Movies-TV

Great film- sound is very disappointing

This is one of the great films of the 90's. VERY DISAPPOINTED in the sound quality. Dolby surround but it sounds muddy and out of synch. Is anybody else disappointed> Alan Parker never should have let this out in "pan and scan"- Please.

WARNING! NOT LETTERBOX!

GREAT FILM! One of my favorites. BUT, despite the fact that it's advertised as being presented in "Widescreen" it is not! Unfortunately this DVD is a PAN and SCAN version - VERY DISAPPOINTING! Come on FOX get with the program, these are DVD's not VHS! The film gets "5" stars, the Pan n' Scan video gets "1". =(

Great movie, not widescreen.

Even though it is advertised above as being widescreen, this film is, unfortunately, presented in pan & scan, which is a real bummer. In fact, the fact that it's pan and scan is the first thing listed on the bonus features. Some bonus feature. Come on, Fox, get on the ball.

Roddy Doyle's modern Irish classic

Quite simply, this is one of my all-time favorite films. Based on the first book of Roddy Doyle's Dublin trilogy, The Commitments is more than a story of a bunch of Irish kids forming a soul band. From the harsh realities of poverty to the power of the Irish spirit, this movie is a portrait of life in working class Dublin, and is true to Doyle's book in every way. It is raw and irreverant, extremely funny but also poignant. One of the remarkable aspects of this film is the cast of virtual unknowns - all actually Irish, thank goodness. Andrew Strong, who plays the lead singer, was only about 16 when the movie was filmed, and he did his own vocals. In fact, the cast is extremely musically talented and appears on two very good soundtrack volumes. The one familiar face belongs to veteran actor Colm Meaney (Miles O'Brien on Star Trek TNG/DS9). Meaney also appears in the two other films from the trilogy, The Snapper and The Van. Rent them all and have an Irish film festival! If you want to be entertained with great soul music while being magically whisked away to Dublin, by all means buy this video so you can watch it over and over again.

One of the very best movies of its type!

I have seen this film many times, and I'd like to echo the sentiments of the previous reviewers! This film is not to be missed, first for the outstanding Soul Music classics like "Treat Her Right", "Too Many fish In The Sea", "Chain Of Fools", "The Dark End Of The Street" and many more, and secondly, for the great performances by all involved! For fans of the film, you can see Angeline Ball(Imelda) and Maria Doyle Kennedy(Natalie) in "The General", with Brendan Gleeson. Also, Johnny Murphy (Joey "The Lips"), appears in "I Went Down", currently in video release. Check out Colm Meany in the other Roddy Doyle adaptations, "The Snapper", and "The Van", but don't expect them to exhiliarate you like "The Commitments"...they won't, although Meany is fine in them. Almost forgot...Bronagh Gallagher(Bernie), appears in "Star Wars Episode I...The Phantom Menace!

A TRUE 5-star film

After seeing "The Commitments," I now know what soul is. A very humorous and entertaining story about a gaggle of unsophisticated Dubliners who attempt to "make it." Although the cast members are relatively unknown, they are all real musicians. And their on-stage performances--WOW! Check it out for a guaranteed good time.

great !

This is a Roddy Doyle story of young working class Dubliners who form a soul band. All unknown faces, but excellent performances. Here the rise & fall of this motley group is v.well documented, with humour, kindness & pathos. How come I've never seen any of the actors on screen again? Angelina Ball is very,very pretty. Robert Arkin & the fat lead singer are extremely talented actors & musicians. Of course, Andrea Corr has a tiny role in it, but she's made it big as a member of the Corrs, not as an actress. BUY THIS VIDEO FOR YOUR HOME COLLECTION. It has a timeless quality to it.

Oooh yeeeaaaah

Wow--what a great combination of two of the best things in the world--Irish and soul ! And not merely the TYPE of music, but the whole CONCEPT of soul, all bluntly expressed in this one totally hilarious movie!

AWESOME SOUNDTRACK

Very good movie. The characters do a fine job in their roles. And the music..... Unbelievable!! If this movie doesn't inspire you with it's music, then you're beyond help. I was a little disappointed in the ending, but not enough to change my opinion. SEE THIS MOVIE!! You won't be disappointed.

An awesome cast, great performances get ready to buy the CD

Set in depressed dublin a group of young adults pursue their dreams to be musicians in a band and ancounter struggles on the way. Its got a little something to touch everyone, young and old alike. So get your friends together, kids and all, pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy. Then go buy the CD you will love it.

It's only brutal! (Dub speak for great)

I know, work and play with variation of most of these characters each day, here in Dublin. Believe me, this is the calm collected side of them... this will have you laughing and humming with the same breath.

A great cast live their roles, and create a musical storm.

The best music film since "The Blues Brothers"

This is and excellent story of a Dublin band forming and going puplic. The scenes and dialect are perfect. The film portrays Dubliners of the '80s and is very funny.

great music and a realistic view about being in a band.

