Rating: 
Summary: Please . . .
Review: It's amazing what some people define as a work of genius. Look at all the high-profile actors in this film, shamelessly trolling for Oscars. I found it pretentious, somewhat agonizing and tacky--especially the symbolic shadings (flowers, garbage cans, lesbian longings, etc.). Sure, there was some fine acting. Toni Collette was fine, Meryl Streep was fine, Nicole Kidman was unrecognizable and gave the best performance, but Best Actress?
Rating: 
Summary: This is really not very good...
Review: "The Hours" is an angst-ridden, overacted, impossibly written mess. I cannot understand how so many people could find it compelling. From the moment that Ed Harris falls to his doom, the movie becomes a convoluted, ignorant joke. The final sequences in the movie are so questionable and impossible that it defies description. Can so many charcters be so unlikable in one movie? The answer, unfortunately, is "yes." Why the heck is Meryl Streep's character gay... when she clearly has a thing for Ed Harris' character? Just why does Julianne Moore's character seem so close to a breakdown, yet miraculously "chooses life" by becoming a librarian in Canada and somehow becomes an all-powerful woman? Why on earth does the Ed Harris character tell people his mom committed suicide when he knows she did not? This is such an immature movie trick... and this was up for umpteen Oscars! If one word can describe this movie best, it's "goofy." It tries so hard to be profound and deep that it makes one want to rent an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (well, almost). And, don't say that just because I'm male that I can't "understand" this movie. Frankly, I don't think that just because someone is female, that they should be bored senseless, either. This movie has "earned" one star because I expected so much more, what with the stars in the film, all the fine press it received, and all of the awards it was up for. What a letdown! If the viewer can see past the "in your face" acting; the cartoonish characters; and the beyond description impossibility of the script, one will see "The Hours" for what it truly is... "The Wasted Two Hours."
Rating: 
Summary: special review
Review: their is only 1 problem not enough male nudity.my cat just loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: Men can deal
Review: A guy can enjoy "The Hours." Or if not exactly "enjoy"--appreciate. It's a movie about depression and suicide, and the legacies of both in families. The pain of living with depression in unforgettably portrayed by Julianne Moore, whose suffering amid a reasonably secure and comfortable life jumps off the screen. Making her perfectly sweet husband a birthday cake, talking to her child, getting out of bed--these simple acts make her character desperately tired and unhappy. As it happens, she inflicts her pain on others, and it is made clear the damage she causes. Yet, you don't see her as the villain, because it is so clear that she can't control how she feels and what her feelings make her do. The other two "linked" stories involving Nicole Kidman as V. Woolf, and Meryl Streep as a contemporary woman planning a party for a dying friend and ex-lover, are less compelling, but as the story unfolds, you see that they are both really players in Moore's drama, which is the center of the story. The movie is flawlessly made, and manages to stay interesting, even lively, despite what I'm sure sounds to you like an emotional soup of wallowing. Men certainly do suffer from depression, but if you've ever known anyone who was depressed who happened to be a woman, this movie will resonate.
Rating:
Summary: Suicide Blonde
Review: I was pleased overall with the film. I enjoyed all the acting, it was incredible thespien tour-de-force. One minor complaint I have is, I sort of wish the whole movie would have been about Nicole Kidman's character. I was fascinated with that particular story the most. Nicole Kidman has sure proved herself to be a brilliant performer. My favourite scene was when Virginia Woolf lays her head down by the dying bird and just stares into it's eyes. The camera angle was incredible and evoked just the right emotion it was trying to convey. It almost made me cry. This film's underlying theme is death, but it approaches this dark subject matter with grace and dignity. A well made film that the actors and director should be proud of.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Flawless
Review: The movie was highly anticipated and with good reason - the three main actresses were well respected, adapted from a Pulitzer winning book by a successful playwright and directed by a second time director. But what really holds this movie together is the editing. It was actually done perfectly. The movie took three similar, yet separate stories and wove them together effortlessly. Meryl Streep can do no wrong and does a wonderful job. As does Julianne Moore - in a very understated role that is not as similar to 'Far From Heaven' as reviewers led one to believe. But I have to say - Nicole Kidman was extremely good. Maybe she seemed so b/c I have never really cared for most anything she's been in. Forget what you've heard about 'the nose' - it does not distract from her performance. Even Philip Glass' music fits the piece - and I don't care for his music all that much. He did a good job too. The extras on the DVD are ok. I do like listening to each actress discuss their approach to their craft. 'The Hours' didn't succeed like I thought it might at the box office, but at least w/the DVD there's the chance to see now.
