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Reviews
Ghost (1990)
True love transcends time and space
What an ageless movie. It's been 18 long years since the movie's release but even when you watch it now, you know it's a classic. Shot at a time when Patrick Swayze was still riding high on the wave of fame brought about by "Dirty Dancing", this movie serves to prove his critics wrong. Though not considered a great actor in the mold of other "pretty boys" like George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio, Swayze more than holds his own in "Ghost".
It's a movie, first and foremost, about love. Along with it, there are other issues such as betrayal, death, and trust. Sam Wheat was murdered by a thug after watching a theater performance with his longtime girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore), and finds out only in death that his best friend Carl (Tony Goldwyn) was the one who hired the thug to kill him.
It's a powerful message the movie sends- how love can transcend all tangible and intangible barriers, as long as the heart is willing to believe in the one you love. Even as a ghost, Sam does everything he can to try and protect Molly from all dangers.
The film has many touching scenes guaranteed to leave tears flowing freely: when Molly weeps in her grief at home while doing the pottery, and Sam wants so badly to comfort her but she can't see or hear him at all. And nothing will beat the scene when Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) was outside her door, trying to convince Molly to open the door, but Molly refused to believe her. Then Sam uses the power of his mind to move a coin up from the floor to the door and finally into the palm of her hand. The moment was magical.
Great casting, acting, and directing- this film will leave you spellbound long after the credits roll.
Almost perfect. 9/10.
Ensemble, c'est tout (2007)
Actors save the show
Vaguely interesting movie about life, but I felt it was made fascinating only due to the charisma of its two leads, the wonderful Guillaume Canet and the irrepressible Audrey Tautou. Had the leads been given to any other actor with considerable less charm, the movie would have sank. The character's central conflict is not firmly established, and watching the plot develop was equivalent to swimming in an open sea: direction-less. The happy ending was completely expected but heartwarming all the same; I just wished they had brought out the narrative motive more convincingly for me to feel like there was a point to this whole movie. The pacing was also a little too slow, and the nondescript dialog emphasized the lengthy duration of the movie.
On a whole, I felt the director could have done a lot better with the movie by giving it greater focus, faster pacing, wittier dialog- there were quite a few moments in the film between Tautou and Canet's characters that could have done better with wittier dialog.
A must-watch only for the actors' fans.