I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t know if I will. Halle Berry scares me off.
She was just so godawful in Swordfish, delivering those tired cliches line after line. “What’s the world’s greatest hacker doing here?” I dunno, waiting for you to deliver that exposition so the plot can clumsily move along and the characters can be artificially “developed”?
From the previews, it seems like she’s trying too hard, and so are the screenwriters. She’s not Foxy Brown, she ain’t Friday Foster. It seems from the clips I’ve seen as if the writers were trying too hard to make a “strong independant woman” character, and they forgot entirely about clever dialogue and character relationships. Halle Berry’s dialogue always sounds so contrived and forced coming from her.
She seemed very genuine and authentic in her early movies (Last Boy Scout and Boomerang come to mind.) Now she seems to be a phony on screen.
Bottom line: I’d have gone to see this film, knowing what I know about the characters, if Pam Grier had been the co-star. With Halle Berry, I’m turned away. Am I right, or has she improved to the point where she can pull this role off?
The thing I don’t understand is that I thought the Bond girl as equal of Bond thing was done in Tomorrow Never Dies with Michelle Yeoh, yet all the press is saying that Berry’s the first. What gives?
At any rate, I’m giving this one a miss till video. The thought of Brosnan sleeping with a girl my age just creeps me out too much.
I too, do not plan on seeing this movie because of Halle Berry. This is sad, since she is such great eye candy.
But she’s the most overrated actress in Hollywood. She won an Oscar on looks, not on talent. Go ahead and give her Homecoming Queen, but Best Actress? Please. Who’s next, Drew Barrymore?
They started saying the Bond girls would now be tough, independent, feisty, etc. back with Barbara Bach as KGB agent Triple X in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, way back in 1977…the actresses and publicists say this with the launch of every movie.
I saw the movie tonight, it was excellent in an IMAX theatre… oh yah Halle was okay too… I think they wanted to show some boobage, her dialoge was alright but I think she had a better role than denise richards did.
Well, based on the cliches, you won’t like her in this. I liked her because she was very pleasing to look at and she was having a lot of fun with the role, but as someone who hasn’t seen Monster’s Ball, it is hard for me to see how she got the Oscar. But the whole thing was cheesy, it’s a Bond movie!
I suggest you see Mpnster’s Ball. It’s a very good movie and Berry does a very good job in it. The only thing is that she’s a bit too beautiful to be believable for the part, but her acting is flawless.
Why is it that whenever someone is very good looking, people never see past that, but chime in, with envious tone of voice, that they’re reaaly bad at acting/playing music/writing… whatever.
It’s a Bond flick, fer crying out loud! Acting is not part of it.
Please. Berry is not “flawless” in Monster’s Ball. (OK, physically she is…) Her acting isn’t much to write home about, and it never has been. I am not an actor, and have no envy when it comes to Halle. But I do have a love for movies, and I’m sorry, I would not have voted her for “Best Actress”. Black actresses have given fine, Oscar winning performances over the years (if you want to see two, rent The Color Purple, with Whoopi and Oprah). Halle’s isn’t one of them.
Monster’s Ball has many flaws. It’s “politically correct” story is heartwarming, but as you rightly pointed out, Halle is too beautiful for the role. I think old Billy Bob wouldn’t have been welcoming her with open arms if she looked like Whoopi, Oprah, or Star Jones. Being beautiful is not Halle’s fault, but it also shouldn’t be used as a crutch to justify an Academy Award.
Last year’s Oscars were an embarrassment. I don’t know how anyone could watch the show and not think that the Academy was just taking care of all of their sins in one night. Sidney Poiter winning the lifetime achievement (deserved), Denzel for Best Actor, and Halle for Best Actress. There have been many fine performances by black actors and actresses over the decades of the movie industry, but these two didn’t pass the smell test. Even Denzel admitted that he didn’t think Training Day was his best work.
Apologies for the hijack. To your point, it IS a Bond movie. And Halle is there for the eye-candy factor, NOT for her acting skills.
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I didn’t like The Color Purple, basically because I think Spielberg should stick to directing popcorn movies. Whenever he tries to make a movie about a more serious subject, he fails miserably. I also hated Amistad and Schindler’s List. He’s always overly sentimental and resorts to cheap tricks to create tension. These work well in the popcorn movies, but I hate him for using a fake scare for the shower scene in SL.
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I still think Berry did a very good job in Monster’s Ball, but then, my take on most actors is that the vast majority of them are stupid sheep. Given a good script and directing, someone like Bruce Willis can shine. With a bad script and/or directing, Robert De Niro will suck. Very few actors today have the ability to rise above the context. Since this is my framework, I think Berry deserved her Oscar.
That’s faint praise at best! “He’s no nuclear scientist, that’s fer sure!”
I haven’t seen the new movie (what is it, again, Never Die Twice Today?) but I would think Halle Berry is just there for the ride. As it were. She’s undeniably hot, she’s got cred now for her Oscar (even though it was really Gwyneth Paltrow who first opened the door for black actresses) and you get to see lots of stuff blow up.
Repeat one more time: it’s a Bond movie. Those haven’t been made or broken by the “Bond girl” since Goldfinger. I got all excited when I heard that my future wife Michelle Yeoh was going to be in one (Tomorrow Only Happens Once?) and that turned out to be a huge disappointment.
Just got back from seeing the flick. Well, yes, Halle Berry gives a very weak performance. She seems to be simply speaking her lines without thinking about what they mean or what her character would be thinking. I hate to say, but lovely as she is, she doesn`t show any charisma at all.
On the other hand, Judi Densch as M and Pierce Brosnan give a nice, understated tension in their dialogue after Bond has been dropped from MI 6 and has earned having his status returned by working on his own. These two really seem to be meaning what they are saying. And John Cleese delivers a wonderful line after being told he`s cleverer than he looks.*
*Something to the effect that it`s better than looking more clever than you are, a nice comeback to Bond.
Gwyenth’s secret: “You’d never know it from my movies, but I haven’t taken a bath in seven years. I smell like an old Dumpster. Take it or leave it, boys.”
Halle was not even good eye candy. The only time I thought she looked good was when she was in the tank top. Enright3 her best line was “Read this, bitch”
