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A Walk on the Moon

A Walk on the Moon

List Price: $9.99
Your Price: $9.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hey, married chicks!
Review: There must be some kind of wish fulfillment here; every married woman I know (including me) LOVES this movie, and every unmarried woman--and male--I know snoozes.

So what? What I like best is that there is no "bad guy." Each of the characters is sympathetic, just trying to get through life as best s/he can. Even the mother-in-law (brilliantly played by Tovah Feldshuh) has a heart of gold.

While hippie nookie with Viggo Mortensen is immensely appealing, the heart of this movie is with the husband, played by the devastating Liev Schreiber. I fell in love with him based on the speech he has with his daughter, talking candidly and tenderly about the night she was conceived. Fathers never talk like this to daughters in movies.

So it ends predictably. So it's unrealistic. Like the best romantic comedies, it takes quirky, believable characters in unbelievable situations, and makes a movie with heart and wit, as with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Mini Masterpiece of a Film
Review: A girlfriend of mine told me about this film, so I, being fond of nostalgic films, immediately sought out the DVD and bought it. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. I was a preteen in 1969, so it brought back many memories. It was presently realistically. The cinematography was beautiful. Being of Jewish faith and having spent many a summer up in the Catskills with family, I could relate easily. Diane Lane is one of my favorite actresses and I, too, am surprised that she is not yet a "big draw" in Hollywood. In my opinion, she is so much more talented than Julia Roberts and about as equally talented as Meg Ryan and has more "full-bodied" looks. She possesses beauty and brains without being threatening. I have read most of the reviews, though, and wonder why more hasn't been said of the performance of Tovah Felcher (grandmother). She is, indeed, a fine actress. The scene between her and Pearl, when she confronts Pearl about her ...is truly an exceptional and moving scene. She deserves to be recognized. In the 70s she was quite popular and very attractive...and I am happy to see her again in such a quality film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must see for Viggo Mortensen fans
Review: Fans of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn in Lord of the Rings should see this earlier performance. He plays a very sexy character. The ending is a bit weak, but the main actors all deliver fine performances.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: it makes my heart ache....
Review: I think most women can relate to this movie. The attraction between Dianne Lane and Viggo makes your toes curl. you can see the struggle to do the right thing and the need to follow your heart all over Dianne Lanes face in this movie. its the kind of movie that makes you feel the desire and the hunger for that all encomposing love that she finds with Viggo. and yet, you also feel her need to do the right thing by her family, and forsake her desires for them. you come away asking, would i be strong enough to do what she did? and it makes you want to cry for the ache you know her character and Viggo's must feel. ive seen it 6 times, and i cant get enough. a little side bar, the song playing durring the love scene durring the moon landing in this movie, is the SAME song playing in one of Viggos earlier movies called "Indian Runner". makes you wonder if the actors have a say in the songs played in a movie. the soundtrack for this movie is phenominal. im going to buy it as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Very Underrated Film
Review: Yes, one of the most popular things you'll read about A Walk on the Moon is how underrated it was and how it wasn't recognized by the major awards organizations. This is an engrossing movie based solely on the way it makes you feel exactly what the characters are feeling. Diane Lane's character, Pearl, goes through a transformation that is hard at times to watch. Although her affair with Walker (the "blouse man" played by Viggo Mortensen) happens really quickly, without much obvious attraction between the two characters, it becomes Pearl's release, her way of re-living the teenage years she missed when she was a young, married mother. Liev Schreiber is great as a caring, dorky father, and as a husband who loses all faith in his wife. All this turmoil is backed by a killer soundtrack of 60s tunes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All-time great film deserves better quality dvd
Review: I have a home theater digital projection system and always show this movie first to newbies - I never get tired of this all-time-great film. Inevitably, my guests call me back days later telling me how much they loved it and how deeply it affected them.

My only complaint - the video quality of the dvd is inferior by today's standards. No enhancement for 16x9 tvs and there is visual moire effect in a number of the scenes. Hopefully, Miramax will get wise and give this film the quality DVD treatment it deserves. Sound quality is pretty good, though of course not DTS.

No need to retell the story - covered in other reviews. I concur with most reviews in the perfect acting. I want to add extra kudos to Director Goldwyn for holding a consistent tone through difficult moments and screenwriter Gray for crackling dialog that interleaves multiple conversations at once - like real life. What's amazing is how she never cheapshots her characters or lets her them spout easy answers - the honesty of her characters is breathtaking - a model for our own behavior.

P.S. If you were over 10 in 1969 the soundtrack alone will make you swoon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An ode to family values
Review: Such high-quality movies like A Walk On The Moon rarely get released . It's a film about the stormy turns a family's daily life takes when wife Pearl ( Lane ) meets a charming blouse man ( Mortensen ) . Although it's clear that she does love her husband ( Schreiber ) , she fails to remain faithfull to him . At the same time her daughter ( Anna Paquin ) is slowly becoming a woman . Her first flirt with a boy takes place and the girl , full of doubts and questions tries to come in terms with her puberty . The film's biggest strength is it's cast . Lane gives a quiet , carefull perfomance as the young wife while Mortensen displays once more his poisonous charms . The heart of the film though is Liev Schreiber who gives to his character the human sensitivity he needs to seem believable . He's one of these gifted , underrated actors ( see also Don Cheadle , Ben Chaplin ) who we would never like to see leading an expensive , supernatural blockbuster movie . What makes A Walk On The Moon so special is that it talks about things and situations which could easily be true . Frightengly naturall are also the supporting actors who have been casted perfectly as everyday-people of that time . The family's unity is in danger and the viewer almost feels Pearl's frustration and agony about the future . Will her acts torn her home apart ? Director Goldwyn dezerves congratulations for risk losing the teenage audience by making a film about family values . If you ask me though , when a movie is as well written and well acted as this one , age is not a factor . As for the ending is one of the smartest , most impulsive and touching ones you'll ever get the chance to see .

