WAKE ME AMADEUS

Advantages: Clean, Comfortable, Location
Disadvantages: My Ears!

...As 2008 drew to a close I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to pay a flying visit to Milan, the purpose of which was twofold - to soak up some culture in the fine city, and also take in a football match at the famous Stadio San Siro. Because the trip was part of a package we were unable to specify flight companies or hotels of our own accord, instead relying on the powers that be that put these all inclusive city breaks together. So it was we found our party of three transported from Malpensa airport to the hotel Amadeus in the fashionable shopping district of Milan, a clean looking three star hotel, boasting eighty rooms. Location, Location, Location Little doubt that the location of the Amadeus is one of its strengths. Although it is a good hour?s drive from Malpensa airport it is ? quite literally ? a stone...

tractor-boy 18.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Comfort Hotel Amadeus, Milan

Amadeus - The Death of Mozart!

Advantages: Intense story of jealousy & betrayal
Disadvantages: Requires a good imagination

...This is the play script of 'Amadeus' by Peter Shaffer which, first performed in 1979, won the Tony Award for Best Play of the year, the 1979 Evening Standard Award, the Plays and Players Award, and the London Theatre Critic's Award. 'Amadeus' achieved the rare distinction of having run for over a thousand performances on Broadway and in 1984 was made into a highly successful film (DVD also catalogued on Ciao). This well-deserved praise highlights how good a play 'Amadeus' is, and I would highly recommend going to see it performed in theatre. This play script is the next best thing. But whereas in a novel all characters, feelings and thoughts are described, play scripts are a little different and can be more difficult to read. For the uninitiated, a play script is made up of dialogue and stage directions. Therefore a lot of imagination...

e_coleuk 19.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus - Peter Shaffer

"Amadeus" -DVD- Mozart is re-born!

Advantages: Bright, colourful, gripping story
Disadvantages: May seem dated, purely fictional story

...First came the play? "Amadeus took the theatre world by storm, winning a host of awards, and running for over 1000 performances on Broadway. And then came the film? And more surprisingly, it was great? not a second-rate rip-off, not an uninspired American money-making franchise. It adds to the 'Amadeus' phenomenon instead of watering it down, and I will tell you how? Mozart didn't die. He was re-born on film instead of stage, and his charm captures our hearts all over again. * * * * * It all started when 'Amadeus' writer Peter Shaffer was cornered by film director Milos Forman after the first preview of the play at the National Theatre, London, in November 1979. His enthusiasm, his insistence that 'Amadeus' was perfect for a film, meant that in 1982 their collaboration together began. They were not to create a hybrid, neither...

e_coleuk 22.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (DVD)

Amadeus, Quite Frankly Amazing.

Advantages: Great Casting, Costumes, Score, Scenery, Acting, Plot, Dialogue
Disadvantages: May be a little too long for some, definitely not an action film

...Based on the play of the same name, this film charts the rise and fall of the great composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told through the eyes of Antonio Salieri, the VIennese court composer of the time. Salieri grows up worshipping Mozart, and admiring his works above all else, but finally meets the man, and finds that he isn't exactly what he seems... From start to finish, we are greeted with new recordings of Mozarts most powerful works, to accompany some superb set design and stunning period costume. The streets of Vienna are recreated in vivid detail (the film was actually shot in Prague, which at the time had far less of a modern touch), giving you an amazing feeling of actually being there. The acting is top notch, the way that you sympathise with each character (I'm trying hard not to...

Cybertrash 05.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (Special Edition) (DVD)

Mozart and his botty smacking wife.

Advantages: based on ane excellent play
Disadvantages: Mozart's laugh

...Amadeus began life as a stage play, written by Peter Schaffer (who has written many superb pieces including 'Equus')This is a very stage orrientated play, with Salieri speaking directly out to the audience. For anyone who has seen it live, it does not appear to be ideal film fodder. However, in 1984, director Milos Forman took Amadeus to the screen. The film does vary from the play in a variety of ways, altering the way in which Salieri narrates, but largely it remains true to the original. Salieri was court composer for Joseph the second. He was not a vastly talented man - his music is good, but tends to be a touch repeptative. When young composer Mozart arived at the court, Salieri's position was threatened. That's the history. Schaffer then explores what it might have been like to be a mediocre composer faced with the awareness...

