Rating: 
Summary: a clashing of world-views
Review: Pleasantville may not be as entertaining as you would have liked, but I was swept away by the cleverness of the concept. I thought Pleasantville was a good movie to review because it will cause you to wrestle with world-view issues. The movie raises issues about how conservatives see liberals and liberals see conservatives. There is a lot of truth to Gary Ross' portrayal of 1950's mainstream culture and the blissful ignorance found in the conservatism of that time, which still lingers. Therefore I was in agreement with his concept and satire. However, I would have liked to see the movie continue a bit further into maybe a Pleasantville II. It would be interesting to watch the color bring a different kind of pain to the world. We could have watched the extremes of intolerance on both sides along with sexual, drug, and alcohol abuse and maybe even catch Marilyn Manson doing the soundtrack. The symbolism spoke louder than anything else in the movie... something a citizen of postmodernity would prize. Overall, to me- a postmodern response- the movie shows unintentionally how both conservatism AND liberalism were in a lose-lose situation and still try to win the day.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Time Travel Film
Review: The value of this masterful film is how it vividly portrays the transition those in the 50's made to their mindsets in adjusting to the exciting new culture emerging. The time of the 50's was a pivotal time in American culture. This film captures the essence of that time period and how people in the 50's began to open up to new ideas and lifestyles, some more than others. Pleasantville is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Its value is enormous in how it shows the exciting transition people made to a new time period and culture.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Crafted
Review: Pleasantville tells the story of the teen brother and sister, portrayed fabulously by Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon, who are transported into the 1960's television show "Pleasantville." Far from adapting to their black and white surroundings, they change the lives of everyone around them and inadvertantly come to an understanding of each other. Artistic highlights include the firemen who only know how to get cats down from trees, the bathroom stall with no toilet, the books with blank pages, and the contrast from color to black and white. All in all, a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasant
Review: Very few movies these days can be called true "originals." Especially nowadays when TV and comic books seem to be the main inspiration for film scripts. And this movie doesn't seem very original since it is clearly lampooning (honoring? In a small way) the early-fifties family sitcom genre made famous by "Father Knows Best" "Leave it to Beaver" and the like. But the film itself is original in the best possible way. It is a fantasy. It is one of the most wonderful answers to the eternal question "What if?" Bickering siblings from the nineteen-nineties are zapped into Tobey Maguire's favorite TV show by a mysterious remote control, weilded by classic TV fave Don Knotts. At first Maguire digs livng the life of his TV idols, working at the Malt Shop and telling people his dad's new Buick is "Swell." But when his sister (the usually annoying, but here quite well cast Reese Witherspoon) introduces sexuality into the equation, something mysteroius and wonderful happens in Pleasantville. Something that Maguire tries to stop at first until it occurs to him that "You can't stop something that's inside you." The script is superb, flawless to the last. The recreation of the TV show genre is meticulous, from the distant yet authoritative patriarch (a very funny, yet sadly mustacheless William H. Macy) to the energetic mother who lacks self-identity (the lovely Joan Allen), right down to Jeff Daniels as the malt shop owner who, if he disapeared on his way out of the shop it wouldn't surprise you at all. But an English teacher once told me "There are no static characters, just static readers" and this story digs deeper into these character's minds and strikes pure gold. Top notch performances by the entire cast, particularly Daniels, Allen and Maguire, who really got himself on the map with this picture. And a pleasant surprise, Malcolm in the Middle's Jane Kaczmarack (that's probably spelled wrong) in a small but suitable role. In short (a little late for that, I know) this movie is beautiful. The special effects will make you double take more than once, but the story itself shines thorugh like a candle behind a curtain. The beautiful story about life, happiness, and trusting your feelings. Pleasant indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: Moralistic Moral Relatavism
Review: Since I'm a middle-aged guy, I didn't see this movie in the theaters -- I'm a "wait until it gets to Blockbuster" kind of guy. So, before I'd even seen it, I was rooting for it at the Oscars, namely because of the camerawork, the visual effects, the gorgeous Technicolor, and the cast. This is a cast to die for: Joan Allen, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, William H. Macy, Don Knotts, Tobey Maguire (I'm not particularly enthused by the last, but he works well with the script). Therefore, it was with much eager anticipation that I finally saw "Pleasantville." Boy, what a letdown! What a waste of a great, talented cast and crew. I wasn't prepared for anything terribly mindblowing, but I was at least expecting a quirky, offbeat comedy. Instead, what we get it a strange [copy] of "Back to the Future," by the "Hair" generation, by way of "Father Knows Best." To wit, the movie is basically a political and generational tract by a baby-boomer still stuck in the 1960s, ranting and whining about how lousy and restrictive the 1950s were. Every cliche on both sides of the fence are dredged out of the past, and the movie becomes a hippie version of Plato's cave allegory. Not that I'm a cheerleader for 1950s family television, but since I was born in the 1960s, I think the last time I checked my watch, it was 2002, and, well, not only are the 50s blissfully over, well, so are the 60s. Time to move on. But, Gary Ross instead gives the viewer a metaphor