of the Army grunt's day-to-day soldiering and partying. This edition of "Platoon" features commentary by Stone and the military adviser, Dale Dye, that collectively run over four hours. Dye tells of his intimidating techniques for initiating Stone's city-kid actors in "the psychology of being a grunt," while Stone ties together his real-life experiences in the jungle with the events unfolding onscreen.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: 5 Star Movie....2 Star DVD
Review: Everyone knows the story of Platoon...the all-time best movie depicting the Vietnam War. However, I was very disappointed with the DVD especially the sound. Very few (a couple drops of rain and radio transmissions) portions of the film actually were in surround sound. A big disappointment for me. So if it's theatrical sound you're looking for in a war movie, get Saving Private Ryan, but if you're looking for a great movie depicting the Vietnam War, look no furhter.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: PLATOON
Review: A CALSSIC, IT SAYS ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID OF OUR WAR IN VIET NAM. DAFOE AND BERINGER AT THIER BEST.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Platoon ( update)
Review: I have written a review on this movie before. But I have written on the "medicore DVD" version (the one released last year).

This one is MUCH Better. It has a very Good Documentary on the making of the Movie. Plus Three TV Spots. and more Language options.

But the best part is that this DVD includes two Diffrent Audio Commentary from two Vietnam Veterans, Director Oliver Stone (Army) and Technical Consultant Dale Dye (USMC).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Well deserved best picture.....
Review: Arguably the best war movie ever made, Oliver Stone's foray into the jungles of the Phillipines produced a classic. For those that may be thinking of buying this movie (and why else would you be reading these comments?), I'll forgo the usual unreserved adulation and just mention a few things about the Special Edition DVD.

The commentary by Oliver Stone is not what one would hope for. Apparently, Stone is content to narrate what we're seeing on the screen and other than a few minor comments concerning the cast, not much is to be gleaned from his commentary--other than a few miscues, "...and in this scene, Barnes tells me..." when Barnes (Tom Berenger) is actually addressing Chris (Charlie Sheen).

The commentary by Dale Dye is much more informative and tells a bit more of what was done to make the "kids" behave as a rifle company. This retired Marine Corp Captain does not hide the pride and respect in his voice as he recounts what the actors did to make the movie and the anecdotes he relates are interesting and informative.

But, the real reason this Special Edition is better than most and should be on your DVD shelf is the documentary that is included. From the perspective of hindsight, this documentary brings back some of the cast (Johnny Depp, Forrest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe) to talk about wha they went through to make the movie. Intercut between these actors and the director are scenes from the movie and scenes from what looks like newsreel footage of the war. This documentary can stand on its own and is better than most of the "behind the scenes" documentaries. May rank right up there with "Hearts of Darkness" and gives us insight into Oliver Stone and his resolve. As Depp says, "...(Stone)walks that fine line between genius and explosion of the mind." The documentary alone is worth the price of admission.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This movie rules!
Review: This is the best movie about Vietnam ever. Buy it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Raw.
Review: War film based loosely on director Oliver Stone's experiences during our spunky Southeast Asia adventure back in the 60's-early 70's. *Platoon* came out in 1986, a fact that creates the inadvertent problem of the subject-matter losing some of its immediacy. (Remember how tired certain WW2 movies from the 50's were?) Stone certainly had remembered many juicy details: this is definitely a "YOU ARE THERE" movie (indeed, an "I WAS THERE" movie). Despite the many stabs of reality, Stone's script blurs things up. Namely, the characterizations: the two sergeants that exist on opposite ends of the moral compass (Defoe, playing Good, is forced to throw his arms up in the air in a "Why hast thou forsaken me?" gesture) . . . the blank-slated cipher of the young Protagonist, who can't resist dishing up maudlin little epigrams and points of "wisdom" in the voice-over, which is barely audible over a weeping rendition of Barber's Adagio for Strings. I've read that Stone wrote the first drafts of this script back in the early 70's; I believe it. He also brings a novice's enthusiastic wrong-headedness toward the craft of filmmaking. Conversely, it's that same lack of art that makes the combat scenes so compelling, the tension before the battles so unbearable. Subtract the philosophical whingeing, and you have an electrifying combat movie, here. I prefer this Stone -- the earnest Stone -- to the later, overstylized, show-off Stone.


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