i honestly felt like crap when i finished seeing this movie, but great movie, wonderful performences by Theron and Ricci

A-

Great film. While I thought Watts should have gotten that Oscar for 21 Grams, Theron's performance is stunning. Christina Ricci is also great as well.

- A-/B+

Depressing, disturbing and just amazing.

9/10 (A-)

Theron saved it. C+

Depressing, well-made film. I found Christina Ricci disappointing, but Charlize Theron completely makes up for her. Theron's performance is one of the best in by an actress in the last 50 years. A-

Yes. It wasn't all that spectacular. I didn't think Ricci killed it the way other people said. And I probably wouldn't go quite as low as you did, but this movie was just a kind of boring straightforeward retelling.

B-

Yup, I agree. It was good, but nothing great. Charlize gave a wonderful performance, though, and deserved her Oscar win.

B

MONSTER (2003)


After seeing this film twice in theaters, it stood as my #1 film of 2003 and one of my favorites of all time. The first time I saw it I loved it and gave it a 9/10 (A-). I never expected that my rating would ever go up. I figured that it might be less interesting upon a second viewing, like most movies are. However, I ended up loving it even more than I did the first time. I wasn't able to stop thinking about it since I saw it, especially after the second time. It blew me away. I've now seen it several times, and I still love it just the same. I'm in love with this film. It's absolutely amazing. I must agree with Roger Ebert; this is one of the greatest moviegoing experiences I've ever had.

I liked how we got to see Aileen Wuornos as a person, not just a "monster." They're already portrayed as heartless killers on the news; you don't hear anything good about them. But there's more to people than that. It's like if you knew and really cared about someone, whether it be a family member or a friend, and they ended up killing someone. On the news they would make them out to be horrible, and not mention anything good about them. But you would know different, you maybe wouldn't like what they did, but that doesn't mean that they didn't have anything good about them. I know if a friend or family member that I really cared about ended up killing someone, or more than one person, I can't say that I would stop loving/caring about them. Maybe they did do some things that were bad, but that doesn't mean that the whole package is horrible. You hear enough about the bad things that they did on the news, you aren't really given a chance to get inside their head. You can't possibly know the whole story by listening to the news. It's movies like this that give you the whole story. In all honesty, I can't say I hated Aileen. I don't think there's anything wrong with finding yourself sympathizing with a serial killer, because they're people too. Anyone is capable of killing; it just all depends on the situation you're in. Under different circumstances, you might do things that you couldn't imagine yourself doing now.

Charlize Theron gives an astonishing performance as Aileen Wuornos. She had to undergo a complete transformation for this part, but it's not the weight gain and tons of make-up that has her performance being hailed as one of the best of all time, it's her acting alone that makes her performance so amazing. She really becomes Aileen Wuornos. The way she talks and carries herself is just perfect. A flawless performance! She deserves all of the praise she's been getting. It's the best female performance of the year, but also the best performance of the year in general. Christina Ricci was excellent in a supporting role as Selby. I thought she was really good the first time I saw it, but the second time I saw it I appreciated it much more. She gives the best supporting performance of the year. She deserved a Best Supporting Actress nomination, especially over Renee Zellweger's unimpressive turn in Cold Mountain. Christina's performance is underrated, and despite what other people say, I didn't find her character annoying. In fact, I liked her until ***SPOILERS***She betrayed Aileen in the end***END SPOILERS***. I still didn't hate her, but I was really disappointed in her. A real friend wouldn't do that.

The best scene in the movie and by far the best scene of the year is the scene with Aileen and Selby dancing in the roller rink while Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" plays. It was incredibly sweet, magical, and I had a smile on my face the whole time. A great and memorable scene with a great song! It sent chills up my spine.

The first time I saw it I never imagined this would ever get a perfect rating from me. But after only two viewings, it was rewarded one, and I know it will never change. I pretty much never give out a perfect rating upon first viewing of a movie, and it usually takes a good amount more than two viewings for it to get one. But I just fell in love with this film and quote it all of the time. So far it's the only 2003 film I've rewarded a perfect rating.

Despite some people saying it's a really depressing movie, I came out of it really happy with a smile on my face both times, because I had just seen a great movie.

"Monster" is a great film with great performances from Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. It had great writing, directing, acting, and an amazing soundtrack. In a perfect world this would have gotten a Best Picture nomination, especially over junk like Seabiscuit. I can't get the film out of my head and I highly recommend it. It's not to be missed.


Grade: 10/10 (A+)


***********************SPOILERS***********************
The only victim I really ended up caring about was the last guy. The first guy definitely had it coming. Other than the last guy, there was only one other guy that I felt somewhat bad for, and that was the one guy in the woods that ended up being a cop. But since he ended up being a cop, it was a good thing she killed him, at least for her sake, or she would have gotten arrested or something. She didn't kill everyone though, like the chubby virgin guy, since she knew he didn't pose a threat. And she wasn't going to kill the last guy that wanted to help her but she was getting out of the car and the gun fell out, and he saw it, and then she had to kill him, even though she didn't want to. She had a hard time with it, but she couldn't let him go having seen what he did. He said he wouldn't turn her in, but obviously that's not true. Like you'd keep something like that quiet, especially if you knew she was wanted. He would have turned her in. So if she didn't kill him, she would have been caught. It was too bad he had to die, because he was a nice guy and you feel bad for him, but from her point of view, even if you didn't want to, you had to do it or it's your ass.
***********************END SPOILERS*******************

Mike, I'd like to count the times that I actually read that review :wink: You post it everywhere :razz:

I posted it on my main board, I posted it on Box Office Mojo before, and I posted it here, and that's about it. I post it about everywhere I'm a member. Why not? I may as well. And it's not like you have to read my review every single time . If you've already read it then there's no need to do so again.

