Cinderella Man (Full Screen Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Ron Howard
Actors: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Paddy Considine
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy Used: $1.36
You Save: $11.62 (90%)
New (68) Used (78) Collectible (2) from $1.36
Rating:  294 reviews
Sales Rank: 13301
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 145
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: D25839D
ISBN: 1417018445
UPC: 025192583926
EAN: 9781417018444
ASIN: B000ARTN3S
Theatrical Release Date: June 3, 2005
Release Date: December 6, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Cinderella Man is a wholesome slice of old-fashioned Americana, offering welcomed relief from the shallowness of many summer blockbusters. In dramatizing the legendary Depression-era comeback of impoverished boxer Jim Braddock, director Ron Howard benefits from another superb collaboration with his A Beautiful Mind star Russell Crowe, whose portrayal of Braddock is simultaneously warm, noble, and tenacious without resorting to even the slightest hint of sentimental melodrama. The desperate struggle of the Depression is more keenly felt here than it was in Seabiscuit, and Howard shows its economic impact in ways that strengthen the bonds between Braddock, his supportive wife (Renee Zellweger) and three young children, and his loyal manager (Paul Giamatti); all are forced to make sacrifices leading up to Braddock's title bout against heavyweight champion Max Baer (Craig Bierko) in one of greatest boxing matches in the history of the sport. Boasting the finest production design, cinematography and editing that Hollywood can offer, this is a feel-good film that never begs for your affection; it's just good, classical American filmmaking, brimming with qualities of decency and fortitude that have grown all too rare in the big-studio mainstream. --Jeff Shannon
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 289 more reviews...
 A magical "fairy tale" September 26, 2008
I must admit, I wasn't too happy when Dad came downstairs one night and made me turn this movie on instead of "Sense and Sensibility". I'd heard this was a good film, but I wasn't prepared for the story that I fell in love with. I hate to watch boxing, but this movie made it magical. Superb acting, great characters, funny lines, and good lessons made it a worthwhile watch. The only thing I didn't like was the language, which was plentiful, especially during the second half. Otherwise, I'll be watching "Cinderella Man" again.
 Mediocre at best September 10, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are numerous problems with this film, starting with Ron Howard's being a mediocrity. His camera work, his lack of understanding of story structure, and the dearth of poetry from his films, make him a younger, balder Steven Spielberg, because only Howard rival's Spielberg's cast iron stomach for indulging sentimental drivel, and this film, like his other projects with potential (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind), is totally castrated by Howard's inability to see life's variegations. The film that this most recalls are not fight films from that era, like Jimmy Cagney in City For Conquest nor Kirk Douglas in Champion, but Martin Scorsese's 1980 classic Raging Bull, about the life of ex-middleweight champion Jake La Motta. With one exception, where La Motta was undisciplined evil, Braddock (Russell Crowe) is shown as an All-American force for triumph over adversity. Yet, given that this tale is based in reality, the fact that it is rather unmoving, in comparison with Sylvester Stallone's 1976 film Rocky, says a lot of Howard's shortcomings as an artist, not the least of which are that the few fight scenes in the film are not nearly as good as those in the Scorsese film, although Howard does try to make the putative villain of the film, Heavyweight Champion Max Baer (Craig Bierko), look amazingly like Robert De Niro's La Motta.
Now, I am no stickler for historical accuracy when it comes to dramatizations, but there are limits that this film exceeds.... The problem, though, seems to have been entirely with the creatively bankrupt trio of Crowe, Howard, and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (who also butchered A Beautiful Mind), for in the DVD features, we get three commentary tracks, by Howard and Goldsman, which basically show how little Howard knows of narrative and how reliant he is on test screening audiences for what they like, rather than what is good (assuming he could even tell such), and how much he needs to schmooze his actors. The commentary by Goldsman shows how little of anything he has to say, but, the third track is from Cliff Hollingsworth, who knew many of the principals involved, as well the sport of boxing, and wrote the original treatment and screenplay of the film in 1995 then called The Cinderella Man, and he painstakingly details virtually every negative change the other three made to his script- not with bitterness, but the detachment of a man who's seen a living creation of his laying dead in a field. We find out that the scene of Baer finding out he was to fight Braddock was really in a restaurant, with a reporter, not in a hotel room where Baer was in a sexual threesome. What a bad man! We also find out that Braddock didn't return to his work as a stevedore the day after his first comeback fight. What a good man! I swear, that original film idea by Hollingsworth could have rivaled Raging Bull, because it seemed far more fact-based, realistic, and dramatic, with none of the tearjerker moments Howard swills in, such as the ridiculously mawkish sidestory of a fictional Braddock pal, Mike Wilson (Paddy Considine), who ends up crushed by the Depression. There is a pointless segment with Howard, and others involved in the film, sitting down to watch the last round of the Baer-Braddock fight with Norman Mailer, who pontificates and adds not a blessed thing of interest, save to stroke his ego. The other featurettes and trailers are standard issue, but I'd recommend the features just so you can hear Hollingsworth destroy the three people who destroyed his screenplay, although he does it so calmly and precisely that I doubt Howard nor the others listened to it. That Howard let the track be in the DVD has to be that he never listened to it, lest he would not have allowed Hollingsworth to detail his total lack of filmic comprehension.
Yet, the truth is that Cinderella Man is a mediocre film, with one dimensionalized caricatures all around, and is only saved from trash by good cinematography and the true and great aspects of a story that even a mawkmeister like Ron Howard couldn't destroy, such as wholly undermining the climactic final bout by breaking away to show a worried Mae wringing her hands and tear ducts. Let me think- what other great film scenarios could Howard ruin? How about Moby-Dick, where Ahab sees the whale is just an animal, and lets it roam the seas in peace? Or, maybe Howard could tackle War And Peace, but stick to just the Peace side? Oh, to be back with my dad, watching that sports trivia show, when the moment ruled, and the only thing after it all was memory, not regurgitated revisionism.
This movie is not about boxing August 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This movie is about how we coped with the so-called Great Depression. The frustration turned to anger turned to controlled violence within the ring striking out against the injustices and hurt, caused by the greed of a generation of money makers.....Sound familiar? This is an homage to my parents and to some of your grandparents. Their struggle, symbolized by fighting Jimmy Brodick, is what made us what we are today. Family and Faith above all however imperfect. Time to put the gloves back on brothers and sisters.....
 This is a wonderful movie, but.... July 21, 2008
...please don't believe any part of the portrayal of Max Baer in this film. I would have given this movie 5+++ stars (and I normally hate boxing movies!), but it loses at least one star due to the gross vilification of Mr. Baer.
The film pays well-deserved honor to Jim Braddock, a decent man who achieved so much after losing basically everything during the Great Depression. Awesome boxing sequences, and Oscar-worthy performances by Paul Giamatti and Russell Crowe, make this film a classic, one that is definitely worth seeing over and over again.
But in the name of fairness, after viewing this movie, take some time to research the REAL Max Baer, the "Livermore Larupper!", you will be inspired yet again by another great sports legend!
Damn Good Boxing Movie July 21, 2008
Top-notch stars, notable director, unlimited production dollars = good movie. The movie is a true-life story of a boxer overcoming all odds during the depression. The acting was great, as expected, but it felt like just another boxing movie, no twists -- no turns. We've already seen this story in Rockies 1 through 14. Although, I must add that the acting and production are MUCH better in this movie.
|
|
|
