Rating: 
Summary: BY far the best movie of the year
Review: Although, the DVD has not come out yet, based on all the features it has and the fact that it is a superb film, the DVD is sure to be a hit
Rating:
Summary: Inside a tortured mind of genius.
Review: Back in February 2002, week, my wife, our son, and I made an unusual evening foray to the town nearest our home having a theater in it. The theater is one of those multiplexes (yes, Maine does have 'em!!) with 14 theaters in the same building. After driving the 32 miles to the theater complex, we found ourselves faced with a veritable treasure trove of excellent choices... among them "Black Hawk Down," "John Q," "A Beautiful Mind," and "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring." We opted for "A Beautiful Mind," mainly because it looked like the movie that would be the most interesting to all three of us, and because we've always enjoyed movies directed by Ron Howard."A Beautiful Mind," winner of the "Best Picture" Oscar at the most recent Academy Awards, is perhaps one of the finest movies we've seen in quite some time! Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, and Christopher Plummer, this movie held all of us spellbound for its entire two-plus hour running time. "A Beautiful Mind" features a superb cast, an outstanding story line (based on actual persons and events) and a wonderful script. "A Beautiful Mind" tells the story of John Forbes Nash, a brilliant mathematician whose pioneering work on game theory ultimately won for him the Nobel Prize in Economics, but whose "beautiful mind..." brilliant as it was... was tortured by the most debilitating form mental illness imaginable: paranoid schizophrenia. Everything about this movie is superb! Russell Crowe is magnificent as the tortured genius John Nash. From quiet, nervous, socially inept scholar, to intense code-breaker, to delusional mental patient, Crowe keeps viewers constantly on the edge of their seats with his completely believable interpretation of the mind of a schizophrenic. It is, in my view, Crowe's best performance ever... and there have been a lot of good ones! Jennifer Connelly is excellent as Alicia Nash. Appearing next to Crowe must have been rather daunting for her. She not only held her own next to the man who is rapidly becoming one of Hollywood's truly great actors; she illuminated her scenes with her own considerable talent. In Connelly's capable hands, her character shows tenderness, compassion, and a strength of character that must have been the hallmark of the real person she so capably portrays. Ed Harris brings his usual superlative skills as a character actor to the role of the shadowy William Parcher, the man who recruits Nash into the world of Cold War code-breaking. After the acting, the most impressive feature of "A Beautiful Mind" is the technique director Ron Howard uses to portray the phantasmic state of John Nash's mind. I don't want to offer too many details here, for to do so would be to provide a major "spoiler" for those who haven't seen the movie yet. Suffice it to say, the technique is surprising and very effective. Viewers may occasionally feel themselves a bit unsure of where the story is going (as I did), but rest assured... everything is made clear by the end of the film. Before we watched "A Beautiful Mind," I had seen a television interview with director Ron Howard in which he talked about the making of the film. In this interview, Howard stated that he had decided, as much as possible, to shoot in chronological order... in other words, the earliest scenes were shot first, the latest scenes last. According to Howard, this is a technique hardly ever used by directors; he attributes much of the movie's best qualities to shooting in sequential order. I tend to agree with Howard's assessment of his own work. The movie has a decidedly ensemble-like feel to it despite a relatively large cast. Everyone is so good in their part, and every scene flows so seamlessly into the one that follows that it seemed to us, throughout the film's two-plus hour running time, like we were witnesses to an actual unfolding drama. I seriously doubt that "A Beautiful Mind" would have been as intensely dramatic or as effective a vehicle for such a highly complex, intelligently told story. If you haven't guessed by now, my wife, our son, and I are unanimous in our verdict on "A Beautiful Mind:" this film is a "must see.". If you've seen it already, watch it again!!
Rating: 
Summary: so anyway, what were his groundbreaking ideas?
Review: "A Beautiful Mind" is about a mathematical genius who suffers from schizophrenia. The first third or so of the movie, we are given no knowledge of this and we believe the hallucinations he has are true. The movie spans over his lifetime from college to old age, starting around the 1940's or so. With a doctoral degree from Princeton, he receives an important job with the government trying to break codes from the Russians to discover where "the bomb" is. I kind of felt like he must have after this first third or so of the movie because I wondered what parts of it were real and which were only in his mind. His wife stands by him despite his disease, which must have taken extraordinary love on her part. The movie didn't communicate this love very eloquently, like why she loved him so much. It doesn't explain to us what his ground-breaking theories were or what work it was the he really did, apart from the hallucination that he was breaking codes for his Top Secret mission. The whole movie is pretty well summed up in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. As a mathematician, he explains that his career has taken him to the very ends of logic and he kind of stigmatizes it saying that it was the love of his wife that was most vital to him and his career.
Rating: 
Summary: i didnt like it that much
Review: i dont know about everybody else, but i didnt see what the fuss was about with this film. maybe i was just biased with Lord of the Rings, which was by far the better film last year, but i didnt like this film that much. i think one true mark of a good film is if there are memorable scenes. i can only think of two scenes in this movie that i consider memorable: the bar scene where he figures out his equation, and near the end when the guy from the Nobel Peace prize shows up. he greets the professor who immediately stops one of his students to ask him if he can see someone where this representative was. that was a memorable scene. but it just seemed to be a slow movie to me that i didnt enjoy as much. then again, i really didnt want this movie to win best picture. Lord of the Rings deserved that honor.
Rating:
Summary: Best Film I've Ever Seen!
