Rating: 
Summary: A Well Done Film Has Good & Bad Moments
Review: Gosford Park is about the people on the first and second floor of a beatiful buildin that people came for as a retreat, but a Clue-like murder happends and everyone is a suspect. Unfortunally, the film doesn't start until the last hour really. It is slow moving, but there are other points in the film where it shines. The acting, the lighting, the cinematography, and all that sort of stuff is very well done. Also, this is not a comedy like the previews made it seem. Like another Best Picture nominee, In The Bedroom, this is not a film for everybody. It is a little more artsy than the average movie watcher enjoys, but art-house fans and film-makers will love this. It, however, did not deserve the award for Best Screenplay which it stole from the best thriler of the last year, Memento. I recomend this, but I do not guarntee that you will like this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Where is Gosford Park
Review: Finally a classic mystery movie that I can sit down and watch. Not that much violence as in the Friday the Thirteenth series, thank God! It was a not so reconized movie that had a lot to offer. Though alittle confusing at times it was stil very good. In my opinion both Helen Mirrim or Maggie Smith deserved an Oscar for this movie. They did there roles with style, bliss, and above all, made it look real.
Rating: 
Summary: Gosford Park
Review: This film is, without doubt, not only one of Altman's
best films it also is a wonderful example of some of
the best ensemble acting ever filmed. The camera work
gets the viewer "inside" the dialogue, provides intimate
and sumptuous overviews of the English manor house set,
and invades the privacy of the "lower" regions where
servants dwell affording the viewer discoveries of the
secrets of the servants and their masters on the upper floors.
The acting is first-rate with the film slowly building to the
wrenching final scene when the biggest secret of all is revealed. The novice film viewer easily pleased by Hollywood's
penchant for blowing things up will probably not enjoy Gosford
Park. The film lover who relishes superb direction and
brilliant ensemble acting will do as I and return over and over
to this film! Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: Gosford Park - An Insight into 1930' s Britain
Review: I saw this film in the UK- I'm English. It was great way to watch the way in which the different classes of the 1930's interacted with each other. Great performances by Dame Maggie Smith, Richard E Grant & Kristin Scott Thomas to mention a few.
The story was a little weak as I guessed the "secret" fairly early on; but it was great for scenery, costumes and a display of 1930's manners. Worth the two hour investment.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and amusing
Review: Great ensemble acting with lots of humour (and fun). Rather than being a true murder mystery, it's more a satire on the hypocrisy of class divisions in pre-WWII England. While the pace is slow (but not overly so), there're lots of interesting and amusing elements which prop up almost every minute. Lovely cinematography and a soothing soundtrack add to its appeal. A little out of the main-stream perhaps, but extremely enjoyable nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Edwardian detail brilliant but too weak on plot
Review: Robert Altman's Gosford park is a charming and very well-donw attempt to make a period Edwardian Country House Murder-Mystery
drama, given the fact that he's American. While Altman has paid an enormous amount of detail to the intricacies of Edwardian social etiquette, it's a shame he didn't pay so much attention to the plot.It's your usual whodunnit drama. The trouble is, it's been done hundreds of times before, albeit in cheaper TV and film versions of Agatha Christie novels. The first hour or so is devoted to setting up the characters both upstairs and downstairs and Altman takes great pleasure in showing off the great ensemble cast (which includes almost every british actor of note over 30 worth their salt). When the murder is committed, the usual cliches are rolled out: Stephen Fry's bumbling performance as a detective is so bad its almost good but ultimately too unrealistic and the usual downstairs speculation begins. even the line "Maybe the butler did it" is uttered by the detective's assistant. Fry's detective doesn't solve the murder or provide any insight into at all and, after just one visit to the house, leaves the film, never to be seen again. His presence appears to be there just to laugh at the British police system and provide the token bumbling detective role in a murder-mystery movie. The solution to the murder is a nice twist, but it's impact is wasted as all the truth comes out in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the film, leaving us no time to contemplate how it affects the staff. Overall verdict: The period details are nice and the Edwardian social comedy aspect is very good, but as a murder-mystery film, this film would fall before the first hurdle because of it's complete unbelievability.
Rating:
Summary: Imaginative, funny and entertaining!
Review: Since the DVD has not yet been released, this is a review of the movie. I was skeptical about this movie -- Robert Altman films can be difficult. But he has scored big with this one. The cast is perfect -- don't we all see Maggie Smith as English upper crust? Don't get me wrong -- you have to pay close attention. Like most Altman films, there is a lot going on -- certainly more than one plot with people talking over each other (just like in real life). At it's very basic level, this is a murder mystery, and the scenes with the detective were hilarious. Bottom line -- if you like your comedy spoon fed (this really isn't an insult, just that some people don't want to work when they see a movie), then you probably won't enjoy this. If you like intelligent movies with sophisticated (and some base) humor, with twists and turns and multiple plots, this is the movie for you. I can't wait for the DVD release!
Rating:
Summary: Not Oscar worthy in my opinion but still very recommendable.
