Rating: 
Summary: Exquisite & breathtaking!!!
Review: I first fell in love with this film as a teenager back in the 80s. Coincidentally, I finally took a long-planned trip to Florence just before buying the DVD version. Not having seen the film for many years, I had forgotten its setting...so it was an unexpected bonus to see how exceptional the film was in capturing the beauty and romance of that amazing city. Apart from the gorgeous atmosphere...as an adult, I can appreciate the themes of being true to oneself & embracing life's passions so much more. Wonderfully written & acted, this film is a true treasure...one that inspires, uplifts & reminds us that true love fosters freedom within.
Rating: 
Summary: Best kissing scenes ever!
Review: Just watched a Room With A View after having it recommended to my by a friend. I was not dissapointed. The scenery was breathtaking. After watching I was tempted to buy an airplane ticket to Florence and England!And the kissing scenes. The type that makes your hear go pitter patter and faint. When George first kisses Lucy without any reservations or hesitation- so passsionate! Then he does it again back in England so boldly, since Lucy's fiance Cecil is but a few feet away. The last scene where Lucy and George are kissing and the windows are open letting the view come forth, this is more emotionally charged and sexual than any sex scene I have ever come across in any movie. Hard to believe that Julian Sands did not become a major romantic lead after this movie. (He could have been like Hugh Grant or better yet Colin Firth or even his costar Daniel Day Lewis) I think he needs to find another agent. I've seen him in other movies though I didn't really notice him until this one. And his other movies are quite bad. Sad to think this movie close to 20 years old is his highlight. He gives such a good performance as George Emerson. He doesn't say much but when he does it's full of meaning. His facial expressions say much more than words could. And just the way he looks at Lucy....when he is looking at her feet after they are done playing tennis - it literally takes my breath away. How could he make looking at feet look so sexy, hot and deliciously wicked all at the same time?! Daniel Day Lewis as Cecil. Cecil is such a bore,.but I mean it in a good way. Didn't exude any type of sexuality or passion in the least. Hard to believe this is the same guy who made women watch Last of The Mohicans over and over just for him and become so violent in Gangs of New York. Daniel Day Lewis did such a good job with this part I barely recognized him. Helena Bonham Carter - repressed yet so full of possibilites. And very innocent - was this really the same woman in Fight Club! Demure yet becoming increasingly vocal. And she's gone on to such great roles after this. There are just too many great actors to name. I love Denholm Holt who played Mr. Emerson. He was so endearing and charming. Maggie Smith plays the chaperone! Maybe you can get Julian Sands a role in the next Harry Potter movie. This is such a beauitiful movie. I just wish the DVD had more extras. I wish it had some interviews with all the cast members, and a making of the movie. I would give it 5 stars, but the lack of extras on the DVD earns it a 4.
Rating:
Summary: THE VIEW FROM THIS ROOM IS STUNNING!
Review: "A Room With A View" is the sumptuous Merchant/Ivory production of E.M. Forster's novel about a young woman, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) who longs to escape her clausterphobic life. To this end she's drawn to two men of varying virtue; George (Julian Sands) a fiery, passionate dreamer - alive with living, and Cecil (Daniel Day Lewis) the snobbish and stale, though socially acceptable, man about town. This is a fabulous production, elegantly mounted and rich in stellar acting and performances that sadly, are in very short supply in today's cinema. Particularly with Bonham-Carter, one simply wishes that she would play more such roles.
TRANSFER: At long last, yes! After a previously issued disc that frankly, wasn't worth the cheap piece of plastic it was recorded on, this new 2-disc version does right on all accounts. The picture is stunning in a new 16:9 anamorphic transfer. Colors are rich and well balanced. Contrast and shadow levels are bang on. There is some slight shimmering but nothing to terribly distract. The audio is 5.1 and nicely represented. The music is the real kicker here.
EXTRAS: Some interesting archival footage, a BBC featurette, a bit about the author and a very informative audio commentary.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a keeper!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful New Transfer of a Classic Romantic Comedy
Review: I received an advance copy of the 2 disc set of "A Room With A View" and the quality of the transfer represents a radical improvement over the first DVD release from Image---the new anamorphic version is free of the video "noise" and artifacts that marred (and in my opinion, ruined) the non-anamorphic Image release. The new transfer looks terrific. A visually beautiful film has finally been given the treatment it deserves on DVD. My one quibble: the small amount of supplements on the second disc---no original content, just a few old segments from the BBC such as brief interviews with Day-Lewis and Callow conducted at the time of the film's theatrical release in 1986, the BBC's obituary of Forster from 1970, a report on the successful U.S. theatrical release, etc. Those supplements, while interesting, don't really justify a second disc.
Rating:
Summary: A Room with a View
Review: This is my all time favorite movie. I have watched this movie so many times and I never get tired of it. It is absolutely beautifully filmed. The location is very romantic. The actors are all perfectly casted. The music is excellent. Well I just can't say enough. I am so excited to hear it is going to be re-released again. I have it on video and am going to get it on DVD. I just met two people at work who say this is their favorite movie too, Wow I wonder how many others.
Rating: 
Summary: A MUST-SEE MOVIE.
