Rating: 
Summary: BBT has done it again.....and wonderfully at that!
Review: This movie is so over-the-top! I saw the film the day it was released nationwide. Hallie gave a stunning performance and deserved the Oscar. Billy Bob Thornton's performance was a work-of-art and I believe he also deserved an Oscar. The actors in this film are able to make you 'forget' you are watching actors create a role. You seriously get the feeling that you're watching interaction between two ordinary people living extraodrinarily painful portions of their lives and undergoing major changes in their beliefs and emotions. These performances were models of self-expression, but I have never seen that acting method better put-to-use (OK, maybe by BBT in Sling Blade, but that is a movie-unto-itself) than this touching movie. As the changes in Thornton's character begin to evolve, I found a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes for a bitter man who was metamorphosing from a rude, bottled-up, miserable human being to a kind, caring man with a lot-to-give and a need that required a great deal of filling-up. These poignant feelings were often evoked with the speaking of painfully few words, but by speaking them in just the right tone and manner BBT was able to make that transformation real and believable. Much has been made of the 'sex-scene' concerning the 'why', the 'how' it was filmed, etc. By filming the scene through the furniture, superimposed by the fan, etc. it became a touching portrayal of two people exchanging an unexpectedly intimate moment in a beautiful and passionate manner that was obviously unexpected and clearly new to each of them; rather than a crude, overtly gratuitous and raw-sex act. It was more about discovery, comfort, and emotional need than about the passion of sex. While the movie may make some uncomfortable, it was very real, extremely thought-provoking, and in my mind a 'beautiful' movie. I urge those who avoid theaters and wait for release on Video/CD to buy this film as soon it is released. It is worth the wait you have had so far...and then some. I think you are going to want to view it more than once. I know I can't wait to get my copy and see it again.
Rating:
Summary: MESMERIZING HALLE
Review: I went to see this film after Halle won her Academy Award. I was not sure what to expect because outside of the few reviews I had read, I did not know much about the film. It is one of those films that moves slowly but has a lot to say. Halle is completely deglamed in this movie so you can concentrate on her performance and not her gorgeous face. And what a performance it is! She is nothing short of superb and shows why she took that little man home Oscar night. Anyone that has been following Halle's career should not be shocked. From her first role in Jungle Fever to Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Halle has shown why her star shines. I would be remiss if I did not mention the other superb performance in this film, Billy Bob Thornton. I thought he was great and should also have been singled out. There is also nice work from Sean "Puffy" Combs in a beautifully understated role, Peter Doyle and Heath Ledger. This is a great film!
Rating:
Summary: Splendid!!
Review: Like a great novel sticks with you long after you've read the last page, this movie will leave you thinking for a long time after you've seen it. While the theme of racism is prominent, there are other themes that relate to family, history, and choices. This is a tragic tale, yet having grown up in the South and grown up poor, I can envision the type of scenarios that comprise these lives (although death through govenment-instituted electrocution is a stretch, at least in most states). Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton have incredible chemistry that one may not expect from these two very different actors. Halle Berry definitely deserved the Academy Award for her performance. The supporting cast is superb. The perfomance by Sean Combs is surprisingly good. This is a "character" movie, and none of the actors let you down. From the beginning, the small details of the characters' actions make you feel like these could be people next door (even more real if you are familiar with the deep south). I was actually surprised that the movie did not receive more Academy nods, as the acting was incredible. Much has been made of the sex scene between Hank and Leticia (Thornton and Berry). While I wouldn't let my children watch, this scene, like the rest of the movie, serves a purpose. It is not at all gratuitous, as we learn something about the characters and where they are in their lives based on their actions in this scene. I thought it was very well done. I was surprised by the ending. It was refreshing, because most movies these days are predictable from the beginning. I'd recommend this film to anyone. While difficult to watch at times, it will challenge you, make you think, and make you feel.
Rating:
Summary: Red Hot Chemistry, an Oscar for Halle
Review: "Monster's Ball" involves some of the hottest romantic chemistry ever present on screen. The sizzling cauldron of sparks between Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton helped to result in the former securing the first ever Best Actress Academy Award for an African American. The drama directed by Sundance Festival success story Marc Forester reveals a strong character arc by white Southerner Thornton to overcome previous prejudice and ultimately find love with Berry, a result developing from second chances of two people seeking to rebound from comparable tragedies. Thornton plays the middle layer of the Grotowski family. His father, played by Peter Boyle, is an inveterate racist segregationist dying from emphysema. Thornton's son, played by Heath Ledger, is a sensitive young man with liberal racial views. Boyle is a retired prison guard, the same job his son and grandson hold. When Boyle observes two African American youngsters on their property in front of the rural Georgia home where they live, Thornton is commanded to evict them. He does so after they explain they have come to visit his son Sonny, played by Ledger. He fires his shotgun into the air so they will get the point that they are unwelcome. Eventually a confrontation between father and son regarding Ledger's liberal attitude toward African American death row prisoners results in Ledger, after pistol whipping his father, turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. The death changes Thornton, who promptly resigns his post, haunted by having, in a state of anger, uttered as the final words to his son, "I hate you." Ledger's final words to his father before killing himself are, "I always loved you." At this juncture Thornton meets Berry, picking her up by the side of the road on a rainy night after her son has been badly injured by a hit and run driver. This comes not long after her husband, who had spent 11 years on death row, has been executed. Thornton drives Berry and her son to the hospital, where he dies. Two people immersed in tragedy then find love in a daring relationship, given the propensities of many in the small rural Southern town. Berry and Thornton appreciably grow in direct proportion to their bond of love. This is a daring film in which two people rise to new levels of awareness as a result of their dynamic interaction and desire to please one another.
