The Best of Blu-Ray, Vol. 2 [Blu-ray]The Best of Blu-Ray, Vol. 2 [Blu-ray]

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MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

    The Last Samurai Tom Cruise plays a Civil War hero who comes to Japan to fight the Samurai and ends up pledging himself to their cause. Ken Watanabe co-stars as a Samurai facing a vanishing way of life. Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond) directs this epic saga of the birth of modern Japan.The Fugitive Suspect Harrison Ford and lawman Tommy Lee Jones (Academy Award winner as 1993s Best Supporting Actor) race throught the breathless manhunt movie inspired by the class TV series.The Phantom of the Opera The stage musical sensation hauntingly comes to the screen. Gerard Butler (300), Emmy Rossum (Poseidon) and Patrick Wilson (Little Children) play the fateful love triangle that unlocks in splendor, suspense and in the music of the night.Unforgiven Four 1992 Academy Awards: Best Picture; Director (Clint Eastwood); Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman) and Editor (Joel Cox). Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty.

DVD FEATURES:
  • Number of Discs: 4
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
  • Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
  • Features:
    • The Last Samurai:
    • Deleted scenes
    • Director commentary
    • Extensive making-of documentary/ featurettes
    • The Fugitive:
    • Tommy Lee Jones/ director Andrew Davis intro
    • Director commentary
    • Making-of featurette
    • The Phantom of the Opera:
    • Additional scene
    • Detailed making-of documentaries on the story's stage-to-screen history
    • Unforgiven:
    • Biographer commentary
    • Making-of featurettes
    • Eastwood profile documentaries
    • Classic Maverick episode
AWARDS
  • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1993 (Tommy Lee Jones)
  •     Won Best Director - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Editing - 1992 (Joel Cox)
  •     Won Best Picture - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1992 (Gene Hackman)
  •     Nominated Best Art Direction - 2004 (Celia Bobak, Anthony Pratt)
  •     Nominated Best Cinematography - 2004 (John Mathieson)
  •     Nominated Best Song - 2004 (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart)
  •     Nominated Best Art Direction - 2003 (Lilly Kilvert, Gretchen Rau)
  •     Nominated Best Costume Design - 2003 (Ngila Dickson)
  •     Nominated Best Sound - 2003 (Jeff Wexler, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer)
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 2003 (Ken Watanabe)
  •     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1993 (Michael Chapman)
  •     Nominated Best Editing - 1993 (David Finfer, Richard Nord, Don Brochu, Dean Goodhill, Dennis Virkler, Dov Hoenig)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 1993 (Arnold Kopelson)
  •     Nominated Best Score - 1993 (James Newton Howard)
  •     Nominated Best Sound - 1993 (Scott D. Smith, Donald O. Mitchell, Michael Herbick, Frank A. Montaño)
  •     Nominated Best Sound Effects - 1993 (John Leveque, Bruce Stambler)
  •     Nominated Best Actor - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Nominated Best Art Direction - 1992 (Henry Bumstead, Janice Blackie-Goodine)
  •     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1992 (Jack N. Green)
  •     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1992 (David Peoples)
  •     Nominated Best Sound - 1992 (Dick Alexander, Les Fresholtz, Verne Poore, Rob Young)
  • American Film Institute
  •     Won Best Picture - 2003
  •     Won 100 Greatest American Movies - 1998
  • American Society of Cinematographers
  •     Nominated Best Cinematography - 2003 (John Toll)
  •     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1993 (Michael Chapman)
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1993 (Tommy Lee Jones)
  •     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1992 (Jack N. Green)
  •     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1992 (David Peoples)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1992 (Gene Hackman)
  •     Nominated David Lean Award - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  • Broadcast Film Critics Association
  •     Won Best Young Actress - 2004 (Emmy Rossum)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 2004
  • Directors Guild of America
  •     Won Best Director - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Nominated Best Director - 1993 (Andrew Davis)
  • Hollywood Foreign Press Association
  •     Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pictu - 1993 (Tommy Lee Jones)
  •     Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pictu - 1992 (Gene Hackman)
  •     Won Best Director - 1991 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Nominated Best Original Song - 2004 (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart)
  •     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com - 2004 (Emmy Rossum)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - Musical or Comedy - 2004
  •     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - 2003 (Tom Cruise)
  •     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pictu - 2003 (Ken Watanabe)
  •     Nominated Best Score - 2003 (Hans Zimmer)
  •     Nominated Best Director - 1993 (Andrew Davis)
  •     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1993 (Harrison Ford)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - Drama - 1992
  •     Nominated Best Screenplay - 1992 (David Peoples)
  • Los Angeles Film Critics Association
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1992 (Tommy Lee Jones)
  •     Won Best Actor - 1991 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Director - 1991 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Picture - 1991
  •     Won Best Screenplay - 1991 (David Peoples)
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1991 (Gene Hackman)
  • National Board of Review
  •     Won Breakthrough Performance - Female - 2004 (Emmy Rossum)
  •     Won Best Director - 2003 (Edward Zwick)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 2003
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 1992
  • National Society of Film Critics
  •     Won Best Actor - Runner-up - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Director - 1992 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Picture - 1992
  •     Won Best Screenplay - 1992 (David Peoples)
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1992 (Gene Hackman)
  •     Won Best Director - 1991 (Clint Eastwood)
  •     Won Best Picture - 1991
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1991 (Gene Hackman)
  • New York Film Critics Circle
  •     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1992 (Gene Hackman)
