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Today, DVD Verdict posted reviews of ANGELS IN AMERICA, LIVE AID, LOVE
ME OR LEAVE ME, NATIONAL TREASURE, NOAM CHOMSKY: REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE,
POCAHONTAS: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, SPANGLISH, TOP GUN: SPECIAL
COLLECTOR'S EDITION, and WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE:


ANGELS IN AMERICA (reviewed by Mike Pinsky, overall score 90/100):
"Angels in America is the best American play of this generation. And
Mike Nichols, Tony Kushner, and company take all its stage-bound
borderline chaos and turn it touchingly cinematic. For that
accomplishment alone, they deserve your attention."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/angelsinamerica.php

LIVE AID (reviewed by David Ryan, overall score 100/100):
"The Live Aid slogan is no lie -- this concert did, indeed, save lives.
The evidence is irrefutable on that point. Bob Geldof literally gave up
life as a rock star -- a rock star! -- to devote his time to helping
people he didn't know, of a different race, in a far-off country, who
were suffering. He didn't save them all, but he saved some. For that, he
deserves all the credit in the world."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/liveaid.php

LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (reviewed by George Hatch, overall score 96/100):
"Etting was called 'America's Sweetheart of Song,' but I found her
trilling and warbling high-pitched vocalizations annoying as hell and
near painful to listen to. I shiver just thinking if MGM had tried to
play it safe and had Etting's caterwauling coming out of Day's mouth."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/lovemeorleaveme.php

NATIONAL TREASURE (reviewed by Patrick Naugle, overall score 82/100):
"Oh, I'm sure that in some form or another, if you really paid attention
to the plot, the movie would come together the same way a child's red
wagon will come together even if you don't read the directions; it'll
just be a goofy-lookin' wagon."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/nationaltreasure.php

NOAM CHOMSKY: REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE (reviewed by Russell Engebretson,
overall score 90/100):
"Chomsky is not an eloquent orator, though he is a better speaker than
he claims. Chomsky is riveting because what he says is plainly spoken
and compelling, and he treats his audience like a group of intelligent
adults, which is a rarity in today's media world of smirking pundits and
ranting hate mongers."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/chomskyrebel.php

POCAHONTAS: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (reviewed by Amanda DeWees, overall
score 93/100):
"Pocahontas is a striking, and ambitious, departure from its
predecessors. In addition to depicting a real-life story instead of a
fairy tale, it is essentially a serious film, a romantic drama instead
of a romantic comedy."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/pocahontas10th.php

SPANGLISH (reviewed by Joel Pearce, overall score 88/100):
"Spanglish isn't the best film of the year. I'm not even sure it rates
in the top ten. It doesn't try to change the world or do anything new.
For casual, popular Hollywood entertainment, though, it's solid gold."

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/spanglish.php

TOP GUN: SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION (reviewed by Mike Jackson, overall
score 89/100):
"It's easy to marginalize Top Gun as just another Simpson/Bruckheimer
film, an action movie, and or a piece of 1980s nostalgia. It is, after
all, all of the above, and cinema aficionados often marginalize all of
the above. But to push it to the side of the DVD pile, to treat it like
it's Thief of Hearts, wouldn't make for an interesting piece of
criticism now, would it?"

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/topgunse.php

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (reviewed by Amanda DeWees,
overall score 93/100):
"Removing the villain of the play creates a void in the plot. If we can
no longer accept our purported heroes' disdainful treatment of Shylock,
the moral compass of the play shifts. How are we to care about the
romantic troubles of Portia and Bassanio, or the broken heart of
Antonio, in the face of their prejudice?"

FULL REVIEW: http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/merchantvenice.php

Mike Jackson
Editor & Webmaster, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com