Hey folks, Harry here... Seems that tonight up in New York they had a test screening for A BEAUTIFUL MIND, the Ron Howard / Russell Crowe flick that many have been hoping was another solid film for Russell Crowe. Well... seems his streak is intact. There are some spoilers in these reviews, so if I may... it seems that all three reviewers feel that this is a high Oscar calibre film, that Russell Crowe is amazing, that Paul Bettany was extraordinary and that Jennifer Connelly was great as well. All three complement Ron Howard for moving into a brave new psychological direction that he's never really mastered before. I'll be adding reviews to this posting as they come in. But it looks like this is going to be one of the winners of the Fall!!!! BEWARE OF SPOILERS...
Harry,
Just wanted to chime in with a quick comment on this evening's NY screening of Ron Howard's equisite new film "A Beautiful Mind." The director himself was present and it was an honor to shake his hand.
Since the studio gent asked the audience to respect the artist's work and post critiques, I will, to a certain degree, respect those wishes. But as the film itself is just so damn good, I'd like to, at least, set some positive buzz in motion.
Acting, direction, and script are all at their best here. Crowe and newcomer Charles Bethany (A Kinght's Tale) cement themselves as respectively brillant talents, and Ron Howard endevours into semi-new territory, only broadening an already broad range.
I don't want to go into plot details -- save for the film being about the life of award-winning mathematician Johnathan Nash -- suffice to say that knowing as little as possible is the best approach to viewing this movie. There is grave potential here for the marketing to ruin far too much of the story. To let it unfold is a marvelous thing, and Howard and Crowe operate with such poise and grace that the film opens like a flower, more attractive with each passing moment, blending realities and blurring lines to surprisingly believeable degrees. The film's ability to keep the audience--and myself, a film student--truly in suspence as to how this story will unfurl is highly admirable.
Needless to say, the film is still in the very early stages and can only be polished further, but I believe that it's something to say that if they chose to release the cut as is, I would still embrace it with as much enthusiasm. The film is moving, insightful, informative, and all around excellent. As of now, I'm hard pressed to name a possible contender on the Oscar horizon,
I tip my hat to all involved.
Just call me The Professional Appreciator.
And now for our 2nd look...
Harry,
First off thanks for your site I love it and read it daily. However, I have decided to become the cliche "Long time listener, first time caller" because I had the privledge to see a very rough cut of A Beutiful Mind, evidently the the first screening of it.
Ron Howard was there and we all filled out questionaires as usual. While they asked me not to write anything about I feel that I should drop you a line. Despite the films' low quality, lack of score, and odd pacing and awkward editing at times ... I would still go and see this movie many more times in it's present state. Ron Howard has a great film on his hands and Russell Crowe gives a preformance worthy of the Oscar on his mantle (even though what he won it for may not have been). Ed Harris and Jennifer Connely give solid preformances but by far the best after Crowe is Charles Bethany as his best friend. This movie is by far the best movie I have seen this year.
The only fear I have is the Marketing team at Universal and Dreamworks may ruin the film because of the surprise that is revealed to people who may not know the entire story of Dr. Nash. I hope that the rest of the world has the opportunity to see this film without knowing the entire plot from the marketing. Knowing cause you want to is one thing, but hopefully people can be surprised if they want to. I hope that the surprise is kept for most even though it happens so early in the film.
Overall Ron Howard amazed me today and it takes a lot to do that. Last time anyone did that Fincher gave me Fight Club. The film is not perfect by any means. But lets just say the lady next to me was handing out tissues and I took one. I speculate that this one will definatly be up a few times come Oscar season and I hope that Bethany gets a nod, he tied the film together rather well. If this sneak peek shows me what is store for us this fall it *might* make up for this summer (of course nothing could up for Jeepers Creepers). We'll see but I have to speculate that you'll be hearing a lot about this movie.
Your first time caller,
The Speculator Pro
And now for Noodles to chime in....
Review of "A Beautiful Mind"
This review will be spoiler free, and while there will be things that I do not mention about the film, that does not mean I did not understand it, it just means I will not ruin it for you!
Just a word of forewarning, Russell Crowe, who for probably the rest of his career will be remembered as Maximus, can in fact act. The man does do some fine acting in "A Beautiful Mind", the new drama from Ron Howard. In this film, Crowe does not wear sandals or armor, wields no swords and does not kill anyone in an arena.
Crowe plays John Nash, a brilliant mathematician, who excels in solving problems. He longs for recognition, and is by all meanings of the word anti-social. He has no friends, he prefers his own company, is very competitive, he dreams of creating something original, and is a disaster with the ladies, he finds that he cannot b.s. with them, and goes for a more direct approach which ends up with him getting slapped often. Crowe plays this part well, although it is hard for an audience to see him play, well, basically, a nerd. He pulls it off though, not going overboard on cliches but keeping a good hold on things while fleshing out this character who really is supposed to be a loser by all accounts, although how many "nerds" are that buff??? Crowe really turns it on in the middle part of the film, in which he is given a job working for the Department of Defense as a code cracker. It is while here that Nash, or rather the people in his life, begin to realize he is suffering from schizophrenia.
Here is where the supporting roles of his wife, Alicia, played by Jennifer Connolly, his friend, Charles, played by Mark Addy, and his boss, Parcher, played by Ed Harris, come into play. Each is particuarly strong, Alicia is strong, yet scared at the downward spiral she sees her husband going down. Charles is a delight, bringing some comic relief to an otherwise dour subject matter, (although that is not a criticism) and Ed Harris is down right startling as a very suspicious, and hyper "job-before-everything-else" covert operations man.
But it is Crowe who commands attention, as the audience is led along his tortured path, as others first, then him slowly come to see that he is creating elaborate delussions and potentially harming himself and others. He is taken to a mental hospital, and undergoes electro shock therapy, then released. The final third of the movie is the best, as it details his release from the institution, tracks his relapse and, well, look him up in an encyclopedia and you can figure out how it ends.
Bottom line, Crowe is dynamite, he pulls off the aging process thing well, which is definitely not an easy thing to do, and the supporting cast is wisely cast and delivers to all expectations.
Expect this film to garner serious buzz when released, for Crowe, for Ron Howard, for the screenplay, and for Ed Harris.
More later,
Noodles
