Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

...it comes to sleaze. Bringing Out the Dead is probably more explicit in its portrayal of the drugs, violence and prostitution which are unavoidable for Frank Pearce in his line of work. Despite this you never feel that the sleaze is there for the sake of it, as with 'Taxi Driver' it is an integral tool in setting the tone and direction of the movie. Structurally the film works very well. It is principally marked by three distinct sections, where ...
...Arquette break these up nicely, as do the scenes where Scorcese himself pops up as the harrased 'Captain Barney', the stereotypical New Yorker who feels that everyone is 'bustin' his balls'. The soundtrack also serves to up the adrenalin throughout, featuring everything from moody jazz through REM, with a little bit of classic British punk in between. John Goodman is the first we see riding the 'mean streets' with Cage. He convincingly plays a ...

mabaker 01.08.2001 (02.08.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Faced with a list of ntl’s front-row movies last night I scanned through for something good. All the good ones appear to have been seen so I started looking at “tier 2” movies. I checked out their ratings on the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.org) for some clues. Astonishingly “Bringing out the Dead” scored a healthy 7/10. So I chose that. Big mistake. This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. I’m not ...
...No, I’m talking about an incredibly long, tedious, slow, boring film, with no plot. There really is no plot as such. No beginning, middle or end. Just Nicholas Cage looking liked death-warmed-up in various stages. He isn’t bad in the role but he does seem to be an actor in the Lloyd Bridges mould. He will do ANY film for money. You only have to look at his film list to spot some other turkeys. (60 sec’s etc). The film is about Mr ...

marc_ely 11.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Nicholas Cage films are always good, he is an excellent actor that appears in excellent films. However, although Cage's acting in the movie is great, there is no plot. The movie centres on a weekend in New York and follows Cage around in his paramedic duties. That is it, there is a lose plot around a heart attack victim, a loony, a drunk and a drugs gang, but not enough to involve you. The movie does portray the dark side to New York well and the ...
...needed a plot to bring it to life. It is dark, depressing and had potential, but a loose plot and little real "people" interest meant that a good idea became a totally unabsorbing film, that even Cage could not rescue. In fact the best thing about the movie is its soundtrack. ...

KingHerrod 16.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

...through New York are excellent. Bringing out the Dead is a very gritty and disturbing portrayal of the dark side of New York yet there is humour in the story. Admittedly it's a very dark humour but it's there. There is not a conventional plot line as such and a film like this really needs a good ending to finish it off. Fortunately the ending finishes off the film nicely with a surprisingly upbeat ending. The DVD has a fascinating 10-minute featurette, ...
...that it's based on true-life stories that happened to the writer of the novel that the film was based on Joe Connelly. Bringing out the Dead isn't going to appeal to everyone. If you’re a fan of films slightly off the beaten track then you will enjoy this. ...

buddy_holly 03.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Bringing out the Dead is the kind of film that you would only want to watch once. And although I can't say that Bringing Out the Dead is one of Scorcese's best films, the film still presents an interesting perspective on Paramedics and the work that they do. The main reason why I was interested in watching the movie in the first place was because of the fact that Nicolas Cage was in it, and he's not such a bad actor. The other reason was because ...
...his reputation of being a great director and all, and he really is. But the movie itself just isn't interesting. It's as though you're watching a documentary about a paramedic's job and the problems that they encounter, both physically and mentally as well. The film's plot, if you can call it a plot, was basically following the life of a paramedic for a few days, documenting what how he feels about the patients that "he loses" and how the job is ...

CatFood 19.12.2000 · Read full review
Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Sorry, I like Cage and Scorsese but this film was awful. The story just seemed to drag on, it was like having to watch dry paint dry even further. My girlfriend and I switched over to The News halfway, had a good laugh and then went back to the misery of the film. I saw the black-comedy elements a couple of times but not enough to save the film. John Goodman was good. He tried to lighten the heavy load but Cage's character just kept dragging it ...

soupspoon 26.07.2000 · Read full review
Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Last night we watched this Martin Scorsese directed film, starring Nicholas Cage and Patricia Arquette. I have not been a Nicholas Cage fan for long, and must admit that his more recent films are more enjoyable to watch than his earlier stuff (Raising Arizona, for instance). Cage plays an ambulance driver who is haunted by the death of one of his patients. It was a young girl and he made a mistake, and she died. While driving through the streets ...
...That is basically the story. It's quite a hard film to follow so you have to pay attention. In between his hauntings, the film is filled with some very comical moments as well as moments where you have to feel sorry for the patients. Arquette comes into the film as the daughter of a heart attack victim, and on his trips to the hospital to take new patients he constantly bumps into her. As her family have not signed a 'do not resuscitate form, they ...

