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Note: this region two DVD is a "flipper" with a break between sides A and B.
Another one of my favourites, 2008-06-22
The great thing about this film is that it is a true celebration of Mozart's life and music. How many films can truly convince you that classical music is something worth listening too? It is also a more accessible way of understanding the history and context behind some of Mozart's most famous works. A more unique film in that the music takes centre stage and not so much the storyline or the action. As a musician I truly envy Mozart. I can understand why Salieri was so jealous. It would have truly been a great gift to hear and experience and indulge in heavenly music everyday of your life.

The film deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and it's still a stunning achievement. Abundant footage taken among the massive crowd ("half a million strong") expresses the human heart of the event, from skinny-dipping hippies to accidental overdoses, to unpredictable weather, mid-concert childbirth, and the thoughtful (or just plain rambling) reflections of the festive participants. Then, of course, there is the music--a non-stop parade of rock 'n' roll from the greatest performers of the period, including Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Canned Heat, The Who, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Sly & The Family Stone, Santana, and many more. Watching this ambitious film, as the saying goes, is the next best thing to being there--it's a time-travel journey to that once-in-a-lifetime event. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Sets the standard for all concert films, 2004-06-26
Although I was a teenager soon after this concert, I somehow never got around to seeing the moving until this year. (I guess concert films don't get screened frequently on terrestrial TV.) So over the years I've become more familiar with the triple LP of the movie and, of course, the many posters the rock stars in heroic poses that dominated the early 1970s -- i.e. the Who's Roger Daltrey, Jimi Hendrix and Ten Years After's Alvin Lee.

Despite the mud and the squalor, this is an extraordinarily beautiful film, with the screen often breaking up into two or three segments. (Note on the closing credits the name of Martin Scorsese on the production team.)

It's well worth contrasting this movie with the DVD of the 1970 Isle of Wight festival. Only a year separates the two concerts, but the late 1960s idealism of Woodstock gets replaced by prototype British vandalism. The Who perform at both concerts, and make an equally good account of themselves. Daltrey's emotional delivery of 'See Me, Feel Me' helps to explain why 'Tommy' became such a phenomenon in America. Hendrix also performed at both, but his meandering solo at Woodstock was not of the highest standard.

The other highlight of the show was Santana, a Latino band only just beginning to establish themselves in California at the time. As others have noted, the drum solo by Mike Shrieve is impressive for one so young. As with the Who, Santana's album sales will have multiplied as a result of their Woodstock performance.

It's interesting how many great acts weren't at Woodstock -- e.g. Joni Mitchell (despite her song about the concert!), the Doors, Bob Dylan or the Stones. The first two clearly realised how important these festivals were in the breaking of artists into markets, and so they appear on the Isle of Wight DVD.

For most of my life, Woodstock has been a set of static images, largely taken from the cover of the album. But as this film reveals, there is so much more imagery than pictures of beautiful women bathing in the lake. Quite apart from all the idealism of passing whisky bottles and reefers around, of sliding in the mud, the film shows the flip side: of people queuing in the mud to phone home, of helicopters rescuing the sick, of helpers cleaning toilets, and of barefoot stragglers looking for a pair of shoes amid a post-concert site that looks more of a wasteland than the trenches of the First World War.

Enjoy it in all its glory and all its grime.

The plot, such as it is, sees the eerily androidal Kevin Bacon playing a hip rock & roll youth from the big city rebelling against the strictures of the conservative small town in which he finds himself living. Inevitably, he falls for the daughter of his nemesis, the local preacher (the latter, it has to be said, is played with some aplomb by John Lithgow, who very nearly wrings depth from a character otherwise straight out of the colour-by-numbers guide to movie-making). Inevitably, there are some dance sequences. Inevitably, the kids win out, and the grown-ups realise that maybe they aren't so bad after all.

On the DVD: Footloose can be watched on disc, should you so desire, dubbed in German, Spanish, French or Italian. There also subtitles available in pretty well every European language, as well as Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Turkish. Other than that there are no extras. --Andrew Mueller
Brilliant, 2005-03-19
I think this film is brilliant. If you love dancing and 80s music and especially Kevin Bacon then this is the film for you. It is about a boy called Ren McCormick who has moved from the city to a Midwestern town where music, dancing and all youthful joy has been banned. He trys to prove to his town that music can bring out the good in people not the bad.
This is a great film and for people like me who love any dance films and films like Dirty Dancing they will love this.

Accompanied by pensive serenades from the captain's cherished mandolin, the film charts the unlikely attraction of Corelli and Pelagia, whose wizened physician father (splendidly played by John Hurt) fears for the worst. Their love is uneasy (and Cage's miscasting doesn't help), but the island's beguiling atmosphere is as seductive to them as it is to the viewer, thus making the outbreak of violence--and a climactic earthquake--jarringly traumatic. Emphasising nobility in war and the many definitions of love, the story's wartime context intensifies the film's admirable depth of emotion. Faults will be found by anyone who's looking for them, but Captain Corelli's Mandolin remains a sensuous, richly layered film that die-hard romantics will find hard to resist.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Pure Magic!, 2008-12-08
I have read the reviews on Amazon about this film and I am grateful for the poor reviews I have read, for it has enabled me to buy this DVD so cheaply on Amazon. In my opinion if ever a film was undersold this is it. Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a beautiful film. It is sad that others are unable to see it. May I suggest that if they wish to read a book they read it, and if they wish to watch a film and appreciate that film for what it is they do just that. But, to compare the two? No, in this case it's not possible. The film is a work of art with outstanding performances from Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, John Hurt and all the cast. The music is good too. Pure magic. Five stars for this one!

Track Listings: Disc 1:
Long Run
New Kid in Town
Wasted Time
Peaceful Easy Feeling
I Can't Tell You Why
One of These Nights
One Day At A Time (New Track)
Lyin' Eyes
Boys of Summer
In The City
Already Gone
Tequila Sunrise
Love Will Keep Us Alive
No More Cloudy Days (New Track)
Hole In the World
Take It To the Limit

Disc 2:
You Belong to the City
Walk Away
Sunset Grill
Life's Been Good
Dirty Laundry
Funk #49
Heartache Tonight
Life in the Fast Lane
Hotel California
Rocky Mountain Way
All She Wants To Do Is Dance
Take It Easy
Desperado
Great picture and fantastic sound., 2007-11-30
Another quality concert release from The Eagles. Great HD picture quality and the sound if fantastic. Although it is not advertised on the packaging anywhere, this HD-DVD features a "DTS-HD Master Audio" audio track which gives outstanding audio quality if you have the right decoding equipment.