Meet Joe Black

Rating:
Summary: Promising premise but badly written, conceived and executed.
Review: For hard-core cinema fans, there may be something in the visuals, great use of sound, and art-film sensibilities, but as entertainment, 'Meet Joe Black' blows. Less fun than a visit from the reaper!

Rating:
Summary: A TOTALLY, UTTERLY MOVING STORY.
Review: I was revited the entire three hours. Rarely do I sit in one spot for the duration of a video. Not only did I stay glued to my seat, I nearly forgot to breath at times. I was spell bound. This movie plays one's entire spectrum of emotions and it certainly isn't predictable.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic movie. Deep and compelling.
Review: Death is a strange thing to us. Personalizing death is difficult but this movie does a heck of a good job at it. 3 hours is long but... every word, every gesture, every turn is riveting. While this movie is a theoretical approach to the substance of death, it does it in a way that will envelop you and make you believe you are watching reality. I have watched it at least half a dozen times and I'm still not tired of it. It will definitely tug at your heartstrings.

Rating:
Summary: This is the BEST movie I have ever seen
Review: When my wife and I finished watching this movie (from video tape), we turned and looked at each other and simutaneously said "That was REALLY a good movie!" TOO BAD your price is so HIGH! I'll wait until it is available at a REASONABLE PRICE.

Rating:
Summary: A really enjoyable story ...about death?
Review: I figured this movie would be different because the concept is unusual. Never did I expect it to be so entertaining. It's quirky, eirie, comical, mysterious, sensitive, joyful and romantic. So many emotions wrapped up in a story is uncommon for movies these days.

The movie starts out focusing on Hopkins health and upcoming death as announced by death himself. However, the story isn't about dying. Rather it emphasizes death as a character who wants to experience what life is all about. The spotlight shifts to death (Pitt) as the central character and all the experiences he encounters during his three day vacation living with Bill (Hopkins) and falling in love with his daughter.

People who criticize this picture often target Pitt as the reason for their dissatisfaction. Well he is the central character and it's a role that's not seen in movies so who's to say how it should be played? Complaining about Pitt's performance is really a complaint against the director's and writers' judgement as to how the role should be portrayed. Brad is certainly delivering a performance with his own creativity and talent, but the director ultimately has the say as to what is shown in the movie. This movie was shot with hundreds of takes for some scenes, so you know the director is being very particular about what the audience sees. Personally I believe that Pitt's performance was the best he's done to date. But there is so much more to this movie than Brad Pitt -- The music and story is fantastic. The acting and cinematography are first rate. With all these things going for it why would anyone complain about it being three hours long. This is the best movie I've seen. It would be hard to top "Meet Joe Black".

Rating:
Summary: Definitely under-rated
Review: I expected to hate this, and was pleasantly surprised.

To those reviewers complaining about length - try getting an attention span - you'll find it quite useful. I read a book last week - it took me nearly 18 hours - that didn't seem too long.

Shakespeare's plays come in at an average of 3 hours too - just because our soundbite generation seems to like its entertainment in little chunks doesn't mean thats the only way to tell a story!

This movie is languid and relaxed, and manages to tell its story properly, because unlike most mvoies, this one has the time and space to breathe. Hopkins was great, Pitt was otherworldly - he's far from a bad actor (a BAD actor is Keanu Reeves - there's no comparison here)- I liked it a lot.

Rating:
Summary: "Meet Joe Black" has the best of everything.
Review: Great acting, fascinating story, inspirational music, beautiful cinematography and sets. The main characters played by Hopkins, Forlani and Pitt are wonderful to watch, but the supporting cast also does a great job adding comedy, sensitivity and depth to the movie.

The movie has so much to offer that a viewer can't really grasp it all in just one viewing. This is a keeper that you'll want to see again and again.

It seems the only area where this picture may be at fault is that it attempt to present too much. Not to say that the editing isn't well done -- just that the movie has several interwoven stories where the various threads eventually come together in the end.

Not everyone will appreciate having so much to experience. Some movie critics and regular viewers indicated they don't like the movie because "it is too long." That reminds me of the scene in "Amadeus" where the official complains to Mozart that the symphony isn't right and needs to be changed. Mozart then asked specifically what is wrong with the music. The response was: "it has too many notes!"

Rating:
Summary: One thing people have left out
Review: I agree with all of the positives and was pleasantly surprised when this movie turned out to be much better than the critics said. One thing that other reviewers left out is that the video transfer quality is the best I've seen to date. This is my new standard for quality of transfer, very clean and not a single dark scene with dropout ( usually the most difficult for any video media to reproduce correctly). The anamorphic widescreen looked great on my 65" 16:9 aspect TV.

Rating:
Summary: What a sumptuous experience!!
Review: Like having a wonderful 7 course dinner at a 5 star gourmet restaurant with the best wine, music, and excellent company. Martin Brest put together this feast and the actors and composer (Thomas Newman) present it with such style! Every scene delivers yet another savory experience you want to devour it completely. You never get the feeling of being rushed during this movie. Everything is timed so that it can be enjoyed perfectly. When the three hour extravagansa is over you're completely satisfied. Later the exquisite blend of flavors come back to you and you want to sample this masterpiece again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary movie!
Review: I worried that this kind of movie might be sad and sappy, but it isn't. It's got a fascinating story, excellent acting and the music is just great. I watched it three times this weekend (not all at once!). The third time through I actually started to cry during the love scene of all places. Not out of sadness but from the joy the movie conveys. What an emotional movie!