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Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A nigth with a Vampire
Review: A Great movie with good performances and a greate story

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Perhaps the only dissenter on Tom Cruise's performance
Review: Anne Rice's dark and maudlin tales are among my favorite in the vampire genre. However, I never bought Tom Cruise as Lestat. I am sure he tried very hard, but he never convinced me. I was sorry that Anne Rice recanted her initial vehement objection to his playing the role. Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas, on the other hand, were excellently cast. I read that Anne Rice patterned Lestat after a young Rutger Hauer. It's a pity he was too old to play the part in this movie, as he would have been brilliant in it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not bad
Review: Not bad at all, the movie is well made, structured, and last but not least, entertaining, Anne Rice's novel is captured spectacularly, although I must admit, it is corny at times but not much, it moves on as though it never happened, Tom Cruise plays Lestat beautifully but the true acting gem is Brad Pitt's role as Louie, absolutely flawless, I wish Neil Jordan would make "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen of the damned" into films, there is a film of "Queen of the damned, I know but it is terrible and I cannot stress this enough, TERRIBLE!, anyway, watch it

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Undoubtedly the best vampire film ever
Review: For my money, this has got to be best vampire movie ever made. It's well written, well directed, and well acted. Casting Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as Lestat and Louis was a stroke of genius, they're both beautiful enough to fit the parts. One of the best aspects of the film was the backdrop and scenery. In every single scene, there's something gorgeous in it. Like the breathtaking mansion that Louis inhabits at the beginning of the movie and also the scenes at the Theater Des Vampires. I also like the way the characters deal with death and grief and how evident the effect of all the things that happen to them are in their expressions and voices. I paticularly like the look on Louis' face when Claudia's ashes are swirling around his face.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Vampire Movie Ever Made- Bar None!
Review: I have watched so many movies that consisted of vampires and most of them have been so lousy that a few times I've felt tears line my eyes. But this film has to be the most beautiful, most truthful, and most amazing vampire movie ever created, and I can't thank Geffen and Warner enough for it. Even now, when I watch all these horrid vampire films that are continually made, I always know there was at least one vampire film that took my heart as well as my breath. The movie is darkly and seductively lit, just like the mood always is, and the actors fit the setting perfectly. No obnoxious, idiotic vamps here, but actually serious, compassionate and real characters. If you are a lover of vampires, and even more, a lover of the Vampire Chronicles of Anne Rice who wrote the novel to this movie, you will absolutely love both the actors and the way the movie is shown. Unlike other vamp movies, the vampires act their age- you know, mature- and the actors are supremely gorgeous. Even Tom Cruise with all that makeup on and blonde locks still appears just as sexy as ever- and do I even have to mention Antonio Banderas with that long hair? Well despite my drooling, there are many great actors playing in this movie. There's Tom Cruise as I've said, but at first glance you'll probably not even know because he has molded himself almost to the perfection of the character Lestat the way Anne made him appear in the novel, and has the exact personality of the vain and careless Lestat. And then there's the everlasting Brad Pitt who plays the sad, mournful Louis, and honestly, when you see this film, you'll see Brad Pitt is the best man to play this role. Antonio Banderas is spectacular as Armand- honestly, despite his age, Antonio is the splitting image of the ancient regretless vampire, and there's Christian Slater who is Malloy, the boy who interviews Louis as he pours out his whole story on tape. Then who can forget the cynical yet witty Stephen Rea who plays a head vampire actor in Armand's Parisian theater,and little Kirsten Dunst, who played the tormented child? All perfect actors who made the movie a gorgeous gem. You will not be disappointed with them I assure you.
This film is a lovely and yet exhilerating piece of work that speaks of the vampire Louis who has lived many decades and wishes just out of sheer want to tell his story. So he picks an interviewer who is nameless in this movie but if you read the Chronicles will know as Malloy. Up in an apartment in San Francisco these two sit in the room, Malloy taping Louis as he tells his long and sordid tale. He goes right to the punch and tells you how he was 'born to darkness'. It appears that for time sake they change the story around a bit at the beginning and instead of telling you his brother died and he blamed himself for it as Anne wrote in the novel, they tell you he lost his wife in childbirth, and it deeply upsets him and places him in a deep state of depression that is just teetering on he being suicidal.
Then Tom Cruise comes in as the striking character he is and instantly you are watching Lestat convert Louis to what he is, a vampire. Then the movie goes deep as the duo fight constantly and then convert a daughter, Claudia, that Louis loved ultimately, possibly an outlet for the pain he felt by losing his real child years back. Then as he travels the world, seeking for vampires, Armand comes to his life and tells him the facts of life from a vampire's angle, entrancing Louis ever more deeply and yet also leaving him more bitter than before, but always still feeling.
This movie tells a story not just of vampires, but also of humans as well. It tells the truth of human life and how sensitive it truly is, and that some people see life much more differently than others. It also teaches you though about vampires and how if they exist this is how they would be. There are a few that are rude and vain like Lestat, and then there are some that are compassionate and loving like Louis, and then there are some that are just tormented and lost like Armand.
The makeup and costume affects were excellent, the settings were lovely, and the story is perfect for just a relaxing night alone on the couch. And although I did hear some rumors that there were a few disputes between the actors on set, especially between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, they sure hid it well and made this a movie to be proud of.
I recommend this movie to all viewers alike, for it's a movie meant for everyone to see, not just supernatural lovers. I guarantee you, you'll be laughing, gasping, and crying throughout the entire movie. It's just that good.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Mm...
Review: This wasn't that interesting to me as the other Vampire Chronicles, but still good. It was told from Louis' point of view, so lestat seemed rather..."bad." I didn't liek Claudia all too much either.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dies Irae, Dies Doloris ...
Review: "Libera me, Domine, de vitae aeterna" - "Free me, Lord, from eternal life": If a movie begins with a choir and boy soprano singing these words, in a requiem's style and overlaying the camera's sweeping move over nightly San Francisco bay, zooming in on a Victorian building's top-floor window after having followed the life on the street below like a hunter follows its prey - if a movie begins like this, you know you're not looking at your average flick, whatever its subject. (And if the first thing you catch is the Latin phrase's grammatical mistake, this is probably not your kind of movie to begin with).

