A Beautiful Mind was solely hold
together by Crowe. This movie is what it is because of him. He was the one who
made it good, and to hire anyone else would be foolish. Sure, Ed Harris and
Jennifer Connelly were great but, Russell the one who made this film work. I
don't normally blame a movies success, or unsuccess, on one performance alone;
but in this case there is need to. Denzel Washington robbed Crowe of his
hard-worked and well deserves "Best Actor" Oscar. Denzel was good, except
Training Day doesn't nearly match up to A Beautiful Mind. In my
opinion, Crowe definitely should've taken the title.
This film is what filmmaking is all about.
Ron Howard's idealized visions incorporated with with Nashs' not so ideal life
were the perfect creation, and go along perfectly with the script. Howard made
one of the rare "needle in a haystack" type flicks. Unlike Crowe, he did win
the Oscar for "Best Direction", and I am pleased for this. He was unbelievably
talented in this case.
Jennifer Connelly was great, but not
groundbreaking. She played a solid Alicia Nash. I don't know how she won the
Academy award for "Best Supporting Actress," though. She was deserving, but I
would've either picked Maggie Smith in Gosford Park or Marissa Tomei in
In The Bedroom if I were a member of the Academy. She was good, but not
Oscar deserving. This is not to "diss" or "betray" the best film of 2001, but
rather to pick up on its cons, as well as the pros.
I loved the cinematography in the film,
surprisingly. The way they did the camera was intricately immaculate. The view
of the Princeton campus represents life there well. I felt like right next to
Nash in several scenes. Howard's wonderful perspective painted a very clear
picture in my head of what his life was like back then.
A Beautiful Mind was the best movie of
2001. It fully deserved the "Best Picture" award it won at the Oscars. Russell
Crowe's performance was an astronomical achievement and Ron Howard's direction
speaks for itself. This will adored by fans of the cast and crew, as well as
many others. Nash's story clocks in as one of the most interesting put to film
I've seen in a long time.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews
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