The Golden Bowl

Rating:
Summary: Excruciatingly Boring!
Review: This movie was just plain BORING. I am a great fan of Merchant-Ivory films (A Room with a View is one of my all-time favorite movies), but this movie was extremely disappointing in contrast with their other films. I watched it all the way through because I kept thinking 'it has to get better.' Unfortunately I was wrong and it didn't. I haven't read the book, but definitely won't now. It felt like they had all the right ingredients; great cast, great director, and beautiful locations, but they just couldn't pull it all together in the end. I am surprised that there are so many good reviews for this movie, as the only extraordinary thing to me was how dull and uninteresting it was.

Rating:
Summary: Boring!
Review: This movie was very boring, it was hard for me to beleive the actors and enter into the story, I could not wait it to end. I do like Uma thurman has an actress and the atmosphere and all the beautiful costumes was great but it could not help to save this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Boring!
Review: This movie was very boring, it was hard for me to beleive the actors and enter into the story, I could not wait it to end. I do like Uma thurman has an actress and the atmosphere and all the beautiful costumes was great but it could not help to save this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning, flawless adapation of Henry James novel
Review: To do this magnificent film justice, I can only quote from Kevin Thomas' review in the Los Angeles Times: " "The Golden Bowl" is yet another Merchant Ivory triumph, with impeccable performances and equally flawless, grand period settings. As in previous films, the venerable team makes the past as immediate and vital as the present, summoning a vanquished world in such detail and perception that it is possible to see ourselves in people and places that would seem far removed."

As worthy of Henry James, the dialog of the screen adaptation is brilliant: the intrigue and suspense are developed by the clever double entendres as the characters eloquently let one another know they are aware of the duplicity in their relationships while never speaking overtly of their suspicions. Nick Nolte displays impressive, nuanced subtlety in his acting; Uma Thurman, as always, is elegant and incandescent, her acting perfection.

The settings in Italian castles and British grand estates alone are worth a trip to the theater; the costumes are opulent and beautifully designed. This film held our undivided attention from the first moment to the end. If you like films of this genre, do not miss it. "The Golden Bowl" is one of the best movies we have seen in many years, worthy of the top Oscar nominations.

Rating:
Summary: Northam Makes the Film
Review: Unlike other reviewers, I haven't read _The Golden Bowl_ and I hate Henry James. Perhaps that's why I adored this film. Visually, it is even more sumptuous than most Merchant and Ivory films. But what makes the movie more than just a pretty package is Jeremy Northam, who in addition to being stunningly handsome as ever, delivers a performance of depth and nuance. Along with his wonderful roles in _Emma_ and _The Winslow Boy_, the part of Amerigo should help establish Northam as one of the best actors around, up there in my mind with Kenneth Branagh and . . . well I can't think of many others as good. Kate Beckinsale is also astonishing in this film, doing a much better job of playing an ingenue who finds unknown inner strength in a time of need than Winona Ryder did in _The Age of Innocence_. And the ever-reliable Nick Nolte delivers a believable, complex performance. The only thing that made this film a four-star rather than five-star film in my book was the appalling performance of Uma Thurman, who is so bad that at the climax of the film, when she delivers what should be the most poignant line of the movie, I actually burst out laughing in the theatre (very embarrassing). I can't think why directors haven't noticed that Ms. Thurman is these days merely a pretty face, but the rest of the cast and the production was stellar, and the story gripped my interest throughout.