Much-discussed even before its release, due not least to Anne Rice's temporary withdrawal of support and her no less sensational subsequent 180-degree turn, Neil Jordan's adaptation of the "Vampire Chronicles"' first part, based on Rice's own screenplay, is a sumptuous production awash in luminous colors, magnificent period decor and costumes, rich fabrics, heavy crystal, elegant silverware and gallons of deeply scarlet blood, supremely photographed by Phillippe Rousselot, with a constant undercurrent of sensuality and seduction; an audiovisual orgy substantiated by one of recent film history's most ingenious scores (by Elliot Goldenthal). Although the book only gained notoriety after the publication of its sequel "The Vampire Lestat," followed in short order by the "Chronicles"' third installment, "The Queen of the Damned," by the time this movie was produced, Rice had acquired a large and loyal fan base, who would have been ready to tear it to shreds had it failed to meet their expectations. That this was not unanimously the case is in and of itself testimony to Neil Jordan's considerable achievement (only underscored by the botched 2002 realization of "Queen of the Damned"). Sure, some decry the plot changes vis-a-vis the novel and the fact that some of the protagonists (particularly Louis and Armand) look different from Rice's description. But others have embraced the movie wholeheartedly; praising it for remaining faithful to the fundamentalities of Rice's story and for its production values as such. I find myself firmly in the latter corner; indeed, in some respects I consider this one of the rare movies that are superior to their literary originals - primarily because the story's two main characters, Louis and Lestat, gain considerably in stature and complexity compared to Rice's book.

While both film and novel are narrated by Louis (Brad Pitt), giving an interview to a reporter (Christian Slater) in the hope of achieving some minimal atonement for 200 years of sin and guilt, and while Lestat (Tom Cruise) appears on screen barely half the movie's running time, Lestat is much more of a central character than in Rice's novel; and vastly more interesting. For Anne Rice's Lestat only comes into his own in the "Chronicles"' second part, which is named for him and where we truly learn to appreciate him as the vampire world's aristocratic, arrogant, wicked, intelligent and unscrupulous "brat prince," who although completely lacking regret for any of his actions nevertheless shows occasional glimpses of caring, even if he would never admit thereto. *This*, however, is exactly the movie's Lestat; not the comparatively uninformed and, all things considered, even somewhat brutish creature of Rice's first novel. It is no small feat on Tom Cruise's part to have accomplished this; and in my mind his portrayal has completely eclipsed the character's original conception, which was reportedly based on Rutger Hauer's Captain Navarre in "Ladyhawke."

Similarly, while every bit as guilt-ridden as the character created by Anne Rice, Brad Pitt's Louis regains more inner strength - and more quickly so - than the narrator of Rice's book, rendering him more of an even foil for Lestat, and equally lending greater credibility to his initial selection as Lestat's companion, his actions to ensure his and Claudia's escape to Europe, and his later decision not to stay with Armand. (Indeed, Louis's and Armand's separation after the burning of the Theatre of the Vampires makes perfect sense in the movie's context; it would have undercut both characters', but especially Louis's credibility had they gone on to share years of companionship like in the book.)

