On September 12, British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment will release on Blu-ray Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Cate Blanchett. Technical specs and region coding status for this release are unknown at the moment.
On September 5, the distributors will also release the film that inspired The Talented Mr. Ripley, Rene Clement's Plein soleil, starring Alain Delon, Marie Laforêt, and Maurice Ronet.
This movie underwhelmed me. Even for a man who's something of a con artist, he doesn't latch onto people just for fun, he's a sad pathetic guy with no friends.
Erm, not to be a nitpicker, but Plein Soleil is certainly NOT the inspiration, that might be Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr Ripley published in 1955... that said, Plein Soleil is superb!
For me Ripley remains Minghella's best film. Much missed man.
One of my favorite films and easily one of Matt Damon's best performances. It's terrific that Plein Soleil will also be given the BD treatment. Given that it's Optimum, I would expect top-tier picture & sound quality and an extensive suite of quality extras for both films. It would be great if they could be included in a single set.
In any case, it looks as if I'll be upgrading my DVDs of both of these fine films in the not too distant future.
I didn't find him to be all that talented. He kind of just falls ass-backwards onto another fella's thingamajig.
But I still want to give Gwyneth Paltrow a tongue-bath.
On a longshot I contacted Optimum Home Entertainment by e-mail to ask them if it would be region-free. They shocked me by responding just a few minutes later (awesome attention to customers!)-- unfortunately though the news was not good.... They said they were sorry to report it would not be region-free nor would any of their future releases. Sad stuff. I can't spring for a $700+ region free player right now and am wary of trying to buy the lower cost Best Buy Insignia player that can be made region-free with a code. I understand that firmware updates as of Feb 2011 have taken away the capability and that even downloaded the old version is a risk because eventually new discs will come out that will require the latest update and render the player useless without it. Solution? Just have to wait for titles like this one to hit the US. The movie is so good!Definitely one of my all time favorite films. Amazing direction, cinematography and performances. It puts you inside the mind of a killer and -- in a creepy and frightening way-- has you actually rooting for him. It is disturbing and fascinating stuff.
@boothill gunslinger... that's whats cool about movies--it's all about the IMHO... you are not alone in your take on this-- but neither am I--the movie nabbed 5 Oscar nominations and is at 83% on rotten tomatoes...
