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Way to go Universal for triple-dipping on this one! Do you think they'll finally get it right on this one?

From DVDAnswers:

Universal has announced an ultimate edition of the Brian De Palma directed Carlito's Way which stars Al Pacino and Sean Penn. The disc will be available to own from the 20th September this year, and should retail at around $22.98. The film itself will be presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with both English DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. Extras will include a Brian De Palma on Carlito's Way featurette, deleted scenes, a Making of Carlito's Way featurette, a photo and poster gallery, an original promotional featurette, and the theatrical trailer.

Does this have a reason to exist other than to promote the P. Diddy prequel?

Oh Jesus! You got to be kidding. What is it with rappers and their fucking obsession with Al Pacino's gangter flicks? If is not Scarface then it is Carlito's Way. Now even the imbecile reggeton rappers here in Puerto Rico have the same interest in Tony Montana. And now P Diddy or Puff Daddy or whatever the hell he calls himself is a movie maker?

There has to be a website out there that chronicles all the references there are in hip-hop to SCARFACE. From album covers to names to.... hell, I'm willing to count the band-aid under Nelly's eye as a reference.

It's not a great movie, but I love the monologue that John Turturro gives in Spike Lee's SHE HATE ME about rappers trying to be gangster. It's pretty funny.

As for Carlito, I actually prefer this film over Scarface. It's very effective and I think it says more than Scarface, which at times becomes too out of control for even my standards. Still, I already own the Carlito DVD and I don't feel like double-dipping on this one.

JusteLeblanc wrote:...Scarface, which at times becomes too out of control for even my standards.

... which makes it one of the better exercises in the idea of excess, with form and content trying to one-up one another like some grand display of masculine pride run amok.

Unfortunately Scarface has become one of those cases of "it's not the band I hate, it's their fans".

JusteLeblanc wrote:As for Carlito, I actually prefer this film over Scarface. It's very effective and I think it says more than Scarface, which at times becomes too out of control for even my standards. Still, I already own the Carlito DVD and I don't feel like double-dipping on this one.

I'd have Andre Jurieu that Scarface's excessive content and style is sort of the point. It embodies the best and worst of the American dream in Oliver Stone's trademark over-the-top style.

That being said, I really do dig Carlito's Way especially for Sean Penn's formidable performance as a coked-up lawyer. He makes the move for me.

I love Carlito's Way (more than Scarface which I have to admit I enjoy more in a campy sort of way -- and I don't really consider that a knock against it, since it is supposed to be very excessive in everything), but never did buy it so with this release maybe it's about time, especially considering the shitty full screen framing on my VHS tape (ugh, whoever thought actually compressing the widescreen shot down so everything looked squished was a good idea!?) Or should I wait for the fifth or seventh release?

"it's not the band I hate, it's their fans"

You don't have to coax me into saying that I enjoy both "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way". But I can see how that lyric applies.

This is somewhat-related but I'd like to see a list of directors alive today who haven't done a DVD commentary. DePalma, Spielberg, Lynch, The Coen Brothers, and The Wachowski's are the first that come to mind. BTW, I own neither Scarface or Carlito's Way, but hopefully I might get them both now. Especially good now knowing the Carlito's Way UE is coming out.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:This is somewhat-related but I'd like to see a list of directors alive today who haven't done a DVD commentary. DePalma, Spielberg, Lynch, The Coen Brothers, and The Wachowski's are the first that come to mind. BTW, I own neither Scarface or Carlito's Way, but hopefully I might get them both now. Especially good now knowing the Carlito's Way UE is coming out.

The Wachowski's did a commentary for Bound...

flyonthewall2983 wrote:I'd like to see a list of directors alive today who haven't done a DVD commentary. DePalma, Spielberg, Lynch, The Coen Brothers, and The Wachowski's are the first that come to mind.

The brothers Coen did a commentary on The Man Who Wasn't There for the french 3-disc edition.

AFAIK, Woody Allen never did a commentary and insisted on bare bones editions (not that MGM has a problem with this ...)

I find it intriguing that the Coens usually excell in the documentary featurette department (imparting interesting info and generally playing along with the spirit of the thing), but their commentaries sound for all the world like the audio portion of a hostage tape.

And you can put me down as a fan of both films, too. I'm a total Pacino whore. He's one of those people who is interesting even when he's at less than 100%.

thomega wrote:

flyonthewall2983 wrote:I'd like to see a list of directors alive today who haven't done a DVD commentary. DePalma, Spielberg, Lynch, The Coen Brothers, and The Wachowski's are the first that come to mind.

The brothers Coen did a commentary on The Man Who Wasn't There for the french 3-disc edition.

AFAIK, Woody Allen never did a commentary and insisted on bare bones editions (not that MGM has a problem with this ...)

I don't really mean to sidetrack this thread (maybe we should start a new one), but I had never heard of this 3-disc French edition of TMWWT. It's one of my favorite films. What's on it? Worth getting?

The Coen Brothers also did a commentary for the Alliance Atlantis 1-disc release of The Man Who Wasn't There, which I had assumed was just a port of the American release of this film.

U.S. disc also has a commentary by the Coens.

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1847

That being said, I really do dig Carlito's Way especially for Sean Penn's formidable performance as a coked-up lawyer. He makes the move for me.

He seems to do coked-up pretty good (check out The Game and especially Hurlyburly). Maybe too good... :-s

jorencain wrote:
I don't really mean to sidetrack this thread (maybe we should start a new one), but I had never heard of this 3-disc French edition of TMWWT. It's one of my favorite films. What's on it? Worth getting?

And does it have the color print?

Polybius wrote:

jorencain wrote:
I don't really mean to sidetrack this thread (maybe we should start a new one), but I had never heard of this 3-disc French edition of TMWWT. It's one of my favorite films. What's on it? Worth getting?