  • Producers Guild of America
  •     Nominated Producer of the Year - 2003 (Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Paula Wagner, Tom Cruise)
  • Screen Actors Guild
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 2003 (Ken Watanabe)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
REVIEWS:
  • Again proving himself game for any genre, Joel Schumacher takes the helm of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, a musical whose long delay to the screen represents a rare failure of Hollywood to strike when the iron is hot. No doubt thinking it could be his Chicago, Schumacher was probably as surprised as anyone to see his grandiose production shut out of the major Oscar categories. The film is an incredibly faithful rendering of the popular show. But with Webber's fingerprints all over it, it's never precisely more than that, and that's what separates it from Chicago. Coming only two years on the heels of that film, there's an unjust tendency to judge Phantom according to Chicago's success, and true enough, it doesn't measure up to either that or the stage phenomenon that inspired it. One real difference from the stage: it's unavoidable that the phantom (Gerard Butler) will lose some of his crucial mystery when brought up close and personal with the audience. Seen at a distance, lurking in the shadows, he's a more remote and effective figure. Emmy Rossum fares better as Christine Daae, projecting a disarming mixture of beauty and innocence, and Patrick Wilson is a dashing Raoul. All three leads -- not to mention a funny Minnie Driver as the opera's resident diva -- come off pretty impressively in terms of their singing, which sounds enough like the original Broadway recordings to please ardent fans of the material. In fact, the exquisite sets, lush costumes, and sweeping camerawork -- even the black-and-white frame story -- all compliment the performances well enough. The result is a costume drama that's at times genuinely rousing. It's just not an Oscar winner. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi
  • Appearing two years after Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning megahit Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven helped spur a mini-revival of the moribund genre in the 1990s that included Posse (1993), Tombstone (1993), and Sharon Stone's "Man With No Name" turn in The Quick and the Dead (1995). Written by David Webb Peoples in 1976, the script was bought by Clint Eastwood in the early '80s, though he waited until he was old enough to play psychotic antihero William Munny as a grizzled veteran of a bloody past, rather than someone closer to the younger Eastwood of Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy and Don Siegel's Dirty Harry (1971). Upon its release in August 1992, seven years after Eastwood's previous western Pale Rider, Unforgiven was praised as an uncompromising revisionist masterpiece, showcasing Eastwood's visual command of western landscapes and locations and his perceptive yet critical view of the genre's mythology and his own place in its "machinery of violence." After deliberately pacing the reemergence of Munny's pathology, Eastwood shrouds the climactic shoot-out in cinematographer Jack N. Green's dark shadows and heavy rainfall reminiscent of film noir, rendering Munny's return to Eastwood's lethal star form unsettling in its victory. Unforgiven became an unexpected serious hit in a season of popcorn movies, eventually grossing over $100 million and reviving Eastwood's star standing after a series of late '80s flops. After winning several critics' prizes, it became one of only a handful of westerns to win the Best Picture Oscar; Eastwood's status behind the camera was finally acknowledged with a Best Director statuette. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
  • Riddled with fast-paced action, taut suspense, and a blessedly wry, intelligent sense of humor, The Fugitive is one of the most thoroughly entertaining films ever to careen through the action genre. Directed with a sure, steady hand by Andrew Davis, the film's tight construction allows its lower-key moments to resound with the same compelling undertones as its action sequences; even the sight of Kimble's searching through medical files rings with nail-biting tension. Buoyed as much by its performances as by Davis' assured direction, The Fugitive benefits from the solid presence of Harrison Ford, here at his dependable, everyman best as the innocent Kimble, and a wily, Oscar-winning turn from Tommy Lee Jones as the relentless Gerard. The chemistry between the two adversaries is one of the film's most satisfying aspects, made so by believable, multi-dimensional characterizations that are all too rare in action films. Gerard is no idiot, and Kimble's eventual triumph is hard-won. Never possessing a clear, self-assured edge over his pursuers, his cleverness is well matched by that of the people determined to bring him to justice. The Fugitive contains enough tricks up its sleeve to satisfy even the most jaded action fans, and Ford fans will derive satisfaction from watching him prove that, though older and undeniably well-worn, he was still worthy of his status as one of the genre's most dependable heroes. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
  • While it certainly is not groundbreaking or original, Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai does succeed in telling a moving story in a well-crafted manner. With similarities to Dances With Wolves and Zwick's own Glory, the film also tries to capture the magic of such classic samurai films as Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. But the skewing of the story to reflect the experience of a Western intruder/visitor unfortunately places the audience somewhat outside of the full experience of the samurais themselves. Occasional voice-overs with Tom Cruise's Algren reading out diary entries are a much too overt plot device that takes away from the film's more subtle, restrained storytelling elements. The sometimes slow pacing of the film can feel overdone at times, but it is more often very effective in creating the emotional impact of the story. Cruise acquits himself well in his role, portraying his Captain Algren passionately and showing a flare for swordplay and fighting skills in the action scenes. But off of the battlefield, Cruise never really seems to embody a character that has truly experienced what Algren has; one does not get the sense that he is a battle-worn veteran (of the Civil War and the Indian Wars in the West). This is the kind of movie that works best when its actors are able to summon the period authenticity of their characters and to disappear into their roles. Though Cruise gives the part his all and conveys emotions well, he doesn't seem to have the right presence for the part.

