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Summary: best screenplays have more stability
Review: One of the few recent films that I anticipated to be good and it exceeded my expectations.Sir Ian McKellen once again performs well. The real surprise here is Brendan Fraser. Thanks to Bill Condon's amazing screenplay, Fraser is study of expressive and innocent contrast to McKellen's anguished and self-defeated character. Make a point to get this one. Best screenplays consist of strong dialogue, pacing, and narrative. The Oscars are usually accurrate about that.
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Summary: A Film Make You Silent and Mute
Review: I'm a Chinese viewer living in Shanghai and I saw this film at the library of a nearby university. When I saw the film, I think it must be a classic or award-winning work because it has every element : superlime acting, intricate plot as well as unquestionablly excellent directoring & shooting. Though I thought I'm not yet prepared to give some so-called review for this movie, I decided to at least tell about my feelings about it to Amazon thus to give some applause to this good movie. It moved me so much. I did not cry. I did not feel like to cry, actually. But I was silent all the night for the feeling it casted on me and for the things it made me thinking. Only after reading Amazon, I found it's a new work in 98' and God, I think it deserves more than a mere some adapting of script award in the Academy. I think Ian McKellen (I knew the name for the first time today)deserves a Best Actor. But maybe, the content of it is too controvertial even in U.S. Yet I think it is a great work for telling a story in a beautifully and craftly way which attempts those ancient and intriguing questions of love, the meaning of life, humanity and art, in a most unimaginable and moving plot. There're two scenes impressed me very much: One is when Whale and the young man taking shelter from a sudden rain in the garden party, he saw, from the veils of rain, a young man in uniform standing under another umbrella, he thought he was his old friend in the army in WWI and he could see the young man smiling to him, backing 60 years, in the battle-field, under the same grey and raining sky, he is smiling so affectionately and so beautifully. The other is at the end of the film, the old man is found dead in his swimming pool and pulled on the bank by the young worker. But threw into the pool again for fear of involving the young worker in the case. When the body of the dead old man was threw into the water, the way he is floating in the water is just like a bird flying in the air. And the music sounds, he seems so free, finally free of everything, worsening health, ghost of the past, all the losses in the life. He's so free, so beautifully flying in the blue water.
Rating: 
Summary: ridiculously overrated campy trash
Review: Only actor worth a hoot in this thing was B. Fraser -- McKellen and Redgrave's performances were pitiful. Redgrave acted like she was a skit character on SNL; I've seen McKellen's effeminate, snobby British character a zillion times. If you want to be bored out of your gourd, watch this claptrap.
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Summary: An actor's film
Review: What could be more engaging than a film about Hollywood made by people who have an inside track? This is precisely what makes Gods and Monsters such an exquisite film. There are many levels which will appeal to different people. People looking for a good story will find one superbly crafted. Those looking for industry jokes will find them as well, cleverly hidden behind the storyline. It's also a love story of sorts: of a director with his craft; of an aging man with a younger man; of a caretaker with her charge. Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave are expertly cast in this film. It doesn't hurt that it was co-produced by Clive Barker (a gay horror film director himself) The connection between the horror movie characters (the monster, the bride of the monster) and the characters in the film is expertly woven. This is a film within a series of films. Brendan Fraser is superb as the lonely young man who can't understand his attraction and revulsion for the aging director; Lynn Redgrave is flawless as the loving caretaker. Sir Ian MacKellen was indeed robbed of his Oscar for his performance in this film. Let this film open your heart.
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Summary: Tender, Beautiful, and crack-me-up funny!!
Review: This is a great movie. All at once, I saw that, yes, Brendan Fraser does deserve to be in a movie with McKellan and Redgrave. This movie is tender, beautiful, and crack-me-up funny--all at the same time. The photography is excellent. Script--wonderful. SEE THIS MOVIE!!!
Rating: 
Summary: a tone poem, not much point though
Review: beautiful film with wonderful acting, but superficially touches on a thousand themes, never allowed to build any power due to constant slapstick counterpoint to intense dramatic moments. Even the death scene is played with a joke as the body is thrown back in the pool.
Rating:
Summary: The best acting since Fonda in "Ulee's Gold"
Review: I see a lot of movies. I see very few outstanding performances. "Gods and Monsters" is that rare combination of a good story, well-told and brilliantly acted by Ian McKellen. I was nailed to the couch during the entire video and plan to rent it again. It's not light, air-head entertainment. It's strong in subject and substance. For my money, McKellen has turned in one of the most astonishing performances of his (or any) career. Brendon Fraser will surprise you, too. I saw Judy Dench's performances in both "Mrs. Brown" and "Shakespeare in Love". She deserved the Oscar for "Mrs. Brown". She did not deserve it for "Shakespeare in Love". Perhaps too few Academy members actually saw Lynn Redgrave's perfect portrayal of the loyal maid....or perhaps Dench's win was a kind of consolation prize for losing with "Mrs. Brown". Whatever it was, the Academy made a big mistake...huge mistake.... Redgrave was hands down the most obvious choice for Best Supporting Actress this year and her in-nearly-every-scene certainly beats the devil out of Dench's 8-9 minutes on film. When the price goes down, this movie will be on my shelf at home and it has already made my "All-time Top Ten" list....it's that good.
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Summary: Most touching film of the year
Review: I showed this film to my sister and she couldn't stop crying. Neither could I! The passion shown between McKellen and Fraser's characters make this film the most unique love story of the year. Bill Condon's dialogue is superb, and is brought to life beautifully by these three actors (Lynn Redgrave being the third) who know how to carry a character piece. It's reassuring to see a film about a gay man teaching a straight man about how to love himself and be comfortable living in the world. Universal's DVD edition is gorgeous, with lots of helpful insights into the making of the film and a superb film-to-disc transfer.
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Summary: A must see movie
Review: Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser at their best. A superb movie that really demonstrates what the movie medium is all about.
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Summary: At Last A Gay Film Revealing Hollywood's Secret Life
Review: Gods and Monsters takes us into both gay worlds: today's and Whales'. James Whale was not unlike so many aging gay men today; the difference is he needed to be totally closeted. As the young film student -- the film's narrative device -- probes into Whales' life we see and feel Whales disappointment with age, his disappointment with Hollywood, and his disappointment with his ghoulish creations. After seeing this beautiful film, read Elsa Lancester biography as she reveals her life with Charles Laughton and James Whale, both active gay men of the Hollywood's Golden Years -- and the English acting colony of Hollywood.
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