Mona Lisa Smile

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: it was a must see classic! Once again Julia Roberts captures the audience!

Rating:
Summary: Kathy Watson, Kathy Watson, we have named you...
Review: You're not like the lady with the mystic smile
Is it only that you're a commie we have blamed you
For your anti-traditional viewpoints in your smile

Do you smirk at moral values, Kathy Watson?
Or is this your way of breaking lonely hearts?
Many lies have been brought to our doorsteps
They just lie there, and they die there

Are they real, are they fake, Kathy Watson?
Or just a cold and lonely, hateful piece of art?

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This movie has been called "Dead Poets Society for girls", and while there are strong similarities between these two movies, Mona Lisa Smile stands on its own. Julia Roberts plays Katherine Howard, a "California bohemian" who comes to Wellesley College to teach History of Art to a group of (mostly) spoiled rich girls who are there just biding their time until they get married. She intends to change this by making them see they can do whatever they want to do with their lives, not just someone's wives.

Of course, trying to change tradition and the College's establishment doesn't come cheaply, as she is seen by her students as someone not worthy (why isn't she married?) and as someone dangerous by the school's governing body. She doesn't follow tradition, doesn't obey the rules and has what they call unorthodox ways of teaching, like taking the girls to see modern art and not following the curse's syllabus.

As time passes and the girls get to know her, things start to change, and by the end of the movie everyone has learned a valuable lesson in life.

One of the main differences between this movie and Dead Poets Society is that it mainly follows Katherine's life, leaving the students' lives as secondary stories, while in DPS it's the other way around. We do however share some moments with some of the other characters, namely Betty Warren (Dunst), the bratty, spoiled girl who despises Katherine and her ways, Joan Brandwyn (Stiles), who is somewhat torn between life as a housewife and going to Law school, Connie Baker (Goodwin), whose not as beautiful as the other girls and only dreams of finding love, and Giselle Levy (Gyllenhall), the wild, sexy girl. Most of the movie, however, centers on Katherine's struggles both on and off campus, as she starts a romantic relationship with the school's Italian teacher (West).

Set in the 50's, this movie deal mainly with the subject of liberation and equality, its message being that women can be all they want to be, not only wives.

The acting in the film is solid, starting with Roberts, but the real standouts are the girls. Dunst does mean and bitchy very well, and Stiles gives another good performance, but the two shining characters are Goodwin and Gyllenhall. Marcia Gay Harden, as the repressed Nancy Abbey, the school's teacher for "how to behave in society affairs" and Katherine's house mate.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the negative hype!
Review: This is one of those movies that, for some reason, the critics decided to gang up on. I'm not sure why. Maybe because for some "Mona Lisa Smile" was too feminist, and for others not feminist enough. But let me try to make you understand why this film, while not perfect, is definitely worth a look.

First of all, in terms of politics, mentalities, clothes, and music, it does a great job of recapturing the early 1950s. Second, while the story might be just a little bit hokey (a brilliant young female professor heads to an elite women's college to shake things up), the movie has quite a group of legitimate issues to raise and then examine. And this is all done with some of the finest young actresses working today.

Many critics say that because the sexual revolution is over (and that's debatable--just watch "The Apprentice" on NBC!), the lessons of "Mona Lisa Smile" don't matter any more. I think that's dead wrong.

In addition, the film is not nagging and is not preachy, as some have suggested. It's an enjoyable mental journey back in time, a careful look at a few lives of a half-century ago. It is a well-told, revealing look, and, I suspect, well worth your attention.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Show Ever
Review: Hey Everyone, I swear that this was the best show I've ever seen. I love it so much! I can't wait until March 9 for the movie to come out! It's kinda a chick flick, but still really good (hey, I'm a chick!)

Rating:
Summary: Dead screenwriters society
Review: Have you ever watched "Dead poets society"? If the answer is "yes", don't bother watching "Mona lisa smile". The story is preety much the same, about a teacher in a conservative, high-class school in the 50s, that teaches the students to think for themselves. The only twist is Julia Roberts in the role previously owned by Robin Williams and a bunch of girls instead of a bunch of boys.

But "Mona lisa smile" is worse than "Dead poets society". Characterization, story, emotion, everything is worse. Julia Roberts, although still very beautiful, didn't convince me for a single moment that she was a 50s character. Julia is THE actress of the 90s, and her unexpected lack of charm and, seemingly, lack of will to portrait a woman from 50 years ago (even if it was a "modern" woman for that age standards) spoiled the movie for me. In fact, Marcia Gay Harden steals every scene she's in; she's convincent in her role.

