The OFFICIAL Rent on DVD Thread

[boxers7]

Because its only a matter of time before people start post their opinions and reviews, let's try to keep it all in this thread.

Keep comments to a minimal so that the reviews are easy to find.

[JHartnow]

Although I've had the DVD for a while, I haven't gotten a chance to see all of the bonus features yet. Since it's the 21st, I can talk about this now, right??!! The alternate ending has more of an impact on me than the one that was kept in the movie...and it also brings the film full circle (as well as making nods to the original stage show). All of the cut songs and performances, in my opinion, should have been left in to further the relationships of this family...because it wound up being (just as) disjointed than the show. Overall, I'm very glad that this now exists...the commentary's are great and the feature-length documentary is worthy of the price alone.

-John

[Fantabulous428]

Since we can now talk about this, I think the ending that they kept was the right decision. Coming back to the stage was too theatrical for me. It's not like in the stage show when Angel comes back - everyone still understands that he died and he can come back at the end without the impact of his death changing. With the movie, I think it tells the audience that everything is okay, and it might even confuse people as to whether everything they just saw even happened. And yes, the last shot is still on Angel, but I think the one that they actually used had a much larger emotional impact, IMO.

[guitargeek0624]

I watched the movie, the deleted scenes, and about half the documentary last night. My friends and I were near tears during the documentary. I'll have to finish it tonight.

[MOOINGFORRENT]

My friends and I all drove to the store really early this morning to buy this DVD- I haven't watched the movie yet- but the deleted scenes and alternate ending was awesome. I have seen the movie 4 times at the theatre and I'm so proud to own it now. The documentary deticated to Jonathan was amazing. It's so sad that he couldn't have been here to help make the movie- but I know that he would have loved the out come- Christopher Columbus was very deticated to Jonathan's original work, and I can't wait to watch the movie tonight...
Natalie

[Brokenlizard14]

I don't have it yet (GRRR) but school lets out in 1 hr 55 minutes. I'll go as fast as possible to the bank (gotta cash my check) and then I'll go to Wal-Mart. Not that I think they're gonna sell out here. That just gives me more time to watch the movie and features before The Shield tonight. lol

[MOOINGFORRENT]

Good luck to you- I hope that time goes quickly- it's great owning it.
ha ha.
Nat.

[renthead503]

is there a difference between the special features on the widescreen and fullscreen editions of the Rent DVD? i prefer fullscreen but if im going to miss out on something i am going to buy the widescreen. Is there a difference in content? some ppl said there was and i figured this would be the most accurate source to check lol.

[defying_gravity2]

I watching it right now too. I got ot Circuit City this morning a few minutes before they opened to get my DVD and calendar. Of course they didn't have the calendars yet. Hopefully they will have them by this afternoon.

[colleen_lee]

I gave Chris the benefit of the doubt regarding the deleted scenes. I said I'd reserve my judgment until I saw the scenes as to whether or not they should have been cut.

Now that I have seen the scenes, I must say that I wholeheartedly disagree with the decision to remove Halloween, and more importantly, Goodbye Love, from the film. Goodbye Love is one of the most essential songs to both the plot and the character development. I also feel that the transition offered by Goodbye Love would have smoothed out the entrance to What You Own a bit. Goodbye Love was probably one of the most emotionally impacting scenes in the movie, and a lot of integrity was lot in the decision to cut the scene. Bad move Chris Columbus.

The documentary "No Day But Today" had me in tears almost from beginning to end. The DVD is worth the price simply for that documentary alone. It was well done, insightful and very moving. I am glad they included it.

I haven't had a chance to watch the movie with commentary yet, hopefully later today.

[Kevinoes]

Sat thru the whole thing - movie and scenes and documentaries and all - and I must say I had a lot of relief and a lot (LOT!) of crying. First, its nice to have the movie done justice on my home theatre system as opposed to the cinemas crappy blown out one. Now:

DELETED SCENES:
Roger meeting Roger scene was boring, clumsy, and stupid. So worth getting rid of.

Goodbye Love: the opening is a bit weird cuz its like all these young kids in edgy clothes...and a priest in a robe shows up?? Kidna funny. I agree though that the rest of the scene should have been kept.

Halloween: not effective enough. It wouldn't have flown well with the pacing of the movie.

The extended scene before "Without You" was good and hysterical thanks to Jesse and Wilson but it would have ruined the encounter with Roger and Mimi. An unfortunate loss.

Alternate Ending: I liked the how the stage motif came back but it wasn't captured to well. Maybe them leaving the stage or something like that. Not really sure. The Jesse/Wilson moment was cute though.