The Commitments was a realistic adaptation of the life of a rock and roll band during that period.The development of the personality of the band through its characters accurately portrays the the evolution of the decision making and power issues whenever their is a group of people who get together to create and be a part of a project.It was funny,humanistic and vividly real.The characters were as diverse a group as often is seen in musical groups of this genre.I was both entertained by the story and the music.In fact I have to say that the music was incredibly crisp and well done.Usually the music is a sub plot in these type of movies.It was ,in my opinion,the main plot in this movie.I recommend the movie highly to anyone who grew up in this period and anyone who likes mucic.

great music-superb movie--marvelous atmosphere

This is probably the best depiction of how "soul music" has influenced *pop* music that has ever been made. The atmosphere of the tensions in Ireland are also very well done. I really enjoy this movie and watch it at least once a month (the soundtrack is great housecleaning music).

Movie good - DVD bad

There is some confusion as to aspect ratio of movies. The theatrical version is shown from a movie PRINT. There is no "cutting off" of any of the picture. The lamp shows through the film frames and it is projected onto the screen. This is the original version- how the director intended the movie to be seen.

Only when transferred to a NON-FILM format is the aspect ratio changed. The reviewer was correct who said that DVD buyers want their widescreens and some DVD releases (Stripes) have widescreen on one side and pan and scan on the other.

This Commitments DVD is NOT in widescreen. Though it is a great movie, it would benefit from the widescreen version.

If you're a big enough fan of a movie, you probably already have it on video. If movie companies want to sell more DVDs, they should include extra features such as interviews, "making of" videos AND widescreen version.

is the "full screen" version actually a bad thing?

As it has been explained to me (by someone much smarter than myself), the original aspect ratio of the film was 1.66:1, rather than the more standard 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. To my understanding, the DVD release retains the full theatrical "width" of the presentation, but presents the "heighth" in what is called an "open matte" transfer. In other words, when the movie was shown in the theatre, the top and bottom of what appears on the actual physical print were "blocked" or screened, which resulted in the 1.66:1 viewing ratio for those in the audience. The end result is this. The DVD version removes the "blocks", which is an "open matte" transfer, and what you view as a "full screen" version actually contains more of a picture (not much) at the top and bottom of the screen than what would be seen in the theatre. To my understanding, you wide-screen fans (me, too) are not being deprived, but instead have more film for your viewing pleasure. Whether this is smart, in that the original aspect ratio should be preserved at all costs to effectuate the director's visual intent, is another issue. By the way, the film is super duper. Everyone say "I'm black and I'm proud!"

One of the best movies & one of the best soundtracks ever...

The Commitments is one of the few movies I saw more than once in the theaters. It's the story of a bunch of down on their luck characters who all are searching for a reason to belong somewhere, and find themselves on stage whooping it up playing the best music to come out of the 60s. This is a really entertaining film. Regardless of the fact that you can't always understand what is being said, when the singing starts, you can understand, and appreciate the renditions of the 60's soul and R&B music. The singer, Andrew Strong, has an amazing voice and even though the rest of the cast seems to not appreciate him to much, when he's singing you can't resist him. The only flaw about this film is the ending, it just kind of ended without much resolution to any of the characters. I think they could've done more with it. but it's got one of the best soundtracks of all time, and is a movie you will want to see again and again...

DVD: Disappointing Video Disk

"The Commitments" is an exceptional movie that holds up very well through repeated viewings. It is exactly the kind of film you would want to own in your DVD collection, because you could enjoy it for many years. That's why I was very disappointed that the DVD version is available only as pan and scan (1.33:1 aspect ratio). This is the equivalent of taking a 5-channel audio theatrical release and making a DVD that's available only in mono sound.

As much as I like this film, I will not buy a DVD that has been degraded from the original theatrical release. Apparently the film companies don't yet understand what motivates buyers to pay extra for DVD quality and home theater systems. I hope that "The Commitments" will be available soon as a re-released DVD in its original 1.85:1 widescreen theatrical version.

Brilliant in every way

When I first saw this movie on one of the local stations here in VA, I wasn't expecting to get much out of it. I thought it'd be a little difficult to relate to a musical-comedy about a group of Dublin performers. I don't think I could've been more wrong!

This movie totally blew me away from the jumpstreet. The setting is absolutely perfect, and the characters are so real, you almost forget that these people are acting. Much props go out to whoever selected this relatively unknown group. They did a marvelous job. The soundtrack is superb, and the script is funny without sounding forced. Very realistic. I wouldn't just recommend this movie to lovers of musical comedies, but to anyone who just loves good movies.

Full-screen disaster

I was very excited to find that The Commitments, an otherwise fantastic flim, was transfered to DVD using only the pan'n'scan "full-sceen" format. What a DISASTER! Fox should be ashamed of itself, I can't imagine what was going through some executive's head when s/he made this call. Very Disapointing.