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DVD Review HTF REVIEW: The Terminal (1-disc) (1 Viewer)

Matt Butler

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Speilberg is still cool in my book. The only films I havent seen of his are Sugarland Express & Amistad. I Loathed AI and havent seen Purple or Minority in full. I look forward to seeing Terminal.
 

MarcusUdeh

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Mr. Jacobson you bashed (The Color Purple). There’s much, I want to say to you but I feel its best of I put out this face:angry:
 

Ernest Rister

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Don't you get sick of being wrong all the time?...Schindler's List: arguably the most overrated movie of all-time.

It's no Alien Resurrection, but it's pretty good.
 

Ernest Rister

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I love The Color Purple, I just watched it again on Monday. One of the best-acted films I have ever seen, and to this day, the film brings me to tears at the end -- not because of some tragedy, but because of the sheer joy and happiness. I can't think of many movies that can do that -- make you weep at the end out of sheer joy. The Color Purple gets me every time. As a matter of fact, I don't even need to see the whole movie. I just start watching from "Maybe God's Trying to Tell You Something" through to the end, and I start choking up.

Incredible film.
 

Jonny_L

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The Terminal is the only Speilberg movie I've never felt compelled to see :frowning:
 

Ernest Rister

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Spielberg can't repeat - for me - what he did in 1975, 1977, 1981, and 1982 probably because I am not 5, 7, 11, or 12 years old anymore.

However, what he did for me in December 1987, December 1993, December 1997, Summer 1998, Summer 2000, Summer 2002, and December 2002 is worth that -- Spielberg has reached me as an adult. With Empire of the Sun, Schindler's List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, A.I., Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can. These far outweigh his missteps -- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade*, Always, Hook, 1941, The Lost World, and The Terminal.

Spielberg is very much like a basketball player. He lives to play the game, and he operates on visceral instinct -- that's why he can shoot so fast. He's Mozart with a film crew. Kubrick was a chess player. That's the fundamental difference between the two men. Mozart composed some forgettable ditties too, but he was prolific like crazy, so much so, we only hear the good stuff these days. In 20 years, when Spielberg is accepting his 2nd Lifetime Achievement Award from the AFI, he will have a body of work few will ever be able to touch. The good work will live on, the misfires will be buried with his bones, and film students in 2020 will look on with wonder at this prolific prodigy as they rifle through his filmography and find one amazing film after the other.
 

Robert Crawford

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I think we hijacked this thread enough, so let's get back to discussing either this review or the dvd in question. Thank you.





Crawdaddy
 

Ernest Rister

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In a nutshell, this is my opinion of The Terminal. Spielberg aims for a kind of Capra-esque whimsy, what with the employees of the Terminal all embodying the sense of fundamental decency and goodness that Capra believed in. It works in It's a Wonderful Life when Bert and Ernie play doorman and whatnot to George and Mary on their first night in the old broken down house. I just didn't buy it in The Terminal. The collision between reality and whimsy was too severe -- at the end, several characters seem to warp into friendly wholesome charcaters from Sesame Street, so amiable and good natured, so cheerful and whoo-ho! It just didn't work for me.

There are many moments in The Terminal that unfortunately reminded me of Always, Spielberg's other whimsical/romantic film centered around airports. In Always, moments of tremendous action and emotional realism are asked to coincide with moments of pure contrivance -- such as all the firefighters aping the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and rushing outside to wash at the request of their "Princess" (in that instance, Holly Hunter in a gorgeous white gown).

The Terminal is a better film than Always because the screenplay is simply smarter and Tom Hanks is so amazingly good. And I liked the ultimate resolution to the movie even though I didn't buy the climax. A certain character doesn't deserve a typical Hollywood ending, and she doesn't get one, and that was actually refreshing.

