8MM DVD

8MM
Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) is a surveillance expert on the rise. He's living the American dream with a wife, Amy (Catherine Keener), infant daughter, and a house in the suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After the completion of an assignment for a U.S. Senator, Welles is summoned to the house of a recently deceased captain of industry. His widow, in settling his estate, has discovered an 8MM film in her late husband's private safe. The silent short depicts the apparent murder of a young woman by a large, masked figure, what is known as a "snuff" film. Greatly disturbed by the film's contents, the widow hires Welles to find the identity of the woman and determine if she is still alive. Welles finds the girl's identity and follows her trail from the time she ran away from home to Hollywood. Once there, Welles meets adult bookstore clerk Max California (Joaquin Phoenix) to act as Virgil to Welles' Dante. As the two begin their descent into the world of underground pornography, the detective grows more and more distant from his family, as if he cannot shake the taint of the world in which he now walks. Tom and Max eventually meet pornographers Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare) and Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini). By this time the detective finds he can no longer walk out of the inferno. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide

Cast Nicolas Cage as Tom Welles Joaquin Phoenix as Max California James Gandolfini as Eddie Poole Peter Stormare as Dino Velvet Anthony Heald as Longdale Christopher Bauer as Machine Catherine Keener as Amy Welles Myra Carter as Mrs. Christian Amy Morton as Janet Mathews Jenny Powell as Anne Gee Byrd as Jack Betts as Luis Oropeza as Rachel Singer as Don Creech as Norman Reedus as

Crew Gershon Ginsburg - Art Director Mali Finn - Casting Jeff Levine - Co-producer Mona May - Costume Designer Alan Edmisten - First Assistant Director Joel Schumacher - Director Mark Stevens - Editor Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Executive Producer Mychael Danna - Composer (Music Score) Gary Wissner - Production Designer Robert Elswit - Cinematographer Judy Hofflund - Producer Gavin Polone - Producer Joel Schumacher - Producer Thomas Nelson - Sound/Sound Designer Eddie Yansick - Stunts Coordinator Andrew Kevin Walker - Screenwriter

8MM
To some critics, 8MM represented director Joel Schumacher hitting rock bottom after ruining the Batman franchise, with Nicolas Cage joylessly coming along for the ride. But unsavory subject matter alone is not enough to condemn this uncompromising look into the fetishistic underworld of hardcore pornography, which the viewer enters through a hardened family man and private investigator (Cage) investigating an apparent snuff film found in the private belongings of a dead billionaire. Film noir at its best, or maybe worst, 8MM gained notoriety for its perhaps unsurprising level of brutality, particularly in the frankness of the pornographic images that stretch its R rating. But Schumacher and Cage deserve some credit for the unflinching way they immerse themselves in the subject matter without apparent regard for the stain to their reputations. Furthermore, the film avoids some of the more nauseating clichés that often attend any film in which the hero's darling wife (an underused Catherine Keener) and infant daughter are among the first introduced. Its relentlessly unhappy outlook will turn off some viewers, and there are none of the stylistic advances that characterize the best in film noir. But the sheer audacity of this perverse yet fascinating topic may awaken the curiosity of those who can hold their meals down. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
 

(no awards)

General Specifications: Language Options: English Subtitle Options: English Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DDS2.0: Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels of sound from a 2-channel stereo mix. Additional Features: cc Language: English 5.1 (Dolby Digital) & 2-Channel (Dolby Surround) Subtitles: English Theatrical trailer Making-of featurette Talent & filmographies Director's audio commentary Scene selections Full screen and widescreen formats Production notes Digitally mastered video & audio Anamorphic transfer DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: R DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 123 min   DVD Chapters: Disc #1 -- 8mm 1. Start [11:01] 2. The Snuff Film [5:18] 3. Missing Persons [3:35] 4. Mary Anne Mathews [1:24] 5. Janet Mathews [4:33] 6. Mary Anne's Diary [1:45] 7. Mr. Anderson [1:06] 8. Warren [1:46] 9. A Drink With Janet [5:41] 10. Stan's of Hollywood [1:41] 11. Third Man [5:26] 12. Tip of the Iceberg [1:55] 13. Hardest Core [2:12] 14. Real Sick Stuff? [5:16] 15. Mary Anne's Suitcase [1:02] 16. Eddie Poole [1:35] 17. Surveillance [9:21] 18. Dino's World [1:06] 19. Machine [:36] 20. The Commission [8:01] 21. Busted [2:04] 22. Business Acquaintance [5:05] 23. "So It Ends" [1:30] 24. Honor Among Perverts [2:04] 25. "Kill 'Em All!" [7:08] 26. Two Envelopes [4:30] 27. How Mary Anne Died [12:13] 28. George Higgins [14:03]