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the book, Feb 24 2006
By A Customer
if you enjoyed the movie you will like the book also. although most of the movie is true it is abit exaggerated and the book fills in alot of empty spaces left by the movie. by reading the book youll find out that most of the extravagent and un realistic things george does in the movie are infact true, and are written in more detail
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Blow is about the life of Mr. George Jung from childhood to, Jul 19 2004
his final drug bust for which he is still serving time. Johnny Depp carries this movie very well, like all movies about gangs or drugs or anything crime related, this movie starts off with everything going well and then everything starting to go downhill again, it is a true story, obviously with quite a bit of Hollywood fabrication but none the less, it inspires sympathy for the characters, I for one am someone who isn't really a very emotional person when it comes to movies, at least I don't think so, but this movie brought a tear or two to my eye, especially the ending, where Depp recited a poem written by Jung and it is the saddest thing, the special features are quite amazing, I would recommend this movie to people over 14 because it does have an R rating which is due to a lot of language, drug content, extremely brief nudity and some violence here and there. Enjoy.
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extras no good, Jul 3 2004
I rated this movie 5 stars, until I got a load of the DVD extras. These extras actually serve to drag down the enjoyment of the movie. First, there are the "character outtakes" whatever that term is supposed to mean. These consist of various characters being interviewed about George Jung - the character, not the real person. They say poorly thought out and inarticulate things like, "This guy... he's like... this guy don't care what anybody thinks, you know?" My impression was that the actors just got in front of a camera "in character" and extemporized. The results are pretty ghastly. Also, there is the jailhouse interview that director Ted Demme makes of George Jung, the real person. This is also pretty disedifying, consisting at the end of Demme sitting next to Jung on a bench and saying similarly inarticulate and poorly thought out things, like, "Yeah, its like schoolteachers make minimum wage and there's truckdrivers making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year..." Now, I am an ex-schoolteacher and though I did not make a mint at my job I certainly did not make "minimum wage" and I worked for one of the most underfunded school districts in the country. One has the impression of being a witness to a guy blowing his mouth off on the balcony of somebody's post-college get-together. Not pretty. How Demme ever got people to trust him with millions of dollars remains a mystery: the man is simply not preposessing intellectually. Also, his world is morally vague and equivocal. He tells Jung he takes a non-judgemental stance to his crimes and then says that he himself has skeletons in the closet, its just that his are not so well known. Now, I kind of doubt that Ted Demme is himself a serious criminal who has simply evaded discovery. But that is what he is in effect implying, in bad faith to George Jung - a hardcore criminal. The real implication is that any degree of malfeasance is equivalent to any other. If one man has smuggled enormous quantities of drugs, and another man has left the cap off his toothpaste well, they're pretty much the same: we all do bad things. Interestingly, the stance that Demme takes is NOT that what Jung did was not morally wrong. His stance is that, though it was wrong, so what? I can respect and perhaps agree with someone who says that smuggling drugs, though illegal, is not immoral. I can understand the argument that by and large it is an utter liberal myth that anybody is forced to use drugs by anybody else. Peer pressure? One gravitates to "peers" with similar interests. If you get into drugs and your friends don't, you find new friends: druggie friends. This happened in my circle of friends and I have seen it happen first-hand. I had many druggie and non druggie friends and I never saw anybody use drugs who did not want to. And there is simply no substance so addictive that it turns a straight arrow into a degenerate against the straight arrow's will and inclination. Drugs simply help you along in the direction you are inclined.
All this being said, I can agree with someone who does not morally judge George Jung. Personally I am morally indifferent to his actions. But this is not the same thing as saying that what he did was wrong but so what we all do bad things. If I once ignored a parking ticket, is this the same thing as being a murderer? I suspect that Demme's thus cozying up to Jung actually lowered him in Jung's regard.
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Luff ist der drug, Jun 28 2004
Let me be clear, this is a great film. It actually reassures me that all movies are not garbage. But for me the best part of the movie is Franka Potente's performance as Barbara, a comely stew who, so far as I can tell, is not supposed to be German. It is a special pleasure for me to watch Franka Potente, with her thick Cherrrmann accent, ya? trying to speak in a vey zat iss recognizeable as chust typical yanqui American dialect. I also thrilled to her performance in The Bourne Identity, hearing her deliver such lines as, "But he vas chust shining us all on" like the Munchen-frau she is. Yeah, I'll get all liquored up on Spaten Premium, or maybe even brave the forbidding slopes of the Optimator, then I'll hunker down for a triple-bill of Run Lola Run, Bourne Identity, and Blow. Its like my own private Oktoberfest that I chust by myself heff got going on, ya?
unt ich bein auss.