Rating:
Summary: Many, Many, Many Hours
Review: The Hours From a Pulitzer Prize winning book comes the movie event of the year. Imagine the lives of three separate women, each a reflection of the others, intertwined yet fiercely independent, and you have the cinematic masterpiece of "The Hours". Virginia Woolf. Laura Brown. Clarissa Vaughn. Two fictional, one is real. Three women who live a day in their lives that is a day that is their life. In her day, Woolf starts writing one of her masterpieces, "Mrs. Dalloway", which in her day, Laura Brown starts reading, which in her day, Clarissa Vaughn is living. This unique, tri-layered story allows for complexity not often found in film: writer, reader, and character, honoring each spirit wholly and totally. This powered the plot of the book, and the movie successfully managed to honor that device. When one thing happens to a character, it may or may not show up in another character's story. Part of the pleasure and surprise of watching "The Hours" is trying to find those story elements mirrored in each other's story, and this lends itself to multiple watchings. Whereas the story is unique, it's the beauty of the moments in "The Hours" that stun and awe any watcher. The buying of flowers. A funeral for a bird. A brief, questioning kiss. Despair in a hotel room. This isn't a film that has you at the edge of your seat, waiting for the next exciting, thrill seeking moment to grab you, but one that draws you in slowly, completely, as you wait to discover the blossoming of each of these women. What is thrilling is the performances. Nicole Kidman, almost unrecognizable as Woolf, has created a completely nuanced character. She is real, alive, complex. Try watching her performance and remembering her fantastic turn in "Moulin Rouge", and you'll appreciate her talent. Julianne Moore's internal pain as Laura Brown is so realized, it's palpable. Meryl Streep brings to reality a crumbling Clarissa with both dignity and pain. Clearly, these three complicated roles needed equally talented actresses. Some people may be put off by the film's subject matter, or pacing. But "The Hours" is a film that demands repeated viewings to appreciate everything it has to offer, which is, one of the best cinematic events in recent history.
Rating:
Summary: High Art and Hollywood Icons
Review: If you think about it, it was entirely predictable that Nicole Kidman would win the Academy Award for this. No, not because her acting was anything special, but because she so determinedly changed her appearance: dowdy dress, tin-man nose, and all. Hollywood may not know beans about acting, but it sure knows when a Glamorous Hollywood Star shows up in Frumpville--like fatso DeNiro in Raging Bull or trailer-trash Julia Roberts in the Brokovich movie--and you can bet it will take notice. What it didn't, unfortunately, notice, is that most of the big star's lines are delivered in monotone, except for the train station scene, in which she yelled a lot about wanting to go back to London. London is where she tried to commit suicide in the first place, even though she now wants to commit suicide because she's AWAY from it . . . it's all so confusing. But she's a tortured artist and all that and they are very difficult to understand. The Julianne Moore character is also a tortured something-or-other--maybe not an artist--but at least she wants to knock herself off. This is apparently because her happy nitwit husband, played by John C. Reilly--who specializes in playing happy nitwit types that only exist in movies--is too much of a happy nitwit to notice she's losing her mind. She has an adorable three year-old boy who clearly loves her but this is not enough to prevent her from leaving them both for good. But not without first giving a lengthy, lingering kiss to her big-bosomed female neighbor, who's about to have her ovaries removed. Ms. Moore did not get nominated for an Academy Award for this, maybe because she already got nominated for her role in Far From Heaven, a performance she faithfully reproduces here, the slight difference being that in that one she is happy and vacant, and in this one, unhappy and vacant. She's got the vacant thing down to an art. Speaking of art, Meryl Streep is one of Our Greatest Actresses and she certainly proves it, chewing the scenery and clawing the walls and even looking around for a chandelier to hang from but unfortunately there wasn't any around. This is a very meaty role and demanding of such talent. You see, Ms. Streep's character's gay ex-husband is dying of AIDS and wouldn't you know, HE'S a tortured artist also, and obviously, a brilliant one. In Hollywood, naturally, all Tortured Gay Artists With AIDS are brilliant, but just so we don't miss the point, we get to see his 800 page behemoth of a book bandied about a couple of times