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Cth's
DVD Buys
or
If This Is Your First Night At Grayhaven, You Have To Write
or
Fuck Martha Stewart!
by Cth (cth@clickcom.com)
This
Weeks DVD selections were brought to you by:
The letter "F" and the number "5"
Fight
Club
Cover
5/5 (Eye catching; Unique;
Excellent shelf presence)
Direction/Story
5/5 (Flows well; faithful to
the novel; CGI blends in well)
DVD Layout
5/5 (Easy to find packed with extras; Animated menus, Nice intro loop
sequence)
Extras
5/5 (Commentaries galore; easter eggs; behind the scenes; etc)
OVERALL
5/5 (MUST HAVE; Worth more than you pay for it; Showcase CD)
COVER
Simplistic design, but very eyecatching.
The interior artwork design also shows a great eye for commerical art..
kinda funny in a way considering the message of the movie.
The Photos on the DVDs and their respective holders make sense
considering the events of the movie.. In other words, the entire disc
presentation shows a lot of thought was put into this set.
DIRECTION
David Fincher is known for making some *DARK* films.
This movie is no exception. You
can almost forgive him for Alien^3 in a way.
From the commentary track to the film itself, it's obvious he has his own
vision, and knows what makes a film work. Compare
this with his other films Seven, Alien^3, and The Game.
Fincher has come a long way from making music videos, but hasn't
forgotten his roots and brings a visual style to each film that blows you away.
STORY
The Narrator (or Jack as has been suggested for a name) has a
problem with insomnia. The only way
he seems to be able to cure it, is by attending support group meetings.
Quickly he becomes addicted to being the center of attention, until Marla
shows up. Marla also like attending
support group meetings for diseases she doesn't have. Once
again, Jack cannot sleep. Then one
day, on his way to inspect a car for faulty design flaws, he meets a soap
salesman named Tyler Durden. His
life slowly falls apart when his luggage is lost, and his apartment blown up. He calls Tyler and meets him for some beers at the local bar.
Tyler agrees to let Jack stay, if he does one thing.
Hitting him as hard as he can. And
thus, begins Fight Club. Each week,
it grows larger and larger until Tyler changes the rules.
He assigns homework to everyone guaranteeing chaos around the city.
Tyler is building an army and the city isn't happy about it.
So Tyler declares war on everyone else.
Jack sees things spinning out of control and tries to stop it only to
make a startling self discovery. With
this knowledge, he goes to confront Tyler and stop him from blowing up credit
card companies.
LAYOUT
Excellent intro loop conveys the mood of the film well.
Eclectic. Sections are
organized well, and it's not to hard to find the Easter eggs.
EXTRAS
TONS of commentary tracks, all of which are noteworthy.
The author and screenwriter tell the origins of scenes and offer insight
into how the adaptation process works. Pitt/Norton/Fincher/Carter's
track was pretty insightful, full of hidden "Did you notice" type
things.. It's one of those where
you can tell they had fun making the movie and watching it again. There's also a DVD player/THX testing section that makes the
price of the movie even better. There's
storyboards, there's still shots, there's multiple angles, multiple languages..
Basically, everything DVD can offer, is on these 2 DVDs.
DON'T
MISS
The excellent commentary track by Fincher, Pitt, Norton, and
Carter. Actually, ALL of the
commentary tracks are well worth it. Also,
for fun, check out the Public Service Announcement spots, and imagine what fun
it'd be to see them in the movie theater.
FINAL
WORD
Copyright©2000 Cth