Monster's Ball

I've just seen "Monster's Ball" and found it different........I liked it...............found it to be a hauntingly compelling look at prejudice and racism...............emotionally draining and intense.........

but.............

Actually.......something I just cant see why.......Halle Berry won the Best Actress Oscar in 2001.........for what...!!!!!!!.........?

Sorry sounds bitchy........but I found her performance amateurish, flat and dry............................I recognize that she's conventionally beautiful and all that........but the Best Actress Award...............hmmmm........dunno..........

A gripping and powerful performance by the comsummate professional, Mr Billy Bob Thornton is superb.......................I feel he has been pushed to the background in this one.............

Let me know.......what you think............


Ok................Halle Berry fans..........get in line and kick my butt.......ouch...............be gentle................

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~ Nikki ~

"I'm your hell, I'm your dream.......I'm nothing in between.......You know you wouldn't want it any other way".........

"Listen, when I slap you, you'll take it and like it"..........Humphrey Bogart..........Maltese Falcon.......

Graze on my lips and if those hills be dry, stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie...........William Shakespeare.......

Yeh I have to agree there. It seems that she is seen as a great actress just for crying a hell of alot and looking drab.

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instrumental rock band that I am in.

I agree. I didn't think her performance was overly stellar. I can't recall who was also up for that Oscar, but it was an all-right performance.

You don't suppose it was the sex scene, do you?

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Sex scene? what? hmm i think i remember it....

Visit this for my opinions and and a few other peoples on Halle in Monsters Ball. I highly suggest this post. Its one of my personal favorites.

http://www.movieforums.net/showthrea...5&pagenumber=1

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"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" - Howard Beale

Probally.......yes.......!!!!!!!!!!...........I mean......do we have to see her naked.........I mean......she is lovely and beautiful..........but why do we see her naked and not Billy Bob Thornton...........I wanted to see Billy Bob Thornton naked............I mean hell........I want to see what Angeline Jolie found so fasinating about him.......I'm sure its got something to do with those bits he keeps covered up..... .........well I could be wrong........

Don't worry Miniontv........you didn't miss much...........

I think I wouldn't remember it either.........

I don't recall what other actresses were nominated that year either but I thought she did a good job. Perhaps not one of the best performances I have ever seen, but I think she was great. I think it's refreshing when an actress that understand that acting isn't all about being as expressive as possible at all times, but also about being subtle and restrained when that's needed, wins an award. I have, for example, much more trouble with accepting the fact that Russell Crowe was even nominated for "A Beautiful Mind".

Wasn't Thornton naked in the sex scene??? Hell, I don't remember. I was too busy looking at someone else.

There's a hidden frame of a dove or some other bird in the sex scene by the way. I haven't seen it myself but my buddy who "thought he saw something" (yeah right) watched it frame by frame and is certain about it. Have you seen the bird?

To wrap it all up; Monster's Ball = Great film with great acting.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

I thought crowe was fantastic in the role. This was one movie I really didn't want to see but was very pleasantly suprised and moved by his performance.

*shivers* No, I hate this weakness for mentally ill or mentally disabled characters. It's too easy. It's like Sean Penn in "I am Sam"... give me a break...

"A Beautiful Mind" was a movie I felt complete indifference about but I felt like I had to see it since it had earned the award for best picture. I only saw it a short period of tme ago and I really thought it was Hollywood sentimentality at its worst. It had its moments, of course, but the way the story was made out of nothing but this man's illusions gave me nothing. The documentary I saw about this guy was much more fascinating. And I thought Russel Crowe was so not the right guy for that part. I mean, have you seen the real mathematic genius what's his name again?? Not exactly the kind of gym regular as Russell Crowe.

I honestly think I could have done what he did in that movie. Really.

on Monster's Ball.....Halle Berry's performance was no different to a porn star in a crappy porn flick...IMHO the movie went downhill after Heath Ledger's character shot himself (about 10 mins into the film)

i thought it was quite weak on the prejudice and racism...on this front it started off well but it seemed to me that they just "forgot" to continue with it

emotionally draining and intense?? i just don't see it...i was quite bored and really wanted it to be over quickly...i'm disgusted SHE won an Oscar for that (or anything)

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on A Beautiful Mind....what a crock that movie was...the portrayal of John Nash was drastically "changed" to fit with the title of Beautiful Mind and to make the character more lovable and acceptable to the audience...the REAL man was nowhere near beautiful...he destroyed his wife, he hated everybody and not one person he ever knew or met liked him (because he was such a b@stard)

the ending of the movie was the worst though...what, he was just able to ignore his mental illness because he was a mathematician, and continue to live his little life without medication?? so all the real people who can't do the same in real life must be "dumb" then??

i have yet to see a movie that portrays any type of mental illness in a realistic way whatsoever...i've got my fingers crossed for Manic (it was made in 2001 but is scheduled to be released April 25th)

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I thought it was highly entertaining in this sense. The whole idea of people coming together in an unatural environment, discovering each others predjudices and evoking them to bring out the theme to the audience was captured beautifully. I just hope they make a Monster's Inc 2.

You think so?? I think the film depicted the transformation of Thornton's character in a very trustworthy way. This film made me feel good.

Hey, come on! The sex scene was great! But if you could take it away - would that change your opinion?

You know, Ron Howard actually looked for a story about someone with a mental illness. I guess he's realized that's the key to the Oscar. And then casting Crowe only because he won an award the year before is also a bit sad. They weren't taking any chances on that one.

A great film about someone not with a mental illness but mentally disabled is Sling Blade (1996), directed and written by Billy Bob Thornton who also plays the main character. I think the film is great because even though it's quite moving here and there it never reaches that unbearable sentimentality that A Beautiful Mind is drained in. Even though Thornton's character obviously is a bit stereotyped (Not too much though. I know since I work with this kind of people and they never cease to astonish me), Thornton's acting and the character in itself are trustworthy all the time.


Man, you're so funny sometimes!!