Rating: 
Summary: tour de force
Review: I couldn't see how they were going to turn Nash's bio into an interesting movie. Well, they did. And although there were many good things about the movie, the very best was Crowe's acting job, which I think was an absolute masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Honest Attempt
Review: Director Ron Howard shows once again why every big star in Hollywood wants to work for him. Although not an original work of art, we are allowed to see the struggles of an individual who in is brilliance suffers from delusions of people and events that do not exist. A touching story about the struggles of life and the determination of the human spirit. I am not sure if this qualifies as a Best Picture of the Year, but with great performances by Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris, it was enjoyable to watch. Although I do not hail this as Russell Crowe's best performance, he was successful in his depiction of Nash.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Mind is a Terrible Thing To Waste
Review: What an absolute EXCELLENT movie in every sense of the word. I've never seen Russell Crowe perform as powerfully as he did in this film. I'd heard this was a good movie, but when I saw it, I didn't much know what it was about. I think mental illness is something we don't think about much, unless it affects us or someone close to us. This is an amazing story of one man's experience with mental illness --- a very real (and inescapable) presence in his life despite his genious. He is sheltered and supported by the love of an AMAZING wife as he learns to cope with how his illness has devastated his life and his dreams. It's not a "mushy" film, so don't be afraid to watch it on that basis. It's very real and touching, but it doesn't "gush" and I appreciated that. This is a movie that can educate you, entertain you, make you feel compassion for those with mental illness. If you take it for what it's worth, it may even mature you. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Really not impressed.
Review: I knew this movie would be a disappointment, and I was right. It left me untouched, unmoved, and failed to evoke any emotions in me. Acting was OK. Story and plot were weak. Nothing much happens here. There is very little to keep anyone awake or interested. And yes, as many viewers point out, the whole "love saves the day" thing made me nauseous. After "Gladiator" won Best Picture last year, I knew anything the Academy did afterwards would be utterly ridiculous. I was right again. This was a potentially interesting premise totally squandered by sentiment, cliche and swelling violins. Ugh, the more I think about it, the more I don't like it.
Rating:
Summary: Very stylized plot, but saved by exceptional acting
Review: It would be easy to ambush the fluffy "triumph of the human spirit" theme if not for the exceptional acting, directing, and soundtracks that comprise the film's strongest links. The story of schizophrenic John Nash is highly stylized and, like a linear equation, follows a very straightforward path to reach an expected outcome. The only reason I cared about Nash's arrogant mind was because of Crowe's exceptional acting, Jennifer Connelly's radiance and the chilling soundtrack, which is one of the best I've heard in the last few years. A Beautiful Mind is really the story of two beautiful hearts, and I can't help but believe Connelly came out with the better performance (and why her Oscar contenders didn't have a chance).Despite winning Best Picture for 2002 (and I can say deservedly so), I think this DVD is at best a one-time rental; there are hardly any intracacies that will get noticed in a second viewing. The DVD packs quite a few features, but other than the two commentary tracks, nothing seems to warrant investing for this pricier 2-disc set.
Rating:
Summary: Crowe and Connelly are awesome in biopic
Review: I have somewhat mixed emotions about "A Beautiful Mind". It certainly succeeds as entertainment. Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly give two of the best performances of 2001. Ron Howard proves himself more than merely a dependable, workmanlike director. This story of real life mathematician John Nash's long battle with paranoid schizophrenia became an improbable boxoffice hit as well a multi-Oscar winner. Still, I think all of its flashiness and moments of brilliance say much more about the magic of movies than they do about mental illness. Madness was never this romantic for John Nash and his wife, Alicia. I think that in changing so many elements of the real story, the movie weighs in a little more on the side of commercialism than on art. To me, this prevents it from being a classic. I'd call it a very good movie. Crowe and Connelly, about whom I can't say enough, make the problems I had with the movie's script nearly irrelevant. Connelly has been around for a number of years, making mostly independent films. With her remarkable talent, the transition to the big time was almost inevitable. Her Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress was much deserved, as was Crowe's nomination for Best Actor. He won the award last year for "Gladiator" and was nominated the year before for "The Insider". The way he transforms himself for each role is amazing. "A Beautiful Mind" brought Ron Howard his first nomination ever for Best Director. He won. He's what I would call a populist director, one who makes good movies for a wide audience. He reminds me somewhat of Preston Sturges (1898-1959), who also made movies for the masses. Five or six of them are now regarded as among the most entertaining classics ever made. He was never nominated for Best Director. Who really believes the Oscars are about art, anyway?
Rating: 
Summary: The ENGLISH PATIENT was supposedly a great film, too...
