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Summary: One of my favorite movies......
Review: This movie tells the story of CS Lewis and his American love. It's a love story and also a story about discovering yourself. Hopkins and Winger are amazing actors and really made the 2 characters believable and real for me. In the theater, I saw this movie 6 times - so of course I had to own it. Make sure you have tissues nearby, you will need them.
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Summary: Excellent portrayal, fine acting, and wonderful story
Review: This film has all the elements that make it a classic. Anthony Hopkins is in fine form as the late apologist C.S. Lewis. Debra Winger plays the spry, and smart New Yorker Joy Davidman very well. The film will yank the heartstrings and jerk out those tears. As a fan of Lewis, this film makes his life more real to me, and his writing more profound. Be sure to read "A Grief Observed" after you see this movie--for Lewis's pain is as great as any, and he expresses it better than most.
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Summary: We read to know we are not alone.
Review: This is only one of the lines used in this movie that will remain with you forever. The movie is about C.S. Lewis and is a true story. C.S. Lewis, a famous children's writer, is played by Anthony Hopkins, who is absolutely enthralling. He is a man who thinks he can love and be loved, and who can tell others how to love and be loved. In truth, C.S. Lewis would not know love if it smacked him on the head, until, that is, he meets a woman (played by Debra Winger) who changes all he thought he ever knew about life and love. Sounds like an old plot, I know, but this movie touches right to the core of your heart. For the first time in his life, this man's eyes are opened wide, and he is nearly frozen with disbelief and wonder. Debra Winger plays an outstanding role of a divorcee with a small child, who enters C.S. Lewis' life by writing him a letter, and who changes him completely and forever by just being who she is. There are very few twists in this movie, and this is what makes the movie so valuable. It is a simple, straightforward tale of a man, a woman, and true love. Don't miss it!
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Summary: Longest death scene in cinema history
Review: I must be in the minority but this movie bugged me so much when I first saw it at the cinema upon its initial release. As far as I'm concerned, this is one [bad] film. Hopkins and Winger are fine actors and I blame it all on Richard Attenborough. It has the longest death scene in cinema history, I kid you not. I was so irritated by Winger's very very long drawn out death that I was overjoyed that she finally went. Don't be mistaken that I'm a cynic. I love the classic mushy story - I even cried at An Affair To Remember the other evening when I watched it again. This is sentimentality in the most mechanical form, a total waste of time for all. I tell people that it's one my most hated films, alongside Jurassic Park which you all know who's in it. Now, that's the all-time turkey in cinema history !!
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Summary: Whistler
Review: Just when you think you've seen the best of them, you find a movie like Shadowlands. Anthony Hopkins again shows that his capabilities go beyond that of Hannibal Lectar. In this, he plays "Jack" C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, with deep passion and realism. Not many people know what an interesting life C.S. Lewis led, such as being a best friend and spiritual councelor to J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings). This movie centers on the love of Lewis and the easily controlled world in which he has surrounded himself. When Joyce (Debra Winger) writes him a letter, she catches his attention and he agrees to meet with her. Joyce brings with her a young son (Joseph Mazello) that is having to deal with seperation from his abusive, alchoholic father. There is a scene near the end with Hopkins and Mazello that is priceless. Before Lewis meet's Joyce he is a man of solitude and withdrawn emotions, and is surrounded by pieces of his childhood. On his wall next to his desk hangs a painting of what he refers to as heaven. This idea of happiness is kept in the form of the painting, until he searches for it. Shadowland's is a great movie that apparently hasn't been discovered by a large number of people. How unfortunate! This has the qualities of a classic thanks to Richard Attenborough's terrific direction, a great story, and perfect casting. ~s.a.o.s.~
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Summary: Much more than a love story
Review: Attenborough's gentle film, based on the stage play of the same name, in turn based on the events of Lewis' relationship with (and later, marriage to) Joy Gresham, is a thought-provoking drama that deals with questions that will have faced every person of faith at one time or another. The themes of human experience, the, at times puzzling, antithesis of pain and happiness, and what it means to be authentically human, are lucidly developed without being overdone or becoming cliched. This was the first time in a while I have cried watching a film. In fact, the tears really flowed as I watched the anguish of Anthony Hopkin's brilliant performance. Part of that was the confrontation with the heartache and pain inherent in human existence (at least on this side of eternity); part of it was seeing in Lewis' struggle with the question of pain a reflection of the inner struggle that we all face as we try to hold on to faith in God at times when life seems to be doing all it can to confuse us. With that in mind, this is no sentimental love story: this is a painful, though at the same time inspiring, journey into the paradoxes and dilemmas of faith and life that we are all familiar with.
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Summary: That's the Deal
Review: Pair with 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, sadly available only in full-screen, for a lovely literary-themed Hopkins double bill. The DVD of SHADOWLANDS gave my low-end player fits. All was fine up to chapter 14, then at the end of Lewis's tearful confession ("I'd have to love her more than myself.") playback stopped and no measures could surmount that hurdle. Perhaps no more than a quirky copy, but I'm doubtful; after trading up my player the same disc plays wonderfully. One star off for player persnicketiness.
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Summary: Powerful, arresting, moving and quite beautiful...
Review: When I first experienced this magical film, I was a 23 year old male living in my own world of euphoria; I was alive and in love. Fitting, then, that Shadowlands is my favourite film. Here, we see a character portrayed by Hopkins that does not appear in any of his works both before and after - humble + honest + noble + downright decent; a combination of qualities rarely scrpited for actors in a jurrasic, special efffect, massive budget motion picture era. Further, while Sahdowlands doesn't dazzle you with hip, young actors and awesome scenes of people, buildings and the planet being decimated, it does what the majority cannot seem to deliver - it tells a story - nothing more, nothing less. Middle aged Hopkings falls for a younger woman (Debra Winger) and his life (which, hitherto, was one of routine and content)takes on a whole new meaning, unitl tragedy strikes. Yes, I can describe the intricate details of the setting, the chronology of events etc, but the bottom line is simple - regardless of time and location, this is a story of love.....Have your box of Kleenex at the ready and take it all in. Enjoy! P.M.
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Summary: Hopkins should have won an oscar!
Review: First, Anthony should have won an oscar for the brilliant, moving performance that he gave in this movie. I have never seen a more oscar worthy performance (o.k maybe A.H for silence of the lambs) and considering that many unmerited actors have received an oscar for their performances I don't see why he wasn't awarded one. But anyway, the story is quite beautiful, romantic, rewarding and sad. Be prepared to ball your eyes out!
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Summary: This movie will make you cry
Review: This is an excellent movie about the great love of CS Lewis's life. Not only does it do an excellent job of portraying an image of CS Lewis's personality for those of us who will never meet him, but it also does a great job of telling a story of love and loss. My wife and I watched this movie, and it has motivated us to live our lives more passionately and to use every moment that we our given to love more fully.
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