    The real stars of the film are its Japanese actors, even if it does relegate them to "supporting" roles. Ken Watanabe is stoic yet heartbreaking as the samurai leader Katsumoto, truly conjuring the essence of samurai/warrior life. Watanabe should be considered among such greats as Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. He is incredibly effective as Katsumoto, and his are the best scenes in the film. Also impressive is Hiroyuki Sanada as a fierce and highly skilled samurai and Shin Koyamada as Katsumoto's son, Nobutada, who shows great courage and heart in one of the film's most moving scenes. Koyuki, who has the only real female role in the film, does as much as she can with her part as Taka, the widow of a samurai whom Algren has killed and the sister of Katsumoto. Taka must care for Algren and nurse him back to health after a battle injury, and Koyuki expresses a lot with few words as her character goes from feeling shamed by Algren's presence in her home to harboring a subtle affection for him. Lastly, the young child that plays the older of Taka's two sons delivers a touching performance; he develops a natural rapport with Cruise's Algren, especially in a later scene in the film in which he reveals his emotional attachment to the American captain.

    The cinematography for The Last Samurai and its production design are excellent, expressing a poetic respect for the Japanese culture, land, and history. Algren's samurai training scenes and many fights are choreographed and shot with great skill and are rousing pieces of action. The battle scenes are also photographed and edited with flair; however, though they are stirring and beautifully shot, most are so heartbreaking that their effect is bittersweet. The battles seem authentic and are often bloody; special effects and stunts are worked in seamlessly, not taking away from the film's elegant style. Attempts at political explanations for the state of affairs are so-so. Masato Harada is adequate as the emperor's greedy advisor Omura, personifying the "selling out" of Japan to the West, but too much is left unsaid about how the country has gotten to this state of, essentially, civil war. It's the meeting between Katsumoto and the young emperor (Shichinosuke Nakamura) that elucidates the two men's plights and gives their standpoints a greater amount of emotional weight. Overall, The Last Samurai tells a fascinating and moving story despite its flaws. ~ Dana Rowader, Rovi

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