But ultimately, there are characters in the film that I simply didn't believe in, and once that happens, you're sunk. It didn't surprise me when The Terminal bottomed out in the summer box office. It's a film that aims for a 1940's film reality, with Capra-esque characters, set in a 21st Century setting, and the two just don't jibe. At least for me. In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Jeff Smith is the idealist, while everyone else is cynical. In It's a Wonderful Life, everyone is Jeff Smith, while George Bailey is the cynic. In The Terminal, everyone seems to be Jeff Smith, except for Mean Mr. Airport Security Guy. Perhaps The Terminal should have been set in another time. Set in today's world, set in a detailed realism, the characters just aren't believable. Spielberg does some amazing things, and Hanks is tremendous, but ultimately, this is another instance of Spielberg rimming out, trying to shoot a 3 from his heart. Capra-whimsy and 21st century realism just don't work on this court.
 

Robert_eb

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I enjoyed the film but what's the deal with the overkill of the product placements? I thought I was watching non stop ads for Borders Books. There was a scene where Zeta's character is in Borders saying how good the price was for her Napoleon book. Could you be a little more subtle than that?

If they are going to fill a film up with that much product placment spots, how about lowering the price of the DVD?

Is anyone else put off by the number of them in this film? I can't remember another film that had so many of them.
 

Ernest Rister

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Back to the Future II would seem to be the award winner in that category. But the abundance of real-world vendors like Burger King acerbate the very problem I speak of in my little review above -- these increase the semblance of real-world, real-time reality and this clashes utterly with the 40's style Capra whimsy Spielberg aims for with the supproting characters. Something's wrong when your product placements are more believable than your supporting characters.
 

TonyD

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wasnt this movie loosely based on a real incident?

if it was is there anything on the spec ed that references that.

i loved the movie btw.
my favorite scene came near the end when there is a reflection in the window of the airport. i loved that.

i agree with ernest when he compares speilberg to capra.
i was thinking that when i was watching this movie.
i never have had a thought of him trying to emulate kubrick, intentionally or otherwise

did anyone else think this was a sad movie?
considering the way things went for at least 3 of the characters.
 

Robert Crawford

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No because I give little thought to product placement in films. My focus is on the story, actors and film direction. By the way, if you view the bonus disc, they talk about the different vendors active participation in making the terminal built in a former airplane factory as real as possible with stores built on the set with their actual products.





Crawdaddy
 

Ernest Rister

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Well, maybe "as real as possible" was the wrong approach for a movie that features a 747 playing a game of chicken with an old man armed with a mop.
 

Robert Crawford

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I'm talking about the terminal movie set looking as real as possible not what took place in the film itself.






Crawdaddy
 

Ernest Rister

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I know Robert -- so am I. I think such realism was the wrong approach for this movie. Think Terry Gilliam's Fisher King and the people waltzing through Grand Central Station. That's what The Terminal should have been -- it's the only way the supporting characters would make sense.

Gotta leave you guys now. Off to Missoura to see my grandma.
 

Ron Reda

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I bought the 1-disc WS version of this DVD and despite reading it in this review and seeing it on various websites, I don't see any mention of a DTS track on the DVD'd packaging. Am I missing something?
 

TonyD

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yes ron, you are.
it is in the lower left corner of the back.
 

Marc Colella

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I'm not much of a Speilberg fan, but I thought this was a terrible film and worse than I'm used to from the director.

As mentioned, the characters weren't believable and the product placements were annoying.
Some of the situations weren't believable as well, and there were some plot-holes.

The end result of the plotline with Enrique and Officer Torres left me scratching my head. It's as if a nice chunk of the film was left on the editing room floor... from point A to point C without showing us point B.

Early on in the movie (before he taught himself) Hank's character's level of understanding of the English language was so inconsistent. It was very odd.

I would recommend a rental before taking the plunge on this one.
 

Chad A Wright

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"Today's Spielberg isn't half as good as the guy who made four stunning, virtually perfect flicks between 1975 and 1982."

I would disagree with this. I don't think he isn't as good, so much as that he is different. While I haven't seen A.I. and really don't have a desire to, everything else he has done lately has been excellent. Seeing his name attached to a movie instantly has my attention. I dearly love most of his 75 - 82 films, but I also wouldn't be without his latest works.
 

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