Adaptation (Superbit Collection)

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Actor: Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Gary Farmer, Jim Beaver, Nicolas Cage
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Primary Contributor: Nicolas Cage
Primary Contributor: Chris Cooper
Primary Contributor: Streep, Meryl
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures

DVD Reviews of Adaptation (Superbit Collection)

DVD Review: the insane New York state of mind?
Summary: 2 Stars

If this is critically acclaimed as a movie than we have New york critics who are
in therapy or need to be? I suppose there are two ways to look at this movie:
a through the looking glass comedy about intellectual instability
or just a play by someone who should probably be in prison for
the safety of the community? Something like van Gogh
cutting off his ear without the excuse of great art?
In the decline of the Roman Empire the ruling class just lost it.
That behavior seems to be the state of New York in the entertainment industry?
People get critically acclaimed for making trash and
calling it art.
I think the totally lost fellow who gives the screen writing class
kind of sums up how bad thing really are?

DVD Review: A screenplay about screenwriting
Summary: 5 Stars

Charlie Kaufman has written a movie about Charlie Kaufman trying to adapt the book "The Orchid Thief" into a movie. Get past thinking that Kaufman is egotistical for writing himself into his own script. So what if he is? It's still hilarious.

For anyone who has ever had writer's block, this is a truly hilarious portrait of an artist struggling to write a screenplay about flowers.

Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper are a perfect pair, playing the author and the orchid thief, respectively. They really do have good chemistry. Not to mention Nicolas Cage is really at his best here playing both Charlie and his twin brother Donald. The insecure Kaufman of the movie is a nervous wreck, polar opposite of the egotistical Donald. The characters are fun to watch together onscreen, and Cage pulls it off perfectly.

This is really a fun, wild film, and you can tell Charile Kaufman enjoys pushing and breaking the boundaries of the film medium, even just in his screenwriting.

DVD Review: A Wonderful Movie
Summary: 5 Stars

Re-teaming with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman penned the script for Adaptation. What began as Kaufman adapting the book The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader's Circle) turned into something much more complicated resulting in a rewarding film which has been underrated by audiences since it's release.

Nicolas Cage, in an Oscar-nominated performance, plays nervous, self-loathing, and socially awkward screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. After his success with Being John Malkovich, Charlie is asked to adapt the Susan Orlean book The Orchid Thief. Problem is, Charlie doesn't know how to adapt it.

Meanwhile, we see the origins of the book as Susan (Meryl Streep) meets John Laroche (Chris Cooper, who won an Oscar for his role). Laroche, who's missing his two front teeth, is a plant enthusiast who uses his indian friends to help him poach endangered flowers. In meeting Laroche, Susan is awakened to her own unhappiness.

Cage also plays Kaufman's twin brother Donald (also co-writer of the script, despite not being a real person), well-liked and functional in social circles, who is trying to become a screenwriter like his brother.

Make no mistake, this is a complicated story with a genius writer at the helm. Despite being a tale of writer's black, Kaufman effortlessly blurs the line between reality and fiction. Jonze knows his way around a Kaufman script and handles all of it splendidly.

The acting is what really drives the piece. Cage is an underrated actor, but here he's given a chance to really flaunt his versatility. Playing both Charlie and Donald, who are identical but have little in common beyond that, could not have been easy but Cage really establishes them as separate people. You can tell which one's which due to body language and vocal cadence. This is a really layered performance. Anyone who is under the impression that Cage isn't a good actor (you know who you are) needs to see this film.

Cooper is a revelation. Nearly unrecognizable beneath long hair and the gap in his mouth, he's fascinating. This performance was not written as Oscar-bait, but Cooper certainly earned it.

Adaptation features many cameos by other recognizable actor's and everyone is solid. The film too is a rich, textured, unique piece of filmmaking that will both entertain and enlighten. This film made many top 10 lists upon it's release but has received only lukewarm reactions from filmgoers. In truth, this is one of Kaufman's best screenplays. A great film, Adaptation deserves more of an audience. I urge you to see it.

GRADE: A

DVD Review: Over-the-Top and Brilliant - One of a Kind Film
Summary: 4 Stars

As a writer I would have loved to give this 5 stars, but it was just too much at times.

The script was slow, meandering, shocking, literary and character-driven. In other words impossible to make into a film.

Not so fast. The film was brilliant, engrossing, hysterical, fantastical and complex.

I came to this with fresh eyes, not having seen Being John Malkovich or knowing the work of director Spike Jonze.

Certainly the work on this film was conducted far aloft on a tightrope and they were performing without a net. It's easy to see why talent such as Meryl Streep would be attracted to the role of Susan Orlean, the erudite writer turned blood-thirsty maniac.

Nicholas Cage does his usual good work as twin brothers who couldn't be more different.

And the character of Charlie Kaufman, one of the twins, does finally experience his epiphany of change at the end, fulfilling Robert McKee's direct directive.

Too bad his road to redemption was full of pathetic self-loathing, loss, death and carnage. How's that for a happy ending?

What a jumble of satirical brilliance and good dirty fun.

Finally, I'd recommend Adaptation to anyone who loves indy films, good books and offbeat character pieces.

If you're the type of person who loves old-fashioned Hollywood shoot-em-ups, like Terminator movies, this film may not be for you.

Cheers.

DVD Review: Worst Movie Ever
Summary: 1 Stars

This movie was BY FAR the worst movie I have EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE, that is not an exaggeration. When I saw it, I went for free to the Sneak preview screening compliments of my local radio station, so I didn't actually waste any money on this atrocity (thank the gods). However, It was so utterly bad that I felt I had still been wronged for having wasted my TIME having gone. In addition, this movie has in fact ruined Nicholas Cage for me FOREVER, I cannot take him seriously anymore. The worst mistake he ever made was agreeing to make this movie. If I had a copy, I would not sell it, I would BURN IT!!!

Description of Adaptation (Superbit Collection)

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.

Twisty brilliance from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, the team who created Being John Malkovich. Nicolas Cage returns to form with a funny, sad, and sneaky performance as Charlie Kaufman, a self-loathing screenwriter who has been hired to adapt Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. Frustrated and infatuated by Orlean's elegant but plotless book (which is largely a rumination on flowers), Kaufman begins to write a screenplay about himself trying to write a screenplay about The Orchid Thief, all the while hounded by his twin brother Donald (Cage again), who's cheerfully writing the kind of formulaic action movie that Kaufman finds repugnant. By its conclusion, Adaptation is the most artistically ambitious, most utterly cynical, and most uncategorizable movie ever to come out of Hollywood. Also starring Meryl Streep (as Susan Orlean), Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, and Brian Cox; superb performances throughout. --Bret Fetzer

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