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Amelia |  | Actors: Hilary Swank, Richard Donat, Christopher Eccleston, Richard Gere, Thomas Hauff
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $6.49
as of 3/10/2010 04:17 MST details
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Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 219
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: FOXD2264169D
UPC: 024543641698
EAN: 0024543641698
ASIN: B0030E5NJ6
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Release Date: February 2, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A look at the life of legendary american pilot amelia earhart who disappeared while flying over the pacific ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/02/2010 Starring: Hillary Swank Ewan Mcgregor Run time: 111 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Mira Nair
Amazon.com
With her lanky Middle-America looks and her toothy grin, Hilary Swank is a natural fit for the adventurous figure of Amelia Earhart, the world's most famous aviatrix. Amelia ticks through the major achievements of Earhart's career: her 1928 flight across the Atlantic (as a passenger, not a pilot), which made her the first airborne woman to make the trip; more triumphantly, her 1932 solo transatlantic journey; her marriage to publisher George Putnam; and of course the mysterious 1937 around-the-world flight that ended in her vanishing, with engineer Fred Noonan, somewhere near Howland Island in the mid Pacific. With Swank in her pilot togs and director Mira Nair at the helm, the project would seem to have the ingredients for success, but the resulting film is a truly dull, almost featureless affair. The big flights themselves have innate appeal, but otherwise the emphasis is on Amelia's love life, shared between Putnam (Richard Gere) and the dashing Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor)--who, the film clumsily keeps reminding us, is the father of Gore Vidal, seen here as a precocious tyke. A smidgen of Amelia's proto-feminist attitude is included, including her intriguing take on her marriage agreement, but nothing actually cuts deep or generates interest. After a while Amelia becomes a series of events, told with less excitement than the average documentary on the same subject, albeit with prettier photography. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 36
Not up to raves March 8, 2010
Slabmaker (New Hampshire)
The raves of this item were somewhat deceiving. A big push to put the movie in the top, made one expect a superb showing. A good story and some interesting facts, but left us with a not so pleased feeling, after waiting to obtain the movie. Amazon did get the item to us in a hasty fashion. Pleased in this respect.
Amelia buff, but didn't love this March 7, 2010
Julia E. Maish (Chicago, IL USA)
Just kind of blah for me.
Hilary Swank certainly gave it the old college try, and looked (and sounded!) more like Amelia Earhart than any actress who has ever played her, in my opinion. Kudos to her, and she was the main reason I wanted to own this (also for the 20s and 30s costumes and settings).
I guess if you like old fashioned biopics, you'll like this, but for me it fell a little flat. Not sure why -- I think the script was bit weak and there were some storytelling techniques I'd have expected to see in a film made in the 50s -- the whole thing felt a little tired.
 FOUR STARS FOR PRODUCTION -- ONE STAR FOR SCREENPLAY March 5, 2010
Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)
Part of the advertising for the home theater release includes the line: A love without limits. A life without fear.
Sadly, the film does not deliver on either promise or premise. However, this film might be worth checking out for the sheer beauty of the cinematography, production design and lead actors. Richard Gere is fine as Earhart's husband and promoter George Putnam. But Hillary Swank is startling as near identical look-a-like to the sometimes mannish Amelia Earhart.
Down deep, this film remains superficial. What was no doubt an extraordinary, adventurous life is transferred to the screen as glossy but bland. If as much attention was paid to the screenplay as to the terrific production design and reconstructed art deco airplanes, we would really have something that carries us away. Mira Nair directed and Ron Bass contributed to the screenplay. Ewan McGregor has a small part as Earhart's lover Gene Vidal (Gore's father).
Blu-ray: A solid performance by Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart but a film that is just average and nothing more. March 2, 2010
Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California)
In 2009, the biopic based on the life of Amelia Earhart was released in theaters back in Oct. 2009.
Adapted from the following books "East To The Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart" by Susan Butler and "The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart" by Mary S. Lovell. The film is directed by Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding", "Vanity Fair", "Migration") and a screenplay by Ronald Bass ("Entrapment", "Swingvote", "How Stella Got Her Groove Back") and Anna Hamilton Phelan ("Girl, Interrupted", "Mask", "Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey").
The film chronicles the life of Amelia Earhart (played by Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby", "Freedom Writers", "P.S. I Love You") as she becomes a young woman who grew up in Kansas and became the woman who inspired many women and America by being the first Aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic, formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots and her involvement in various commercials, speaking engagements and a woman who was passionate about flying.
"Amelia" also focuses on her independence as a woman, her marriage to George Putnam (played by Richard Gere, "Pretty Woman", "Chicago", "Primal Fear"), the well-known publishing tycoon and also managed Amelia Earhart's business affairs and eventually marrying her. But also shows her affair to Gene Vidal (the founder of Eastern Airlines, TWA and Northeast Airlines) and Amelia caring for his son Gore Vidal (who would become the famous author, playwright and political activist).
This is the first film to showcase Amelia Earhart as a person who loved flying but also showed a personal side that many people may not have been familiar of the aviation pioneer. Also, showing her goal to fly across the Atlantic, then doing it solo and then eventually setting a goal to travel around the world in 1937 with her Lockheed Electra 10E plane along with her navigator Fred Noonan (played by Christopher Eccleston, "Heroes", "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra", "Doctor Who"). And the final tragic day (July 2, 1937) when both disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean.
VIDEO:
"Amelia" is featured in 1080p High Definition, Widescreen 2:35:1. The cinematographer for the film "Amelia" was Stuart Drybergh ("Nim's Island", "Aeon Flux", "Kate & Leopold", "Bridget Jone's Diary") and if there was one thing he brought to this film was bringing out the beautiful colors of the film. From the various lush and beautiful scenery of where Amelia has arrived at in various countries, the Blu-ray release captures plenty of detail. From the faux freckles on Hilary Swank, the detail on the plane, the reds are absolutely vibrant, the paint on the walls where you can see the paint grooves to the rivets of the airplane.
