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A Beautiful Mind (Full Screen Awards Edition)

A Beautiful Mind (Full Screen Awards Edition)

List Price: $12.98
Your Price: $9.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: russel crowe should have won the oscar!
Review: great moive. the key is to see any movie b 4 you buy it
i recently bought 5 movies,saw 1 of them and all were
terrible, shipping news, requiem for a dream and monster
ball(she won best actress? besides her who voted for it?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best movies of 2001
Review: Russell Crowe's performance in A Beautiful Mind is awe-inspiring. An actor is good when he's believable, but an actor is great when he makes you forget that he's acting. His performance helps make this movie one of my favorites of all time. But, it isn't just the acting. Everything about this movie is great. I was depressed at certain points but overjoyed at others. Every element of this movie works magnificent together, and the final result is remarkable. Throughout the whole movie, Dr. John Nash (Russell Crowe) tries to reason his whole way through life. Yet by the end of the movie, the lesson Dr. Nash (and I) learned is that the only thing he couldn't reason, the only thing that he couldn't figure out, is the only thing he ever needed: love. This deserved to win Best Picture of the year.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Interesting package; sound has problems
Review: The DVD of Ron's Howard's Oscar winner about troubled math genius John Nash tops the theatrical experience, despite some technical flaws. The video looks handsome in its scenes of Eastern academia, fall colors warm but a bit flat at times. The nightmarish cold war scenes impart a definite chill with midnight-rendezvous blacks and cobalt blues. True flesh tones help sell Greg Cannom's often terrific makeup work.

James Horner's swirling, math-inspired music sinks deep subwoofer roots via the Dolby Digital. The dialogue sounds muffled at times. Star Russell Crowe, in particular, seems to swallow more than a few lines, but it sounds like a mix or production issue. The problem can be mitigated by hiking your center speaker volume -- a fix that's a [bad] throwback to the early days of the DVD format. On Howard's commentary, the review disc's center track took a sudden leap in volume (at 1:49). Surround was OK but not much of a factor.

In his commentary, Howard does not address the various controversies surrounding "A Beautiful Mind" and its many fictions, but he shares some of the internal debates over the film's tricky "delusional" scenes. He points out clues planted along the way for those working on the movie's mysteries, "wondering if we were going to get caught." While Howard works hard at being a good host, his understated commentary does become hard to sit through as the movie passes two hours. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, whose adaptation won the Oscar, seems more at home with the commentary process. He does, however, repeat many of Howard's observations. The special features include some interesting shots of Crowe and Nash on the set, looking like bookends of a life. The section on makeup (the characters age a half century) is fascinating.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not the best picture
Review: This was an OK movie, however, not deserving of the best picture award. The acting was really good. If people out there want to see the great films of last year, check out Monsters Ball and Mulholland Drive. This picture is definitely worth seeing but not buying.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I was pleasantly surprised at the subtle and vicarious way this movie handles mental illness. It is an engrossing interior view of how brilliant mathematician John Nash and his decidedly courageous wife Alicia have struggled to thrive through five decades while yoked with his often debilitating schizophrenia.

Kudos all around to the actors. If you can forget he's a prize jerk, Russell Crowe is mesmerizing. In fact, his character is also rude, arrogant, and brilliant - but still sympathetic.

Jennifer Connelly's Oscar was not an aberration. She not only holds her own with Crowe but bests him on occasion. She has come so far from her fluffy eye candy days that it's like watching a different person. Bravo, Jen.

The greatest achievement, however, may be Akiva Goldsman's script. It takes a revelatory turn in mid-picture and completely opens John Nash's experience to you. Many have complained of too much artistic license and expository compression taken with the real story, but I believe these have not diminished the substance of what John and Alicia Nash have accomplished over the years. The gentle, gradual, yet never final triumph of their love and determination is well-served here.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boring and Poorly Written
Review: Those who use the Academy Awards to guage the quality of a movie ought to reconsider their standards. This film, which won Best Picture last year is one of the most boring films I've ever seen. I didn't even make it all the way through. Why? I found the pacing all wrong, dragging in places, and speeding through others, and some scenes were just bad, for example, when Nash's imaginary roommate askes him to go out for beer and Pizza in 1949! Or the scene where I gave up watching, where Nash's colleague asks his wife how she is doing, and she launches into a speech which is poorly acted because it was poorly written. Inept writing all around.

