Amadeus

Rating:
Summary: Right on the mark Scrivener
Review: I agree completely with this reviewer. I first saw this movie two years ago, junior year in my high school's Chamber orchestra. Of course, while I've already heard and played some of Mozart's pieces (I play the violin), I never truly LISTENED to them. Amadeus is one of my favorite movies and I would have never become the Mozart freak (dubbed by friends)that I am today if I hadn't seen it. I've seen it countless times, read several biograhies, used him for occasional class presentation, downloaded lots of pieces, and of course my cell phone rings Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. It's true that Salieri didn't cause the death of Mozart and personally his pieces doesn't sound bad at all. The film is amusing, which is one of its strenghs since it encourages the person not normally interested in classical music too listen to it, and may lead them to find out more about the composer. It did it for me (though I still picture Hulce's face when I listen to Mozart's beautiful music).

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, but no Historical Value
Review: 'Amadeus' is very entertaining, but entertainment is all it is. In truth Mozart did not die in Salieri's presence and I doubt Salieri was so consumed by jealousy for Mozart.

Salieri was a celebrated composer along with his contempories such as Haydn. Even if Salieri is to be considered 'mediocre,' it is to be noted that then comes along Beethoven and throws Mozart's 'genius' out the window. Beethoven, incidentally, was a pupil of Salieri's.

The movie, however, is meant to be for entertainment, and so takes poetic license in being non historical. I recommend 'Amadeus.'

Rating:
Summary: great performances
Review: an excellent film with great performances...F. Murray is sensational and Hulce is terrific but the film is a bit too long but well worth a viewing...

Rating:
Summary: Simply Outstanding
Review: F. Murray Abraham proves in this film that he is not a good actor. F. Murray Abraham proves that he is, in fact, one of the best. His portrayal of Antonio Salieri is unprecedented in its believability and gives credence to the fact that Mr. Abraham is indeed one of the best actors of our generation. Tom Hulce's performance is also impeccable: He actually *becomes* Mozart. Even after having seen dozens of pictures of the real Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I still picture Tom Hulce in my head when I hear Mozart's name.

This ideal combination of acting talent makes for one of the best films ever produced - its eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, are all well deserved. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite films of all time (if not my very favorite), and the DVD-quality picture and sound (as if Mozart's music wasn't fantastic enough already) make it all the more enjoyable. Don't get up from your computer without purchasing this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: purely a masterpiece
Review: If you like opera and classical music, you'll love this film. I think from a historical viewpoint, this film also gives you a good sense of the living conditions and society in Mozart's time. The portrayals of the main characters were so rich, three-dimensional. You really get to understand their psyche as well as their actions. The film is based on the stage play. I can't imagine how those complex opera scenes were done on a stage. The transfer to DVD seems to be without any problems. It would be nice to have some "extras" but even so this is a DVD worth having.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful! An Incredible Film!
Review: I cannot even begin to describe my admiration toward this film. It is one of Milos Forman's greatest works and can never be duplicated. The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is fascinating, incredibly re-made by the creative team of AMADEUS. The real story behind the movie is the playwright himself, Peter Shaffer, who adapted his Tony Award Winning play into an incredible film. It shows how brilliant he is. The story centers around Antonio Salieri(a once successful composer and now a suicidal old man, who tells his story from within a mental hospital, a favorite spot for Milos Forman's films. He believes he is responsible for Mozart's death, so he recounts the tale of his longing to become a servant of God, to write music and sing His praises. Upon hearing Mozarts music, he believes Mozarts work is the voice of God, but once he sees that Mozart is a vulgar, childish, spoiled young man with an amazing gift, he begins to think dreadful thoughts of how he can rid himself of this "creature" whom he detests. This film won the 1985 Oscar for Best Picture, along with seven other Oscars including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume, and most importantly, Best Actor. As Salieri, F. Murray Abraham is astounding. His performance is a revelation of jealousy and wanting that never falters. I must admit that it is a little sad that while Abraham was winning nearly every Best Actor award that year, his fellow Oscar nominee playing Mozart had to settle for many nominations, but no wins. Tom Hulce, I feel, gives a performance of a lifetime as Mozart, and rightfully deserves much praise for his fiery and passionate Mozart. He is a brilliant actor. Elizabeth Barridge, though at times displays too much of a childish acting style, is the vision of Mozart's wife and acts as an excellent foil between the two composers. The supporting cast is excellent, headed by the always wonderful Jeffrey Jones as the Emperor, Christine Ebersole(Recently won 2001 Tony Award for Best Actress in 42nd Street), Barbara Byrne(Original Cast Member of Into the Woods), Roy Dotrice(Played opposite Zero Mostel in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum), and Simon Callow. It is a magnificent film and a must-see!

