Rating: 
Summary: A Most Incredible Experience
Review: Aria is 90 minutes of pure wonderment -- I'm not certain what demographic this project was aimed at, but I definitely fall into it. You have to love opera style music yet not be so attached to the operas themselves that the re-presentation of the music offends. You have to enjoy video that your average couch potato won't get, no matter how many mind altering drugs he takes. To really enjoy Aria, you have to check your expectations at the door and accept it for what it is -- a set of brilliant visual explorations fueled by some of the most incredible music ever written. With any other attitude, you're far more likely to find this a miserable experience. Too vulgar, too highbrow, too bizarre, too surreal, too whatever. Some pieces tell a solid story, ranging from humorous to tragic. Others lack story line and speak to a different level of consciousness. Pathos. Humor. Death. Life. Celebration. Brilliance. Aria cleanses windows of perception, like a good wine between courses of a meal. On the other hand, it's a main course, in and of itself. This is not fodder for young children, and most teens won't have the patience for it either. If you thought "Dude, Where's My Car?" was a brilliant movie, perhaps you'd better pass on this one as well. I only wish that more Wagner had been included ... perhaps an Aria II consisting solely of Wagner arias? (If you'd like to discuss this movie or review in more depth, click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)
Rating:
Summary: Play this video LOUD
Review: Aria is the MTV of Operatic music. Each of the 10 directors chose a aria and made a music video for each. THE MUSIC IS FANTASTIC! I was not a Opera fan before I saw the video, but now I only wish there was a soundtrack. The Music videos range form the surrealistic to comedic. Many well known and new actors and actresses are in the videos including Buck Henery, Elizabeth Hurley and Bridget Fonda. I like to play the video loud and sometimes not pay attention to the video part. Once again I wish there was a Soundtrack. If you liked Brazil, you will like this.
Rating: 
Summary: This film is not a movie...
Review: but a series of different opera parts with a short film trying to represent each part. Each chapter has nothing to do with the rest, leaving a feeling of total disconnection. The actors try to move their mouths as if they were singing but again the disconnection is totally evident, it seems it was done on purpose, but not sure why. Elizabeth Hurley is not the british model/actress Liz Hurley so don't be confused.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie that started me on opera
Review: I first saw Aria in the theater back in high school (about 3 million years ago) and only because I wanted to impress a girl way more artistic than myself. It worked, but not in a way I'd expected. The movie, a series of vignettes, runs the whole emotional spectrum. In my younger days, we were blown away by the Wagner/Roddam piece starring a young Fonda, so loving and jarring at the same time. These days I find all the music beautiful, but one or two of the vignettes boring. The entire movie is beautifully shot and all deserves to be watched at least once. After having done that you'll find continual enjoyment watching Sturridge, Beresford, Roddam, Jarman, and Bryden's interpretations. Who knows, you might fall in love with opera too.
Rating:
Summary: The movie that started me on opera
Review: I first saw Aria in the theater back in high school (about 3 million years ago) and only because I wanted to impress a girl way more artistic than myself. It worked, but not in a way I'd expected. The movie, a series of vignettes, runs the whole emotional spectrum. In my younger days, we were blown away by the Wagner/Roddam piece starring a young Fonda, so loving and jarring at the same time. These days I find all the music beautiful, but one or two of the vignettes boring. The entire movie is beautifully shot and all deserves to be watched at least once. After having done that you'll find continual enjoyment watching Sturridge, Beresford, Roddam, Jarman, and Bryden's interpretations. Who knows, you might fall in love with opera too.
Rating:
Summary: A Visual and audial smorgasbord
Review: I have loved this movie for years. Granted, it may be for deep film buffs, but it is powerful. Each vignette offers a top director's interpretation of a provocative aria. Opera lovers know how emotionally provocative the music can be; and that raw emotion is shown by each director. The love story is one of the most romantic and tragic stories I have ever seen--the images are still in my mind 10 years after first seeing it. I had enjoyed a light introduction to opera before this movie, but after feeling the raw emotions this film created in me, I bought a few opera CDs based simply on first hearing the arias in this movie. There is even some VERY funny stuff is one scene. So, in summary, the music, images, and emotions from this movies were all so intense, they've stayed with me for years. If you can take the intensity, do not miss out on this powerful movie that can be both sublime and intense at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Bad Anthology Film
Review: If you don't like opera, "Aria" will not appeal to you. If you love opera, "Aria" will not appeal to you. I had been warned about this anthology film, but wanted to see it for the Robert Altman segment. Out of respect for the great director, I'll just say that his segment is no better or worse than any of the dreck that surrounds it. The movie is pretentious and dull, almost unwatchable save for Franc Roddam's interesting Las Vegas episode.
Rating:
Summary: Very different and very interesting
Review: Most enjoyable, and additional screenings become a must because the story lines do not follow the operas that the arias cover. Sub-titles in English to cover the words sung would have been nice, but not required.
Rating:
Summary: Very different and very interesting
Review: Most enjoyable, and additional screenings become a must because the story lines do not follow the operas that the arias cover. Sub-titles in English to cover the words sung would have been nice, but not required.
Rating: 
Summary: Liz Hurley's first important role in a movie
Review: This movie provided Liz Hurley with her big break. Soon after this, Dennis Potter snapped her up for the lead role in the BBC adaptation of Christabel Bielenberg's 'The Past is Myself'. She became Hugh Grant's girlfriend and the rest is history. She transformed herself physically during her twenties, which is why some viewers have had problems identifying the occasionally nude actress that appears here as the very slim Liz Hurley they now know. For me, 'Aria' was the classical music community's response to the rise of MTV and the pop video. Directors like Ken Russell and Nick Roeg wanted to show us that opera could be equally colourful and sexy, even if you couldn't dance to it. And they proved their case, to my mind. But like a pop video, you wouldn't want to watch this too often. There's no substantive connection between each of the videos, so you end up feeling much the same as you would after a 90-minute immersion in MTV.
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