B-


Good, but not great. It never really got deep enough into the characters, the way it felt like it was trying to. And if it was trying to stay true to the story, uh...well it should have stayed true to to the real story.

At times it felt like more than trying to make us understand the characteres it just excused their actions.

Charlize's transformation was remarkable, but a transformation is not a great performance. I'm not sure she inhabited her character the way other actresses have done with their roles recently. It's a great performance, worthy of its Oscar nomination, but I'm not sure it went deep enough for it be the amazing performance everyone says it is, and one worthy of the win.

Yuck. I don't understand the need to make the subect of this film into a sympathetic character. I know that's been a common complaint and I think it's a valid one.

As for the performances, I do think Charlize Theron was good but she owes a big debt to the makeup artists for this one. At first I thought she wasn't good at all, but as the film progresses her performance improves significantly. Worthy of the nomination, but I'm not sure about the win. My grade: C.

B+

Wow, what a performance by Charlie Theron. My expectation of her performance was pretty high given she won so many awards with it, and I had my doubt that maybe it's more because of the transformation than the actual performance, but she indeed pulled it off. Ricci was miscasted however and made you wonder how a kid like her in the movie could fall for Charlie.

After checking out the extras in the DVD, I don't think the film intentionally made the killer a sympathetic character. They did a lot of research from the letters she wrote and presented the story they feel to be accurate. It felt pretty real, without much suger-coating or artifical stirring of emotions.

Theron deserved her Oscar. She was quite remarkable. If I didn't know it was her in the role, I wouldn't have recognised her. The movie, however, was great. The movie doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It didn't absorb me the way I expected a story like this to do. I'll give it a B-/C+. I would give it a lower grade if it wasn't for Charlize.

I'd consider this film bad, but Theron made it watchable with her fantastic performance. C+

Theron and Ricci are just great. Haunting performance from Theron.

However, could of been better, very straight-forward in how it was told.

B

Extremely hard to grade for me. It was very moving towards the end, but it was substantially brought down by a dry first half. If the entire film could have been told with the emotional intensity of the last 10 minutes the film would have been infinately better.

Though I agree with everyone else, Theron and Ricci's performances were simply amazing. However, I didn't feel that Ricci was mis-cast, actually I thought she was quite good in her role.

B+

Fairly standard deglam descent story. I like the lighter Theron-Ricci romance scenes like at the rollerskate place, more than the murder shock roughhouse plotline. I don't know if I bought all the murders. The first one yes, but the rampage after would take someone truly mad/homocidal. I'm sure the real Aileen was, but she's not in this movie, they go to great lengths to show she's not actually. But it's hard to sell someone just starting killing people to support their motel fees. The only way I could've bought it is if Aileen was in "alright i want to end my life soon anyways, I'm just going to ride this Selby thing as long a I can and when she eventually leaves me, I don't care if I'm up for murder, I'll have had the one decent time of my life and lived it to its fullest" They don't really go that route though

Theron is great (especially when she gets all bug eyed), but let's be honest, this is one of the meatiest roles in all of film ever. It's a big, external softball right down the middle. That's not to take away from her, she delivers, but I don't know if I'd call it an extremely riske and challenging role like some have, quite the opposite actually. I do wish the film had a bit less "emotional breakdown moment - big meat scene"s though. 1 or 2 a film is fine, when you get to 6 or 7 you start to enter the Babel zone.

I feel Ricci is as good as her. Less showy role, but just as if not more believable. She's very good with the quiet pauses

Overall solid film that will only be remembered for the acting. 3/5

{My original review from January 2004: }


Monster: Most Romantic Lesbian Serial Killer Movie Ever!


C'mon - Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci!

Only in my dreams until tonight.

Sure she put on a few pounds for the role, but it's Charlize Theron! Acting. In a tragic true love story. How can you not groove on that?

And ever since I saw Christina Ricci in Adams Family Values, I knew she was a truly gifted actress. A story of life gone off kilter and how a relationship spun it further askew. I can't wait to see Charlize in her gown when she gives her best actress acceptance speech at the Oscars...


out of

This.

The performances are of a quality we rarely see and the script is as sharp as it is dark. Not only is it incredibly well constructed and displayed (the direction with sound fade outs, editing, and gritty visual style is all great too) but moreover it is completely engaging. I wish it had stayed a little more in a sense of reality, so that you could actually question the morality of the whole thing, and whether she was evil and crazy, or just a sad woman who went through a hard life. Instead the real story is so one sided that question is answered for you.
Nevertheless, brilliant film.

10/10.

You and Sméagol.

I found Monster to be more-or-less unwatchable.

dear yoshue,

could you please provide a list of films made after 1979 that you found to be "watchable"?
It should not take too much time or energy, I don't think.

Thank you.

J.S.

Your continued insistence that I dislike everything still suggests that you aren't actually reading my posts.