7.2? Hello, this movie is sick!!!
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CheeryToes — 16 years ago(February 23, 2010 08:06 PM)
Robert Downey, Jr. is one of the most brilliant actors of my time. That's my humble opinion. He may be screwed up personally, have all kinds of problems, he might even be a raging moron - but when the lights come on, he's sublime and I believe him in everything I've seen him in.
"I jumped off a roof for you" -
mad_roke — 14 years ago(December 05, 2011 04:18 AM)
Stuff like Avatar are masterpieces of their own. They revolutionized the whole CGI.. but the story is just Poccahonthas in space. Why Chaplin is voted that low, considering many other great films, is a riddle to me.
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Kidrah — 15 years ago(April 16, 2010 02:14 PM)
I have to agree that 7.2 is quite low. This is one of the rare movies i would give a perfect 10. It captures the Chaplin era, beautifully. And Downey is one guy who commands your attention when on screen. You just cant take your eyes off him.
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JoeytheBrit — 15 years ago(July 17, 2010 03:07 PM)
It might be because, although it's a well-made film with a career-best performance from Robert Downey Jr, it does have flaws. The framing device, in which Chaplin chats to his biographer (or publisher) played by Anthony Hopkins, is clumsy and filled with unwieldy chunks of exposition. But the film's biggest failing is that it gives a fairly unbalanced view of the man, portraying him in an almost saintly light. There's no mention of the shooting of Thomas Ince (it was believed Ince was mistakenly shot by William Randolph Hearst, who had allegedly discovered Chaplin was conducting an affair with Marion Davies); there's no mention of tax avoidance charges totalling $1.3 million in the 1920s; there's no mention of his extra-marital affairs; there's no mention of the ego which drove him to cut most of Buster Keaton's scenes from Limelight because he could see that Keaton's performance overshadowed his own in the scenes they shared; there's no mention of his decision to destroy the unreleased 1926 film A Woman of the Sea to (legitimately) avoid paying taxes on it.
I'm not pointing all this out because I dislike Chaplin, but because I believe any person is defined as much by their flaws and failings as they are by their better qualities. Chaplin was a genius, but he was a flawed genius - something which this film fails to show.
moviemoviesite.comcinema has a history
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fearnotofman — 14 years ago(May 15, 2011 06:48 PM)
He was indeed a flawed genius, but
1.) Your view seems tainted. A Woman of the Sea was by all accounts a bad film that Chaplin never wanted released anyway. Why pay for a piece of junk sitting in the attic? I have to pay taxes on this crap? Then it has to go. If I have an old car sitting in my driveway that will never be driven again, I'll get rid of it instead of paying insurance on it every month. There is also no evidence of Chaplin cutting Keaton's scenes in Limelight. His widow said Keaton loved his appearance in the film and apparently Keaton was even given some flexibility to adlib, which is something Chaplin rarely allowed his actors to do.
2.) The film is already 2 1/2 hours long. Something had to be cut. I would also argue against Chaplin made to be a saintly figure. While he is portrayed overall in a positive light, his ephebophilia and his failures in relationships (largely his own fault) is clearly shown and talked about, for example. -
Gus-69 — 15 years ago(March 03, 2011 06:52 AM)
7.3 is too high, if you ask me. This morose and old-fashioned biopic got a 6 from me.