This movie had some beautiful scenes
585476
The samarai scene between the two ex-assassins was so beautiful I felt emotional.  Honestly, I thought I might start crying.  This movie is beautiful and powerful.  I don't particularly care for all the extra blood that comes literally spurting out of peoples' headless necks.  I'm not a comic book fan by any stretch.  I can, however, relate to the idea of wanting to seek revenge for someone killing my groom, my wedding party, and my baby (unborn, no less). She's a bad bad fighter.  She really is.  The samarai sword scenes are amazing.  I'm a female, by the way, although this comes off as a male movie.  I recommend this flick.  The storyline is good.  The characters are developed.  They are not shallow; they are just quiet. Uma plays off being a stupid American tourist in Japan quite well; she also pulls off the ex-assassin bit very well.

It's gory.  Don't watch it with your three year old.
1606992
I Felt  I had just seen  a colorful movie, and had a little cry at the end.
4134168
There was a lot of potential for a great movie here. This movie is just gorgeous. I love the use of color, the FX are really good. The sets are true works of art. The plot however really leaves a lot to be desired. If you want to watch really pretty moving pictures this is the one. If you want to be scared, or to experience a great story, keep looking.
203236
The first half of 1991's "Paradise" is great. It's essentially a coming-of-age story of two 9 year-olds (Elijah Wood and Thora Birch) on the Atlantic coast near Chrarleston, SC (shot on location). The locations are breathtaking and illustrate that every area has its unique beauty. The film's also about a couple who Elijah is visiting for the Summer (Birch's character is a neighbor). The couple (Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) are on the verge of divorce due to a tragedy a few years earlier. Wood's visit is instrumental in reviving them as individuals and as a couple.

The first half is so well done that I thought I stumbled upon a hidden gem but, unfortunately, the second half falls into mediocrity. The awkward and contrived scenes with questionable acting/dialogue could've worked if the filmmakers simply worked out the kinks through rewriting, reshooting, better editing, etc. but it's clear that they had to finish the picture on a limited budget. They got the job done, and that's great, but if they spent a little more time, a little more money and tried a little harder they could've had a near masterpiece.

This is the only movie that I can remember where Don Johnson plays a major protagonist (I've never seen Miami Vice) and it shows that he should've been a major ultra-cool masculine actor, like Clint Eastwood, Thomas Jane, Charles Bronson and a gazillion others.

Sarah Trigger plays Birch's hot half-sister, but she's barely seen, which is a shame because she's so beautiful. They probably cut some of her scenes out. If you don't remember her, she played Steve Martin's redhead babe in "Grand Canyon."

BOTTOM LINE: This coming of age film has numerous great moments, particularly in the first half -- moments of wonder, beauty, discovery and companionship. It's too bad they drop the ball in the second half. Regardless, it's a very worthwhile movie and Johnson shows his greatness. Like the movie, he coulda been a contenda.

The film runs 111 minutes.

GRADE: B
2564378
This movie had some great moments.  It had some raw reality, some humor and some unrealistic moments.  I can't say it is a classic I would watch over and over again but also it wasn't a complete waste of time.
4064880
this movie was a little confusing at first but I kept watching and it turned out to be a nice movie.
2956251
This movie is, in a word:  Beautiful.

Visually stunning.

But not all that great, otherwise.

I'm not going to go on about how huge a fan I am of the book (I am), nor am I going to wax intellectual by discussing all the psychological ramifications of...... you get the point.

The movie, as a movie only, an outlet for entertainment, a couple of hours of escape into the magical realm of cinema:  Here's my review of THAT.

Plot:  kind of thin.  Troubled kid, shown clearly and without argument to be a troubled kid.  He has a major tantrum, acts out poorly, bites his mom when she tries to corral him, and then runs off into the night.  He runs into the woods, sets sail on a boat to a land far away, populated by monsters.
Monsters opt to make him their king instead of eat him.  His reign as king starts out well, and steadily declines.
He realizes he's just a boy, not a king, not equipped to make decisions, not someone who should be in charge, and sails home.  He gets home, and his mom gives him cake.
Fade to black.

Visually:  As I stated above, stunning.  Not just landscapes on the island, which were gorgeous, but early scenes as well.  The disjointed and chaotic feel of the snowball fight between Max and his older sister's friends, sucks you in.
You FEEL how being outnumbered and having your snow fort come down around you can be very scary. Innocent kid fun CAN turn scary in an instant, and this scene was particularly effective.
Same with the dirt clod fight.  A relatively innocent incident becomes beautiful and chaotic and frightening in a moment, and the violence sways back and forth between being funny and being scary.