Review: About a third of the way through this movie, I thought it was setting up to be a classic... but, upon conclusion I concluded this movie is 'average'. If you like technically sound movies, minus underlying emotional connection then I guess the movie is as dynamic as everyone has made it out to be. I'll use a figure skating reference to analogize this film... Give it 6.0 for Technical Merit and 5.2 for Artistic Impression. Maybe, you need to have experienced someone with profound mental illness to appreciate the film? I'd be willing to bet most people's opinion has been slanted to the positive side due to the fact the idiot critics LOVED it.--The same critics who thought "INSTINCT" with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. WASN'T a great film? (for the record...it was) 99+% of movie viewers are not critics, then why do we care what the critics think. They told us, The English Patient was great... was it? I think you know the answer to that. Throw in Chocolat, too.-- Brutal. The movie is decent...It is not great. I'm glad the critics LOVED it... I'm not a critic, except for this brief moment in time, where I too am an idiot.
Rating:
Summary: Crowe Shines In A Beautiful MInd
Review: A Beautiful Mind is far from a great film. But is it Oscar worthy? You bet.
Russell Crowe plays John Nash, a genius mathematician whose mission is to find a "truly original" idea. He does, and eventually wins a Nobel Prize for it. However, the road to winning the Nobel is bumpy and he is forced to battle several real and imagined demons along the way; schizophrenia being one of them.
In Princeton his fellow students aren't very fond of him. Nash is a recluse who lives most of his life alone, a man plagued with "two helpings of brain and half a helping of heart."
The acting in this film is simply phenomenal. Most actors covet the role of a madman. They can exaggerate their body language, run around naked, talk in weird tones, and generally have a ball. Sometimes they even get awards for it, like Geoffrey Rush in Shine or Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.
Crowe is too smart of an actor to fall into this trap. He portrays schizophrenia for what it is: a horrible disease. His acting is extremely subtle. It's often difficult to differentiate between moments of insanity and Nash's genuine genius.
Jennifer Connelly plays Nash's wife Alicia. After her unforgettable performance in Requiem For A Dream, she too, does an excellent job of expressing Alicia's strength as well as her vulnerability.
While the story is ultimately Nash's, Connelly doesn't allow the Alicia to be just "there." Instead, the viewer is allowed to understand Alicia's dramatic influence on Nash.
And, oddly enough, the pairing of Ron Howard, a director widely known for sugarcoating even the darkest material, working with Russell Crowe, an actor known for collaborating with directors who portray the harsh realities of the world seemed strange at first.
For the most part, A Beautiful Mind works very well. There's a "twist" in the middle of the film that renews the viewers interest, and forces the viewer to question everything they learned about Nash.
Unfortunately the third act prevents the movie from becoming great. Howard takes the easy route and succumbs to the typical Hollywood formula. Instead exposing the real outcomes of Nash's life (for example he later divorced Alicia), Howard simply tells a story that's been done to death: love overcoming all obstacles.
Rating:
Summary: the great equalizer
Review: The fusion of madness and beauty might seem like an oxy-moron but this movie undoubtedly portrays the lighter side of the schizophrenic mind. Despite bordering into madness, the mind could be so beautiful to deserve such unselfish love, which Jennifer Connelly so competently depicted. The movie's defining moment certainly is the Nobel acceptance scene where Nash summed up his life and his achievements into one - the love of his wife. True or not, there is no disputing that this gave the book and the movie its redeeming value. It is humanizing for the viewers to know that even in the minds of the best and the brightest, love is the great equalizer. Russell Crowe's acting was credible although Tom Hanks would have been more suited for the role. Jennifer Connelly's portrayal was a pleasant surprise for me. I saw her first as a child actress in Once Upon a Time in America then in Labyrinth, Rocketeers, and later in the risque performance in Hotspot and Requiem for a Dream. She certainly came a long way from that haunting sweet face to a serious dramatic actress that she is now.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: This movie has received a lot of hype and so a first-time viewer is bound to have high expectations. The story concerns John Nash, a mathematical genius who also had the misfortune of being a schizophrenic. Director Ron Howard and actor Russell Crowe attempt to get inside the head of this brilliant and complex man and at some levels, they succeed. They show the difficulties he has making friends in his early days at Princeton, and the later effect that his condition has on his marriage. We see him at his best when he comes up with his "one original idea" which catapults him from academic disgrace to academic prominence and we see him at his worst when his delusions cause him to be hospitalized and given treatment which today seems barbaric. In spite of the brilliant acting by people with even the samllest parts, at the end of the movie, I felt somewhat empty, as if I hadn't gotten the full story, and had received only a glimmer of the truth of the man.
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