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Rushmore (The Criterion Collection)
DVD Review by Yanman |
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"Whenever one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself. - Jacques Yves Cousteau" Max Fisher (Jason Schwartzman) is a prep school tenth grader with a real problem; his enjoyment of school and its extracurricular activities is keeping him from passing his classes. Adding further to his problems is an unlikely friendship (and his crush on) a pretty first grade teacher (Olivia Williams), and a steal tycoon millionaire (Bill Murray). This Criterion Collection DVD lives up to the Criterion name and delivers excellent video, superior sound, and an incredible number of high quality extras. As Rushmore Academy's number one after school club and event attendee and organizer Max Fisher, has got some hard facts to deal with. He is the editor of the school paper, president of French club, wrestling team member, play organizer/writer/director/actor, calligraphy club sponsor, beekeeper, and fencing club member (among other things). Unfortunately, his grades are suffering because of these things and he is facing expulsion and transfer to a public school if the situation is not very quickly corrected. Max's attempt at becoming more scholarly is short lived however because when he meets and falls in love with a Miss Cross, a first grade teacher (many years his senior), he drops everything to attempt to win her love. He even goes so far as to solicit money to build an aquarium at the school in her honor (to the tune of 8 million dollars). What he doesn't count on is that the self-made millionaire he gets the money from, Herman Blume, will steal away the love of his life. The new widescreen Anamorphic transfer that was supervised by writer/director/producer Wes Anderson, is artifact free and should please even the most discriminate video enthusiast. This is not a thrill a minute, shoot em' up, every other second there is an explosion, summer blockbuster. However, there are times that the Dolby Digital 5.1 Soundtrack does come alive (and yes one of those times is during a play set in Vietnam called Heaven & Hell Cotillion where everything is blowing up). The Criterion Collection, since its very inception, has prided itself with providing as many of the extras as available with every film they transfer to DVD (or early on to laserdisc) and Rushmore is no exception. There are plenty of extras here in addition to the Collectible poster insert in the box there is a director's commentary, a making of documentary, cast audition footage, storyboards, and much more. One interesting extra that really caught my eye was the "Max Fisher Players present" theatrical 'adaptations' of Armageddon, Out of Sight, and The Truman Show, that was staged especially for the 1999 MTV movie awards. If you have more time in your busy schedule than Max Fisher does, then you might want to set aside some time for Rushmore The Criterion Collection and all of its extras. You'll BEE glad you did.
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Rushmore Staring: Bill Murray Directed By: Wes Anderson Running time: 93
Min. Bonus Materials
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