Angels in America
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Movie Reviews of Angels in America
Movie Review: Five stars are not enough.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Angels in America" is not merely a great play, like "Our Town," "Death of a Salesman," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" it is one of the defining dramas of the American theatre - an absulte masterpiece - with a title now immediately recognised internationally by the common man.
This screen adaptation by Tony Kushner and Mike Nichols is an incredible achievement. Having read the play, and having seen it on stage, I was still unprepared for this epic production. I started crying during the first scenes. Streep's speech at the funeral - the eulogy - was so emotional I couldn't hold back my tears. It sounds so silly to say that Meryl Streep and Al Pacino are masterful, they're legends after all. Still, their work here reminds everyone of their status and why they are so deservedly praised and heaped with so many accolades. The rest of cast is outstanding. Mary Louise Parker and Jeffrey Wright won both the Emmy Award and Golden Globes (as did Streep and Pacino) and are staggeringly good, as are Ben Shankman, Patrick Wilson and Emma Thompson.
Kushner's writing is simply brilliant. Nichols direction is inspired (how could it not be?). Every single production element is award caliber. Thomas Newman deserves special praise for his haunting musical score. Words like landmark and masterpiece seems inadeqaute.I've never seen anything like this - and probably never will again in my lifetime.
Movie Review: Magnificent
Summary: 5 Stars
I just watched this on DVD, and all I can say is "Bravo." Amazing that something this superb actually appeared on TV first. The acting was incredible and the story imaginiative and compelling. I am a straight white woman (jsut for the record, as I noticed some reviewers think that only gay men will be interested in this)and having worked in healthcare during the 80s, this is right on target. And for those who think this is uncalled for Republican bashing, well, in 1985, 25,000 people had already died of AIDS and the Reagan administration was trying to pretend that it didn't exist. In fact, it was over five years after the first published reports of AIDS appeared, that Reagan actually made a public statement about it. By the time the govt really acted, AIDS had spread into far and wide, way beyond the gay community. But because in the early days, it was restricted to gay men and IV drug users, the conservatives Republicans in power looked at AIDS as a "moral" issue. So now, is there any reason to wonder why there was so much Republican bashing in this movie? You have to look at things in their historical context.
This is one of the best productions I have ever seen. When I think of all the people that died, because of our government's inaction, it does make me ill. You can catch glimpses of that in this movie, as to how AZT, the only AIDS drug available at the time, could only be gotten by the privileged few.
Movie Review: From stage to film other worldly
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a rare thing indeed when a play in this day and age with this kind of subject matter that did very well on the stage can be captured so ethereally by the camera. This film not only tugs at your heart but it opens it as well by inviting you into this world and holding your hand through it, leading you to the other side. Questions are asked and like in everyday life there are no clear cut answers. But the questions are provocative and the answers we do get are enlightening, and they lead to other questions. Sometimes in life the destination isn't the goal, but the journey to get there. All we really know how to do is survive because that's all we can do and sometimes that's enough.This film is also poinant because right now in 2004 there are people out there who think AIDS and the devastating effects it has on people is over because a few drug companies have come up with something that works for some (not all). Angels in America brings it back down to the human level of suffering, while at the same time asking us exalted questions not only about faith and destiny put the level of that faith, and our understanding of our destiny.
Who we are isn't dictated to us by the level of our adversity, but by how we address it. With what dignity we come to the table and confront our fears, our anger and our pain. One can only be defeated if one refuses to get back up again.
Movie Review: Stunning
Summary: 5 Stars
I honestly didn't know if I wanted to see the quintessential AIDS movie. It seems that so much of the already-scant gay movie/theater aresenal from the 90's focused relentlessly on AIDS and its impact on the community. I needed to grow up.
In the gay community, there are many different forms of 'haves' and 'have-nots' but none more palpable than those living with or without AIDS in their lives. This absolutely beautiful series did what so many others have failed to do - put AIDS into context with so many other things that people have to deal with in life. Denial, deception, religion, politics, love and, most importantly, forgiveness.
For those who see things through just one lens, you could easily classify this epic tale as one -just- about any one of these topics, but as a whole it is so much more. Through absolutely brilliant acting, direction and the creativity of Kushner's work, this tale comes to life as one, ultimately, of hope.
As a gay man who has survived the 90's and seen so many lost, I suppose I'm predisposed to embrace such a beautiful work, but it's my hope that many others who have little or no direct knowledge of this epidemic will embrace it with open arms and, if nothing else, see the beauty in artistic form that was borne of such a despondent time in the lives of so many.
Movie Review: A Masterpiece of an Adaption to Kushner's Play
Summary: 5 Stars
I did not have high hopes when HBO announced that they were adapting Tony Kushner's play, Angels In America, into a cable movie. After watching the 6 hour long movie, I was stunned by the brilliance of Mike Nichols' directorial adaptation to capture a Broadway play and put it on to the big screen. Teaming up with Nichols, Kushner had to re-write several scenes in order to make the play work into the movie. But both men did a phenomenal job of capturing the essence of a stage play and putting it in movie format so that the viewing audience understood the meaning of Kushner's words, the emotions that stem from the words said, and the vision of what the actors were trying to portray. A movie and play like Angels in America is made to make an audience think about life, stimulate the mind, and to understand what it is like to be in society, for some, a society that is not often seen but only read about through obituaries. This movie should be in everyone's DVD collection, if not for the story itself, but consider the way the movie was produced. Not many directors can capture a play's essence and put it on a television or movie venue. Nichols is able to capture all of it, the essence, the words, the guttural reactions, and the time period. This is one movie you cannot miss.