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Romeo And Juliet (1996)
Released By: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment   Rating: PG-13   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Language: English
Official Website: http://www.romeoandjuliet.com/
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes
Published ID: 6707
UPC: 086162104213, 024543034650, 024543403623,
Plot: The classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy is updated by director Baz Luhrmann to a post-modern Verona Beach where swords are merely a brand of gun and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence. Longtime rivals in religion and business, the Montagues and the Capulets share a page from the Jets and Sharks of West Side Story when they form rival gangs. Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) is aloof toward the goings-on of his Montague cousins, but after he realizes that Juliet (Claire Danes) is a Capulet at the end of one very wild party, the enmity between the two clans becomes the root of his angst. He relies heavily -- and with serious consequences -- on his rebel gender-bender of a friend, Mercutio (Harold Perrineau Jr.), and Father (not Friar) Lawrence (Pete Postlethwaite) for protection and support. Romeo is, of course, exiled, and it looks like Juliet will be forced into an arranged marriage with the bland Paris (Paul Rudd). It ends, as Romeo and Juliet must, when Romeo hears a tragic piece of misinformation and brings his suicide wish to what was meant to be Juliet 's temporary tomb. This time, though, the turf and the weapon of choice have taken a turn toward the surreal. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Sorry, but its a crappy movie
Added 10/22/2009

The acting:good, but..the movie is just horrible. I can't believe my english teacher from last year would show this when we were doing Romeo and Juliet. anyway, it is a bad movie in my opinion.thats all i got to say.END-
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Dramatic Modernization of a Classic Art
Added 9/14/2009

Capulet versus Montague the struggle passed down and retold for centuries , in place of swords we find guns, words remain nearly identical. This is a piece of art at an exhilarating rate full of edgy scenes, eclipsed comedy, and camera work worthy of something odd but unique to itself. Fan of Romeo and Juliet or not there is much here to be appreciated.

Were you one to enjoy the plays? One to take in the shoe taps on a wooden stage and the constant pace of it all? The artistic freedom of liveliness and the reverberations of soft spoken voices thirst warmth into the darkest corners of the audience look about. It's all here in a different sense, no stage though a tight wrapped location. Actively alert acting, quick shot responses give life to a normally lifeless adaptation.

The story of supposed star crossed lovers has never been so well preserved by modernizing it adapts making it as much current as that of the original back in its day. Though much the tragedy has been spared for much later bouts of the film, it is not sparse on popping visuals and creative thinking to help this remain at a contemporary stand point for ages to come. Maybe when cars have all but disappeared, and guns are not our standard weapon will we need another remake.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Modern retelling of a classic
Added 8/13/2009

Modern actors replay the script of Shakespeare's immortal play. Set in a modern time, Romeo (DiCaprio) lives in a world where battle and killing is done with guns.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Love having my own updated R&J CD of Luhrmann's Version
Added 7/28/2009

Had an old video cassette recording of this updated "Romeo-Juliet" film, which I use to teach my 9th grade English classes for the required curriculum, but the old tape wore out and skipped and blipped, so I recently ordered the new CD, at a most reasonable price (which I can deduct for income taxes for school supplies I pay for myself yearly), and it arrived on a timely basis, in brand-new seal-wrapped conditon. Already showed it last week at the end of my summer school English 9 classes and it was fab, as always. I like the original Zefferelli (sic?) version, but love this one, too, with Leonardo, Claire, John, and the incredible actors playing Mercutio and Prince Escalus. I NEVER before really understood Mercutio's "Queen Mab" soliloquy until I saw this modern version and then it all hit me like a "crystal bullet to the brain" (was that Marlon speaking in "Apocalypse"? -- Did I get that quote right?). Anyhow, thanks, Amazon, for your always timely and affordable service, particularly where teachers are concerned. I'm your biggest fan! DeLana Beagle (:
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Two households, both alike in stupidity. . .
Added 7/11/2009

This was unforgivable.

Granted, I did not watch this movie of my own volition, but was shown it in my college classroom. I did not manage to sit through the movie in its entirety; that is how badly it upset me.

While I'll admit that watching Romeo almost be picked off by a sniper assuages some of my deep-seated feelings of hatred for the character, the modernization as a whole didn't do it for me. Of course, I don't like "Romeo and Juliet" the play as a matter of principle: when you're 13 or 14 years old and haven't known each other a day, you're not in love. Period. It's just supercharged lust fueled by raging hormones. I wanted to laugh and cry both at once when Prince's "When Doves Cry" came on. The music is everywhere, invasive, and manipulative. Also, acting advice: Claire Danes, you make *very* ugly sounds when you (pretend to) cry. And yes, I can tell you're pretending, because even *I* am a better actress than that.

"Romeo + Juliet," besides being modernized, also blends different types of music (from Mozart to Prince) indiscriminately. That combined with Luhrmann's tendency to change camera angles every three seconds would have made me sick enough, but the very end--when Romeo and Juliet both had killed themselves--ah, that nearly drove me mad. Not only does "Juliet" (Claire Danes--WTF?) shoot herself in the head instead of stabbing herself in the heart, but the *music* that comes on right after is the Verklarung--the transfiguration music from the end of Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde." That music is exceedingly poorly placed (it isn't about love at all, or suicide, or. . .), and it does not *belong* in so terrible a production as this. I'm still upset about it, but I've recovered. At least, I can use my legs again, have stopped crying and no longer feel the need to throw up.

I fully realize that the review above resembles nothing so much as a rant, but this movie absolutely deserves it. Though I don't much like the play, it deserves better than this. As does Shakespeare. Fortunately, I was not forced to buy this, though admittedly the catharsis I would have gotten from destroying the disc would have been considerable.

1 out of 5 people found this helpful.
Sorry, but its a crappy movie
Added 10/22/2009

The acting:good, but..the movie is just horrible. I can't believe my english teacher from last year would show this when we were doing Romeo and Juliet. anyway, it is a bad movie in my opinion.thats all i got to say.END-
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Dramatic Modernization of a Classic Art
Added 9/14/2009

Capulet versus Montague the struggle passed down and retold for centuries , in place of swords we find guns, words remain nearly identical. This is a piece of art at an exhilarating rate full of edgy scenes, eclipsed comedy, and camera work worthy of something odd but unique to itself. Fan of Romeo and Juliet or not there is much here to be appreciated.

Were you one to enjoy the plays? One to take in the shoe taps on a wooden stage and the constant pace of it all? The artistic freedom of liveliness and the reverberations of soft spoken voices thirst warmth into the darkest corners of the audience look about. It's all here in a different sense, no stage though a tight wrapped location. Actively alert acting, quick shot responses give life to a normally lifeless adaptation.

The story of supposed star crossed lovers has never been so well preserved by modernizing it adapts making it as much current as that of the original back in its day. Though much the tragedy has been spared for much later bouts of the film, it is not sparse on popping visuals and creative thinking to help this remain at a contemporary stand point for ages to come. Maybe when cars have all but disappeared, and guns are not our standard weapon will we need another remake.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Modern retelling of a classic
Added 8/13/2009

Modern actors replay the script of Shakespeare's immortal play. Set in a modern time, Romeo (DiCaprio) lives in a world where battle and killing is done with guns.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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