The Movie: I wasn't ever actually planning on ever watching this movie, but when I went out to buy Casino, I noticed that I could get Casino for $22, or get a two pack with Casino and Carlito's Way for $27. Eh, I figured for $5 I could try out Carlito's Way.

I wasn't every encouraged by the description I read on the back of the package. It's about Al Pacino as Carlito, a former mob guy who "tracks down his onetime girlfriend and rekindles their romance, promising he's changed for good. But Carlito's dream of going legitimate is undermined at every turn by murderous former cronies". Hmmmm, didn't I already see this movie and wasn't it called The Godfather: Part III?

And in some ways, I did already see this movie, starring Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part III, but where Part III was power and corruption at the highest levels, Carlito's Way was down and dirty in the streets. And it was a pretty good movie. Worth watching, but not going out of your way for. I thought Sean Penn did a great job in this movie... heck, I didn't even realize it was him until i saw the credits at the end!

The DVD: This is just what I hate to see in DVD's... letterboxed 2.35:1 widescreen. I mean really, why would you want to take such a great format as DVD and use only 57% of the available vertical resolution? Blah. The transfer, however, is quite clean. Oh by the way, if you wanna know what all this fuss I'm kicking up about anamorphic widescreen is... there's a pretty good demonstration at this page on The Digital Bits of what I'm talking about. This disc has your standard production notes and trailer as special features.