Bryn_Pearson 02.01.2002 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (DVD)

Ama-zing

Advantages: not a performance out of place, often amusing, consistently entertaining, excellent music(naturally) and an interesting storyline to match!
Disadvantages: Probably not for everyone, but you won't know till you try!

...Although I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into when I popped this tape into the video-player, I was glad I did. I myself has never heard of Amadeus before I saw it, which amazed me somewhat as it such an excellently performed and fascinating film. Based on the rise and fall of the composer Mozart told through the eyes of an aging and tortured Antonio Salieri(played exceptionally by F. Murray Abraham)it paints Mozart as a(and I quote from the back of the box here) 'a bawdy hellraiser. A screeching, raucous child. And the composer of the greatest music ever written.' A child prodigy, Salieri tells a visiting priest of his own jealousy that this man would be blessed with the voice of God, and he just the mediocre ability despite his pledge to God himself of chasity. And so he describes of his own plan of how to destroy...

arcadionseyes 01.05.2001 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (DVD)

I KILLED you, Mozart! I KILLED you

Advantages: Period drama, the music, the acting, the direction
Disadvantages: Not a true rendition

...Amadeus ? Director?s Cut Introduction The film Amadeus is based on Peter Schaffer?s stage play of the same name. The film was originally screened in 1984 and has been released on DVD. This updated version, Amadeus ? Director?s Cut, was released in September 24th 2002 by Warner Home Videos certificate 18. This new version runs for 180 minutes in contrast to the original which ran for 160 minutes on DVD. The film is basically about the antagonism that existed between the two composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. The updated film reinstates sections originally cut from the film that help to clarify a number of crucial plot developments. The film is available to buy from £7.97. Synopsis The story starts in 1823, when Salieri, old and distrurbed, is admitted to an insane asylum after trying to commit suicide...

MAFARRIMOND 14.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (Director's Cut)

Loved by God and me

Advantages: Superb music, script, sets, acting
Disadvantages: None

...I have a particular soft spot for the music of Mozart and this 1984 film based on Peter Shaffer?s 1979 stage play and directed by Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest), is therefore a firm favourite of mine. But rather than celebrating the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart directly it focuses on the reminiscing of an aged and insane Antonio Salieri - the ?forgotten? court composer of Emperor Joseph II at the time of Mozart?s time in Vienna. Although the historical details of the plot are no more than hearsay and supposition, this hardly matters. The story is so beautifully written and moving that you cannot help but be moved by it. I don?t want to give too much of the story away as I would hope that you would want to go away and experience it for yourself. Rather than spoilers, I would prefer that you had pointers! I first...

Suzela 06.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (Special Edition) (DVD)

Music Be The Food Of DVD

Advantages: Good Transfer, Good Documentary
Disadvantages: None

...The term ?Special Edition? on a DVD doesn?t really mean much anymore. Most only DVD with a decent amount of extras can be deemed worthy of the title. Most of the time the extras are pretty much promotional fluff and not very interesting. For something special it doesn?t have to be packed with stuff, I prefer a DVD with quality over quantity. This is the case with the Two-disc version of Amadeus. The film was one of the original releases when DVD first appeared; it was sadly a two-sided affair and didn?t have much to offer aside from an isolated soundtrack option. On its release in 1984 Amadeus was a film that defied expectations. No one would have expected the film to be a huge hit but it was and also won an impressive eight Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Actor. In 2002 Director Milos Forman revisited the film...

utero 05.01.2004 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (Director's Cut)

WAM. A brilliant film made complete

Advantages: 6*; 8 oscars; My ultimate favourite film. Staggeringly brilliant acting, production, direction and music.
Disadvantages: None

...If I were to list my top ten favourite films of all time, this tour de force directed by Milos Forman from the stage play of the same name by Peter Shaffer would be at the top. That it won so many Oscars (8 including best picture), nominations and other accolades is testimony to the sheer overall excellence of the production. It is a film that I have watched several times over the last five years and its ?goose bump? factor has never wavered. I now have two versions of the film in my library. The plot of the film is well known. It recounts the short whirlwind life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from spoiled irreverent brat to tortured, pathetic genius. The story is further embellished and complicated by being told through the eyes of Antonio Salieri ? the older, established court composer who through envy, guilt and subsequent madness...

Newfloridian 29.01.2003 · Read review
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Review of Amadeus (Director's Cut)