And does it have the color print?

Yeah, I believe it does.

Part of me would like to see that and another part would like to kick that first part in his ass.

It's a quandry.

Polybius wrote:Part of me would like to see that and another part would like to kick that first part in his ass.

You're not missing much (IMHO, of course). The colors are extremely desaturated and appear to add nothing to the picture, besides spoiling the b/w photography. Caveat: I haven't watched the color print in full yet.

Finally caught up to this while making my way through the 90s List backlog (whoops) and thought it was quite good. If nothing else, DePalma's novelty and wit run circles around Scorsese's overpraised pair of nineties gangster films. DePalma even manages to use popular music in a way which benefits the film, something I wish Scorsese could figure out (Not holding my breath). A handful of brilliant set pieces and sequences overcome the inherent weaknesses of the more bizarre choices (Sean Penn's hair, Pacino's "accent," Penelope Ann Miller's Penelope Ann Miller) and DePalma keeps everything moving along very pleasantly. Regardless, Cahiers was, of course, still crazy to name this the best film of the nineties.

Yes, we all know that was Showgirls!

A handful of brilliant set pieces and sequences overcome the inherent weaknesses of the more bizarre choices

Interesting that you put it this way since I would describe the previous film, Raising Cain, as a De Palma film that doesn't quite manage to overcome its bizarre choices.

I really like Carlito's Way, and for me it is De Palma's best 90s film. It also makes a good contrast to Scarface: both characters have an obsession with possessing/protecting dream women; while one character creates their own dream world that becomes a nightmare in the present, the other is trapped in the past and by people who will not let them forget previous deeds and reputation; while Scarface is bombastic and superficial with the fakeness eventually trapping the overly self assured main character, Carlito's Way is just as much a fantasy but instead it is a melancholic flashback from the mind of a dying man (turning the crooning of You Are So Beautiful over the peeping tom scene of Penelope Ann Miller in the window from something sickly sweet with worrying undertones into a brief glimpse of unattainable happiness, so small and ephemeral that it makes Carlito into even more of a pitiable figure that this should be one of his few moments of happiness in the film that do not involve killing double-crossers).

I like the way the mise en scene starts to constrict itself around the characters as everything inevitably collapses. Once we get to the point where all that is left is to try and make a getaway, we get to those fantastic long fluid takes that link the chasers and the chased together with no chance even of escaping into another shot without being followed, while the dream girl is always isolated in her own frame!

I've always loved Carlito's Way-- saw it in the cinema, bought it on VHS when it came out, etc.. I still think that this and Donny Brasco (a film with tons of problems despite Pacino's bighearted performance) are the last two performances of his somewhere in the ballpark between Very Good and Great. It shows that it is Pacino-- vs DeNiro-- who has managed to hold onto himself, and his core vitality, that is based so much on his roots , that made him who and what he is in the world. DeNiro hasn't been able to say such a thing for a long time.

I thought Al's NewYorican (or Nuyorican, as the poet's cafe spells it) accent has some problems, but once you get past it, the film really gets you and keeps you. I also think it features an incredible performance by Sean Penn. It's one of his most ambitious performances, right up there with his early great stuff like The Falcon & The Snowman (love that film).

Rhapsody For An Old School Barrio Boy should be the subtitle. The film really captures the feel of that whole 116th Street area. Interesting trivia-- the elevated Harlem-Hudson tracks under which meets his old partner-in-junk Rolando, is that same Park Avenue intersection where approx 20 years earlier Lumet filmed The Pawnbroker with Rod Steiger.

I think the use of the music in the film is absolutely excellent. My favorite is the poolplaying scene before the ambush of his nephew by the C suppliers, to the sounds of the majesterial El Watusi by Ray "Hard Hands" Barretto. But there's a lot to love in the film-- I get sucked into it so much, via so much going on there happening during the time and place of my growing up, that I don't even pay attention to the filmmaking style. It's just a very good film that I love watching.

Man... and I thought with the reemergence of this thread meant a new edition of "Carlito's Way" from Universal.....

HerrSchreck wrote:I also think it features an incredible performance by Sean Penn. It's one of his most ambitious performances, right up there with his early great stuff like The Falcon & The Snowman (love that film).

It's all the more impressive considering that he took this on in order to finance The Crossing Guard (if I remember correctly). I love this film as well (for me, it's a three-way tie between this one, The Insider and The Big Lebowski as the best US film of the 90s) and another performance that stuck with me was Viggo Mortensen's supporting turn mainly because it was very much against type. Penelope Ann Miller wasn't great, granted, but the reunion at the diner was, for me, one of the highlights of the film and extremely touching.

HerrSchreck wrote:I've always loved Carlito's Way-- saw it in the cinema, bought it on VHS when it came out, etc.. I still think that this and Donny Brasco (a film with tons of problems despite Pacino's bighearted performance) are the last two performances of his somewhere in the ballpark between Very Good and Great. It shows that it is Pacino-- vs DeNiro-- who has managed to hold onto himself, and his core vitality, that is based so much on his roots , that made him who and what he is in the world. DeNiro hasn't been able to say such a thing for a long time.

I couldn't agree more with this. It's always bugged me that DeNiro monopolized the "greatest actor of his generation" mantle, especially since he became a parody of himself quite early in his career. I think part of the reason for this is that DeNiro had a persona to fall back on early on, whereas it seems Pacino didn't really have a schtick until his "GREAT ASS!!!" shouting style really took hold in the mid-nineties. And there must be some anxiety on Pacino's part about being seen as inferior to DeNiro, forcing him to keep up his game. Tracing their careers would make a fascinating book, and in my more ambitious moments, I try to outline a book about the major male stars of that generation: DeNiro, Pacino, Hoffman, Nicholson, and Beatty.