Warner Bros. Catalog # B0002CTSUY Release Year August 24, 2004 DVD Length 111 Mins. Date/Venue Purple Rain 20th Anniversary Movie 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Source NTSC Menu YES Quality EX++ |
DVD1
Purple Rain Movie (Audio
Commentary with Director Albert Magnoli, Producer Robert Cavallo and
Cinematographer Donald E. Thorin)
DVD2
First Avenue: The Road to Pop
Royalty /
Purple Rain: Backstage Pass /
Riffs, Ruffles and a Revolution: The Impact and Influence of Purple Rain /
1984 MTV Premiere Party / Music Videos:
Let's go Crazy - Prince / Take me with u - Prince /
When Doves Cry - Prince /
I Would Die 4 U-Baby I'm a Star - Prince /
Purple Rain - Prince /
Jungle Love - The Time /
The Bird - The Time /
Sex Shooter - Apollonia 6 /
Theatrical Trailer : Purple Rain, Graffiti Bridge and Under the Cherry Moon
Comments
Mike's Comments(rates this release
5.0/5.0)
This is without doubt
the best rock'n'roll movie ever made.The 20th Anniversary edition looks
excellent thanks to the digital remaster. The nightclub scenes are just
brilliant, absolutely capturing the essence of a time when musicians could
be daring and odd and still be loved for it. Check out some of the hairstyles and clothes of the audience members.
The story-line is fairly auto-biographical, we all know that, and it's a
fairly simple 'kid from messed-up family
wants to break free thru his music' type scenario, but it's lack of a
complex plot is more than made up for in the
'live' performances throughout the film. These bits capture Prince at
possibly his most vibrant, electrifying and
vital best. He engages both his audiences, us and the film one, through his
performances, some of which are so
damn foxy it hurts. The Darlin' Nikki bit anyone?
There are some real tender scenes as well, I love the bit where he's talking through the puppet thing, and also
some of the family scenes with his mom and the tragically sad story of his
father. It's in these scenes we really see Prince's acting abilities, which
through the rest of the film, it has to be said aren't always evident.
The love story is a little flat, but I believe that's due to Apollonia not
Prince. She's a little staged and it
doesn't seem she could let herself go completely with him, even though they
were lovers in real life I think?
Morris Day is quite a comic talent, and along with Jerome Benton, their
scenes are of a fairly good
comic/slap-stick standard.
The extras on this version are most interesting too. Particularly the 3
documentaries, First Avenue;The Road to Pop
Royalty, Purple Rain; Backstage Pass and Riffs, Ruffles and a Revolution;
The Impact and Influence of Purple Rain.
Really good stuff on those. But was there really any need to stick on the
awful footage of the MTV Premiere Party!
Watch this once, and then never again!
Also includes 8 great videos, one of which is the Vanity 6 all-time
'classic' Sex Shooter! This is a vast
improvement on the bare bones FULLSCREEN version of PURPLE RAIN out there.
Go ahead and trade those in! This is the real deal. Prince has never
been more electric.
Comments(rates this release
3.5/5.0)
Purple Rain was
the film that launched Prince into superstardom. Before
that, he was merely a talented musician who was starting to
gain a mainstream following with hits like "1999" and
"Little Red Corvette," but he was the lesser-known
competition to Michael Jackson.
So Prince decided it was time to mark his arrival as a star
in a big way, and what better way to do that than a
semi-autobiographical big screen star vehicle? Some thought
the idea was crazy but, as it turns out, in addition to
being a phenomenally talented musician, Prince was also
quite the shrewd businessman. Purple Rain went on to
become the most successful music-oriented movie ever made
and the soundtrack spent months high atop the Billboard
charts.
Now, debate has raged on for years between the Prince
faithful and the casual observer as to whether Purple
Rain is actually a good film. In my opinion, as a very
big Prince fan myself, I can say that, as far as an overall
film goes, it is a good film in that guilty pleasure sense
of "good."
Certainly, it's not a great film. The musical performances
are among the most enthralling, incredible performances ever
captured on film. Prince is a masterful performer and when
he is on the stage, he quite simply owns that stage. No one
comes close.
As an actor, however, Prince leaves something to be desired.
He's a bit hard to take seriously, especially in that metal
studded purple coat he wears throughout most of the film.
Still, Purple Rain alone tops anything Madonna ever
did in the mega-pop star-turned-thespian category.
When taken with a grain of salt as a guilty pleasure, Purple Rain is a really fun film to watch. Sure, the
hairstyles, make-up and dress are a bit dated, but that's
part of the fun. There are also a few scenes that just seem
so out of place to the film and to Prince's character in
particular.
When Apollonia (man, what happened to her?) tells Prince
that she is joining Morris Day's band, he savagely smacks
her with a backhand. She falls against a dresser and, only a
few seconds later, is back in Prince's arms. The intent of
this scene is to draw a parallel between himself and his
father, whose musical ambitions were never realized and who
often took out his pain on his own wife, but it just plain
doesn't work.
Ratings Review:
The Movie 3.5 Still a great if somewhat guilty pleasure, Princes on-stage performances are spectacular even if his acting leaves quite a bit to be desired. | |
The Video 3.0 Pretty grainy and lacking in sharpness of color and detail. Could have been better. | |
The Audio 3.5 A nice update but probably not as enveloping as it could have been. | |
The Extras 4.0 It would have been nice to hear Princes thoughts on the film and some deleted scences, but this is still a nice collection of extras. | |
OVERALL 3.5 (out of 5.0) |
Copyright 2008 UG2P