Cast: Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen), Adam Pascal (Roger Davis), Rosario Dawson (Mimi Marquez), almost the whole original Broadway Cast of Rent
For complete cast information, see IMDb's Rent page.
I'm not going to review every DVD I own (it would take forever), but I had to review the Rent DVD for obvious reasons...
Of course, you all know from my Rent Movie review that I loved the movie. There have been quite a few movies that I loved in theaters and was not impressed with on DVD (no extras or too few, etc.). The Rent DVD is wonderful!
I just finished watching all the special features tonight. (With the Olympics and not enough recording time on Tivo, I didn't have a chance to watch anything on the DVD till this past weekend and didn't have time to watch everything till last night.) The special features on the Rent DVD include a feature commentary by Chris Columbus (director), Adam Pascal (Roger), and Anthony Rapp (Mark). It was a great commentary! Although many might say that they wish more people were on the commentary (and I was one of them initially), there have been many movies (like American Pie) where they allow the whole cast to comment and it becomes a horrible commentary overall, so I respect their decision.
There are a bunch of deleted scenes - including Halloween & Goodbye Love. Although I can get some of Collumbus' points on cutting Goodbye Love, after seeing it (with and without commentary), I wish even more that they had at least kept the part about Benny paying for the funeral, always hating the dog (Evita), etc. I think that shows more of the lighter and friendlier side of Benny... I can understand cutting the whole song, since it is long, but that part is very short. I will never get why they cut Halloween, but felt a little bit better, since it was set in the cemetary, which doesn't make as much sense to me as being in the lot (where it was on stage). The alternate ending was interesting to see, but I'm very happy that they went with the ending they chose.
The documentary on Rent & Jonathan Larson was so interesting. I learned a lot that I hadn't realized and I have read up a lot on the topic. The interviews with Jonathan Larson's friends and family were so touching. The original cast comments on how difficult it was to go on for opening night at the NY Theatre Workshop the night after Jonathan Larson died were so moving. Anyone who loves the musical Rent needs to own this DVD!
I even enjoyed watching the clips on the charities. They were so well done! Even my husband, David wanted to see the pictures they used in the charity bits. That says a lot! Watching all the extras made David want to see the movie again almost as much as I want to, I think. He may regret it later, but tonight he said that he really wants to see Rent (the movie) again, since he only got to see it once and it was a long time ago (even though it was only 3 months). Yippee! Twist my arm...
Grade: A+
Labels: 2005, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, drama, movie, musical, romance, Taye Diggs
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams