Reviews of Drama »
 As Pretty As A Picture?
Advantages: Some good performances, incredible setting and memorable scenes
Disadvantages: Some poor performances, drags on for a bit too long, a bit gross in places
...epic novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was set to be made into a movie once again. I’d read the book all the way back in Sixth Form and loved it from the author Oscar Wilde’s contemplation of art to the bitter end and how Dorian’s world fell apart around him. I just hoped that the movie would be as dark, brooding and mysterious as the novel itself. For ‘Dorian Gray’ to be as successful - in my eyes - as the novel, the motion picture had to do several ...
...to play the part of Dorian himself. It would have been unrealistic to see someone as mature as Mr. Armitage in the lead role (although one could dream) so Gray would have to be depicted by someone with an effortlessly fresh face. After all, maintaining youth was the story’s primary concern. However, was the latest adaptation of Dorian Gray itself a beautiful piece of cinematography or too grotesque for words?
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO'VE NEVER READ ...
 MizzMolko 20.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average:  exceptional
Review of Dorian Gray (DVD)
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Like a good ITV drama.. entertaining but nothing more.
Advantages: Colin Firth plays it straight with a touch of Terry Thomas
Disadvantages: Little more than a costume drama. Certainly not a 'horror' as advertised
...used in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. The protagonist remains youthful and untouched whilst his misdeeds ravage a portrait instead. The lesson here is chasing sensual pleasures will leave you twisted and ugly, a rather elegant metaphor in my mind. So, it was with passing interest that my girlfriend dragged me to see the latest adaptation of this story. And it’s a satisfying way to pass the time. The PLOTt:
Dorian Gray (played by Ben Barnes) is new ...
...the painting instead. Occasionally Dorian casts an eye or ear upstairs where sinister creaking sounds can now be heard. Does the house now have rats or an altogether more creepy visitor? Meanwhile Basil starts pestering Gray for his picture, he wants to exhibit it. Our hero is stuck in a corner and shows the artist his secret. The portrait has absorbed all of Gray’s excesses and morphed into a monster! Needless to say Hallward is horrified how his ...
runningman77 23.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average:  very helpful
Review of Dorian Gray
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Dorian Gray - No oil painting...
Advantages: Shows darkness of the era, sticks to literature
Disadvantages: Bland, nothing original from previous adaptations
...in 1945's The Picture of Dorian Gray to a mere bit-part in 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Olive Parker's new adaptation of Wilde's 1890s novel lies somewhere in the middle and wins brownie points for remaining relatively faithful to the literature. Like other treatments, alas, it struggles to squeeze gothic thrills from a story that is more about ideas than action and a lead character that is basically just one big metaphor. For those ...
...really care what he gets up to or what becomes of him. That's a pretty big flaw in a movie that requires us to empathise with his plight and spend almost two hours in his company. Another is the portrait itself which leaves the "bad" Dorian looking like Nanny McPhee. ...
 davesmithton 16.11.2009 · Read full review
Review of Dorian Gray (DVD)
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He Who Reads Aloud
Advantages: Broadly faithful to the novel, impressive performances.
Disadvantages: Muddled middle.
The Reader (Der Vorleser) is hardly the first film to be adapted from a best-selling, highly-regarded novel, nor is it especially trailblazing in the leap it makes from its original language into the one in which it graces the screen. What makes the transition challenging, perhaps, is the nature of the story; set in Germany, written by a German, addressing a very German problem, it must have been a daunting project for director Stephen Daldry (Billy ...
...was at the author's insistence that his story was filmed in English - perhaps in an effort to bring out the film's more universal themes, and to broaden its focus. If these were his aims, they are successful, more or less, although in the re-telling of Michael Berg's story, some elusive feeling and atmosphere present in the novel is lost along the way. Michael's story is narrated by his older self (Ralph Fiennes, putting on a vaguely Germanic accent, ...
 Puggers 21.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Reader (DVD)
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King Lear played to perfection!
Advantages: An amazing performance by the magnificent Sir Ian
Disadvantages: It was better on stage...
...play, begins with the old King Lear demanding expressions of love from his three daughters, as he decides how to divide his kingdom up between them. The two elder are already married but both profess to love their father above all else and he duly rewards them each with a third of his kingdom, saving the best portion of it for his last and favorite daughter, Cordelia. She, however, replies in all honesty that she loves her father dearly, but only ...
...must love her future husband at least as much. Lear shows this first sign that all is not well with his mind when he flies into a great rage and banishes his youngest daughter, leaving her nothing. One of her suitors agrees to take her despite this and they flee together to France. As they start to feel their new power and become increasingly worried about the kings senility, the elder daughters start to subtly strip him of his power and status, ...
 trix1212 25.02.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of King Lear (DVD)
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QSC GX3
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