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Reviews by Matt Heffernan <matt@filmhead.com>
This week my picks are
Fight Club
(1999 - 
) and
The Deer Hunter
(1978 - ).
The first film this week has finally been released on DVD, after
several weeks of the VHS version being available for rent.
This week's picks are being posted a little late, because I wanted
to watch my copy (pre-ordered from
Amazon.com)
before writing them. Well, let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
David Fincher's brilliant film has been given an incredible
treatment: the most feature-rich DVD I have ever seen. Correction,
make that "DVDs", since the film itself is so long (but not
too long) and there are four different commentary
tracks, a separate disc is included for all the special features.
Fight Club, on its own, is a great film that depicts how
a man (Edward Norton) finds himself so lost in bourgeois consumer
culture, he starts a secret society with a new, far more
self-confident friend (Brad Pitt). Combined with this package,
it becomes a must-own for any DVD collector. Hopefully,
this film will finally achieve the success it missed out on in
the theatres.
Full review from October 15, 1999
The "Fight Club" organization is somewhat reminiscent of the famous Russian Roulette contests in the second film. Michael Cimino's epic Vietnam film shows how the war affected the lives of three life-long friends (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage). This was the film that kick-started Walken's career with an Academy Award, but it was also the last film for John Cazale, best known as Fredo Corleone from the first two Godfather films. His only other films were The Conversation and Dog Day Afternoon, making a short, but enviable career. Meryl Streep was his girlfriend at the time, and she also has a supporting role, but it is of course De Niro's incredible performance that led The Deer Hunter to win five Oscars, including Best Picture.
For more information, visit the Internet Movie Database:
Fight Club (1999)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Here's some merchandise for sale at
| Fight Club (1999) | -- VHS |
| Fight Club (1999) | -- DVD |
| Fight Club, a novel by Chuck Palahniuk | -- Paperback |
| Fight Club, a novel by Chuck Palahniuk | -- Audio Cassette (read by J. Todd Adams) |
| Fight Club: Original Motion Picture Score, by The Dust Brothers | -- Compact Disc |
| The Deer Hunter (1978) | -- VHS |
| The Deer Hunter (1978) | -- VHS Widescreen |
| The Deer Hunter (1978) | -- DVD |
| The Deer Hunter: Soundtrack | -- Compact Disc |
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