by Jeb Boyle

Jan 25, 2000

Great expectations is a pretty boring movie, however there are a few good reasons to rent it when it comes out on video:
1.In the movie, the main character is an artist, not a scholar, and the artwork used in the movie is original and very nice to look at. I found myself waiting for the poor story adaptation scenes to pass as quickly as possible so I could check out the next painting as it flashed on the screen.
2.You get to see Gwynneth Paltrow's butt.
3.The mansion where Dinsmore lives is cool.
4.Anne Bancroft is awesome.
5.If you are a Robert DeNiro fan, as I am, and you've wondered if he ever did any lousy movies where even his presence couldn't save the film and it wouldn't matter anyways because he doesn't even have an interesting part, you can go check this movie out.

Reasons not to see this movie:
1.Ethan Hawke is about as interesting as burned french fries.
2.The story is left with so many holes that you could...well...there were lots of holes.
3.They changed the main character's name to Fin. Maybe Dickens' name wasn't GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEM. Obviously the makers of this movie know a lot better than Charles Dickens how to name the characters in his stories.
4.It's just not very good.

 

by Lacey Southerland

Jan 25, 2000

Great Expectations is a brilliant and profound movie. I consider it a masterpiece of art. However, having seen this move with several others who were disappointed and/or confused by it, I realized that unfortunately, many would miss the meanings I interpreted from it. Great Expectations is an artist's movie, not because the main character is an artist himself. But because to really understand it, one has to be able to transcend the humanness of the characters and discover what they represent to life as we have made it. It dawned on me that to realize the quality and depth of this movie, one could have director Alphonso Cuaron personally explain his 1998 interpretation. Or, one could take in the film as if one were looking at a painting. For inside this painting, there lies hidden themes of the painter's mind. I found so much underlying meaning in the scenes that I'm not sure if I am interpreting the movie further than the writers and directors intended. But that is the thing about art, what one finds in art is a reflecton of one's own soul. To those who are planning to see Great Expectations, I hope you receive from it as much as capable. Or else, just enjoy the beautiful cinematography.

 

by Rick Gagliano

Jan 25, 2000

First of all...I kinda liked it! Now I didn't go into this film having great expectations, I went because the Doc said it might be good. Being the literary intellectual that I am (when I was younger I used to read the Classic Comic Book series), I knew I had heard of this title before. So I went to the film thinking I was going to see an epic of sorts and instead I find myself watching a unique modern day story. Now how the dickens was I to know that they took the old story and put it in today's times (I noticed they did this with the recent Romeo & Juliet movie too, it just took me an hour to realize it first...just kidding). Hawke is great as an up and coming painter, and Paltrow is believable as his emotionally scarred and deceptive sometimes lover. Bancroft is totally weird (and weird looking) in this film, but her character adds something to this film....she is kinda like the female Freddy from Elm Street. Robert DeNiro must be on his cameo appearance kicks lately, because he pops up in the beginning of this film and you are left wondering why? Basic story line...the story follows these characters for about twenty years of their lives and they all become the focus of Hawke's paintings. Bottom line...if you want to see a decent film, take a chance and go see this one.

 

by George Jobson

Sep 28, 2003

"Great Expections" is an update of the Charles Dickins novel about love found, lost and found again. An wonderful movie which the filmmakers are loyal to the book. The cast including Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert DeNero made the film believable. I found the movie pretty interesting.