|
 Movie
A- |
Video A- | Audio A-
| Extras A-
Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianne Wiest, Dakota
Fanning, Richard Schiff, Doug Hutchison, Loretta Devine, Laura Dern
director Jessie Nelson | New Line Home Entertainment
2002 | Comedy - Drama | PG-13 | 134 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
1.85:1 aspect ratio
|
DTS 5.1 |
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Mentally-challenged Sam (Sean
Penn) is able to cope and live independently in society because he is blessed with
the love and patience of all who know him. When he becomes the father of a beautiful
baby girl, his life suddenly gets a lot more challenging. But Sam
manages to raise Lucy quite well. When Lucy turns seven and begins
to overstep her father's own mental capabilities, she experiences numerous
emotional conflicts when she realizes that her father is
mentally challenged. These pressures eventually boil over and the
State is forced to separate Lucy from her father. Sam manages to
find a high-power attorney (Michelle Pfeiffer) to help him fight what
seems to be a steep uphill battle. The compassion for the mentally challenged people in this
movie is superb and I give thumbs up to director Jessie Nelson for his
efforts.
Sean Penn gave an exceptional performance that
makes the character Sam so believable and draws out my empathy for the
father-and-daughter team. I'm not a big fan of Sean Penn, but this
is one of his best work as an actor. The cinematography purposely used unsteady
hand-held shooting techniques with lots of whip pans that nearly drove me
crazy. At least it had that effect on me in a number of
scenes. Other than that, I Am Sam is a tear-jerker that is sure to
wet your Kleenex tissue. If you enjoy this movie, be sure to catch A
Beautiful Mind.
Special Features: filmmaker commentary
featuring director/co-screenwriter Jessie Nelson, original documentary: Becoming
Sam, deleted/alternate scenes with optional director commentary,
theatrical trailer, theatrical press kit, script-to-screen DVD-ROM feature
DVD released on 6/18/2002 | Reviewed 6/24/2002
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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.
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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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