Monster

[dawgy]

I saw Monster for the first time tonight. The wife is in bed and I felt I just had to tell someone what I just saw.



I love movies...they are my passion. Most of the time I am disappointed for one reason or another about a movie and most are forgettable, at best. Every so often, on a very rare occasion I see something that moves me. I see something that reminds me why I love movies. The ever so telling barometer is when you just have to tell someone that you saw something that just blew you away.



Charlize Theron gave one of (if not "the") most powerful performances I have ever seen on screen. She sucked me into the character and drew me into the story. I can now see why she won the Oscar...it would have been a travesty for the industry if it hadn't recognized her masterpiece.



If you haven't seen it, see it, but leave the kids in bed. This is a powerful movie but it deals with real life and real situations. I especially liked the way the movie made you understand why she did what she did yet it didn't preach to you about the right or wrong. It just told you this is what happened and this is why.



dawgy

[roscoegino]

Charlize gave an amazing performance. Very brave. I think everybody who watched Monster was pleasantly surprised, having always dismissed her as perhaps one step above eye candy.

Looking forward to seeing North Country.

[kaos1000]

I thought about this film for days after seeing it. I reacted to it on an emotional level that is rare for me.

BT did an incredible soundtrack also..............EVERYTHING worked.

[badassliz]

Charlize always excells in roles where she plays white trash. The Italian Job, she couldn't pull it off. Waking Up in Reno, on the other hand....

However, I thought the acting was the only notable feature about this movie. I hated it.

[Joe Unidos]

A great performance in a painfully mediocre movie --just like Jamie Foxx in "Ray." (Although obviously that film was mediocre for very different reasons.)

[MacG]

Ditto kaos on BT's score. Amazing. The movie? Not so much....

[Salazkin]

I hate to admit to this, as it's sacrilege to movie lovers: but I turned it off right after she killed the first guy in self defense. That rape scene was too brutal for me to stomach, so I said to myself this is enough.

That's not to say the film or her performance was bad. The film Boys Don't Cry, for example, had some pretty horrific stuff but was nevertheless very well done.

That brings to mind something. Wouldn't that mean that at least three actresses have won the Oscar for playing a woman who was raped? Jodie Foster in The Accused, Hilary Swank (as a girl playing a boy) in Boys Don't Cry, and Charlize Theron in Monster. There are probably more - these just popped into my head at once.

[whitenavel]

Christina Ricci was awful and completely miscast.
Charlize did a good job in a decent film.

Sal, make sure you never see Irreversible.

[BeefMissile]

I agree with the post here, Monster is a great film. Therzon earned all the awards and praise. Christina Ricci did great work too. This film was made in my area and I work with the guy who was a stand in for the actor who gets shot and falls out of the driver side door. He told me how the director made him lay on the ground for 2 hours then edited out about 95% of the scenes.

Hooray for Hollywood!

PS: The DVD was good but I think they should have put more on about the real serial killer and the news footage. I saw part of the HBO series and it was interesting too.

[Pencey]

Good film with outstanding acting from Theron. One of the best performances I've ever seen by a woman.

I saw some show that said when the locals saw her performance, they thought it was almost scary how she managed to capture exactly who this woman was, mannerisms and all.

[Landis26]

It was a tough subject matter to do a film about, but it was pretty much pulled off.

I think the director could of put the brakes on Charlize, just a little. I kept feeling like I was watching someone acting.

Unlike Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry". I never once thought "oh she's acting."