Rating:
Summary: It isn't easy to watch . . . so?
Review: The person I saw this film with was turned off because it was "depressing". My response to that was, "so what?" Life isn't always fun-filled and wonderful. Maybe some people see movies to escape; I see them to journey into situations that don't often touch my reality. Because of the wonderful performances by Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry (and even Sean Combs), this movie was very true-to-life and revealing. I'm no fool: I know that racial tensions run deep in the southern USA, but this film makes it more real to me than it ever has been. The end of this film, I think, is very thought-provoking and haunting. It's difficult to know what she's thinking.
Rating: 
Summary: Great acting...
Review: and for the most part a GREAT story. I have one MAJOR flaw...the porn scene between Thornton and Berry. We didn't need to see that. But overall, it was a great movie. Halle Berry did an outstanding job and Thornton did great as well.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disturbing but not so Great!
Review: Billy Bob Torton is great (as usual), Peter Boyle is Spectacular, Heath Ledger is very good but although Berry was good she was not Oscar Worthy. Berry's performance consisted of crying jaggs and taking her clothes off as she cries hysterically over her son's death. Is this Oscar worthy?? No! I believe that Berry is a good actress that is growing in range but this performance did not stand out to me. Overall the movie was o.k, the acting was good and the story was also o.k.. If anybody should have been nominated for this movie it should have been B.B Thorton or Peter Boyle!!
Rating:
Summary: monster's ball gave us all....
Review: in a time of terrible films to flood the multiplex cinemas, this is a rare diamond which needs to be seen. forget everything you've read, all the rumours you've heard, and try to forget the fact that halle berry just won oscar for her striking performance in this much overlooked film. walk into this film with an open mind and i'm sure this one won't disappoint. for those of you who have already missed the film at your local theatres, just buy the dvd. billy bob thornton and halle berry are both wonderful and give some of the best performances you are likely to see this year. monster's ball has a way of grabbing you, squeezing you, and not letting you go. monster's ball is simply a very moving film and definately one which should provoke much discussion from moviegoers everywhere. monster's ball tacles the themes many of us would rather forget and/ or overlook such as racism, tyranny, and senseless hatred. although many scenes may shock and perhaps strike a nerve, you will be glad you made this trip. monster's ball is perhaps the greatest love story of our time and should touch many a heart. i made the trip twice and i will be adding this little independent masterpiece to my collection as soon as it hits the streets. some films give us a little taste of life, monster's ball gives us everything it's got and leaves us asking for more. as one reviewer stated earlier here, monsters inc. may be suitable for you if this film is too meaty for the likes of you.
Rating: 
Summary: Monster's Ball
Review: A very extremley disturbing movie , but served it purpose. Halle Berry did not deserve the oscar , but was very good . The movie
was very good , but the only reason why I would not recommend it was beacause of disturbing and unsettling images and situations.
Starring: Billy Bob Thorton , Halle Berry , Heath Ledger and Peter Boyle.
by: Michael Margetis
Rating:
Summary: Can Never Escape the Past
Review: That's the fatalistic message of this movie, I think. And there's more than one kind of past, too: our personal past and the larger, societal past. The larger canvas upon which "Monster's Ball" is painted is the modern Deep South, where race issues still seethe despite the Civil War's hundred year ago ending. Young black youths are shot at in order to get them off Billy Bob Thornton's land, because his father Peter Boyle hates blacks and doesn't want them anywhere near. Old Peter Boyle also has a nastily racist thing or two to say to Halle Berry when she innocently enters his house looking for her new boyfriend Billy Bob, who has never gotten around to mentioning that he is the corrections officer who oversaw her husband's execution. So that's the recent past that is so troublesome, too. Billy Bob would like to make a fresh start of things, especially after a Shocking Tragedy concerning his detested son. Halle has had some Harrowing Experiences lately that she too would like to forget, but just when both think they may have gotten over these things, bingo! Past Hurts swell up fresh again. Personally, I think the true Oscar contender here ought to have been Billy Bob, whose depiction of the corrections officer is fascinatingly subtle. I just never knew what he was going to do next. Halle does a LOT of screaming, whether in an emergency room or during sex it doesn't really matter. When a friend asked me about her, I said she's a lightweight actress in a heavyweight role. She still looked too glamorous to be this woman in this predicament. It would have been more daring on the movie maker's part to cast Whoopi Goldberg or another black woman who conveys having put up with a lot of unpleasantness in life. So, four stars, but completely for Billy Bob's sake.
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