bestactress-1

They will lose you in the opening scene. Ryan Gosling is supposed to be in prison, major make up department fail, he looks like he just walked off a runway, perfect hair and everything, minutes later he's all dressed up and looks the same, just as good, no contrast. The editing gave me major vertigo, you get a cut every 3 seconds. I'm a fan of Gosling and of his work, he's usually fantastic, but Gosling and Billy Bob Thornton have no chemistry whatsoever. They're like the same actor, their acting styles are way too similar to be in the same movie together, you need a Tommy Lee Jones or a more flamboyant actor opposite a guy like Ryan Gosling. Too much lipstick on the teenage girl, major distraction, make- up department messed that up. They spent a lot of money on this movie, feels like they wasted it. I'm having a hard time finishing it. Life is too short to waste on this one.

I was on Djimon Hansou's instagram, and on one of his post, one of his fans posted about the film and I rented it on Amazon once I realized Joh Voight was also in it. I started immediately fantasizing about epic scenes between Voight and Hansou but I got deep into it before Jon Voight ever showed up on the screen. Djimon is electric, more movies with him in them please Hollywood. I'm not too sold on his Southern accent though, but if you've never seen him in anything before, it won't bother you that much. The story is great, made me wanna do better in life, inspired me, reminded me of my childhood, my mom made me do stuff like that and I'm so glad I'm watching this film.

This film speaks to the genius of Al Pacino. Where an ordinary actor, or in his case film icon, would dictate his life story to a writer or simply write a book, in staying true to his magnitude as an actor and being the true artist that he is, he decides to sum up parts of his life, make into a film with extreme highs and lows obviously. Yes, it is an adaptation of a novel, but adapted into a script that Pacino can speak through and put his stamp on. Am I talking out of thin air? No! I was fortunate enough to see a screening of it where Al Pacino spoke afterwards, and he himself said it was somewhat autobiographical, and that's the way I felt when I was watching the film, and that it took about a year to write the script, or adapt it into the film, so it was wonderful to hear him confirm that "autobiographical part". I think he may continue to make films like this for a while, that he can speak about his own life through, his true fans will appreciate it, and it will be a part of his legacy as an actor. Good for him!

It's brilliantly funny, and it's for the intellectual palate, it's not your typical Hollywood comedy with silly fart jokes, this is humor with sophistication, humor that actually titillates your brain. It's also low budget, don't expect explosions and cgi, this is an actor's film. For people who love good acting and an intricate story. His acting in it is superb, this is my personal favorite performance of his. You get a window into his intellect, his personal thoughts on acting all through this character. At the end you come out knowing this man is only interested in one thing, the truth in his work, and being truthful in it. When the film opened, I said to myself "oh, this is similar to Birman," (which I thought was just okay) but as it progressed, I realized there was no comparisons and all of the accolades that film got, The Humbling deserved and I personally loved it. They're similar except this is a million times better, you actually get what it's about and it's not abstract for the sake of being abstract with fancy camera tricks to distract you from a fragmented story. Yes there are so many partisan reviews promoting self-interest and bashing good films that deserve a chance. I urge everyone who loves Pacino or has loved any film he's been in prior to see this film.