Rating: 
Summary: Great movie to see if your going through heart break
Review: Okay maybe not, but it sure always made me feel soooo much better. One moment I'd be crying my eyes out, laughing at the sheer insanity, shooting icycles at Gwenyth Paltrow (Excellent acting job!) and the next holding hopeful that someday I would again be with my beloved. *Not likely-jerks!* A great modern film, enjoyable to watch..Even if you weren't dumped.
Rating: 
Summary: don't have great expectations for this movie...
Review: This movie stunk. There is no point to it. Ethan Hawke is awful... his only expressions are confused and more confused. I guess when you get too many stars up on the screen, the movie tends to lose something, eh? I'm sorry I even wasted the money to see this in the theater.
Rating:
Summary: a heartfelt update
Review: This cleverly takes Dickens' classic Great Expectations, renames Pip as Finnegan Bell, and has him growing up on the lush tropical Florida coast. He is still raised by his sister and her husband Joe (Chris Cooper in a small but touching role.) Finn encounters an escaped convict, helps him out, and gets to keep his life. He also meets the celebrated eccentric Ms. Dinsmoor and her neice Estella --Ms. Dinsmoor was jilted on her wedding day and is raising Estella to break men's hearts, namely Finn's when she is old enough. As adults, Finn is a blue-collar adult with a gift for art -- he has an anonymous patron who sends him to New York. As a 1990s yuppie, Finn can at last attract and keep Estella, who is also in New York, dressed in apple-green designer clothes. (There is a lot of green in this movie! It is probably a reminder of the tropical Florida in concrete-grey New York.) Gwyneth Paltrow is great as Estella but so so skinny it is painful. In one scene, she is wearing a backless dress and her spine juts out. Ironically, she is at a dinner table, eating a meal. Ethan Hawke and Robert De Niro are the true stand-outs here, and prove that they have what it takes to portray Dickens' tale in any time and place and have all of the lessons ring clear and true.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Looking Films in Years
Review: Sadly, when it was released in January of 1998, Great Expectations failed to make a significant dent in the box office. I suppose it was a case of poor timing. It came out in the wake of "Titanic," which was the love-story/date movie of the year.
This is most unfortunate, since this is one of the most beautifully filmed, richly detailed pieces of cinema to come along in quite a while.
Dickens fans, be warned! This is not at all a clear adaptation of the novel. Many liberties are taken and many of the the names are changed. Perhaps this is why it works so well.
Director Alforso Cuaron uses the novel as merely a template, and then lets his imagination run wild. Unlike Baz Luhrman's contrived and pretetious "Romeo and Juliet" just two years before, Cuaron does everything in his power to stress the fact that this is not "Charles Dickens Great Expectations," but rather a film that is inspired from one of the greatest works of English literature. Sure, there are weaknesses in the adaptation, but the whole thing is so aesthetically appealing that it hardly matters.
The cast here is solid: Hawke, Paltrow (looking better than ever), Anne Bancroft, De Niro..There are also excellent supporting turns by the likes of Chris Cooper and Hank Azaria. it also boasts a tuneful and fitting contemporary soundtrack.
The real star of this is Cuaron, though. It is amazing how a director can use various images and colors to convey such a wide range of emotions. Cuaron uses film like artists use canvas, and here it clearly works.
"Great Expectations" is not destined to become one of the greatest lovestories of all time, or a film that college professors will show their students in a film appreciation course. It is, however, a tremendously good looking, fashionable film that won't soon go out of style.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant film and musical score
Review: There are not enough beautiful words to describe the intensity and brillance of this film. Every shot on screen was like a painting. Clear and vivid colors and shadows, not to mention the landscape of Paraduso Perduto. Every picture was moving and purposeful to guide the viewer on a jounrney through the true and false nature of human beings. The musical composer was Patrick Doyle who encorporated classical music with modern songs which gave a direct approach to the harsh realities of life and love.
Rating:
Summary: It takes a team to make a good movie !
Review: It takes a team to make a good movie . But it takes a great team to make an exellent movie ! Camera work - highest level , and very talanted ... it is not annoying you , it helps you and surprises you at same time . Soundtrack ? I feel uncomfortable to call it this way ... THE music in this film... it seems like it was written spesificly for each moment . It is prepairing you and take you with it in every scene . Actors ? Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke ! What a chemistry they developed between thear characters ! The story ? Adoptation of Dickens novel , but at same time , it is developing it to higher level , translating it from pages of the book to different language , the screen .Use of technology ? Anouph , but never too much . What is not easy .