Review: "Gosford Park" (2001) I was very excited about this motion picture. Not only had it received 9 BAFTA nominations, 7 Academy Award nominations and 1 Oscar to take home, but if you take a look at its cast (which includes Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Bob Balaban and many other very famous actors) and director (highly acclaimed Robert Altman) you'll also see why. I liked this movie but I do not think it is Oscar material. It had its share of great points and not-so-great ones, but was still a very credible piece of filmmaking. Altman won a Golden Globe statuette for his directing efforts in Gosford Park and proved to me he still has the magic touch that many directors lose when they get to his age (he is an amazing 77 years old and still going strong). He conducts his gigantic cast magnificently, pulling excellent performances out of each. The film also has great execution and terrific atmosphere, which is mostly thanks to his strong enthusiasm and quality directing. The baffling cast is one of the strongest ensembles of 2001. Most of the attention has gone to actresses Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith, who were very plausible in their difficult roles (not that they are that difficult for these wonderful female actors). However, I thought they were both surprisingly underused. Mirren pops in and out of the camera shots for most of the film but her acting at the end of the film is marvellous. Smith is funny but I wanted to see more of her. I thought that some of the other actors in the film like Kristin Scott Thomas (always brilliant), Ryan Phillipe (who surprised me with a stunning accent and performance - his first real breakthrough to adult films), Emily Watson (terrific yet again) and especially Kelly MacDonald who is the anchor of the film. Credit must also go to Stephen Fry and Michael Gambon who look a lot alike and both give hugely enjoyable performances in minor roles. The setting of this film is one of the best I've seen in a while. What could possibly be better than a grand old house to be the centrepiece of a stylish film reminiscent of an Agatha Christie whodunit story? Very cool. Most of the movie is inside and I think there were about 3 scenes that were held outside of the terrific house. Altman is good with this setting though, he gives us like a grand tour of the house and I eventually got to know where the servants lived and bathed, and where the upper-class guests stayed. I think there were a couple of things that had me a little displeased and slightly disappointed about Gosford Park. There are no particularly memorable sequences or scenes in the film. What annoyed me is that I couldn't look back on the film after leaving the theatre and say "oh, that part was the best" or "that part I will remember for a long time". It was forgettable and sometimes boring. The baffling mystery kept me guessing (I got the guess right, but no the motive) because the killer in the movie could be anyone. The climax of the movie was sort of really unsuspenseful and disappointing, I was saying to myself "is that it?!" All in all Gosford Park movie worked. It had a great script to work with that included terrific character development and brilliantly written dialogue. However, I got uninterested too often and I think a couple of scenes could've been chopped off. Some of the stories in the film were just tedious. I don't Gosford Park deserved so much BAFTA or Oscar attention, but it was original and well-done enough and I enjoyed myself. MY GRADE: B
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Adorable
Review: Before I saw Gosford Park, many people kept telling me how complicated it got and that it was simply impossible to follow. I walked into the theater promising myself I would not be confused or at all dazed by this movie...I found it not to be a difficult goal to set. This movie had a large cast of characters, but was beautifully set up, leaving us with clear-cut suspects, reasons and times in which they would have killed the victim. But the murder is not even the beginning of the intricate plot, there are relationships between people that appear to be one thing, but turn to be totally different. As the truth was slowly revealed to us audience members, there was more than one *gasp*. The best kind of mystery, is that which sets things up so well and clearly that theoretically you could figure it out on your own, but don't until they want you to. Gosford Park is by far one of the best movies of 2001, and one of the most enjoyable murder mysteries I have seen. The acting, direction, costuming, sets, script...everything are flawless. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Agatha Christie climbing up the downstairs.
Review: Robert Altman's apparent mission in life is to leave behind a cinematic oeuvre that isn't recognizably his own or anyone else's. Well, lemme modify that: all of his films are ensemble pieces (read: bandwagons). So is *Gosford Park*. But beyond the usual glut of actors, one has to wonder why in the heck Altman was attracted to this material. Perhaps it was a perverse fascination with 1) the English, or 2) blind obeisance to authority, or 3) oppressive manners, or 4) decorum, or 5) conventionality . . . in other words, all the things Altman hates. One would have never thought that this director would make an Agatha Christie-type movie, but such has happened. (He clearly did the film because no one thought he would.) The necessarily tight plotting required for this type of scenario benefits the director, I think: it forces him to eliminate the aimlessness -- caused by letting actors improvise too much -- that mar most of his movies. The script for *Gosford Park* is water-tight, making no allowances for nonsense. The movie as a whole is a series of pluses balanced by minuses. The tight script, after all, can only be seen as compensation for the tired setting and characters: after Ivory / Merchant, PBS's *Upstairs Downstairs*, D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh, etc. etc., I think it's safe to say we've all been here before. I mean, it's nice that the territory is new to Altman, but the script had better be sharp. And it IS tight, but not always SHARP . . . I could go on back-and-forthing all day. But let me finish with some things I enjoyed most about the movie: the vegetarian American movie director, simultaneously interloping and standing in for Altman (and us), who is scouting locations for his next Charlie Chan film . . . the custom (and this is indeed something I've never heard of before) of the house-servants addressing themselves by the surnames of their employers . . . the pointed (Altmanesque) fact that the actors playing the servants are every bit as eminent as the actors playing the lords and ladies. All in all, a fine film. If the sound and photography hadn't been subpar, I would've given it a higher rating . . . but after all, isn't that par for the course with this director (*McCabe & Mrs. Miller*, *Nashville*, *MASH*, *Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean*, on and on and on)?
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