Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

nicholls_les I really liked this mini series and was never bored with it.Considering how long it was that was some feat. I see many on here have criticised the casting of certain characters and I can agree with much of what has been said, however for me it didn't detract from the over all enjoyment. It contained all the right emotions and I thought(casting aside) most of the acting was of a very high standard. The mix of European stars some more stars than others lifted the acting standard and it all worked really well. The scenery and sets were also truly breathtaking.So over all a good series that reflected the spirit of the book.

mahatma-kumar16 It is difficult for an Indian to write a laudable review for this grandiose series after so many ethnic Russians have written brutally critical ones. Still I will try. I have watched both Bondarchuk's Soviet production of 1960s and this particular one. Let me put it like this. The Soviets (who tried hard to reproduce the aristocratic milieu of the Russian Empire of early 19 century) did their best and failed. May be it can be explained that under Lenin and Stalin they managed to execute all real Russian aristocrats - so there were no nobles left to tell them how the high life folks really behaved. I hear the only expert from "old" Russia they could unearth was the widow of the executed tsarist admiral Kolchak (even she was condemned to some 18 years in various GULAG camps). In this series the motley crew of European star actors and gifted Russian extras surprisingly create a very sophisticated and warm world of Russian nobility which is quite believable for a fan of classic Russian culture like me. Two grades are off due to poorly staged battle scenes and outlandish Russian hussars's braids (unlike the Mongols their elite cavalry never wore braids, especially in the 19 century).

JakeGuzik Sometimes I wonder how it is possible that movies like these (free of any inspiration) find a producer. Either do it for real or just leave it. But please stop serving these half baked cookies with far too much icing. To me the movie looks almost like a persiflage. The directing is a clear disgrace of the book. Obviously the director had no idea how to handle this fantastic story. The cast acts like they all have swallowed sticks. The living dead upper class in 19th century Russia - awful. Somewhere in between there is some Army stuff but it is neither close to anything like Austerlitz or Borodino. Tolstoi has deserved something else then a cheap costume soap Opera. And the people who watch it have deserved better too....an absolute waste of time!

msbsegal I just saw the first part and I agree with the other commentator, it is very disappointing. He mentions the Audrey Hepburn version. I would like to mention that as French was the language of the Russian aristocracy, 2/3 of the book was written in French with Russian translation added in the footnotes, funny I think... Therefore, I would like to praise again the Bondartchouk version, I would say it is the ultimate version and nothing can come even close to it: for me, who read the book in the original Russian, this is the true interpretation of what Tolstoy would have wanted. And you ask why ? Because Sergey Bondartchouk followed the book line after line, and included all the most minute details. It was thoroughly researched and everything was absolutely perfect, the dresses, the carriages, the furniture, the sets, etc. If you have not seen, do try to get it, it is a great work of art.In this mini series, most of the details are wrong, but the worst mistake is in the cast : here, Sonia is brunette and Natasha is blonde, in the book it is the reverse, this point is essential. A blonde Natasha is unheard of. I would like to refer your readers to the good old book : Ivanhoe. At one point, Sir Walter Scott, through De Bois Guilbert, makes a comparison between blonde women and brunettes, and he says that women with dark hair have more zest, are more lively, have some inner fire, it is not a sic quotation but I remembered this remark because I thought it was quite to the point. So Natasha, who is the pinnacle of life, if not life itself, cannot be a bland pale blonde, not that I would hurt blonds, but this Natasha lacks some sparks, some shine in her eyes. The rest of course is not important anymore.Sorry, it is not up to par.N.B.: I feel I must add a few lines to explain that the point I have made at Natasha being a blonde instead of a brunette as expressly required by Tolstoy, is not a futile headstrong idea of mine but is quite well based : In Tolstoy's masterpiece, the young Countess Natasha is the epitome of absolute purity and youth, kindness, truthfulness,loyalty to friends, she is like a breath of fresh spring air, so he makes her a blue-eyed brunette. Her blond cousin Sonia is about her age, but she is more of a blur, and though she has many good qualities,she lacks this sparkle spring-like personality which is exemplified by Natasha.At the end of the spectrum, the utmost evil woman is, as required by the author, the EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL BLOND Helene Kuragin, whose family is ruined and poor as a mice, and who manages to grasp the Count Bezukhov, not for love, or so she plays it, but of course for his immense fortune, which should help save hers. She is a real bi---, she is nasty, even before the marriage she gets a lover and gets her naive husband "des cornes" so big that the horns of a full grown-up male deer should seem small compared to what she makes her husband wear. But as there is Justice, she dies of her own infidelities....In any case, if you have this evil Helen as a blond, how can you visualize a blond Natasha as being in a completely different category ? If the Director etc would have given to their Natasha blue lens and a brown or black wig, they might have done the trick, but they did not ask me, did they !!!!! So now I hope IDMB readers will fully understand my point of view.