|
 Movie
B- |
Video A | Audio A-
| Extras D
Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, and Chris Cooper
director Spike Jonze | Columbia Pictures
2002 | Comedy - Drama | R | 114 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
DTS 5.1 |
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Nicolas Cage stars as Charlie
Kaufman, an insecure screenwriter who just landed his next project to
adapt the book The Orchid Thief to a movie. The book was
written by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), a journalist for The New Yorker
magazine. At
first, Susan pursued John Laroche (Chris Cooper), an expert
horticulturist, to do a piece on rare orchids. This successful piece
eventually lead to a
book contract for Susan. During the research and writing of her
book, Susan continues to pursue Laroche's expertise and allows her relationship with
him to develop
past the professional level, as they search for the elusive blooming ghost
orchid.
Nicolas Cage also stars as
Charlie's twin brother, Donald, who is making his first attempt at writing
a screenplay. When Donald asks his veteran screenwriter brother
for advice, Charlie replies with some cliché advice, but his
brother cheerfully accepts it and runs with it. To Charlie's
surprise, Donald completes his first screenplay and lands a movie
contract with little effort. In the meantime, Charlie is still stuck
on how to adapt a screenplay for his current assignment. Things get
a little more interesting as Donald helps Charlie with his Adaptation.
There are some brilliant
acting here, but I thought the story was rather contrived.
I never really bought into the storyline. I thought it was a cheap
attempt at writing a movie. If it weren't for the wonderful acting,
I would have found little entertainment value in the movie. I did enjoy a
couple of quotes:
"A last act makes a
film. Wow them in the end, and you got a hit.
You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end... and you've got a
hit."
and
"I loved Sarah. It was
mine, that love. I owned it.
Even Sarah didn't have the right to take it away.
I can love whoever I want.
You are what you love, not what loves you."
Too bad I was not "wowwed"
at the end of the movie. But judging from other's opinions, I was
one of few who didn't fully appreciate this Adaptation.
As a Superbit DVD
release, the picture quality and sound quality are as good as it
could be. But for this comedy/drama film, the cinematography did not
bring out the best of what the Superbit video transfer process can
do. Similar comments goes for the sound mix, as the surround sound
effects are rather limited. A few of the off-screen sound effects
were mixed a bit too aggressively, creating somewhat of a distracting mix.
Special Features: Superbit
DVD releases from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment are not known for
their quantities of bonus materials. The disc capacity is devoted to
a top notch, high bit rate video transfer and a DTS
soundtrack option. As such, only a theatrical trailer and filmographies
are included in this Superbit DVD release of Adaptation.
DVD released on 5/14/2003 | Reviewed 7/13/2003
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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