The love-affair is innocuous and tasteless, even stupid. The ending is not touching, but cheesy, and a little bit ridiculous.

In my opinion, this movie would be a total flop if it weren't for the young women's acting. Kirsten Dunst and, especially, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julia Stiles (above all), are very good as girls living a difficult age of change and decisions.

Better rent it than watch it in the theater.

Grade 6.3/10

Rating:
Summary: Another Best Actress Oscar For Julia Roberts?
Review: It is the year 1953: The aftermath of the Korean War meant that a newfound idealism of communism was reigning supreme on the northern part of the Korean peninsula, cigarette advertisements were being aired on television [can you believe that?], and thousands of women across this great country were tied down to a life of drudgerous housework, having to do menial chores for their husbands, who brought home the bacon (in the form of a paycheck), leaving these wives no choice but to cook it. These same women could only fantasize about life as career women and provide substantial earnings of their own. That would bring about much needed changes, in the form of one Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), who would arrive at one of the nation's premiere institutions of higher learning for women: Wellesley College. Ms. Watson would make the long, arduous journey from sunny California to icy Massachusetts, only to find that she has a tough task ahead of her, having to face a tough crowd of young, free-spirited female college students, who test our Professor of Art History upon arrival, fresh off the train from the West Coast. Ms. Watson's attempt at instilling ideals of reforming the girls' vision of the modern-day role of women in 1950s society falls on deaf ears, and, therefore thinking that women are continued to be destined to live a glorious life as domestic engineers, wallowing in the aromatic stench of Bon Ami and Brillo pads, Ms. Watson's students go about their lives on campus, concentrating on gossip concerning the girls' love life and their future husbands. Using various forms of art history through different types of paintings and ancient sculptures, including other forms of television and magazine advertisements, Ms. Watson challenges her students through means of theoretical concepts, to examine both the past and future roles of women in society, both as housewives and as potential career women. When the girls use their minds to examine such possibilities (and probabilities), surprising results are bound to occur (which makes Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" seem like only a novel model of feminist pride by comparison). Leaving her exceptionally bright and independent class to handle this concept on their own, as well as under Ms. Watson's terms, Watson's in-depth curiosity and skin-deep beauty catches the eye of a Professor of Foreign Languages, who has a lot more on his mind than Italian cuisine and the canals of Venice. Also, Ms. Watson's love life isn't exactly peaches and cream back home, as her fiancee pays a surprise visit to New England (Gee, heads are about to REALLY roll now!). In "Mona Lisa Smile", it is with these types of dramatic roles where Ms. Roberts is most adept and at home, adding her own unique brand of thespian wit and charm to the role of Katherine Watson, everybody's favorite instructor of art history (OK, maybe not!). Could another Oscar for Best Actress be in the offing for Julia? To further her quest in this beneficial and glorious cause, it would be most wise to journey to your local theater, and take in a viewing of "Mona Lisa Smile"; when, upon seeing it, will make the upward corners of your mouth do an unbelievable double-take, making the lips of Da Vinci's female subject seem like an act of (pent-up) rage and hostility by comparison (to which I state in great, good-natured humor of course!)!

Rating:
Summary: 3
Review: I...it wasn't a bad movie at that. ..At the end of the movie I was glad that I made the effort to see it. It was smart, sweet, briefly comical, and a very engaging stories. I say stories because this movie was not about one women, but about five of them. Each person in this movie goes through their own hardships and problems. Just because one persons problems are solved, does not mean everybody's problem is solved, and I like that. This movie, I felt, was more of a reflecting on the real world in that time. It was how many women were brought up. To get married right away, to stay home while the husband works, and to take care of the kids.

The movie takes place in 1953. ....I liked it alot.

ENJOY!

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and thematic issues.

Rating:
Summary: Mona Lisa Smile ROCKS!~~~
Review: Hey! K,i swear that this movie is soooooooooooooo awesome...i guess it's kinda a chick-flick...but, hey, I'm a Chick (my b-friend says a hot one too!) No, seriously, this is my altime fav movie

Rating:
Summary: lacked dynamic
Review: Okay, so in most movies that strive for enlightenment, they spend the whole movie conveying why this character is so amazing (i.e. Erin Brockovich). In this movie, there exists only one scene to prove to the audience how great this woman is. What about the rest of the movie? Boring.....All those good names, and it made me feel no emotion towards anyone at the end. Usually when I see movies, I feel different at the end, but when i saw this one I was like "okay, now what?" Should have had many different levels with this character. I was VERY disappointed. Two stars because Maggie G did a great job.