carolinesite 11.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Bringing Out The Dead" is the latest from one of the masters of the cinema, Martin Scorsese, and this movie shows him at the top of his form, never lacking energy, style and brilliance. I've admired some of his attempts to break away from his mean streets rep with good films like "Kundun," but the mean streets of New York is his place and never does he fail in "Bringing Out The Dead" to show them in their rage and dark truths. The screenplay by Paul ...
...and complex, with great characters and situations. He gives just enough time to each character and non is wasted. Tom Sizemore is especially good as a blood thirsty paramedic. But the best performance here is by the lead, Nicolas Cage, who lets us feel his character's sadness and need for rest, for peace. Schrader's screenplay is sometimes darkly poetic and Scorsese brings it to the screen with pure energy. The movie is never boring, but never dumb ...

ros145 12.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

This has to be the strangest film I have ever seen. Basically the story of a paramedic (Nicolas Cage) having a crisis. I watched the film for the two hours and although it was amusing, and kept your attention, I couldn’t honestly describe the story to you. There are amusing scenes and no doubt, some of the dialogue will appeal to those in the health professions as “things I’ve really wanted to say to a patient”. But when I came out of the cinema ...

pabdesign 18.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

I could not help but like this film, and needed to watch it again and again in order to fully appreciate it. It centres around a tired and despressed ambulance driver, Nicholas Cage, who appears to be seeking the impossible. A very clostrophobic and immersive piece, which holds audience attention through nothing more than confusion and escapism. The story line is very difficult to identify. Cage meets various different people and has a number of ...
...his problems, and we see that he is seeking a realease of some kind. And this release is certainly not easy to achieve. His aim is simple, to save lives, and he is unable to function normally unless this goal is fulfilled on a regular basis. Direction comes from the renowned Martin Scorsese, who somehow manages to create a viewing environment unlike no other. There is never comfort, and nothing can be sure. As we see images fading in and out of ...

sharrison3381 21.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

I rented Bringing out the Dead, on an offchance for entertainment. I like Nicolas Cage and Martin Scorsese, thought it might be okay. It was better than okay it was brilliant. Its about a weekend in the life of an ambulance driver (Cage), who is becoming disenchanted with his job and seeing the ghosts of the people he couldn't save. It sounds scary but its not, its a black comedy. Cage is partnered by John Goodman and Ving Rhames (who takes a while ...
...put in good performances. The story is interesting and different from most of the usual stuff you see on screen. It looks good and the story keeps you laughing and entertained for the whole film. A bonus alongside is the soundtrack, some really good songs, that don't interfere with the movie. The only bad thing about this film was that it finished. I would most certainly recommend it to anyone. I never realised being an ambulence driver could be ...

nzpostie 26.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Martin Scorsese's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD was released in 1999 to the lurking pimp-scurrying possibility of being the sequel to his magnum opus TAXI DRIVER; but how much of this is true, how much does the film live up to its grand expectations? New York City, it's dirty with prostitution, filthy with pimps, rotten to the core with guns, depraved with drugs, awash with alcohol, junkies and homeless lunatics, with violence and sleaze oozing out of every ...
...end. A comparison between BRINGING OUT THE DEAD and TAXI DRIVER is, of course, to be expected from this nightmarish (if somewhat sparse) synopsis and the pairing, once again, of Scorsese and TAXI DRIVER writer Paul Schrader; however in reality the difference between the two intense films is as wide and gaping as TAXI DRIVER and THE WIZARD OF OZ, except the latter two are masterpieces in their own right and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD a monotonous exercise ...

Charles_Strickland 07.01.2007 (10.01.2007) · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Scorcese's Bringing out the dead comes as a breath of fresh air against a background of American "gross out" drivel and convoluted cockney gangster rubbish. The film is brilliantly shot, the sleazy environs of the hospital hark back to the streets Travis Bickle wanted to sweep the scum off. In many ways Cage's character is similar to De Niro's in taxi driver. Both characters feel the desparation of the city a little too deeply, while others just ...
...law into their own hands. Although the ambulanceman's act of euthanasia is a little less dramatic than Bickle's purge of the pimps, the suspense sustained throughout the film meant that Cage's actions came across as no less momentous. The ambulanceman's story alone would not be sufficient to sustain the audience's interest and therefore the script is embellished with some very funny one liners and some very amusing characters (or possibly charicatures). ...

doctor_gonzo 26.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Nick Cage is a paramedic in New York who is suffering from delusions and depression ever since he failed to save a teenage girl called Rose. He keeps seeing her everywhere he goes, he thinks he's lost the gift of saving someone's life. The film is incredible. Martin Scorcese does an amazing job of putting you inside the head of a paramedic. It's disturbing in parts, but it is a black comedy when it comes down to it. There are parts which are hilarious ...

kenigma 19.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

...carry a film, and this one was no exception. The good sound track does enhance this movie somewhat, but still at the end of the day the film as a whole did not deliver. Bringing out the dead - there really is nothing special about this one. Wemstalker ...

wemstalker 27.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)