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Superbly acted drama !
Review: First of all, why Diane Lane is not yet Julia Robert caliber is beyond me. She is a great actress. This movie proves it once again. She plays Pearl, a young mother who feels that she missed her teenage life as she was married way too young. Liev Schreiber plays her husband and Viggo Mortensen is the blouse man with whom she has an affair with. Anna Paquin plays her daughter. Tony Goldwyn (the bad guy from Ghost) direct. The DVD is wonderful. The picture quality is very good and Dolby 5.1 is great during Woodstock. I would have given it 5 stars if not for the lack of extra features. The back cover of the DVD stated that extra features are: Wide Screen and Dolby 5.1. Real generous. But despite that, this DVD deserved to be purchased by any movie lovers. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: rare & wonderful movie
Review: its just too bad there are no extras on the dvd-interviews-commentary-maybe years from now as this movie attracts the attention it deserves they might correct that ---but the incredible cinematography shines thru on dvd--and the whole enterprise unfolds in all its glory--- the truth of the era the script the dialogue the acting direction & art direction--its all incredible--& the soundtrack ! too much ! its just perfect - and a touching love story - the good bad and ugly of it all----a stunner of a movie-neglected of course by the mainstream but what do they know anyway--- a love story of a family sticking it out a story of people changing falling apart and coming together-- this movie is a tender gem--a beautiful thing---tony goldwin----dustin hoffman and everyone who contributed to it----- three cheers and thanks !!!!!!!! i needed that !

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is what movies SHOULD be
Review: In "A Walk on the Moon," Diane Lane and Liev Schrieber are fantastic as a moderately stodgy, 30-ish couple, whose placid, hobbit-like life together suddenly feels incredibly boring to Diane Lane. Her early mid-life crisis is pronouncedly exacerbated by the fact that she is experiencing it during the completely insane summer of 1969, right down the road from Woodstock. Due to this personal/marital crisis, she permits the advances of "the blouse man," a local travelling salesman (no smirks, please) to get bolder and bolder. She even starts initiating situations herself, which ineluctably lead to an illicit tryst, and then another, and another... This eventually blows up in her face, of course, and results in a very serious, intelligent look at a troubled marriage in troubled times, and makes the viewer think HARD about what they have in their lives that they feel lucky about, or ought to. There's also a nice little subplot about the daughter in the family coming of age, and how this dovetails with Diane Lane's own awakening.

I have to ask right off the bat -- why isn't Diane Lane better known? It makes no sense at all. I know a number of guys about my age (33) that have harbored a crush on her for decades, ever since "A Little Romance" in 1979. Any directors or producers out there -- what gives?!?! Keep her working! It's nice that director Tony Goldwyn took notice of her -- I believe he got his own acting start as one of Jason's victims in "Friday the 13th, Part 6," so I imagine he must have a pretty well-developed sympathy gland, for fellow struggling thespians. Anyway, she's beautiful, highly gifted in her ability to communicate with gestures, and an able imitator of accents. I'm not sure what it is about her that makes her so hard to forget, visually -- she has an ability to simultaneously look shrewd and kind. That could be it. Hollywood being what it is, that shrewd look might be what gets her in trouble. She LOOKS very intelligent. Not that there aren't plenty of highly intelligent actresses out there, but intelligence isn't always one of the very first things you think of when you see them. It just doesn't lend itself to playing starry-eyes ingenues. Actually, I remember seeing in a movie once that there are three ages for actresses in Hollywood -- 1.)Babe, 2.)District Attorney, and 3.)Driving Miss Daisy. Diane Lane has one foot in each of the first two of those stages. Let's hope she sees more work.

Okay, enough gushing. Liev Shrieber is really terrific too, as the beleaguered husband Marty. I first saw Liev on film as a psychotic cop who gets possessed by a sort of demonic oil slick (yes, I'm serious) in an adaptation of a Dean Koontz book, "Phantoms" -- so, I wasn't expecting much here. I was very pleasantly surprised, however -- the man has range. Marty is a believable, likeable, well-developed character. Let's hope Liev keeps working, too... The supporting cast is solid as well -- Viggo Mortensen is pretty cool as a sort of free-wheeling 60s guy, who looks like a Doobie Brother who took an unfortunate career detour into apparel sales. He has a better role than you might expect -- more complex. He's a human being, not just an excuse for Diane Lane to run amok for a few weeks... Anna Paquin is terrific too -- I'm pretty sure she won an Oscar when she was about 10 or 11, so perhaps competence is not so startling coming from her.

Anyway, this is just a really nice, mature movie all around. Two thumbs up.


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