Nov 21, 2019 Quills is a movie starring Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, and Joaquin Phoenix. In a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.
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SynopsisAfter a brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn to the nightmarish.Biopic of the famed mathematician John Nash and his lifelong struggles with his mental health. Nash enrolled as a graduate student at Princeton in 1948 and almost immediately stood out as an odd duck. He devoted himself to finding something unique, a mathematical theorem that would be completely original. He kept to himself for the most part and while he went out for drinks with other students, he spends a lot of time with his roommate, Charles, who eventually becomes his best friend. John is soon a professor at MIT where he meets and eventually married a graduate student, Alicia. Over time however John begins to lose his grip on reality, eventually being institutionalized diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the depths of his imaginary world are revealed, Nash withdraws from society and it's not until the 1970s that he makes his first foray back into the world of academics, gradually returning to research and teaching.
In 1994, John Nash was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics.Downloaded 172912 times 9/2/2012 1:21:18 AM. Reviewed by Boyo-2 10I think its a good idea to know as little as possible about this movie before seeing it. Now that I've seen it, the commercials on television seem to be giving away too much. With that in mind DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!Its a hard movie to pinpoint. Its not like any other movie I've ever seen, in that a character exists that is not real.
John Nash's mind is the reality of the movie and its not until the movie is half over that you realize this and its jarring that you've been taken on a ride with this man's illness, and accepted it as the real world. Its also a very heartbreaking thing.From the middle point, John and you see the world differently because he starts to receive treatment.Russell Crowe does not overdo it for a minute and turns in his customary brilliant performance.
Would not surprise me at all if he were to win his second Best Actor Oscar in March 2002. He really is that good.Just as good but with less screen time is the beautiful and beautifully talent Jennifer Connelly, who the world may finally get to see in a mainstream movie. Her chemistry with Crowe is vital to the movie and neither of them disappoint the audience at all in that respect.I enjoyed it immensely and felt like I had seen a movie when it was over. I was shown a person at their best and the worse and everything in between, by a masterful actor at the top of his game.I am sure Ron Howard deserves a lot of credit that he won't get, too. Reviewed by Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) 9A Beautiful MindDirector Ron Howard has experience in playing with his audience's heartstrings. Remember in Apollo 13, when the fate of the astronauts was uncertain?
(Ok, so if you remember your recent history, you knew. But still!) Or remember in Parenthood, when Steve Martin's kid was about to make the crucial catch?
Ol Opie can still pluck those strings with the best of them. (And you know, he'll never stop being called Opie, even by those of us who never saw The Andy Griffith Show during its initial run.) And plucking heartstrings is not a bad thing at all, not when you can do it in such a sincere, noncloying way as the masterful Beautiful Mind presents to its viewers.John Nash is a mathematics prodigy who has a decided knack at solving previously unsolvable problems. He's socially dysfunctional, rarely looking anyone in the eye, but pours all of his energy - and soul - into producing one original idea, an idea that will distinguish him from all of the other mathemathical minds at Princeton University.But John, like most who have had movies made about them, had his ups and downs.
He meets and falls for a beautiful student of his named Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), and they produce a baby. But John also suffers from tremendous delusions and is diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia's a tough disease, folks - it's still not fully understood, and Nash was diagnosed with it in the middle of last century. He spends time in a sanitarium, as doctors struggle to find a cure.Russell Crowe is absolutely powerful as the confused and confusing Nash.
Although the marquee says 'Russell Crowe', you'll immediately forget this is the hunky guy from Gladiator. I mean after all, he's playing some nerdy scientist dude!
But Crowe completely disappears in the role, and he's unforgettable. Actors kill for roles like this one, because it gives them a chance to show off their acting chops. For many actors, this is the kiss of death, because then they're exposed as poor thespians.
But not for Crowe; if anything, this proves once and for all that he's a grand master of acting. I realize that sounds like overkill for him, but I think that when actors are labeled as a 'hunk' - their skills as actors aren't seen as very substantial. Hey, looking darn good worked against Tom Selleck, and to a degree it has worked against Crowe as well.And he ages well, too.
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The movie takes place over a fairly extended period of time, ending with Nash's acceptance of the Nobel Prize in 1994. The makeup on Nash is neither garish nor schmaltzy; he looks completely genuine. And that's the essence of Crowe's performance. It's sincere, never trying to win over the audience with a sly wink here or a toss of the hair there. Crowe shows remarkable poise, elegance, and is utterly astounding in the role.His supporting cast is more than able. Jennifer Connelly is better than I thought she would be; in most roles, she's the eye candy.
But this role had meat to it, and she held her own. It wasn't an easy role to play, and she pulled it off.
And her scenes with Crowe do have that movie magic that each of us looks for when we go to movies, that one moment, that compatible chemistry that leaves audiences mesmerized.And yes, this does have some very, very touching moments. The final scene, while predictable (even if you don't know the outcome in real life), will bring more than one tear to the eye.
Yes, I'll admit it, it got me right here. But it's okay; I did that old 'guy-crying-in-movie-theater' trick. If you feel the brime falling from the lid, you make a motion toward your cheek and then you scratch vigorously; people might think you have a skin infection and move away slowly, but at least they won't think you're a girly man.At any rate, it's certainly one of the best movies of the year. Everything's in place: the direction, the photography, and especially the acting. Reviewed by jonwoolfrey 10I went along to the movies not really wanting to see this movie, thinking it was a 'girly' movie, one which had more technical skill rather than a storyline. I was surprised more than anything I could imagine.
I have seen a lot of movies in my time, but this movie just took me by storm. Its uniqueness, ironically enough because it was based on a real life situation was a refreshing change from the usual Hollywood blockbuster.
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This movie provided a brilliant (pardon the pun) insight into many aspects of a genius at work. This movie touched me on many levels. The psychology of the movie was intriguing, the mathematical philosophies was actually realistic from my own experience, and the icing on the cake making the movie stand out was surprisingly the humanistic side of Love.
While love is a common basis in most movies, the interaction of this theme with other aspects of the plot was planned phenomenlly. As for the cast, I have never noticed the actual difference in skill between many actors/actresses before. I like Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise etc, but I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a classic actor's performance.
But Russell Crowe in this film showed me what it was like to act in a way where I was in awe of his skill in playing this character, especially when considering the extreme difference from characters in his other movies such as the Gladiator and The Insider. Russell Crowe was one of the big reasons this movie was so brilliant. Added to that the stellar performances of Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Adam Goldberg, and this made for the 'perfect' movie. A Beautiful Mind was by far the most original, intelligent and entertaining movie I have ever seen. And this from a movie I didn't expect big things from. Kudos to Ron Howard, the cast and the crew of this movie.
It was truly worthy of the Oscar, and Russell Crowe was definately the most deserving of this production team to miss out on the highest accolade. Perhaps politics played a bigger part than I previously would have thought.
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