ANGELINA JOLIE - MOVIE REVIEWS CHANGELING

MOVIE REVIEWS CHANGELING

Clint Eastwood's Changeling received mostly solid reviews for the director and for Angelina Jolie, its star, when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last May. They do not fare so well with the U.S. critics as the film opens in wide release today (Friday) following a limited release a week ago. A.O. Scott in the New York Times calls it "this baggy, grandiose movie," and says that Jolie's acting "insists on being regarded as a great performance and may, indeed, be mistaken for one." Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News says of Jolie's performance "Instead of seeing an average woman facing extraordinary circumstances, we're asked to admire an extraordinary woman - an international superstar - pretending to be average. This ultimately makes the movie more about the actress than the woman she's playing."  The movie is being released as Oscar season dawns -- something that several critics take note of in their reviews. Writing in the Washington Post , John Anderson comments, "Jolie gets to do all the messy scenes that Oscar voters suck up like oysters at a free buffet." Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel concludes "That it isn't the emotional, surprising and engrossing Oscar contender Eastwood set out to make is one of the bigger disappointments of the fall." On the other hand, Lou Lumenick in the New York Post writes that "Jolie is in Oscar-caliber form" in the movie, which he describes as "beautifully crafted" by Eastwood. And Mick LaSalle applauds in the San Francisco Chronicle ; " Changeling is a disturbing film about grim subject matter, but the overall experience is more exhilarating than saddening. There's just something satisfying about seeing a movie so well made."

31/10/2008