|
 Movie A- |
Video B+ | Audio A-
| Extras B
Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Jane,
Jack Thompson, Gregory Itzin, Allison Mackie, Joan Pringle, Cordelia
Richards
director Michael Cristofer | MGM & Hyde Park Entertainment
2001 | Drama - Thriller | Unrated | 118 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
| anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: A wealthy Cuban plantation owner Luis Vargas
(Banderas) decides to take a foreign wife Julia (Jolie) who he only has
contact through courtship letters. When he meets her on their wedding
day, he is pleasantly surprised by her beauty which he assumes the photo
she sent has not done justice. The beautiful Julia seems to
constantly contradict herself as described in the letters. She also
seems to have
her own agendas which were to satisfy her own desires. Will Vargas be able to
walk away from Julia or seek revenge on the woman who has taken everything
he holds dear away in an instant?
This unrated edition adds about 12
additional minutes of never-before-seen footage. The theatrical
version is already steamy, with gratuitous show of flesh in the intimate
bedroom scenes, but this unrated version takes it up another couple of
notches with more sexually explicit and violent scenes that don't really add anything to the
storyline. This unrated version should only be viewed by mature
audiences.
The real added value in this unrated version is really
the inclusion of more bonus materials than the theatrical version DVD
release. While the cinematography is visually lush, the DVD's
picture quality is especially disappointing for a recent-run theatrical
release. MGM used a film master that is marred with scratches
throughout most of the movie. All in all, Original Sin
certainly lives up to its name. What a sinful movie! But it's
an intriguing one at that.
Special Features: audio commentary by
director Michael Cristofer, photo gallery, "You Can't Walk Away From
Love" music video by Gloria Estefan, original theatrical trailers for
Original Sin and Hart's War
DVD released on 3/26/2002 | Reviewed 4/1/2002
List $26.98 | online $20.24 | order from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
Also available: Original Sin (R-rated Theatrical Edition) with fewer bonus
features, order from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
Rent this DVD from NetFlix
- Try the " Unlimited" DVD
rental program absolutely free!
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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