I was so happy to se some of the reviews ... and I was so sorry for people , who wrote some others . I don't want to talk about differences between book and THIS film ( I didn't se the old one ). I don't want to talk about how this movie started and how it ended , and why he did this ... and why she did that . What I want to talk about is ... how I felt , while I watch it ... and after .
A story of true love . A story of "vendetta". The pain of mistakes ... The madness of real world... The rich and the poor... The unfearness and magic of real life ...
My favorite part of the movie , which I still cann't get out of my mind...
...The best day of his life ... but she have to leave ... he is staying in the middle of the show , his show . All this needfull and reach people surrounding him ... I need to speak with you ... she doesn't hear him ... I need to speak with you ... she doesn't hear him... she leaves . People surround him again... but now HE doesn't hear THEM ... he walks away ... rain outside ... the music changes , he turnes around and start walking... faster ... he is running .... walks to the restourant ... she is there ... Can I dance with you ... here is her hand ... they dance a few ... they walk ... they run ... they run away ... !
Rating: 
Summary: A SEXY THRILLER.
Review: Great expections, was a good film. Although it left me in a world wind of confusion. "What was the girl's problem?" She was really flaky. While fin was a quiet and unusual young boy, he was also that way as he grew into a man. The girl, I forget her name, was a flaky young girl, and grew to be a confused young woman. She seem to be unsure of life and love. And the old woman that was raising her was a real piece of work, she was also weird. The story never tells if the old weird woman was her relative or not. Amazingly enough, I liked this weird movie. "How weird is that?"
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting take on the story, yet still an enjoyable movie
Review: Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow star as Finn and Estella in this modern day version of Dickens' classic. As an adaptation of the original book, this movie leaves a lot to be desired. The director concentrates mainly on the love story between the two main characters, and this is only to be expected in a Hollywood adaptation. Unfortunately, the original isn't so much about a love story as it is about the lack of one. Dickens' version is about the uncertainty within ourselves as to what we truly want in life. Pip thinks he knows what he wants from life: enough money and consequence to have a chance with Estella. But when he gets those things, he realizes that perhaps they were not as helpful to him as he first thought they would be. In his quest for Estella's affections, he realizes that he has neglected certain aspects and people in his life that ought to have been much dearer to him than Estella was. When he goes back to try and fix his mistakes, he finds out he has come too late. Very little of this is actually conveyed through the movie. Finn does show a fair amount of uncertainty at crucial points as to what his turn of fortune may mean, but he does not convince as a young man who had recklessly and rather thoughtlessly thrown his whole life aside for one small chance at a girl he loved. Instead the movie is happy enough to meander along, showing Finn's latest endeavors at becoming a successful artist, or the latest meeting of the minds in the fashion capitals of New York City. Acting is generally good. Hawke does well with the script he has to work with. Paltrow, although an incredibly talented actress, does not manage to convey the coldness of Estella's character that would make Estella's actions truly believable. Having said this, as a stand alone movie, you can do much worse than watch this one. It is very well directed, and there is a touch of glamor to this film that makes it very pleasing to see.
Rating:
Summary: Dissappointing Transfer of this fine film.
Review: I love the film, I really do. I love the design of it, the look of it, the pace, the music, the characters the story. Unfortunately I'm displeased with the box art... which is a poor grainy print of the original poster work. The fact that this is not an anamorphic transfer. which means I cannot watch it on my widescreen format television. i.e. the black bars on the bottom and top of the screen... cant make those go away, even if you set your dvd player to notadjust the screen.
Rating:
Summary: Worthy of veiwing many times
Review: I was very pleased with the way Charles' tale was sculpted into this film. There is spectacular use of the score and color to express the emotion of the film. I noticed the recurring use of the theme of the color green. Especially at Finn's art show you see the set and most costumes are in the color green, a visual strategy that works whether you know it or not. There is also good camera work, sweeping through the old mansion, going through shadows and fading images. The makers of this film are very sucessful in conveying the theme and feelings in the story, you can't help but relate yourself to the characters.
I was very empathetic to this movie, but maybe I'm just sensitive :-)
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