| The Beach | | Cast : | Leonardo DiCaprio | | Director : | Danny Boyle | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | February 11, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | October 22, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | An odd, but not ineffective, hodgepodge of a movie | Content
 | I'd heard nothing but bad things about this movie, from people who'd apparently come to it expecting "Titanic II." It's certainly not that, but it's also not a terrible movie. The problem is that it's the "Trainspotting" director giving us a story that's an odd hybrid of "Six Nights, Seven Days" and "Trainspotting" -- with a contempt for ordinary travelers that even the movie eventually acknowledges if fatuous -- that veers off unexpectedly to become "Lord of the Flies" or "Apocalypse Now."
Which isn't to say that there's nothing good in the movie. The setting is breathtaking, and many of the performances -- by a who's who of indie film regulars -- are extremely well-done. Even many of the story and directorial conceits work well, most notably a videogame sequence late in the film.
But ultimately, the movie's lack of focus makes for a frustrating experience. There are flashes of a great film in here, although too often they're flashes borrowed from other, better movies. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 17, 2005 | | Summary | pretty dan good | Content
| the movie i dont think could be much better except for the ending i think couldve been better and thats about it other then that it kicks ass |
| Rating | | | Date | June 12, 2005 | | Summary | A Meal For the Mind: A Journey in Philosophical Thought | Content
| If you know anything about philosophy, even the basics, you are probably familiar with Plato's allegory of the cave or the concept of "real" and "ideal" contrasts in everyday life. This book, made into a film, is an excellent example of the real and ideal contrasts. Ideal things are those that are divinely inspired: good, beauty and love. The real are things that are striving for ideals but are tainted by the human perception and emotions. These things are good, beauty and love mixed in with jealousy, hate, regret, envy, fear and control. Ideal or "platonic" love is much different that real love.
In THE BEACH, Richard, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is striving for the ideal. His whole life is spent travelling and searching for something better. When he finds it in The Beach, a little piece of divinity, he knows immediately that humans can't possible experience something so perfect without tainting it. Strangely, what happens is that everything that he felt before, he feels with increasing intensity. He feels love, sex, violence, everything more strongly (and more acceptable), and uses drugs as an escape or to intensify his experience. But, and here's the warning to us all, everything blows up in his face, driving him to breakdown.
To me, this film is a warning of the dangers of striving for something that we can't understand nevertheless control. the "Ideal" is not something for humans to experience in a tainted environment. This film also causes us to question the nature of humans: Good, Evil or just Misunderstood?
So, if you have been looking for something a little creepy, a little extreme, a little emotional, a love story, a murderstory, a comedy, a tragedy, or just something that will be a feast for your philosophical mind, this is the film for you. Or, if you just want to see a cool movie, there's lots of drugs, lots of sex, lots of violence (fighting, guns and the like)... this is the movie for you too! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 09, 2005 | | Summary | Oh my God! I can't stop thinking about it! | Content
| Possibly one of the best books I've read. I'm still blown away. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 03, 2005 | | Summary | The Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius! | Content
| This movie should have been called "The Shadow of Aquarius" because it deals with social issues that can come about when we try in the name of idealism and equality to embrace everyone in a politcally correct not to mention "secret society."
This movie scared the hell out of me. It was strange but deeply thought provoking because the world that we all lived in from 1997-2003 closely recalled this movie. We all got cell phones, accepted everbody, we got email addresses, FRUITOPIA drinks, we were a happy family and global community and we made lots of money etc...but we seemed robotic, detached, and cruel...(remember what happened to those buildings in 2001).
In a nutshell, that perfect little Island community on "The Beach" DID NOT achieve ideals of FREEDOM they thought they had. They simply replaced one rigid system for another MORE RIGID system based on concepts, one that ignored personal suffering especially if it threatened their little Eutopia.
We all should watch this film to avoid making the same mistake!!! |
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