Review: It would be impossible for anyone who appreciates intense acting and a compelling story line to not like "A Beautiful Mind." As a therapist myself, I must add that this film provides the best and most accurate portrayal of a man dealing with mental illness that I have ever seen. The acting is exceptional, the story well-written, and even the haunting soundtrack is most fitting. Oh, and major KUDOS to Mr. Ron Howard for his brilliant decision to take movie audiences on this exceptional journey through the eyes of Dr. Nash. Russell Crowe has given yet another Oscar-caliber performance; it's so unfortunate that personal Academy Member jealousy and racial politics robbed Mr. Crowe of the Oscar that he truly deserved. No offense to Denzel Washington (another exceptional actor), but Russell's performance was without question a more difficult one. Shame on the Academy!
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal, deserved every award it was nominated for!
Review: I very very rarely say a movie is perfect, but this is indeed one of those times. Don't let anyone spoil the movie for you, or even give away a bit of the plot, especially if you don't know about John Nash. I went into the theatre knowing only Nash's theories, and was enthralled by the plot which had so many turns I left the cinema questioning my OWN sanity. A Beautiful Mind creates a delicate balance between biography, mathematics, sanity, insanity, comedy, drama, and a bit of love. No element overshadows the others, and the mood can shift so swiftly from a moment of sheer hilarity to a heartstopping dramatic scene. Don't expect a historically accurate biography, don't even expect a detailed look at Nash's life. A number of facts in John Nash's life were intentionally altered for dramatic and commercial reasons. However, Ron Howard's intent is to examine the triumph of man in overpowering his intense schizophrenia without the help of medications, leading to the recovery of life.
Russell Crowe is a brilliant (if not at times bumbling) mathematician who can evoke tears and laughter in the same instant. He has set a certain standard for portraying mental illnesses that I doubt any other actor in this century will live up to. Equally as incredible is Paul Bettany (yes, last seen as a nude Geoffery Chaucer in A Knight's Tale) and his portrayal of Charles, one of the figments of Nash's schizophrenia, who reminded me of Charlie from Dead Poet's Society. The balance between Nash and Charles was intricate and astounding in its simplicity.
It is utterly unique, challenges both intellect and sanity, and is well worth the $[money] for the video.
Rating: 
Summary: First-class
Review: First-class drama based on the troubled life of John Nash, a brilliant mathematician who suffered from a serious case of schizophrenia. Long, difficult, sometimes over-sentimental, but often engrossing and moving, and full of terrific and intelligent moments. Performances are, as expected, top-drawer: Russell Crowe is, again, superbly convincing and Jennifer Connelly is extremely good. It's not a masterpiece as many critics thought, but it's certainly very good.
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Summary: Well-told But Flawed Story about "A Beautiful Mind"
Review: Writing a biography is always a tricky thing, causing debates over accuracy. When some say this guy is a genius, others say he's just a lucky fellow. And if the person in point is still alive, the case gets more complicated. So, script writer Akiva Goldsman did something very unique in creating lifestory of John Nash, Nobel-Prize winning mathematician. Russel Crowe plays this real-life Princeton professor John Nash, whose gifted "beautiful mind" leads his heart to the places where no ordinary persons can imagine to go. Full of youth, confidence, and a little bit of arrogance, John is finally recruited by America's prestigeous institute, after writing a paper that later greatly influence the theories in economics and other academic fields. Soon he finds his love in one of his students, and his life seems going smoothly until one gentleman came to him, asking to crack the secret codes from Russia. First, don't try to find anything authentic about Mr. Nashs life; the film is as real as those secret organizations depicted in 007 series. The director Ron Howard and the writer Goldsman shows the "essence" of his suffering from schizophonia, which is to stay with John Nash from his youth until his age got advanced much later. Here's the trick of the film (you must see it for yourself), which may leave some viewers embarrassed. I know some critics who in effect claimed, with some justfication, that this film doesn't pay enough respect to patients of this disease, and I am not perfectly sure how to refute these detractors' claims. The film has, let me assure you, been endowed with power coming from the leading actor Crowe, whose utter failure of "Proof of Life" should be now forgiven and forgotten. Nash's delicate sensibility is expressed with his gifted performance, and very subtle nuance is conveyed with well-timed lines that suggest his fragile inner feelings (see, for instance, when he is beaten by one of his friends over the GO game, how he mutters with hurt pride: "This games is flawed.") But it is not fair if he takes all the credits; look the superb job of his special make-up done by wizard Greg Cannom, whose previous work includes "Mrs. Doubtfire" and many, many others. Remember his name, too. The film ends, I am afraid, not with traditional happy-ending catharsis. After so long painful years, he is given a Nobel Prize for what he had done long time ago, of which existence, most incredibly, he totally had forgotten. It looks like a birthday present delivered too late, and you should be reminded one small fact of life: youth is easily lost when you really need it. Finally, if you ask me this film deserves Oscar, I would answer, considering the line-ups of other contenders of the year 2002, "Yes." But it is also true (and I hope you think the same way) Ron Howard made better films in the past. If he is given Oscar, he should have been given one for "Cocoon" or "Apollo 13."
Rating:
Summary: the movie of the year
Review: This is an excelent movie!!! Can't wait till its DVD's release!! Russell Crowe decerved that Oscar. Not many male actors can make me cry while I'm watching their performance. This one can.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, it seems the director was a little creative tho
Review: Anyone who knows the real story of John Nash will be astonished at how different it is to this movie. I thought this movie was excellent as a movie, but as a story about someone's life, the creative license applied is unforgiveable...
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