Although this film in no way reflects the truth about Nash's life, schizophrenia or economic theory, that's not my main problem with ABM. It's just plain borning.

If you want to watch a good film about mental problems and genius, check out Ed Harris' wonderful Pollack, which ought to have received the recognition this boring film was handed. But then, Hollywood loves movies about crazy folks. Holding up a mirror I guess.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Beautiful Mind - A Beautiful Movie
Review: Wonderful film!! Very powerful... As a person who suffers from a brain disorder (though not schizophrenia) I was impressed with the sensitivity and accuracy of the film. Stigma is something we deal with and hopefully "A Beautiful Mind" will help to lessen this stigma attached to brain disorders. During the awards dinner at the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill annual conference this past Saturday in Cincinnati, the screenwriter received the longest standing ovation I've ever observed. There were nearly 3,000 of us, all touched by mental illness in some way. Thank you John, thank you Ron Howard and all your staff for your terrific portrayal of a very devastating illness!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent acting, see this movie!
Review: This film contains an incredible Oscar-nominated performance by Russell Crowe. I was lost in his portrayal of the troubled John Nash, and was incredibly impressed. Jennifer Connelly's Oscar-winning performance truly reveals a wife desperate to help her husband, and some of her moments onscreen are purely inspired. A powerful story of frustrated genius and love overcoming dire circumstances, "A Beautiful Mind" is masterful. The character of Nash reveals a man that finds it difficult to accept his insanity but still can find humor and joy in his life.
The deleted scenes are worth purchasing the DVD versus the VHS, revealing a scene with Ron Howard's father as well as John Nash's creation of a mathematically perfect game. Commentaries offered by the director as well as the screenwriter provide interesting insights into the film.
This movie is definitely a must-see, and the DVD and its goodies will only make it better. (It would be a crime to see this film on pan and scan VHS)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A beautiful film!
Review: It's no wonder this movie has been acclaimed by critics and has received a number of academy awards including Best Picture. The story of a man's life struggling through the mental illness of schizophrenia is both heartrending and captivating. And obviously by experiencing true value of love and family, this man's instinctinve decision of healing himself is a journey all of us would be touched to witness.

Russell Crowe's most promising performance of this incredible man, John Nash, leaves me wondering exactly why he was not the one with an oscar in hand. (Although Denzel Washington also did an excellent job as a villian, though a good character is always admired.) Jennifer Connelly also did an equally excellent job, along with the ever talented Ed Harris.

Many filmmakers like to create characters that are complex and unusual, sometimes to the extreme that they don't exist. And most of the time they pull it off, because as humans we honestly relate. Being that John Nash's life accomplishments were real, and his imagined characters were close to real, the humanity audiences saw were admired. And what made the film truly touching was how even though people lack a sense of balance in their minds, giving them these sorts of mental illnesses, they are given an even better gift that normal people like most of us are missing. And that's what really makes his mind beautiful.

Film and psychology are things I plan on doing for the rest of my life, but I'm not sure I can do both. People like John Nash are reasons why I choose psychology, and amazing directors (who also directed this film chronologically) like the brilliant Ron Howard are reasons for my desire of filmmaking. Even though this movie was said to be inaccurate in some areas, it is definitely one of the greatest films in history. That's just Hollywood's way of getting to you. So, just watch it if you haven't already, because you'll be missing something magical.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: DID THEY SEE THE SAME MOVIE
Review: I have been reading some of the negative reviews about this movie. Reminds me how great works of art in history were often unappreciated. How this gem could be considered a waste of time or "pap" is amazing. The filmmaking, particularly the acting, direction, music, cinematography, etc. are first rate. If not for his boorish behavior at the British awards, Hollywood's chauvinism and the belated effort to right racial wrongs in favor of an outstanding actor who should have won for The Hurricane, Russell Crowe would and should have won. He is far and away the best actor working today. Ron Howard showed a depth and maturity comparable to Spielberg in Schindler's List, and Jennifer Connelly fully realized her star potential. But please...if intelligent, humane and sensitive movies are not your fare, and you want Arnold/Sly or How to Not Be a Mummy or Teenager While I Screamed and Saw What You Did In the Five Prior Sequels is more your fare, then do not waste your time.


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