Meet Joe Black (Ultimate Edition)
by Martin Brest, Mitchell Leisen
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DVD details
Actor: Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Evelyn Venable, Fredric March, Guy StandingDirector: Martin Brest, Mitchell Leisen
Writer: Alberto Casella
Writer: Bo Goldman
Writer: Gladys Lehman
Writer: Jeff Reno
Writer: Kevin Wade
Writer: Maxwell Anderson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 260 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-07-17
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Meet Joe Black (Ultimate Edition)
DVD Review: Some films are simply more appreciated in time: The Grim Reaper learns about Life
Summary: 5 Stars
A 3 hour movie can seem daunting! NOT HERE! This film never loses touch or lapses.
MEET JOE BLACK is a positively wonderful and uniquely engaging look at life and death.Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) is a self made millionaire facing his 65th birthday and a possible buy-out/merger of his company that he has literally poured himself into,even at the expense of spending quality time with his grown daughters (Marcia Gay Harden and Claire Forlani).Susan,played expertly by Forlani,is the youngest daughter,bright,semi-engaged to her father's right-hand man (Jake Weber of MEDIUM),and a Doctor in her own right.Both Bill and Susan have their lives literally turned upside-down and right-side-up when Death,disguised in the body of a love interest that Susan has met (Brad Pitt),enters and assumes complete control,as The Reaper always has done,over present circumstances.You see,Death has taken a holiday from his daily grind of grimly reaping,and wants to learn a little about life now,at any cost.Brad Pitt is outstanding as Joe Black aka Death,(I have never been a Pitt fan,BUT this is a "nailed" role!), as he learns to inhabit the body of the man he has "taken" and experience and savour the "pleasures of earthly life"...peanut butter,finding out that taxes are as sure as death,a touch,a smell...even sex!).Both Pitt and Hopkins are comedically in sync and the outcome is genuinely humourous as Joe Black seems intent on "hanging on to life." The chemistry between Death and Susan is lovely,tender and engrossing.The looks of the eyes,the tentative touches and uncertain moves are perfection.Forlani and Pitt sizzle and convince. What these three characters learn is priceless and yes...I cried several times like a "girly-man" and enjoyed every last tear!
What is particularly impressive about this "tight" 3 hour film is the set design by Academy Award Winning designer Dante Ferretti (currently nominated for Sweeney Todd and his past achievements in great films such as The Aviator (Two-Disc Special Edition), ,Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition), The Age of Innocence,Interview with the Vampire,Titus and Kundun).In other words, MEET JOE BLACK is an opulent and eye-catching film to view with it's attention to detail and sense of largess!
Put my top 3 soundtrack writer into the mix of this Martin Brest directed gem,the venerable Thomas Newman Six Feet Under,Oscar And Lucinda: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and the clashing worlds of Life and Death are made cinematically complete with clarity,style and breadth.
Loosely based on the play/film Death Takes a Holiday,(1934)] MEET JOE BLACK is IMO far more engaging and interesting than the old Frederic March film (1934).
This film grabbed me,performances,characters,soundtrack and cinematography and made me ponder Life and Death in a new and glorious way.This film rose to a TOP TEN BEST for me.It touched both the heart,the artist and the cynic in me.Today is a good day....CARPE DIEM,y'all!
Description of Meet Joe Black (Ultimate Edition)
Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his 65th birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black (Brad Pitt), who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan (Claire Forlani).Meet Joe Black seemed almost fated to fail when it was released in 1998, but this romantic fantasy--a remake of 1934's Death Takes a Holiday--deserves a chance at life after box-office death. Although many moviegoers were turned off by director Martin Brest's overindulgent three-hour running time, those who gear into its deliberate pace will find that Meet Joe Black offers ample reward for your attention.
Brad Pitt plays Death with a capital D, enjoying some time on Earth by inhabiting the body of a young man who'd been killed in a shockingly sudden pedestrian-auto impact. Before long, Death has ingratiated himself with a wealthy industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and pursues romance with the man's beautiful daughter (newcomer Claire Forlani), whom he'd briefly encountered while still an earthbound human. Under the assumed identity of "Joe Black," he samples all the pleasures that corporeal life has to offer--power, romance, sex, and such enticing pleasures as peanut butter by the spoonful.
But Death has a job to do, and Meet Joe Black addresses the heart-wrenching dilemma that arises when either father or daughter (the plot keeps us guessing) must confront his or her inevitable demise. The film takes its own sweet time to establish this emotional crisis and the love that binds Hopkins's semidysfunctional family so closely together. But if you've stuck with the story this far, you may find yourself surprisingly affected. And if Meet Joe Black has really won you over, you'll more than appreciate the care and affection that gives the film a depth and richness that so many critics chose to ignore. --Jeff Shannon
Meet Joe Black seemed almost fated to fail when it was released in 1998, but this romantic fantasy--a remake of 1934's Death Takes a Holiday--deserves a chance at life after box-office death. Although many moviegoers were turned off by director Martin Brest's overindulgent three-hour running time, those who gear into its deliberate pace will find that Meet Joe Black offers ample reward for your attention. Brad Pitt plays Death with a capital D, enjoying some time on Earth by inhabiting the body of a young man who'd been killed in a shockingly sudden pedestrian-auto impact. Before long, Death has ingratiated himself with a wealthy industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and pursues romance with the man's beautiful daughter (newcomer Claire Forlani), whom he'd briefly encountered while still an earthbound human. Under the assumed identity of "Joe Black," he samples all the pleasures that corporeal life has to offer--power, romance, sex, and such enticing pleasures as peanut butter by the spoonful. But Death has a job to do, and Meet Joe Black addresses the heart-wrenching dilemma that arises when either father or daughter (the plot keeps us guessing) must confront his or her inevitable demise. The film takes its own sweet time to establish this emotional crisis and the love that binds Hopkins's semidysfunctional family so closely together. But if you've stuck with the story this far, you may find yourself surprisingly affected. And if Meet Joe Black has really won you over, you'll more than appreciate the care and affection that gives the film a depth and richness that so many critics chose to ignore. --Jeff Shannon
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