Reviews

This movie has good acting, a good story, and several good laughs. The laughs were unexpected and quite enjoyed by the audience and me. True stories are rarely as interesting or as funny as this one. Leonardo di Capprio shows once again his versatility and selectivity in choosing movies for their script and for furthering his career. Tom Hanks also plays the serious roles as well as the funny ones (e.g., Forrest Gump). This is one of the better films to come out in December, 2002.

Upon seeing this film once again it appeared infinitely superior to me this time than the previous times I have viewed it. The acting is stunningly wonderful. The characters are very clearly drawn. Brad Pitt is simply superb as the errant son who rebels. The other actors and actresses are equally fine in every respect. Robert Redford creates a wonderful period piece from the days of speakeasies of the 1920s. The scenery is incredibly beautiful of the mountains and streams of western Montana. All in all, this is one of the finest films made in the 1990s.

You must see this movie!

This is a fine Mikado with modern attire instead of the Japanese.

Eric Idle hams it up and is rather good.

But, personally, I much prefer the 1982 version seen on television which has a stellar singing cast with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra led by Alexander Faris. The costumes appear to be authentic and set the mood for this great satire.

You will enjoy the Eric Idle production very much.

The singing is superb! The acting is great! You will enjoy this production of The Mikado very much. The principal singers are extra fine and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and London Symphony Orchestra are led by Alexander Faris in a rousing fashion. The Mikado is perhaps the most often performed of all of the 14 Gilbert and Sullivan operas. You will quickly discover why after seeing this fine production.

Enjoy!

Jim Caviezel acts superbly as The Count of Monte Cristo. Guy Pearce, Dagmara Dominczyk, and Richard Harris have very important supporting roles. The scenery filmed on Malta and elsewhere is very beautiful.

This is one of the best films of 2002. I was pleasantly surprised with the lovely cinematography and the excellent acting, especially of Jim Caviezel. Richard Harris was extremely good as the tortured priest. Dagmara Dominczyk is a good actress and Guy Pearce was rather good as the chief villain.

You will enjoy this movie.

Religious bigotry is rampant everywhere. Australia is not immune to it.

A dingo snatched a baby and the mother was tried and sent to prison for having "killed" her own baby. I don't mean to spoil the story for you, but you need to know the basics before getting knee-deep in what caused this woman to find herself inside a prison.

Buy or rent the movie and discover how deep-seated human hatred of those who are different continues to thrive around the globe.

This is a very moving motion picture with a terrific cast of actors.

Both Meryl Streep (with her famous Aussie accent) and Sam Neill, whose accent is his native-born pronunciation, are outstanding. Those with supporting roles are also quite good.

You will remember this movie for many years.

See it!

Fiddler on the Roof has a superb cast featuring Isaac Stern as the fiddler (his violin playing is always terrific), Topol, who has a fine voice and who is also a splendid actor, and a very fine supporting cast of good singers and actors. This is one of the best musicals ever transferred to the big screen. You will enjoy the great story as it unfolds. Allow three hours. Mazeltov.

Yeomen of the Guard is especially fine because Joel Grey is such a superb actor who conveys the sadness and folly of loving someone who fails to return your love. It is a melancholy but realistic story of love unrequited. The entire cast is superb. The set is excellent. This is one of the finest Gilbert and Sullivan movies brought to TV.

Give it a try. You will also enjoy this story and its wonderful music.

Ernani is a superb Verdi opera. It requires singing of excellence.

The entire cast sings beautifully in this production. The orchestra is very good as well. Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo are true stars. Their performances could not be better. Enjoy this exciting opera.

Sherrill Milnes sings the title role. Paul Plishka is a fine Fiesco.

Amelia is sung by a less well-known but excellent soprano. The staging is good and visually it is dark and brooding as it should be for such a deeply felt story. You will enjoy the majesty of the singing.

Try Simon Boccanegra for a pleasant change from the more popular operas.

The cast of singers could not be better: Placido Domingo is Radames; Aprile Millo sings well in the difficult role of Aida; Dolora Zajick is a good Amneris; and Sherrill Milnes makes a fine Amonasro.

The sets are visually beautiful as they should be.

You will enjoy this production of Aida. I have it on laser disc.

The cast for this production of Rigoletto is excellent. Edita Gruberova sings Gilda magnificently and passionately. Luciano Pavarotti also sings splendidly. Vergara is a fine Maddalena; Fedora Barbieri is a famous older singer who sings the maid, Giovanna. Weikl sings Marullo; Wixell sings both Rigoletto and Monterone. As Rigoletto, Wixell is probably the most convincing acting singer in this hard-to-beat ensemble of great singers. Kathleen Kuhlmann in the Contessa. All principals are well-known and world-renowned.

