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 Movie A |
Video A | Audio A
| Extras B | Recommended!
Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thorton, Keith Ledger
director Marc Forster | Lions Gate Home Entertainment
2001 | Drama | R | 108 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
(layer switch at beginning of Chapter 17)
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
|
Dolby Digital 5.1
Academy
Award winner for Best Leading Actress (Halle Berry)
Summary: Monster's Ball is a grossly
underrated film that is easily among this year's best films for its
beautiful depiction of a redemptive life. Billy Bob Thorton is a
second-generation prison guard who's life is stifled by his racist and dominating
father. After a traumatic loss in his life, he
chooses to quit his career as a prison guard and begins anew. This
film also stars the incredibly beautiful Halle Berry, in her Academy Award-winning role for Best Actress,
as a down-on-her-luck single mother who is desperately trying to keep a
roof over her son. Their paths cross, and what they discover...
well, I'll leave that for you to enjoy.
Performances are stellar from Halle Berry and Bill Bob
Thorton, and other members of the cast in this powerful, emotional
drama. Complementing the sweeping emotional film is a beautiful soundtrack
that nicely accentuates the mood and helps guide the audiences'
emotions. The cinematography is somewhat unconventional but
artistically augments the storyline, successfully taking the viewer on this breathtaking
passage. The only qualm I have about this film is that while Halle
Berry stars as a down-on-her-luck woman, she looks visually striking (like
a million bucks!) in every scene. Other than that, I highly
recommend this film! (Now, will you pass me my favorite ice cream?)
Special Features: full-length commentary with director
Marc Forster and director of cinematrographer Roberto Schaefer;
full-length commentary with Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thorton, and director
Marc Forster; 4 deleted scenes (entitled Schoolyard, Hank and Lawrence, Hank
and Buck, Retirement Home); "Behind the Scenes" featurette (The Getting
Into Character segment is an amazing look at how Billy Bob Thorton and
Halle Berry go from kidding around with each other one moment then making
the rapid transitions into their characters when the director calls
"action". Amazing! Next are some "outtakes" where Billy Bob Thorton is a comedic
blast.);
"Scoring the Film" featurette (very insightful); theatrical trailer; two easy-to-find DVD Easter Eggs for
theatrical trailers for upcoming Lions Gate Films: Chelsea Walls, The
Rules of Attraction, The Cat's
Meow, and Everything Put Together
DVD released on 6/11/2002 | Reviewed 6/7/2002
List $24.99 | online $17.99 | order from Amazon.com
for $17.99,
Buy.com
Original soundtrack available from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
$13.99
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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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