Rating: 
Summary: Whats this got to do with anything?
Review: OK, The film was acted well. Everything else had nothing to do with anything. Cold as Ice people, treat people cold as ice. Nuf said.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch this film for the Cinematography and Cate Blanchett
Review: The acting by Cate Blanchett is so good in this film. Its amazing how she can change accents and characters. I really think she is one of the best actors out there. The others turn in good performances, Julianne Moore, especially. I wish Cate would have had more film time because her acting really got me interested in the movie. The spectacular views of Newfoundland also were worth seeing. The director of this film is so good at bringing his movies to life. He captures the mood and feel of the settings so well. Remember the sets on Chocolat. I would see any of his movies just because the sets are so full of imagination and creativity. The storyline has the mystical magic in it but unlike Chocolat it didn't catch me as much and pull my interest. I remember going out and reading the book after seeing Chocolat, this movie just didn't have the intrigue that I would have liked. The storyline just wasn't catching me and if not for the sets my interest really would have deflated. But the first part with Cate really catches you and if we could just have had more of that, or built her more in the movie, I think it would have been better, more alive!Lisa Nary
Rating: 
Summary: How to rewrite your life--with help from friends.
Review: This film is a small, quirky character study with not much plot. This is my favorite kind of movie, but if it's not yours, you may hate this film. The acting here is all first rate. Kevin Spacey's character is more subdued but less bleak than the one he played in "American Beauty." Quoyle (Spacey) comes into adulthood a beaten-down, invisible lump, but life gives him a daughter to love, a job he becomes good at, a woman he can relate to as a friend (Julianne Moore), a family member (Judi Dench) who is encouraging to him, and a place to belong (Newfoundland). He is not so broken that he can't appreciate all this, so his transformation from lump to human being is believable, not schmaltzy or feel-good miraculous. I particularly enjoyed Quoyle's interior headline-writing as commentary on his life. It added a touch of ironic humor to the film. Julianne Moore is brilliant and very different than I've seen her before. Here, she is strong, but sensitive and a little scared of another relationship with a man. She and Spacey stumble believably and amusingly in getting to know each other. Her affection for his daughter is an important element in his transformation. Dench plays Spacey's aunt, one of the supporting characters, and does not dominate on screen as she usually does. This is okay because this is not her story, it's Quoyle's (Spacey's). However, the aunt is important in giving Quoyle a sense of family history and a connection to Newfoundland, where the aunt, Quoyle and his daughter go to live. Cate Blanchett undoubtedly had fun playing Quoyle's bad girl wife and the mother of his child. She has more range and screen presence than any actress of her generation. Her place in this story is as a harmful influence on Quoyle and his daughter, badly twisting both of their self-images, but her impact is believable and pivotal to their (the father and daughter's) relationship. The other supporting characters, his daughter and the men at the newspaper office where Quoyle works, are all fine. Rhys Ifans (Hugh Grant's roommate in "Nottinghill") is warm and funny as Quoyle's buddy at the paper. The scenery of Newfoundland very much controls the mood of the film. It's beautiful, but scary and daunting. So is life. Both can be appreciated and enjoyed if you accept what is and build on that for the future. It's a wonderful movie. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Detachted...in every way
Review: Try as I might, I can't really love this film, although it was worth to watch. The film leaves you numb, because you can't really connect with the charachters. And since you cannot connect with them, you don't care about how their lives are going.The acting is pretty solid, it's not their fault, I'm sure it's just the material. Just another book that doesn't live up to its expectations on the big screen. It's nice to see the depths of Spacey, as his portrayal of the bumbling Quoyle is believable.
Rating:
Summary: Lasse Hallstrom's finest yet
Review: I had heard and read so many negative reviews of this film that it took me some time to break down and rent the DVD. I am glad I did.
For some time, I've been put off Kevin Spacey who seemed like he was about to make a career in films in which he predominantly "smirked" in a performance, BUT in this film, Spacey shows what a fine actor he can be. As I watched "The Shipping News," I began to realize that what separated me from the negative reviewers was basic and significant: I am not in love with my own cynicism.