that's about as subtle as a sledgehammer cracking open an egg, a ham-handed, cliche-ridden, syrupy and sappy morality play. Though the movie's ostensibly about free will, here's the agenda rub: It's a morality play about how nothing's black-and-white, morally speaking; Everything's shades of grey, or rather, color. Well, you know that's an old liberal saw, and that in itself doesn't bother me, since I hold the Christian Coalition types in equal disdain. But, the fervor with which Ross delivers this message suggests that if you don't subscribe to his moral vision, then you are morally suspect, which brings us right smack dab to square one, morally speaking. Quite a vicious circle. Nor is this movie accessible to both sides of the political spectrum, like, say, a Frank Capra, or even a Billy Wilder movie: Ross has a bone to pick with conservatives -- after all, the idyllic "Pleasantville" in reality is a town in Westchester County, NY, where "Reader's Digest" is published -- and the not-so-sotto-voce judgment is issued through the clumsy dialogue: "Liberals good, conservatives bad." You know, I could tune in Rush Limbaugh and hear "conservatives good, liberals bad" for free. Somehow, this simplistic and stale argument is not what I expect to shell out my hard-earned money for after a hard day's work. Nonethless, "Pleasantville" has its virtues, none of which are really due to Ross' heavy-handed scenario nor direction: Brilliant cinematography, both in black and white and color. Excellent sets, wardrobe and production design. Great performances, especially from Macy, Allen and Witherspoon (I love the scene in which Witherspoon suggests to Allen, her TV mom, to try pleasuring herself and the subsequent scene or Allen in the tub; Brilliant set lighting and erotic flavor). However, these are hardly career performances for any of the cast, and they do their best with a script that is too didactic for any real character development. I wish I could love this movie, because it has an excellent plot premise, which unfortunately got lost in all the moralizing of its theme. I like my morality tales a shade more plot-driven and much less hectoring, and thus recommend "Dead Poets Society" as a better alternative for exploring the movie's morality argument, and either "The Truman Show" or "Gattaca" for its message on free will. There IS, however, a great lesson to learn from "Pleasantville": Go heavy on the entertainment and light on the message.
Rating:
Summary: "Nothing's gonna change my world"
Review: The song at the end of the movie is called "Across the Universe" and is sung by Fiona Apple.
Rating:
Summary: I would like to know, please
Review: At the end of the movie there was a theme song that touched my heart. It goes, nothing really changes the world....
Anyone know the title and singer of the song? Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Own it, and love iT!!
Review: This movie is definatly something that I would recomend to almost anyone. All of the actors show an encredably awesome talent and fit the personalities of thier characters very well. This film is a great and magical ecsperiance for the whole family and everyone else.
Rating:
Summary: Black and white and colored all over
Review: I caught this movie quite by chance on one of the satellite superstations. I was intrigued by the gradual change from black and white to color. While watching what I was thinking of as a "cute" movie, the realization hit me square in the face that I was watching white America in the 1950's realize that there were "those kind of people" moving into their neighborhoods. What brought it home was the cardboard sign "no coloreds;" the line from the soda jerk that maybe if they cleaned up the mess (after a crowd trashing) that "everything will be alright;" and the Town Hall meeting with the "whites" downstairs on the main floor and the "coloreds" in the gallery above. Extremely powerful messages in a deceptively "cute" movie. Highly recommeded.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting exploration of Genesis 1
Review: Count me as one Christian (Episcopalian) who loved the movie. I would rate this up there with the "Last Temptation of Christ" in its theological exploration. ... The townsfolk of Pleasantville live seemingly idyllic lives that are without pain, suffering, crime or any other kind of evil. Everything happens the way it is supposed to and their is no world beyond their town. But they also are emotionally stunted, superficial and unable to think for themselves. They follow a script and have no free will or ability to think for themselves. They have not been exposed to anything beyond their myopic existences. The God character (played by Don Knotts) transports Bud and and Peggy Sue (serpent figure??) into this world. They begin introducing those around them to both good, evil and knowledge (art and literature). The townspeople learn to make moral choices and learn the realities of real joy and real pain and evil. As this occurs, their eyes are opened, they learn free will they and are transformed from (literally and metaphorically) black-and-white to colour. As this occurs, the physical world around them changes. The basketball players don't always make their shots. The weather isn't always perfect. Trees catch on fire. But creation becomes coloured as well. Perhaps the imperfection of creation is necessary for those within it to be truly human. It's a brilliant exploration of the concepts that Genesis 1 introduces. Was the fall and free will and the potential for evil necessary for us to gain our full humanity? That is a question I've wondered for a while. Those Christians who call this anti-values or anti-Christian don't seem to have the gift of subtlety. Peggy Sue doesn't turn colour until she TURNS DOWN the offer to have sex with Skip and spends the night studying and learning to think outside her particular box. Not everyone at Lover's Lane is colour, but those who have emotional connections with their spouses do. ...P>But I do recommend this movie for those people of any faith who like to wrestle with theological and moral concepts. It might even be a good movie to use as a start for theological discussion for Jewish, Unitarian and Christian small groups. If you like to think and ponder, watch this.
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