Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: I really liked this movie but I thought it was a bit short. I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more with either a longer ending or a different ending. The whole movie is very interesting but the ending falls flat. What I liked about it was the fascination John Hurt has for Jason Priestly... John Hurt does a fantastic job acting in this film and he really carries the entire movie on is back. Jason Priestly isn't bad but anybody could have played his role just as good. Overall I give this movie 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterclass in screen acting from the great John Hurt
Review: I strongly urge any school of the performing arts that has not obtained a copy of this movie to rectify this omission as soon as possible simply to show their students one of the great,understated performances of recent years.It comes from John Hurt,playing reclusive somewhat other worldly novelist Giles Death (pronounced Day-ath)a man utterly removed from the times in which he is living One day ,while paying a rare visit to the cinema in search of an E M Forster adatation,he strays into the wrong screen and witnesses a peurile High school gross fest.He is smitten by one of the "actors"a teen idol played ,well and winningly,by Jason Priestley.He begins behaving like any moonstruck fan,clipping pictures from teen magazines and fantasising about his new love.
He travels to Long Island where he meets the star and feeds his ego with tales of his talent and potential.
It is essentailly a character study of a man whose emotions are stirred unexpectedly and how through this he comes to terms with both the world around him and himself.It is a sad but quietly compassionate movie and there is a gentle comedic strain to the awakening of the character to the modern worldSee it for Hurt and some fine supporting turns from Sheila Hancock and Elizabeth Quinn, as well as for thatincreasingly rare commodity in today's cinema,emotional complexity allied to an interest in people rathet than pyrotechnics
Rating:
Summary: Subtle and Beautiful
Review: I've noticed some wonderfully divergent comments about the film, here. The reason the film is so great is that it truly does offer a multitude of possibilities. For me, this film was about finding beauty in the places where you least expect it. Finding beauty in a teenage sex romp, in men, in Long Island. Giles De'ath's search for beauty (and it's tragic rejection of him) is, I feel, the essence of this film and it is executed with remarkable precision and very good humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Some good acting in a boring story
Review: In the beginning of the film it is very difficult to know what the story is all about. One needs to struggle to keep watching futrher. When the truth dawns, its is a disappointment. The Movie turns out to be a "modern", "funny" version of the classic "Death in Venice". As for the theme, it is handled with such care as if not to embarrass anyone too much with the underlining homosexuality. And as for humor: perhaps the jokes about British misconceptions about the Americans can feel funny to the average American. For most Europeans, I suspect it is all just yawns. Acting is partly great (John Hurt), but Jason Priestly could be substituted with a block of wood.
Rating:
Summary: Love & Death on L.I. was both touching and humorous!
Review: It was one of the best films of 1998; I actually preferred it to 'Gods & Monsters' which had a similar theme. John Hurt deserves a nomination for best actor as the prim Giles D'eath who swoons for B-actor heart-throb played by Priestly. Many scenes had me laughing out loud as Giles copes with his newly awakened passion for Ronnie. It's a funny, yet poignant film.
Rating:
Summary: More hopeful than "Gods and Monsters."
Review: It's a classic in a sense that we have a lifeless, intellectual man meet his muse and finally join the living. It's better than "Gods and Monsters" because of the positive ending. I liked the pun in the title. It's also very funny in a very dry way. And of course Jason Priestly is Jason Priestly. It's funny how Giles saw more to Ronnie than there was. Ronnie acted the same in front of the screen and in real life.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, in exactly 2 Senses
Review: Jason Priestly plays a cheesy teen movie idol, who becomes the object of an obsession by an older, widowed, academic man. One very touching moment comes when the older gentleman stocks up on magazines and fan rags made for teenage girls, hoping to find pictures of Priestly's character inside.
Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL AND RISK-TAKING
Review: John Hurt is simply breathtaking in what is probably the role of his life; Jason Priestly is so surprisingly multi-layered that he nearly deceives you into thinking he has no mind/heart. The deft and melancholy screenplay deals with mature and compelling subject matter in an involving, entertaining way, and though I would have preferred a more realistic ending -- perhaps a bit more tragic for sad Giles - this movie is simply wonderful. You ache for the detached loneliness and insulated character Hurt portrays with genius, and you find his crush both heartbreaking and pitiable. There are glimmers of humor throughout, and the softly sad music swells appropriately; this movie does it all, and does so quietly, with good script and good acting, period. If you liked Gods and Monsters, you will love this movie. I have seen it many times, and each time walk away with something else to ponder.
Rating:
Summary: Sensitive, Unusual, Brilliant Acting
Review: John Hurt shines in this obscure 1998 film that should have received more attention than it did.
Hurt plays Giles De'Ath, a dry-as-dust man of letters whose intellectual tomes are as hi-brow as they are apparently boring. Completely out of touch with the modern world, and scorned by the British media (which calls him an "erstwhile fogey, now cult"), he inadvertently stumbles into a movie entitled "Hot Pants College II," a "Porky's" sendoff so inappropriate for Giles that it defies imagination.
Realizing his mistake and about to leave in high dudgeon, Giles suddenly is riveted by the film's star, teen heartthrob Ronnie Bostock, played brilliantly by Jason Priestley. As he views what he considers a beautiful lad, Giles falls as desperately in love as any teeny-bopper ever could, to the point where he actually has to buy a television and a VCR, just so he can view the wretchedly untalented Bostock ouvre (with titles such as "Tex Mex" and "Skidmarks").
Giles' obsession leads him on a desperate trip to Long Island, where his idol lives. Actually maneuvering to meet him, Giles cannot contain his great love--and the inevitable tragedy ensues.
This is a sensitive and highly unusual film. The acting by Hurt and Priestley is understated, completely perfect (especially Priestley as the completely untalented Bostock, who aspires to Shakespearean heights)and truly inspired.
For those who like something off the beaten path, this is definitely a movie to watch for its sheer brilliance.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet coming-out story.
Review: Nice stuff that's not going to rock anybody's world but is a pleasant way to spend an evening. Hurt is, as usual, phenomenal, and Priestley is appropriately baffled and understanding as the young heterosexual (or is he?) sought after by the older man coming to grips with his own sexuality. There are no keen insights here, but nor are there clunky ones. It's just a sweet, smart, little film.
|