Kirsten Dunst's Claudia was not only this movie's biggest discovery - not surprisingly, in an interview included on the DVD Dunst calls this "the most prominent role" of her career so far - she, too, embodies the novel's child vampire to absolute perfection; capturing her eternally childlike features as well as her Lolitaesque seductiveness and the ruthless killer hidden under her doll-like appearance. Doubtlessly furthest from the novel's character is Antonio Banderas's powerful and charismatic Armand: But while I do somewhat miss Rice's auburn-haired "Botticelli angel," I always had a problem imagining him as the leader of the Paris coven, in control even of the quicksilver-like Santiago (marvelously portrayed by Stephen Rea in one of his most overtly theatrical performances). Here, too, the movie - if anything - gives the story greater credibility; although it's admittedly hard to reconcile with parts of the "Chronicles"' later installments, particularly Armand's own biography.

In interviews, Neil Jordan and Brad Pitt particularly have mentioned the emotional strain that this movie put on all its participants; due its almost exclusively nightly shooting schedule, and even more so because of its incessant exploration of guilt, damnation and, literally, hell on earth. Anne Rice's vampires truly are the ultimate outsiders; no longer part of human society, they feed on it, can neither be harmed by sickness nor by methods the world has taken for granted ever since Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (which are in fact merely "the vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman," as Louis explains, simultaneously amused and contemptuous) and are thus, if not killed by fire and/or beheading, condemned to walk the earth forever, without any hope of redemption. It is primarily this element which has given Rice's novels their lasting appeal, and which is perfectly rendered in Jordan's adaptation. I'm still not sure I'd ever want to meet them in person, though ...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyed It
Review: I'm not at Anne Rice fan and I've never read any of her books. I am however of fan of this movie and enjoyed it a lot.

Interview with the Vampire is not a horror movie. It is anything but it. The movie tells us the story of Louis.(Brad Pitt) He's over 200 years old and he's telling his life story to a reporter played by Christian Slater. He's tells us how he became a Vampire from the bite of Lestat(Cruise) and how he hates being what he is. You see the child they have played by Kirsten Dunst. He tells about his good times and his low times. It's a tragic story.

Brad Pitt is great as Louis. You can argue this as the best performance that he as ever made. He holds his own with Tom Cruise. It's a believable performance. You actually think he is the Vampire and he plays the emotions well.

Tom Cruise is simply fantastic. Lestat is a very arrogant character and Tom plays it to perfection. He shows lots of energy and the role is very well acted. Like Pitt he becomes the character and he's no longer Tom Cruise. It's a shame to see "Queen of the Damned" and watch Stuart Townsend play a horrible Lestat.

Kirsten Dunst is great. She's so creepy and scary in the movie. I heard an interview with her a couple of months ago, in which she was mad that she hated the scene in the movie where she gets to kiss Pitt. It's a memorable performance and it's her humble beginning.

I liked Interview with the Vampire. It and "Bram Stokers" are in my opinion the two best vampire movies ever made.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!
Review: I LOVE this movie sooo much. You see, when you rate a movie that is adapted from a book, you have to look at it from two different perspectives. Interview with The Vampire as a movie was excellent. It was beautifully doet and the director, Neil Jordan, captured the gothic feel and look that the movie was supposed to have. Brad Pitt gave a great performance as the vulnerable and torture fledgling vampire Louis and Kirsten Dunst gave a powerful (yet sometimes sappy) performance. While watching this movie you see that talented actress she has become and will be in the future. TOm Cruise was good in potraying the evil that Lestat is supposed to harbor in his person.
Now rating as an adaptation of the book is aa diffent story. I'm a big Anne RIce fan and I've read ALL of her books. THe writers changed many things that the book didnt have. I won't spoil it and give examples, but it's the truth. Antonio Banderas was miscast as the teenage vampire and ruler Armand. I say they could have done makeup on Louis to make him look more like Louis in the book.
Other thatn those minor difference this is still a winner and I gaurantee you won't be disappointed. THe plot is good, the acting is good and you'll be able to follow the story.
So sit back and enjoy.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: overrated
Review: The Amazon.com review raves about Cruise's part but I did not enjoy it, he has played in a lot more better roles than this. It's mostly his speech (and Brad Pitts as well) that might me laugh when it was not supposed to.

The only actors that get a B or higher are the Interviewer and Antonio Banderas who's already Spanish accent is fitting.

It does look real and it that case I never got the feeling of watching a horrible slasher movie, the story is the highlight of the movie and therefore still worth watching. Somehow I still feel it could have been done better than this.


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