The Shipping News as a novel was long and tedious, poetic, yet lacking in tension and dynamic. As a film, it has been dramatized and life breathed into the stories by the excellent actors, screenwriter, and director. As a film, I believe to appreciate it, the viewer has to have been in the shoes and lived some of what the characters have lived through, yet survived. Have you ever felt people ignored you because you were boring? Or shunned you because of something "bad" that happened to you, through no fault of your own? Have you ever hoped for a "second chance" at life? Then you'll identify with this film.
The stark nature of Newfoundland, in all its pitiless weather and beauty, is a rich character in the film, too, so if you think of yourself only as a cosmopolitan city-dweller who believes "country folk" are buffons and simpletons, you'll see nothing to entertain you in The Shipping News. Or if you're the type to whom films are just explosions, special effects, and faked sex, ignore this film. However, if you have something left of a poetic soul, if you still yearn for the hope that the spirit can be healed by adversity and the support of those around you, if you believe that given a little help from friends and your own determination, you CAN build a life for yourself---then see this film.
Rating: 
Summary: A Singular Achievement or $35m Gets You $11m
Review: If you never found this film playing at your local theater don't feel left out. It did not play anywhere for long. It takes extraordinary skill to produce a great, or even a good film. It takes another type of effort to produce a mind-numbing, listless film with an incredibly talented group of actors. I did not read the Pulitzer Prize winning book the film is based upon, I did spend some time researching the making of the film, and the screen version appears to be well distanced from the original characters and story. One major London paper claimed the story was disemboweled for the film. What is clear is that what was written for the screen, and the manner it was directed, resulted in one of the biggest box office disasters of 2001/2002. Whether measured by the number of people that attended, the maximum number of theaters the movie played in, it topped at 400+ for 2 weeks, or the handful of films is managed to outperform, this film failed on every count. To have a cast that includes Judi Dench, Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, and Cate Blanchett and not put something on the screen of value is almost unimaginable. The studio spent $35 million and barely took in $11 million; these guys must have used financial judgment modeled on Enron. This film took 8 years and passed through a variety of actors, actresses and directors prior to finally getting made. The author of the book did not want to be involved in the script, which also seems odd. Why allow an award winning work to be torn to shreds by others? Chocolat was a great film, so they rolled the dice with that film's director Lasse Hallstrom. Maybe Miramax should have decided after a host of directors, actors, and writers with real track records either passed, or could not make a story work, that this idea should be left in book form. The first item the studio needed was a map. Poughkeepsie New York is not anywhere near Upstate New York. One actor commented that the 600 miles of Newfoundland coastline is longer than the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Both comments are absurd, I guess that's why he became an actor. From start to finish the film is either ridiculous or documents the worst of human nature. Kevin Spacey was subjected to the worst imaginable dye job for his hair, some attempt at red. He plays a simpleton throughout the film, but unlike a Forrest Gump type of character you just don't care about him. Judi Dench was good but was dealing with the very real life problem of the recent death of her husband; I don't think that helped in making this film fun for her. Cate Blanchett had the best role as she was dispatched from the film quickly. Julianne Moore was the only character that was enjoyable until the director had her start screaming, and her character fell apart as well. Rape, incest, selling a child for $6,000, abusive parents, and a family history that includes professional murderers, and people who torture for sport, are just some of the gems of human nature this film shares. Even the house that sits on a setting straight out of an Andrew Wyeth painting has massive cables anchoring it to the ground. Even the house wanted out of this film.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie
Review: My husband and I watched Shipping News and thought it was well done, well acted, and very interesting. Kevin Spacey played a character which was very different from the ones that he usually portrays and we thought he was excellent in the part. My grandmother was born in Newfoundland so that made the movie even more enjoyable for me. I liked the movie so much that I would watch it again. I sincerely thought that Kevin Spacey was perfect for the part that he played. The rest of the characters were well portrayed and you can't go wrong with Gordon Pinsent - perfect as ever. It was very interesting to watch Kevin Spacey going through the different phases of his character from beaten-down boy to accepted and beloved adult. I do love happy endings!