This is an exciting Rigoletto visually as well as musically.

I have it on both laser disc and DVD. You should have it too!

Verdi outdid himself when he penned La Traviata. The cast of singers for this production is superb. The cinematography is appropriately both beautiful and colorful, particularly at the Villa outside Paris.

Stratas is excellent and poignant as Violetta. Domingo makes a most passionate Alfredo. Cornell MacNeil is a splendid Giorgio Germont. Alan Monk is a fine Baron. The cinematography is particularly fine.

All in all this is one of the finest productions of La Traviata ever.

I believe that I have it on both laser disc and DVD.

The Year My Voice Broke is the finest film to come from Australia.

The acting is wonderful, the scenery is glorious, the cinematography superb, and everything clicks to make for a very moving story. This is one of my all-time favorities of all movies every made. The young actors are very natural in their approach to acting and one feels they are very real people who are going through this strange change in life through which all must pass. Kudos to the director and the producers.

Maurice is a terrific book by Edward Morgan Forster which was so "hot" that it was published after his death. The story is a simply superb tale of a young man who is finding his way in life as we all must do. The cinematography is stunning; the music is divinely appropriate to set the mood; the acting is excellent in all categories. The beautiful scenes in the countryside as well as in the city add lustre to the story which unfolds methodically and appropriately. The background music by Robbins is enchanting from the very beginning to the very end. The director and producer are both congratulated on a fine film.

I enjoyed Pearl Harbor and recommend it to anyone interested in what really happened December 7, 1941. The acting was very good. This was ensemble acting. The photography was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The movie tells a story not unlike September 11, 2001. It is difficult to understand why "critics" failed to appreciate this movie as I loved it. Compared with other films of 2001, this was one of the more outstanding ones.

Saving Private Ryan is one of the finest movies every made. The richly wrought characterizations were very deftly done. These were real men who had genuine fear of being hurt or killed. The acting was flawless on the part of the principals and the many supporting roles as well. A friend of mine saw the film ten times in the theater. I went out to buy the laser disc as soon as it came out. That was when laser disc cost $40 for a new movie. Now one can purchase a DVD movie for about half that price in the discount stores.

Saving Private Ryan is THE classic war movie of all time.

The Object of My Affection is a very realistic movie about a woman who finds a good-looking gay man attractive. Paul Rudd is particularly fine as the man who befriends Jennifer Aniston's character. She is very much disappointed in her old boyfriend's faithless attitude towards her. Paul Rudd's character is fun to be with and, even though they have no sexual encounters, they are both very good friends. Paul Rudd's character finds an attractive young man and falls in love. This upsets Jennifer Aniston's character. She should have seen it coming. The ending is quite wonderful in that all are able to remain good friends.

American Pie 2 is a good film with fine acting by Seann William Scott, Jason Biggs, and Thomas Ian Nicholas. Supporting actors are also fine. The only negative comment is that it seems gratuitous to show bare breasts so frequently in the uncensored version made for DVD. Was this really necessary for laughs or for the male libido?

The Delta is one of the poorer films that I have seen in the past 25 years. The first part of the story was interesting because of the cute guy who was unsure of himself. The fireworks caused the two principals to flee. The second half of the movie seems to be retribution against someone who was innocently a member of the same race as the father of the perpetrator who abandoned him. Why was this film made? What does it teach us? The ending is a real downer.

The Far Pavilions is a very long movie made for a mini series (I expect) and its length is the one major drawback to the film. The acting, especially of the principals and more particularly of Ben Cross, is quite fine all around. The cinematography is beautiful of the Indian countryside. This is one of the better mini series made.

I recommend it to you.

Leontyne Price is simply stunning! The entire production is magnificent. This is one of Verdi's finest operas. The cinematography is good and the fine sets add to the whole production. The dueling scene and, of course, the superb "Pace, Pace, Mio Dio" at the end of the opera is most eloquently rendered by Leontyne Price. She has a warm, lustrous voice and she gives her all to every performance.

Pavarotti and the entire cast are superb in this beautifully filmed opera by Giuseppe Verdi, the world's finest composer of operas. The coloratura soprano is particularly spectacular with her perfect pitch. The title role is well-enacted and well-sung. The entire production is as perfect as one could expect.

A masterpiece of cinematography!

Ethan Hawke was superb throughout in the 1998 version of Great Expectations. Gwyneth Paltrow held back as she was probably told to do. Ethan Hawke is one of our best young actors and he carried the film. Both Anne Bancroft and Robert De Niro were stellar in their important supporting roles. Gwyneth Paltrow looked lovely and played the role of hard to get rather well. I enjoyed the film.