and it's just a shame that the restrictions of the medium didn't give the filmmakers a chance to hit the audience over the head with it. But poor Ms. Streep has problems of her own, in that her gay ex-husband does not want to cooperate with her efforts to throw him an artist-type party, wanting to throw instead himself out of his window in a melancholy and melodramatic way. Or maudlin maybe. How about a melodramatic, maudlin, melancholy suicide? In any event she also has started to question the ten year relationship she has had with HER girlfriend, who is of course a sincere, sensitive and understanding type, as all lesbians are. The movie did get one thing right, which is when the ex-boyfriend of the gay ex-husband shows up, and announces that San Francisco isn't the mecca of happiness and well-being that he expected it to be. In fact, he makes a rather disparaging comment about this fine city, which, with its legions of mendicants roaming about urinating on its streets, seems appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Life's Lamentable Lament
Review: I feel that The Hours was well acted and the idea behind it (the 3 woman timeline a la Woolf) was interesting as well. That being said, I feel as if The Hours was about tortured, latent homosexual women who are tortured by the fact that they're gay/bi and because of oppressive societal stigmas decide to stay tortured about it. A sadder "sack" I've never had stuffed over my head! Julianne Moore's character wanders away (no spoilers please!) because she's gay and either can't handle it or needs to explore it (was that too much info?) and Meryl Streep's character, who's openly gay but is losing her mind because . . . well, because she's a self-sorry, self-indulgent goof who lives for the drama, can't stand getting older and compounds her self-loathing . . . strike that. This character is too weak-minded for self-loathing (See! Great acting!). So she tortures herself even more by acting as caretaker to a poet friend who has AIDS, was abandoned by Mommy and is also just too tortured to live anymore. Pheww! Either I wasn't in the mood for the swelling piano scored, tortured woman/artist thing, or I'm just getting too old and impatient with that stuff.
At the end, when Kidman (as Virginia Woolf) is drowning herself by walking right into the deep part of this river, all I'm thinking is "Man. That's not enough rocks in the pocket to do the job right. (She put ROCKS in her pockets! Is that supposed to be some heavy-duty, weight-of-the-world symbolism or just a practical measure to ensure more efficient drowning? She should just tie herself off round the neck to a good-sized boulder, kick that bad boy into the river and voila! There you go!"
While drowning herself, the narration of the letter she writes to her husband, Leonard, about her impromptu "swim" is as follows: Cue swelling, bubbling, run of the keyboard, piano music. "Goodbye my husband, you were the only happiness in my life. My life is just too sad, bi-sexual (?) and conflicted to be worth being alive. My dear, it wasn't your fault" . . . . arrrgggh.
I'm thinking that you don't have to be gay, alcoholic, drug addicted or a neurotic, immature loony-in-general to be a creative, productive and somewhat happy-in-life person. And while a gay lifestyle is definitely not the easiest lifestyle to undertake and I am endlessly sympathetic regarding those that live said lifestyle, there is something to be said for courage in the face of adversity and self-actualization. In short, it doesn't seem as if too many of these characters had any character. Period. With the exception of Moore's character, I liked her choices, i.e. she wasn't dead. And yes, I'm aware that it's a story. And I'm also aware of the fact that sometimes, life just stinks and deals a person an atrocious life-long hand and at times even THAT can possess a horrifying beauty. (Witness: Sophie's Choice . . . the Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline characters lying dead in their bed after committing suicide. Now those problems, in my mind, were worth committing suicide over!) I just have too many gay friends/artists who've struggled and worked to hard to be the proud, self-sufficient, loving, creative persons that they are to this day. And this movie, if anything, made me appreciate those friends and their creativity even more.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: The Hours is probably one of the best films I have watched this year(2003) It is a film that should be treasured by anyone who watches it. But it is not a film that I would reccomend for anyone under the age of 14. The reason I say that is because there are three scenes in which women kiss other women. Rated PG-13 For- A Suicidal Scene, And Lesbian Themes
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