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The Color Purple

The Color Purple

List Price: $19.96
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not the novel, but a good film
Review: Alice Walker writes in "The Same River Twice" that the movie initially greatly disappointed her. Those looking for a faithful adapatation of the novel won't find it here. The characters and much of the dialogue are right out of the book but take on new form. The film needs to be appreciated for what it is: an adaptation. For the true powerful story of Celie and her sister Nettie, the novel is hard to beat.

That said, Spielberg uses good visuals for the film, and the acting is uniformly good. The actors who played Harpo and Shug seemed to have vanished from memory but Goldberg, Glover and Winfrey are very strong.

One note: I could have used a little restraint on the score. Every scene is punctuated by background music and silence would have been more effective. The score just increases the story to un-Walkerlike melodramatic proportions. The key to the story is that Celie's story is small but in the end, is about life in its entirety. We are so front and center with Celie to begin with that we know that there will be some bombastic finish. (And we are treated to at least two overblown finales, the first being Shug in the church.)

If you loved the movie, and it appears that many do, read the novel and get ready for a different but perhaps even more satisfying experience.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful movie about the human spirit
Review: I read the book by Alice Walker junior year and loved it, so I borrowed this beautiful movie from the library. You probably know the plot, so I won't go through that again. I think that the acting and filming techniques are superb and make the movie even more heartwrenching and heartwarming. The movie starts out with little hope for Celie, but her spirit endures and she overcomes her terrible life and lives happily as a beautiful person. She endures the loss of her children, the beatings from her husband, and the psychological damage she has always ensured from her family. I think the most touching scene inj the film is when Shug and Celie are walking through the field of purple flowers and Shug says that everything wants to be loved, and "I bet God gets pissed off when people live by the color purple and don't notice it." A truly touching and inspiring movie!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GRRREAT!
Review: The Color Purple is my favorite film of all time. Wonderful story and brilliantly acted. The one thing I do think you should know is to buy the Special Edition DVD instead if you're a true fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Whew, this is a hard one, but fabulous
Review: Spielberg does it again, filming Alice Walker's iconic novel with classy melodrama - and it works. Whoopi Goldberg made her first movie appearance in this film as the central character, Celie, and then went on to movie fame in the next few years. Prior to that, she was mostly a stage and nightclub performer.
The film techniques are so startling, so eye-poppingly colorful, so over-the-top dramatic, that it almost detracts from the central story of coming of age in the poor south. Wonderful character bit parts. It was a scandal at the time that, in spite of 11 Oscar nominations, it won non. It sure should have taken 3-4.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a touching film
Review: i love this movie from begining to in the is movie was excellent i love this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Well made with Whoopi "attitude" Goldberg in the lead.
Review: "Despite the movie The Color Purple being 154 minutes long,there was no room for an Asian Celie"(just joking).
But seriously folks,Whoopie does put up a good effort in this movie that is very well directed by Steven Spielberg. I just hope that the next time she hosts the Oscars that we don't get the paranoid "attitude" of her last hosting in 2001 when she had a go at The Lord Of The Rings film,which she didn't seem to realize was European literature and not American(Whoopi).I guess Whoopi didn't see "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" which was an all Asian film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lovely And Deep
Review: Steven Spielberg wonderfully directed and produced "The Color Purple", which was released in 1985. This became one of the best movies released that year. The only complaint is that this received 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and it didn't win any. That was wrong! Its plot, based on Alice Walker's novel, is brilliant. It digs deep into the events and the characters throughout, while never holding back a drop of emotion. Such substance keeps the audience guessing every future event and double checking every detail. Its layers of storylines keep the chain of events interesting. It proves that there's more to Celie's life than just her own trials. She changes many lives in a good way and not realizing it.

Whoopi Goldberg made a triumphant movie debut in her role as Celie Johnson, a woman being abused by her husband and yearns for a better life. She rightfully earned a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination both for Best Actress. Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery rightfully earned their Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress as Sophie and Shug, strong female fighters who survived past life trials. Danny Glover's role as Celia's abusive husband is one of the best performances in his career. The entire cast, major or minor, placed every drop of heart and soul through their characters.

The wardrobes and the setting were constructed wonderfully. Every detail looks like "The Color Purple" was actually filmed in the early 1900's. The research and the hard work shines. Its background offers a gloomy look into the characters' harsh lifestyles and the sad plot. This seems to have allowed the cast to express themselves deeper. Without it, the movie wouldn't have the same level of emotion that attracts the audience. Most scenes offer its emotional level through the background alone, whether it's sadness, anger, happiness, etc.

"The Color Purple" is great for those looking for a power drama. Some may have to watch it more than once to understand every event. There's a lot. Once understood a lot better, the audience will be glad to have explored it to that level.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Color Purple
Review: I love this movie. This movie made me cry it is a beautiful movie. The tale of hard times for a young girl forced to live with a man and cook,clean,take care of his children and basically be his slave, and the simple things that highlight her time with this man and his children.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best EVER!!!
Review: The Color Purple is one of the best movies ever in my opinion. I will never understand how it was overlooked for so many Academy Awards. But I guess there is no accounting for the taste of judges at the Oscars.
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Way Better Than The Original
Review: When I brought the vhs edition of this flim, I was so proud I had it in my movie collection. The colors are so expressive, that it makes you cry. In fact, this movie will have you in tears for 1 whole hour almost. I just couldn't wait until this 5 star, emotional classic came out on DVD, but when I saw the disc to the original dvd, I noticed the disc had 2 sides on it. I thought side 2 was the full screen or special features side: I was wrong. It was part 2 of the movie. I was a little shocked at the original dvd because it had no special features, just some production notes that were just a piece of junk. Finally in 2003, the special edition arrived. With 2 discs with full-length commentary, a photo gallery which features some unseen and rare photographs, and a making-of feature. The movie is finally remastered in 2.0 and 5.0 sound, I think. In my opinion, every drama should have the same feeling or warmth, The Color Purple had. This is my most favorite DVD.


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