Rating:
Summary: Spacey and Hallstrom shine in a moving story
Review: Director Lasse Halstrom continues to prove himself to be outstanding at presenting sensitive human dramas with this touching film about a broken man's retreat to his ancestral roots. This poignant tale unwinds deliberately and delicately as each of the main characters shares his or her dark secrets buried in the past. Halstrom is an inspired actors' director who entices outstanding performances from his troupe. He has a wonderful ability to make simple characters appear bigger than life. I continue to admire his unobtrusive presentation, forgoing ostentatious directorial stylizing in favor of simple shots that let the story and the characters dominate. The cinematography and choice of locations in this film are understated and lovely without the need for garishness. The acting is superb. Kevin Spacey, as Quoyle, once again shows his range, taking on an emotionally crippled character that is quite unlike the confident and clever characters that jump off his resume. Spacey relinquishes all traces of the cockiness that is his trademark and brilliantly renders a pathetic nebbish whose greatest daily struggle is to overcome his own ennui. For Spacey to suppress his natural dynamism to slip this character on so effectively is a testimony to his excellence as an actor. While this is clearly Spacey's film, the supporting cast of accomplished veterans weaves a splendid tapestry. Julianne Moore is excellent as Quoyle's love interest with a delicate portrayal of a character that is simultaneously supportive and insecure. Judi Dench is marvelous as Quoyle's crusty old aunt, who drags him back to Newfoundland to find himself among the ashes of his unseemly clan. Cate Blanchett is bodacious as the impulsive vamp who ravishes Quoyle and stays with him only long enough to give him a daughter. Scott Glenn is terrific as the cantankerous publisher of the local newspaper who turns Quoyle from a typesetter into a reporter. This film is not for everyone. It is extremely deliberate and will fray the patience of the average viewer. However, for those who have a love of human interest stories with flawed but lovable characters, this will be a treat. I rated it a 9/10. It is a gem of human foibles and interactions that is moving and insightful.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! I can't wait for it to come out on VHS! Newfoundland is a beautiful place and the people are wonderful too!
Rating: 
Summary: "Q" is for Quoyle, and Quirky
Review: The Shipping News chronicles the healing of Quoyle, a passively pathetic nobody who, with his young daughter, leaves New York for the Newfoundland of his ancestors after his wildly irresponsible wife Petal (a shockingly different Cate Blanchett) dies in a car crash with one of her paramours. Kevin Spacey turns in an excellent performance as the fleshy-faced, bumbling, meek and hollow Quoyle. (In fact, it may be more accurate to say the film tells of Quoyle's creation--the man-child who survived his abusive upbringing seems almost nonexistent as opposed to broken.) Julianne Moore is tenderly, simply beautiful as Quoyle's love interest, perhaps giving her finest performance. Judi Dench , as Quoyle's aunt who rescues him from New York, is just good enough, though lacking somehow. The cinematography, featuring the rock, water and snow of the North Atlantic, is generally well done. Much of the accented dialogue is difficult to understand at first, as is the plot unless one pays careful attention to the various dream sequences and impressionistic flashbacks which fill in the Quoyle family history. I will say that, several chapters into the novel, the film seems better, more direct, not thrown off balance by the author's "clever", continuous elimination of complete sentences and bombardment of similes and metaphors--which worked for the first couple of chapters but is now proving tedious. (And the film actually has one detail "right": if Petal came to detest Quoyle so much and only conceived their first child by accident, it's hard to see where a second would have come from. In the film, having but one daughter strengthens the character; in the book, the extra dulls the impact of both.) I cannot say for certain that I will finish the book. In all, 3-1/2 stars is about right for this film. Recommended if you're looking for something quirky and "fresh."
| 
