Rating: 
Summary: This boring movie ... big time!
Review: Is this movie is depicting modern days America or before Martin Luther King was assasinated? The time frame seems all wrong and the movie itself is so boring that all the characters in this pathetic movie are like dream walking. The script is so contrite that I almost want to scream to curse the screenplay writer(s). What's the big deal and fuss about this movie? What's the big deal about the acting of the actress who won the Oscar? Except she cried and screamed after knowing her son was dead, except some of the boring scenes making love with the deadbeat Bill B. Thornton, what else we got enough to give her an Oscar? This is a such so-so movie that always makes me wonder why that odd pair at the movie would have given it a "two thumbs up!" and Ebert would dare enough to ruin his reputation and wisdom to recommand an Oscar for this mediocre actress? But I really don't mind giving Danzel Washington the 2nd or the 3rd Best Actor Oscar, because he is a solid and integrate hardworking performer. By God, not this crying baby who could only remember to keep thanking her lawyers with such lucky sobbing voice. The people behind the scene who gave her the votes really need a good spanking this time.
Rating: 
Summary: Once is enough...
Review: I suppose it depends on whether or not you're reviewing a film as an artistic statement or a beautifully told story and so forth, or if you're rating it as something one would purchase to watch again and again.Monster's Ball is the sort of spellbinding story that's typically released in theaters around late December to win awards and garner free publicity for the ever-shrinking number of movie studios and the media-conglomerates that own them. Halle Berry is truly outstanding in this and I'd highly recommend Monster's Ball to anyone that hasn't seen it. Having thus said however, I'd be somewhat disturbed to meet the person who would actually want to watch Monster's Ball frequently enough to purchase it. It's certainly worth seeing, but is horribly depressing and morbid--.... To wit, I like Dali's painting of the crucifiction of St. John but I don't want the thing hanging in my living room. Think Philidelphia, Boys Don't Cry, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Performances by Barry and Thornton
Review: This movie tackles some very controversial topics. It centers around two main characters. The first is Hank Grotowski, played by Billy Bob Thornton. Hank is a death row corrections officer at the prison. The second character is Liticia Musgrove, played by Halle Barry. Leticia's husband, played by Sean Combs, is scheduled to die and Hank helps conduct the execution. After the execution, both Liticia and Hank lose their children to tragic deaths; Hank's son by suicide and Liticia's son by a hit-and-run driver. Hank actually sees Liticia and her son along the road after the accident and he takes them to the hospitsl, but it was too late. Afterwards, an unlikely bond forms between Hank and Liticia. Several controversial topics are brought to life in this movie. Racism is evident throughout. Hank's father is a hard-core racist and he makes it known to anyone he sees, including Liticia. Hank tries to distance himself from his father after meeting and ultimately falling in love with Liticia. The death penalty is also shown in the movie. Liticia's husband is executed in the electric chair, which is hardly used as a method of capital punishment anymore. The hardships on the family after the execution are shown, as well as their methods of coping. Liticia's son dealt with the loss of his father by eating large amounts of candy, while Liticia drank and was evicted from their home. Finally, the relationship between Liticia, a black woman, and Hank, an older white man, was dealt with. I think the forming of the relationship was done pretty well throughout the movie. This was a good film overall. I think viewers will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: Luckily, I did not spend the money to buy this movie on DVD. It was on TV so we watched it because it had gotten so much hype.
I did not enjoy the movie at all. Found it to not have much of a story plot and to be rather boring actually.
Halle Berry did not give an Oscar-winning performance in the movie, and Billy Bob Thornton gave his usual monotone performance.
Found it hard to believe that it took to the end of the movie for her to find out that he had something to do with putting her husband to death, and that the movie ended with them just sitting on the back porch looking up to the sky.
Rating:
Summary: Is there a zero star rating? ; Not if they payed me.
Review: Like American Beauty, Monster's Ball had its cast, crew, and studio kiss critical posterior to hide its less-than stellar actuality and place itself among the oscars...Monster's Ball can't even scrounge up the mediocrity of a stereotypical movie...The entire film plays like Mississippi Burning for the mentally and culturally imapired. This movie should be immolated in front of the Hollywood sign ...
Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood uses guilt as a shortcut to thinking
Review: If you have been living in a closet for the last 50 years this movie may actually be enlightening. "Love conquers all," has always been the easiest perspective on life to gain a consensouses on but it is also the most trite. Pretending this movie had been made 50 years ago the inter-racial relationship at the center of the story would have been provacative and the political commentary on the death penality meaningful. This movie won awards that should have gone to controversial and politically progessive films made years ago. I am convinced that guilt for not recongizing previous attempts to address these issues is the only reason "Monsters" even made it to the theaters. Halle Berry almost gave a very believable performance except for the sex scenes which were almost as bad as highlights from "Showgirls". Billy Bob Thornton remains one of my favorite actors from his performance in "Dead Man" but I have yet to see him in a good movie since. Besides the flocks of right wing dolts in the Texas and Florida there is probably no one that has anything to gain by wasting their time on this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Monster's Ball -- well done but very dark story
Review: This movie doesn't bring a "feel good" feeling to the front. It focuses on the darker side of human nature...beginning with an execution, along with suicide, a hit-and-run murder, and an unlikely romance. In the same way that comedians exaggerate features of people, this movie exaggerates the darkness that exists in people. Berry and Thornton do a good job acting in this, and it is engrossing albeit an ugly movie. It fails in its realism with just plain too many bad things happening to its characters. If you want to see people screw up their lives and who are generally much worse off, a definate must see.
Rating: 
Summary: Heath Ledger in Monster's Ball
Review: The previous reviews have, surprisingly, not mentioned Heath Ledger's performance in Monster's Ball. Despite a short role, his performance is intense, & unforgettable. The scenes prior to the execution & the suicide scence are particularly lasting. I look forward to seeing more of Heath Ledger !
Rating:
Summary: Holy Halle!!
Review: This very bad film has some of the worst acting of this or any year. Billy Bob Thornton sleepwalks through yet another performance, while Halle Berry does one of those amateurish, unmodulated, "Look-Ma-I'm-Acting" jobs that's always misinterpreted as the real thing by Hollywood's standards. This amateur-hour movie is an incomprehensible downer that manages to trash Berry's character while playing into every racial stereotype the screenwriter can latch on to. It's mind boggling that such tripe still gets peddled by the American film industry. And it's laughable that they gave Berry an Oscar to show how broadminded and "with it" Hollywood is. Broadminded? It only took them 73 years to award an African American woman an Oscar for a lead role, and when they did, they chose an actress who played a racially stereotyped character. That's progress for you. Neither Thornton or Berry understand the first thing about subtext, so their acting, what there is of it, is all show-and-tell. The mumbled dialog is childish and outlandish at the same time. And the notorious "Jungle Fever" sex scene gives notice that Hollywood's tradition of degrading women continues at full tilt (hell...it's now considered great acting). "Monster's Ball" is a monstrosity that would have been quickly forgotten, had it not been for Berry's Oscar. Now we know that in years to come, "Monster's Ball" WILL be remembered...as another example of the Academy honoring a performance that didn't even rate a nomination, not to mention Berry's overwrought, "moment-in history" acceptance speech. Yes, some Academy traditions never die. Ugh!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Captivating and Wonderful
Review: Monster's Ball really surprised me. I knew Halle Berry won an Oscar for her role as the unforgettable Leticia Musgrove, but I didn't know it would be this good. The characters really prepossessed me and I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen -- they were totally agog throughout. In each vignette, I found myself caring for the characters and their subsequent perils. The ethos is strong in this film and the performances given by Billy Bob Thorton and Berry are gripping and not to be missed. The final scene is one of the best movie endings I have ever seen. This filmed deserved every accolade it recieved. The DVD is good. The picture quality was nice and the sensory details given to the sound production are to be commended. It pays off when you hear the small sounds of Halle Berry when she's brushing her teeth or chewing gum. That says a lot about the detail in the film and with the sound. The special features were OK. Personally, I could've done without the goofy extras because I feel that it takes away from the ethos and intense drama of the film -- this is Monster's Ball, not Monsters Inc.
The deleted scenes, however, are great and give you more insight into the development of the films minor characters such as Leticia's son. Please don't miss this film.
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