Rating:
Summary: never blink
Review: Never blink while watching this film or you might miss all the little nuances. The simple fact that the men are just as primed and proper as the females is only understated by the female characters ever heaving corsets. The costumes alone is worth the price of the dvd. Tom Hulce has the best performance in this film not just because he plays the title character but because we some how loose him in the movie and aactually believe him in the title role. Mozart may have been a genius but it is also well documented that he was a brat and less talented then his sister. Abraham makes you cry for him and through out his totured performance as the under appreciated Salieri. But the true message of this film is the truth in god as it is masked by the glorius storytelling. Forman paints the landscape with almost every shade of the Last Supper and makes no mistake in the scene where Salieri pledges his life for his talent. This film is for the non-believers, all those who think that life stinks get to revel in a beautiful majestic world where neither the wishes of the gifted or the normal folks are granted some would say that's the only world there is.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Amadeus
Review: I first saw this movie when I was 13 and was amazed that it could entertain a 13-year old!! Now that I'm older, I can enjoy some more of the subtle nuances of just the facial expressions alone...especially F. Murray Abraham! Out of this world.

Even today I'm still chilled by Mozart's opera that features the ghost of a long-dead warrior...a manifestation of Mozart's own guilt involving his own father. Also, I'm chilled by Salieri "working" feverishly with Mozart on REQUIEM--a must-have for your music collection, although unfinished as demonstrated in this movie.

A work of fiction? Perhaps. But believable...Salieri really was as untalented and bland as the movie makes him out to be! Try to listen to his music sometime and try not to fall asleep. Yikes! Of course, this movie does point out that even in the 1700s all you had to was to have the ear of royalty whether you were good or not -- court politics certainly had a lot of play in Salieri's manipulations.

Set pieces are astounding, costumes are flamboyant and historic, and enjoy Austria. It's one story you'll never, ever forget.

Rating:
Summary: Six or seven stars would be needed!
Review: This film is a masterpiece both of the cinema and of music. Mozart is the archetype of the composer and musician who transforms, every so often, the field of music by going beyond all canons and rules, or even regulations. He is the archetype of any creative person, in any field, who needs freedom to invent new vistas and perspectives, who needs tolerance and goodwill to be able to present to society what he is creating, to bring to the market and the public what he is inventing. Mozart is like a God of our western civilization.

The film shows how, in his case, Mozart cannot dissociate his general provocative attitude from his creativity, how his best tunes, his best pieces of music come from the people he meets, the people he loves, the people who are hostile and try to crush him into death, and will eventually succeed by forcing him into composing his own Requiem.

The first one in this line is his father who made him a genius and then treated him like a dog who has to obey all his finger-wagging and all his eye-frowning. The second is the Emepror who is both narrow-minded due to his vanity, and tolerant but not as much as necessary, just enough to sleep well at night. He tolerates an innovation and then kills it with a yawn that foretells about the peaceful night he is going to have. The third one is the official composer of the court who will do all he can to destroy this young man who is pushing him into oblivion and non-existence. He is jealous, angry, criminal, and he will dictate Mozart's death while being dictated the Requiem directly by Mozart from his deathbed. The fourth one is his mother in law who manipulates her daughter into going away with Mozart's son at the very moment when he needed both his wife and his son most.

Then we could speak of the public who is manipulated into liking what is supposed to be liked and is decreed to be liked by the Emepror. This public is a caricature of taste and artistic feeling. Luckily there is another public, the popular public, who is responsive to innovation, to beauty, to entertainment, to anything that is new and changes their way of looking at things.

But this film is also a phenomenal Requiem to Mozart who will be buried in a hemp-sack, in a common grave for the poor. The greatest genius in music, the greatest composer who has changed so many things in the tradition he was inheriting and has at the same time created modern music, is discarded by good society, is crushed by the status of pure slave that composers have to accept and free composers can't, is destroyed into death by a society that is not ready to accept that they will eventually die and that they must accept new forms of expression and expressivity for the sake of the next and coming generations. But have things fundamentally changed ? Some would say yes, some would say no. But who cares, apart from artists ?

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

Rating:
Summary: :P
Review: Prissy little boy

Blessed with a gift of genius

Makes F. Murray mad!