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DVD : Great Expectations (1998) |
List Price: $9.98Amazon.com's Price: $6.99 You Save: $2.99 (30%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: PALTROW,GWYNETH
EAN: 0024543000051
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 21, 2002
Running Time: 112 minutes
Sales Rank: 5200
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: January 30, 1998
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Editorial Review:
Description:
The moment young Finn sets eyes on Estella, she becomes his inspiration and his obsession. Despite being warned, "she'll only break your heart," he vowed to win her love. Years later, thanks to a mysterious benefactor, aspiring artist Finn is off to New York, where he is reunited with the icy and beautiful Estella. When she agrees to model for him, Finn's dearest hopes may at last be realized-along with his darkest fears!
Amazon.com:
The key ingredient in this modern-day version of Charles Dickens's classic is director Alfonso Cuarón, who made the glowing, estimable A Little Princess. If you saw that (and you should), understand that Expectations has those ingredients (great sense of time, place, and timing) but adds modern music and sex appeal; the latter personified by the long-legged Gwyneth Paltrow.
Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke as an adult, Jeremy James Kissner at age 10) is the new version of Dickens's Pip. He's a child wise beyond his years, befriending an escaped convict (Robert De Niro) in the warm waters of Florida's Gulf Coast. Finn is also the plaything for Estella (Paltrow as an adult, Raquel Beaudene at age 10), the niece of the coast's richest and most eccentric lady, Ms. Dinsmoor (a fun and flamboyant Anne Bancroft). The prudish Estella likes Finn (catch the best first kiss scene in many a moon) but has been brought up to disdain men; she'll break hearts. As the object of Finn's desires, Estella unfortunately is a one-dimensional character, yet what a dimension! Clad in Donna Karan dresses and her long, sun-kissed hair, Paltrow is luminous. She and Hawke make a very sexy couple.
Mitch Glazer's script does better by Finn. He's a blue-collar worker with a gift for drawing (artwork by Francesco Clemente). Following his Uncle Joe's (Chris Cooper) honest ways, Finn grows up as a fisherman, thoughts of Estella and art drifting away in the hard work. When a mysterious benefactor allows him to follow his dream, Finn finds himself in New York, preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime art exhibit--and in the arms of the engaged Estella.
Filled with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's golden-drenched light, the film has an irresistible, wildly romantic look. Dinsmoor's place is certainly gothic, Estella and Finn's longing encounters glamorous. Cuarón uses an MTV-friendly soundtrack with a confident touch. Songs by Tori Amos and the band Pulp--along with Patrick Doyle's silky score--create passionate scenes. It all ends far too swiftly with a seemingly tacked-on ending (reflecting the book, as it happens) but the film is splendid storytelling. It's a stylish, sweet valentine. --Doug Thomas
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Shipping was spot on and older Movies are harder and harder to find locally. I found this cheap, new and quick. I will use Amazon again soon!
Rating: -
This is a great makeover (not a remake) of the English 1946 black and white film which was much closer to the Dickens original both in time and setting when it begins: South East England just after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Thames Estuary where one can discern the floating hulks of pensioned off warships stripped of masts and rigging and turned into holding prisons for felons awaiting transportation to Australia. In this 1998 version the time is the late twentieth century and the setting is the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the South Western Florida coast, faraway from the more fashionable Florida Gold Coast on the Atlantic Ocean side.
Any filmmaker today who dared to remake the 1946 film would be doomed to failure as it would be a hard, if not impossible act to follow. Having said that the newer film is a gem precisely because the producers did not make that mistake and for a score of other creditable reasons as well, not least the superb cinematography and soundtrack. It is as if a builder were told to reconstruct a beautiful aging mansion but to keep the facade and the basic structure while having complete liberty to do whatever he felt best for the interior. The 1998 film is therefore the modernised version of Great Expectations, probably close to what Dickens would have actually written had he been alive today. The filmmakers have preserved much of the novel's structure and a little of the facade but have gone ... Read More
Rating:  -
I remember enjoying this film as a teenager, before I had read the book. I found Miss Havisham glamorous and eerie and Estella and Pip's watery kiss's enticing. Now that I have not only read the book, but teach it at GCSE I decided to re watch it. I'm afraid I have to agree with some of the comments here - the film completely failed to engage my emotions. There was none of Dickens's characterisation and humour, which was why the romance was no more real than a kiss in a glitzy music video. I admit the film was visually stunning, but the script was really quite uninspiring and the characters flat and one dimensional. I know it was supposed to be modern, but sometimes people do say clever / funny things even in this day and age - I think Miss Havisham's comment about her cat eating other cats was about sum total of witty dialogue! Joe's forced 'carefree' laughter and Bently Drummel's total failure as a villain were also particularly trying! One the upside I imagine kids could write pages of criticism on this for media coursework so its not all bad!
Rating:  -
Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow is a sexy film but the fault doesn't lie with the actors but rather with story. The two stars have never been better, their chemistry is intoxicating and that scene at the drinking fountain, can you say hot, hot, hot! Some of the dialogue seems forced and the direction is somewhat awkward. Robert De Niro and Anne Bancroft have the strangest roles in this film and don't expect an exact interpretation of the Charles Dicken's classic. The ending is what saves the film, give this movie a viewing.
Rating: -
What a great adaptation of the brilliant Dickens novel. Alfonso Cuaron has directed a gorgeous and utterly romantic movie. There's beauty and poetry in every shot, and the scene where Finn declares his love to Estella under the rain is more moving than anything I've seen in movies in a long time. The score is simply ravishing and the paintings by Francesco Clemente are amazing.
Anne Bancroft, Chris Cooper, Robert DeNiro make a fantastic supporting cast, and Ethan Hawke is moving and utterly believable as Finn. I'm not a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, but I have to admit she makes a pretty great Estella.
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