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Angels in America | 
| Director: Mike Nichols
Actors: Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Patrick Wilson, Mary-louise Parker
Studio: HBO Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $2.79
You Save: $17.19 (86%)
New (91) Used (56) Collectible (2) from $2.59
Rating:  203 reviews
Sales Rank: 2056
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 352
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.7 x 0.7
MPN: HBOD92299D
ISBN: 0783129505
UPC: 026359229923
EAN: 9780783129501
ASIN: B0001I2BUI
Theatrical Release Date: December 7, 2003
Release Date: September 14, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed, Thousands of Titles Listed, Fast Processing
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Product Description
Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 12/05/2006 Run time: 352 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
Tony Kushner's prize-winning play Angels in America became the defining theatrical event of the 1990s, an astonishing mix of philosophy, politics, and vibrant gay soap opera that summed up the Reagan era for an entire generation of theater-goers. Post-9/11 would seem to be too late for a film version--philosophy and politics don't always age well--but this 2003 HBO adaptation, ably directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate), provides a time capsule of the '80s and reveals the deep emotional subcurrents that will give the play lasting power. The story centers around Prior Walter (Justin Kirk) and Louis Ironson (Ben Shenkman), a gay couple that falls apart when Prior grows ill as a result of AIDS. But cancer is not the only thing invading Prior's life: He begins to have religious visions of an angel (Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility) announcing that he is a prophet. Louis, who doesn't cope well with disease and suggestions of mortality, leaves and starts a relationship with Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), a closeted Mormon who works for Roy Cohn (Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon)--the real-life right-wing lawyer, notorious for his ruthless behind-the-scenes machinations. Add in Joe's depressed and hallucinating wife Harper (Mary Louise Parker, Fried Green Tomatoes), his determined but open-minded mother Hannah (Meryl Streep, Adaptation), a fierce drag queen/nurse named Belize (Jeffrey Wright, Basquiat, reprising his celebrated performance from the Broadway production), and you've still only begun to discover the wealth of characters and storylines in Kushner's ambitious work. The powerhouse cast (also featuring James Cromwell, Michael Gambon, and Simon Callow) is uniformly superb. The script has its weaknesses--some of the fantastic elements, including Prior's journey to Heaven towards the end, fall flat--but even what doesn't work is bristling with ideas and a ferocious desire to capture human existence in this time and place. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 198 more reviews...
ANGELS (AND MORMONS) IN AMERICA October 13, 2008
If you are an adult Mormon in America, you will relate to ANGELS IN AMERICA. Tony Kushner has absorbed and filtered back more Mormon concepts and theology within the 6-hour boundaries of this film than any other Jewish American playwright. He is to be commended for the effort. He has done his homework. His personal interpretations of God (and/or the lack thereof) are not mine, nor need they be yours. But as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past 50 years, I pronounce this film to be "virtuous, lovely and of good report". Do not get bogged down with the sex or language. See them for what they are: incidentals. Focus instead on the human (and spiritual) interaction in the face of AIDS, and by extension all disease. Add the kaleidoscopic variables of human interactions. After viewing this serendipitous masterpiece, thoughtfully witness, thoughtfully ponder, and thoughtfully ACT. Follow up with meaningful help to make the world a better place for us all.
 What a waste October 9, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
It is a shame that such great actors would lower themselves and play in a movie that was so bad. Don't waste your money.
 What More Can I Say? September 9, 2008
This is a very artistic, moving, funny, sad and whimsical adaptation of the play that will be a welcome addition to your DVD collection. Now just waiting for it to come out in Blu-Ray!
Hopelessly intriguing, but confusing August 20, 2008
This film completely engrossed me, even though I couldn't for the life of me tell you what it was really, truly about. I mean, of course the film is about being gay in New York in the 1980s as a new and deadly disease swirls all around. Perhaps it was the fantasy sequences that got me.
The acting was fabulous, especially those actors (already mentioned many times by other reviewers) who took multiple roles. Justin Kirk and Jeffrey Wright were a wonder. I had only seen Wright in one other movie (Basquiat, that was him, wasn't it?) and I liked him then...
I still cannot figure out why Joe Pitt is shunned at the end, even as his mother becomes central to the in-group. Or, does Joe - the model of right-wing Republicanism who perhaps grows/changes least during the film - do the shunning?
Don't expect any easy answers or - perhaps - even likable characters in this one (I did like Prior and Harper Pitt, though). Do expect to be challenged to your core by this lengthy, entertaining, thought-provoking piece.
Monumental August 18, 2008
I'm not a gay person, and I have not had many gay friends, but I watched this series and found it to be tremendously moving and compelling. It's something that should be seen by everyone.
The acting by all concerned is incredible, and not just the powerhouse names like Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. Mary-Louise Parker is brilliant, as is Justin Kirk as Prior Walter, the main character (now doing great work in Weeds, along with Mary-Louise again). Emma Thompson's nurse is amazing. Tony Kushner's dialogue is endlessly funny, sad, provocative, blistering, heart-rending.
This movie goes way beyond mere sexual orientation. It will forever change--for the better--the way you view your fellow human beings.
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