Review: "A Room With A View" is a movie considered by many people as one of the best films ever made. So I decided to take a look to the movie, and even though I enjoyed "A Room With A View", and every minute gets more and more interesting, I really don't think that this movie can compare with "The Godfather", "Casablanca" or "Ben-Hur" as one of the best movies of all time. Anyway, the movie does have a lot of highlights: the cast is very good, the movie displays performances from nice actors, such as Daniel Day-Lewis, Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham Carter. The direction of James Ivory is outstanding, the photography, the set design, well everything is carefully designed. If you like period films, you will love "A Room With A View". If you want to see why this movie is so beloved, go ahead, watch it, you might love it. I don't think "A Room With A View" is a masterpiece, but you will at least enjoy this film, that's for sure.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite Film Ever-Bar None
Review: I cannot add much to the prose below except to state that I have watched this movie at least 100 times and know the dialogue by heart...and am nowhere near weary of it yet. I am going to Italy in October and cannot wait to see Florence; if it is anywhere near as stunning as it is in the movie, my airfare will be well worth it. I would highly suggest one also purchase the CD soundtrack; it is superb and a delightful respite, especially with hot bath, wine, and candles added to the mix. I wore out the VHS and now have the DVD and will probably wear it out, as well. Helena Bonham-Carter at her best, and what film could possibly be less than magnificent when it boasts the talents of Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Densch? Even my husband, who is certainly no fan of any movie that does not include firearm-wielding cretins finds himself fascinated against his will by Daniel Day-Lewis' spot-on portrayal of sissified Cecil. Don't be a cretin. Purchase this movie!
Rating:
Summary: The view one seeks is the inner bliss within
Review: My sister-in-law said this was one of her favourite, if not her favourite movie. Upon my second viewing of this, I began to see why. While on vacation in Florence, the issue of a woman liking a view comes up while Lucy Honeychurch and her chaperone and cousin Charlotte are dining at their hotel. The Reverend Emerson and his son George, offer to swap rooms, a transaction the ever cautious Charlotte shudders to consider, as she worries of Lucy making future obligations to strangers, but the Reverend Beebe, also on vacation, offers to act as intermediary, and Lucy gets her view. The catalytic scene that sets the story rolling is when the usually brooding George, comes upon Lucy standing in the sea of tall waving glasses, and without preamble, kisses her. He feels that something tremendous has happened to them. This episode is observed by Charlotte, who guilt-ridden at her failure as a chaperone, immediately whisks Lucy away. Months later, in England, we learn that Lucy has been engaged to Cecil Vyse, a haughty, self-involved man with oiled black hair and mustache too wrapped up in books and art, who thinks reading aloud to women makes him God's gift to them. The trouble with him, though, as George Emerson points out to Lucy, is that George will see Lucy as just a possession, something to look at, something to own and display, like a painting or ivory box." Lucy will be an extension of Cecil, without any regard to her own thoughts and feelings. And an opening up of feelings contrary to the conventions of a repressed society is what Lucy needs, to be honest with and to logically come to term with her feelings, but she tells lie upon lie not only to others, but worst of all, to herself. Overall, this details how one can use rational thought and emotional feelings in conjunction. The fact that George's surname is identical to Ralph Waldo Emerson is ironic, considering how transcendentalism stressed the use of intuition over reason. What's stressed here is the merging of both to make one whole. And there's also the importance of how lucky people to find what's right for them. And how one's talents conceal the potential for passion. Reverend Beebe twice remarks on this, first on Lucy's musical skills. "She plays Beethoven with such passion and lives so quietly. One day, music and life will mingle and she will be wonderful in both." and also, "If she ever takes to live as she plays, it would be very exciting for both of us and for her." In other words, the view one seeks is the inner bliss within. I see this as Helena Bonham-Carter's definitive film. And I've always been used to seeing Denholm Elliott as a mere supporting actor, but he does have a very potent part here as Mr. Emerson, a tried and true romantic. As he says when discussing the swap of rooms, "I don't care what I see outside. My vision is within." He then fervently places his fist over his heart. "Here is where the bird sings. Here is where the sky is blue." His placing cornflowers in Miss Catherine Alan's hair is ample evidence of that, describing flowers as "no jewels more becoming to a lady." Simon Callow (Reverend Beebe) is yet another character who sees potential in Lucy. The scenes in Italy, the English countryside, and the costumes flesh out this cinematic adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel outlining the conflict between inner and outer halves of ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Ten stars, please! Wonderful, wonderful
Review: This is the film that made the Merchant-Ivory team a perennial favorite. A spectacular rendition of book-into-film that is essentially true to every luscious class tease and twist of Forster's original book. It's a not-so-subtle study of the British class system of rigidly circumscribed behaviors that conspire to keep Lucy Honeychurch from admitting even to herself her love for her free-spirited suitor, a young man deemed uncouth and unworthy, especially by her protective aunt/traveling companion, splendidly played by the inimitable Maggie Smith, who has every twitch and raised eyebrow and swish of the skirts down pat.
Marvelous scenes that will stay with me always, especially the women coming upon the naked men at the swimming hole, and Maggie Smith trying to figure out how to make change for the coachman.
Do NOT miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Film
Review: What a great film! It is technically flawless: fantastic cinematography, stirring soundtrack, great costumes, the list goes on.
Closer to my heart, this movie has one of the keenest understandings ever put on film of the Italian/aesthetic way of life. The incredible romance, history, natural beauty and rich approach to life that the country evokes shine through in every frame shot in Italy. The movie does a great job of showing the difference between actually living this way (the two leads and Emerson) versus merely mouthing the words of it (Cecil) and conforming to restrictive societal conventions. If you want to know why people in Northern Europe have gone to Italy for centuries in search of inspiration, here is your answer.
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