A final, lesser example, is the dog pile scene.  Max feels secure and safe in a pile of monsters, but as they continue to pile on, you realize he might just get crushed, and his safe security has a bit of a dark side to it all of the sudden.

So, a beautiful movie with a thin plot.  It needs strong characters to make it work.

We don't really get those, either.

This movie calls upon a small boy to carry it on his shoulders.  He does a commendable job, but when his supporting cast is a bunch of dysfunctional monsters, there's only so much we can hope for.

I was bored 20 minutes in, though occasionally finding myself in awe of what I was watching, for most of the rest of it.

Movie gets three stars because of a random series of moments within the film.

Some of the one on one interactions between Max and the two main monsters were touching.
For example the scene in the cave, when Carol shows max his model city.
I also tended to enjoy the scenes with Max and KW.
And there as was the one scene before he sets sail, where he makes up a story to entertain his mom, between bouts of out of control, destructive behaviour.  These brief moments really touched me, and stood out in a mostly boring, but beautiful, movie.
4288533
As I was watching it, I found myself wondering about what the meaning of the oddly voiced little inserts were all about. There must be a tie in with the angels somehow . I will have to watch again. I also found that the main protagonist (while trying to do a film about women) is clueless about women. Yeah, not helping. Which is why the ending surprised me abit . As far as the rest of the film goes, it's not bad. I thought the love scenes were beautiful and well acted, and erotic.
719962
This movie was beautiful, but it does not compare to "Winged Migration."
4574849
the movies was very enjoyable it contained some very funny moments the woman in the movie are hott. and the acting is a little poor. but watching this movies was a good expericne
4474986
Parts that stumble, but overall a really captivating movie that you'll want to watch until the end even if you aren't thrilled with it as a whole.
1657189
Action pieces are beautiful but does tend to drag towards the middle; as a matter of fact, the whole setting transcends from what the trailer or what you think the story turns out to be about. I have seen the wolf children too and to be honest some of the human characters are VERY similar but if you ignore that and only focus on the beasts you get to appreciate the beauty of the film.
1072981
This movie wasn't too bad when I sat down to watch it. The beginning was kind of slow, but as the plot thickens it becomes to unwind as a suprising ending. I think the slowness of the beginning of the moive threw me off of finding out the ending.
4825235
It was a good movie. The 2 actors were good-looking and some eye candy. I thought the storyline was not credible.
825785
The film concentrates on the drama of the few days before the fall of Versailles and the last days of Marie Antoinette's court. The sumptuous costumes, wigs and sets are dazzling, with each scene carefully constructed and lit. You could photograph a still image of many scenes and hang them on the wall as fine art. Some of the filming was actually done at Versailles. Unfortunately, the need to concentrate carefully on the English subtitles sometimes draws your eye away from these gorgeous scenes. I had to occasionally replay a scene because I had been concentrating on the visuals rather than reading the subtitle and had missed some critical dialogue.

The plot is primarily centered around the perspective of a young servant to the court, the queen's official reader, named Sidonie Laborde and played by La Seydoux. Sidonie is infatuated with the queen and exists to serve her. She is often seen running through the long corridors of the palace when she is summoned by the queen to read to her. The queen confides in her of her deep love for Duchess Gabrielle de Polignac, which inspires a bit of jealousy in Sidonie.

The queen, played by Diane Kruger, is gorgeous and spoiled and demands constant attention from her court, but is not completely unsympathetic. Her fear and anguish about the uprising outside the gates is palpable, though she seems to have no idea what to do about it. She instructs her staff to pack her precious belongings (many trunks full) to flee to the country, but at the last minute the king decides they will stay. There are very few scenes between the queen and king, so you do not get a sense of their relationship.

Of course, everyone knows how the story turns out, so there is no suspense in that regard, but the film unfortunately fails to make you care about any of the characters to any great extent. We come to care a bit about Sidonie, who is in nearly every scene, but we are not really able to experience her fear or understand her motivations.

The film does a good job of portraying the chaos and disorganization of the court at the end, but almost totally ignores the historical context of the event. Nevertheless, taken on its own as a brief glimpse behind the palace walls during a critical juncture in French history, the film is worth watching, if only for the sumptuous settings and costumes.
4868012
While the movie had its moments, unfortunately this movie will end up as a one time watch movie for me.
2422519
It has drama, it has a bit of politics, a thriller and a love story all in one. But the reason I am not giving it a full 5 stars is that I find the bed scene too abrupt. Some kissing or hugging before getting naked would definitely help. Ow, the intimate scenes are alright and they are both handsome and looks good on screen. And I wish there could be a bit more passion in Nimer's eyes. But still, this film is still a keeper as it was able to show the tragedy of gay relationships in that part of the world.