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Blow: A Film About An Unapologetic Life..., May 12 2004
This is a remarkable film about an exceptional story based on an eventful life. I'm surprised by the number of critics. Does this film try and glorify the drug dealer? No. Is George Jung a hero? No. Is the film's purpose to make him one? No. This is why I have problems with a majority of the critics of this excellent film. Why the criticism? The subject matter? The fact that it was based on a true story?At any rate, back to the film, which is wonderfully shot backed up by great performances from Johnny Depp, Ray Liotta and Jordi Molla. The film is told from a narrative perspective by George Jung (Johnny Depp) tracing the spectacular rise and fall of the pioneering US cocaine distributor of the 1970's / 80's. The film moves seamlessly from George's adolescence to adulthood through a number of locations and vividly captures the essence of that decadent era. The sets, costumes and music all work perfectly. The audience takes an incredible journey, pulled into a world of drug smuggling / distributing, the illusion of 'easy money', ensuing greed and finally betrayal. While many are quick to point out the fact that this person was a "drug dealer" and ponder, "why feel sorry for him?", this misses the point. His story doesn't search for sympathy from the audience, although it is a sad one. It is an unapologetic look at an unapologetic life. The greatest takeaway from his experience was that he realized too late what was truly important in his life. Simple things, not the money, not the cars, but "real" things as foreshadowed by his father's speech to him as a child. A point that is continually being underscored by his father's unconditional love (wonderfully played by Ray Liotta, a refreshing character change for him) and culminates in his own unconditional love for his daughter - although he is too late to recieve it.
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Sympathy for a monster?, April 27 2004
This is a movie about a major drug dealer, George Jung, who is presently serving federal time for smuggling cocaine. The movie attempts to make the audience feel sympathetic towards this poor dope, who just made a few mistakes (as other reviewers say) and wound up in prison. But the regrets the character expresses in the movie, and those the real Jung expresses in an interview on the DVD, are all about getting caught. He apparently feels no regrets over his actions, only that they led him to prison.In a DVD extra, his daughter (in the movie) says, Most kids when they think of their fathers think of them driving them places, doing things with them, but when I think of my father, I think of kids smoking crack. Right on. The movie is depressingly... um, I can't spell it, anti-woman. All the women are bad people, even the daughter who never visits her father in prison. Oh, and yet another terrific performance from Rachel Griffiths, who goes from strength to strength.
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Great movie, April 17 2004
This movie is great for the simple fact that it shows how easily cocaine was brought into the US it was very funny and exciting for me to watch i think there was agreat performance by Johnny Depp the movie kept going it didnt leave you behind it didnt get boring to me anyway. it shows how easily money can manipulate people it shows how the american dream isnt all that it really is cracked up to be and how to choose your paths wisely but the movie on the other hand shows that no matter how big you think you get theres always some body bigger it's like in scarface "lesson number 1 don't underestimate the other guys greed" and i think george jung found that out the hard way. the dvd is great the special feats. are great its infinifilm so they are really cool there are interviews w/ the real George Jung and all in all the movie was great if like scarface youll probably love this movie
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Grand Treat, April 14 2004
An excellent piece of Depp cinema, the film itself is very catching. Certainly worth the time and money to acquire.
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"Money isnt real. Its nothing.", Mar 19 2004
"Blow" is based on the true story of George Jung (Johnny Depp in one of his best roles), the loving son of a struggling businessman (Ray Liotta) who, as a child, upon seeing his family struggle to make ends meet and witnessing his mother's (Rachel Griffiths) resentment for his father because of their low income, vows to never be poor. Thus ensues Jung's descent into the world of drugs. He begins his three-decade rise and abrupt fall as a drug lord smuggling pot into the US in his early 20's during the pot-crazed 60's, which garners him an enormous amount of cash. After landing a lengthy jail sentence, he meets Diego Delgado (Jordi Mollà) in jail who introduces George to the far more profitable world of cocaine dealing. He soon shoots to the top of the game and his biggest problem becomes where to put all of his cash. It is said that if you used cocaine during the 70's and 80's, there's an 85% chance it came from Jung. Over the years he struggles with a crack-addicted wife (Penélope Cruz as you've never seen her before), the relationship with his young daughter, and maintaining his relationship with the only person who truly cares for him in the world, his father. Additionally, Jung is portrayed in a sympathetic light as a nice guy who just makes some bad decisions. Usually I disagree with this type of "glamorization" of criminals, but I feel that in Jung's case it is truly deserved. "Blow" is not only the fascinating, pulse-pounding, and historically informative chronicle of the rise and fall of one of America's most influential drug lords; it also the exploration of some very deep personal connections, such as very deep father/son connection between George and his father. In addition, George's love for his daughter, who ends up being the single thing motivating him to stay alive throughout his jail sentences, delivers a powerful emotional impact in the film's final scenes. I also appreciated how director Ted Demme delicately showed us the parallels between George's mother's resentment for his father and George's wife's resentment for him after he loses most of his money as well as George's struggle to be a good father just as his own father did. The final scenes of "Blow" are surprisingly moving, which ultimately distinguishes it from all of the other crime films out there.
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The life of George Jung, Mar 2 2004
Looking at the cover, I expected to see a bit more of Penelope Cruz; however, her role, although pivotal, was minor compared to Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp shows how the life and times of the convicted drug dealer George Jung aged and changed him.The typical movie about drug lords and dealers tend to be stark and violent. Even though this movie has its share of violence, the movie humanizes Jung to show depth and feeling. We see his motivations and concerns. Although we don't condone the behavior, we have a better insight into why this happens. The DVD has some interview footage with Jung to provide the viewer with some background information. I found this interesting, but Jung is not very animated, which can be expected from the long time spent in prison. I would recommend this movie.
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CDN$ 13.95 CDN$ 12.99
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