DOCUMENTARIES:
Have time to sit through. I did, so I didn't complain. Yes, I knew most of the story from my faithful RENT bible but it was really touching and strange to see childhood videos of Jon and Julie in White Plains. Moreso whenever Victoria Leacock talked about Jon growing up. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that Matt O'Grady is still alive. Seeing him alive, alone, brought tears to my eyes. Nice appearances by Daphne and Fredi were made in interviews and it was nice to see the odd rehearsal picture or production photo we haven't seen before.
When Jon's friends started talking about his death (all of them getting emotional) I was a mess. Like, full out sobbing on my couch. I think reading all this in the book made me aware of the loss these people had but seeing them cry and break on camera really emulated it and just made it so much more powerful. I never knew Marin Mazzie worked with Jon so that was an interesting surprise too.

Altogether, I'm glad how this came out on DVD. I think most people who found RENT thru the movie don't know Jon's story. The two hour special is AMAZING for anyone who doesn't. For people like me who've known this show for a number of years, it'll be a bit of review, but some nice new things and tidbits are GOLD, like audio clips of Jon's interview with the New York Times hours before he died and brief glimpses/sounds of the first first preview off broadway.

I adore this show. No, the movie is not amazing, but the story that went creating this show is touching, bitersweet, and powerful.

RENT changed my life. It's been a huge influence on me since I was 13 and I am glad I have this DVD.

ETA: Sorry if this sounds all cheesy. I've just spent the last four hours crying in my living room.

[sweetiedarlinmia]

Got my copy at 12:15 this morning and tried to watch it when I got home. However, I have 5 classes today (still in one now), so I had to go to sleep. When I get back from rehearsal tonight though, IT'S ON!!! How about 4 people have already asked to borrow it and I haven't had it an entire day yet! I might just do a RENT viewing party this weekend.

[colleen_lee]

"When Jon's friends started talking about his death (all of them getting emotional) I was a mess. Like, full out sobbing on my couch."

Ditto. I knew his story, I have been following the show since it transferred to Broadway back in '96, but I was still bawling my eyes out during the doc. IMO, it's the best part of the DVD.

[today4u:proofpositiv]

Oops. Never mind.

[JLSatUD]

I am really quite sad that the scenes were deleted, because I enjoyed many of them.


Look at the bonus features DVD - just the disc. Notice anything??

[ACL2006]

i'm looking at the discs but don't see anything. what am i missing?? are they lined up in the wrong order??

[JLSatUD]

Yeah, they're backwards on the extra disc. Rosario's usually on the right. I'm guessing they just somehow used a mirror image picture but it messed with my head. Little details bother me way too much. :)

[timote316]

The documentary is two hours long? I thought I had read that it was like 20 minutes. Wow, I can't wait to watch it now!

[MTVMANN]

I just got mine! I had to go to 2 stores! For a movie that was a "flop" there seems to be a lot of people who bought it today......especially the widescreen!

QUESTION! I saw that they had full-screen DVD of RENT with Center Stage. I would have boughten this had there been a widescreen version avaliable. Was there a Widescreen RENT/Center Stage set?

[Testing1232]

Watched the movie twice so far (after seeing it 5 x in the theater) - We LOVE this movie !!!

Havent watched the doc yet, or deleted scenes. I am not a deleted scenes person, and dont know if I am in the mood for a cry tonight, so saving the documentary.

[exedore]

I picked this up at Blockbuster today (had a gift card to use, came to $13.06 afterwards). Haven't watched the film through yet, but the transfer looks nice on the scenes I checked, and the layer change isn't in too horrible of a place (between LVB B and the next morning).

I did watch the documentary through, and found it excellent - easily on par or better than the 90 minute piece that came on the Hedwig and the Angry Inch DVD. It's really a pity that there's never been a charity concert or something of Superbia, because the little bits they played sounded very cool. Very good job of telling the story, and including lots of new information vs. rehashing what's already in the RENT bible. Likewise, it was wonderful to see all the footage of Jonathan Larson, rather than just the handful of pictures used in most articles.

Lastly, did anyone else notice the bits of TTB music in the background as well as RENT songs?

As far as the cut scenes go, Goodbye Love should have definately been there; ditto Halloween. The alternative ending....could have been done much better, and I think would have worked more if they'd framed the finale against the original set in the Nederlander, vs the empty theatre and had everyone around the tables, but that's just me. The other bits....meh. They'd have been nice but the film works without them.

Haven't watched the commentary yet, will eventually.

[JLSatUD]

I watched the whole 2nd DVD with and without commentary on the deleted scenes. I loved the long documentry! It was nice to see some rehearsal footage. I love everything they gave us, yet I still wish there was more! :)

I have to save the movie & commentary for tomorrow, I'm going bonkers from staring at my TV for so long!

[orangeskittles]

Do you think we could try and keep this thread towards the top of the boards to cut-down on all the new threads popping up every 10 minutes? I mean, if I'm getting annoyed by it and I'm a fan of Rent, I can only imagine how pissed the rest of the board is.

[Kevo711]

I got RENT and Center Stage at Wal Mart today for $19 together!

[jeremykushnier1fan]

I agree, keep all the DVD reviews to one thread on the Broadway message boards.