There is plenty of detail in the film. Looks like Drybergh also experimented with several stocks of film as some scenes look very different earlier on and not as consistent with the majority of scenes of the film. But for the most part, Drybergh does a fine job in capturing the beauty of the countries of where Amelia lands to the overall, capturing of the late '20s and early '30s.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
Audio is presented in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. You can hear the rotors spinning, the engines running and just the plane sounding really nice and clear. Good use of sound traveling from left to right and hearing the thunderstorms give a nice kick to the surrounds but for the most part, aside from the flight scenes which are front and center channel driven, a lot of the film is dialogue driven. Dialogue is crystal clear along with the music by Gabriel Yared ("Shall We Dance", "Autumn in New York").
Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Amelia" comes with the following special features:
* Deleted Scenes - (13:53) A total of ten deleted scenes.
* Making Amelia - (23:06) The making of "Amelia". Interviews with director Mira Nair and the cast. The crew talk about Amelia Earhart and George Putnam.
* The Power of Amelia Earhart - (10:45) Director Mira Nair and the cast talk about why Amelia is a hero and why she is a remarkable individual.
* The Plane Behind the Legend - (4:33) A featurette about the Lockheed Electra plane and finding an actual working Electra and bringing it from Europe to South Africa for the filming of "Amelia".
* Re-Constructing the Planes of Amelia - (6:35) A featurette on the reconstruction of the classic planes used in the film "Amelia".
* Movietone News Reels - (6:41) The following vintage Movietone news reels are included: "Mrs. Putnam Flies the Atlantic Again - This Time Alone", "Amelia Earhart Flies Over the U.S. in 17 Hours", "Miss Earhart Flies from Hawaii to U.S. to win Solo Crown", "Aviation (Introducing the Electra)", "Aviation (Amelia Testing Her Plane)", "Names in the News: Amelia Earhart", "Race to Rescue Amelia Earhart".
EXTRAS:
* Digital Copy - A Digital Copy of "Amelica" for Portable Media Players is included.
JUDGMENT CALL:
"Amelia" is a film that could only go so far. As a biopic on Amelia Earhart, the film works as it does detail her life and her passion of flying and how she took part in various engagements. Granted, I had no idea that Amelia had an affair nor did I know that she had this free-spirit and independence when it came to her personal affairs.
But without making the film to Hollywood, I really don't know how far director Mira Nair could have gone with the film. She's portrayed as a hero, an inspiration to women and also a person who has her share of vulnerabilities. She was a normal person doing what she loves and people putting her on the pedestal, so I can see why she wanted to escape the skies. It was literally her way of getting far from the cameras, the media and just regaining her sanity by herself or just being in the most comfortable place that she knew... inside her plane, flying in the sky and seeing the planet's beauty.
Needless to say, the film may not have done too well in the theaters but you have to admire Hilary Swank's performance. Once again she manages to capture a character really well especially the look, the talk, the walk of Amelia Earhart, this is an actress who thoroughly does her research and it shows in the film. But in today's film, people want to see the scandals, the controversy or something with conflict and I suppose when it comes to Amelia Earhart, it's really hard to find any conflict with his heroine. She was smart, she was independent and she enjoyed flying. Where in many films, we are used to hearing something bad or controversial in biopics of an individual, Earhart is pretty much a safe character. As opposed to aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh who's life had personal tragedy especially the "Crime of the Century" in 1932, when his young baby was kidnapped and found dead (and led to the Lindbergh Law).
I suppose when it comes to Amelia Earhart, there seems to be more interest on what happened to her and Noonan in 1937. With reports that they survived and are going by another name to crashing in this location and that location to even rumors that they were shot down during World War II or captured by the Japanese and executed in Saipan. The fact that the wreckage has not been found has led to so much speculation of what may have happened. Over 80-years later, you would think today's technology would have shed some light of what may have happened but as of now, nothing yet. But if anything, these theories have only kept interest in Amelia Earhart going strong and hopefully the film, can show people of today's generation about her importance in America and her accomplishments.
For those who are curious about Amelia Earhart, the Blu-ray does contain a good number of special features about the aviation pioneer. The Blu-ray also features solid picture quality and lossless audio that is quite adequate for this kind of film. A digital copy does come with the Blu-ray release of "Amelia".
Overall, "Amelia" is not a great film, nor is it a bad film. It's a straight up biopic of the life of Amelia Earhart and features a good number of talent and a solid performance by Hilary Swank. If you are interested in the life of Amelia Earhart, the Blu-ray release and its numerous content on the popular American heroine is definitely recommended.
Great basic account of her life and love story! February 27, 2010
Cherise Kachelmuss (IL)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Okay so I didn't know what to expect with the movie "Amelia." Was it a love story, a historical story, a drama? It was a little of all of them and more. It was a powerful movie with the theme of following your dreams. Now I didn't really know anything about Amelia Earhart, other than she was the first female flyer. The movie shows her as a child when she first realized she wanted to fly and then her as a passenger and then pilot. I did read about her, since my curiosity was peaked, and there was of course more to Amelia than the movie shows, but it does give a nice account of her life in the air!
I even got teared up at the end when she disappeared, even though I knew she didn't make her final flight. The love between her and George Putnam was so real and genuine that I felt bad for her, but appreciated his support for her passions. For knowing nothing really about Amelia, the movie worked for me. I do wish more of her life before planes was shown and maybe more of her life and romance with and without George was shown, but again with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere as main characters how can you go wrong!
I received this DVD to review, but it is 100% my opinion.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 36
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