monster

[Basstrap]

I was skeptical going into this movie...I thought it was a novelty thing seeing theron like that....but man was I wrong!!!

I actually forgot it was her...for most of the movie my brain just told me this was some indie actress

it is a heartbreaking story...and charlize and christina do a 100% perfect job

 

[HelloAngel]

I wasn't able to enjoy the movie because I felt that the director attempted to make Aileen sympathetic. It's one thing to kill in self-defense someone who has just brutally raped you, it's another thing to kill 7 other people who didn't. As the killings in the movie happened near where I live, it's hard for me to sympathize with the killer getting so much media attention, versus sympathize with families who no longer have their loved one hearing that the killer was just "misunderstood" by the director, lead actress and composer.

Another interesting tidbit is that Christina Ricci's character didn't exist in real life. She was an amalgam of a couple women Aileen had gotten involved with.

As for Charlize's 'powerhouse' acting, yes, I agree, she did a great job. But alot of it was her ugliness and a wide-eyed jitteryness that pervaded the role.

 

[Basstrap]

I very strongly disagree...the acting had a lot more to do with it than that. It was her speech, her movements...everything

and making her sympathetic is exactly what appealed to me. Every human being is at some level sympathetic, sometimes we admit when we feel it and other times we don't. This movie is made uncomfortable because we are made to feel kinda sorry for a serial killer.
I say kinda because at the end of the movie I was not torn up by her being arrested. I found it emotional because here is a women who has been hooking since 13, family threw her out, never had a chance. Someone who found something to hang onto at the last minute and discovered that 'true love' doesn't conquer all.

Who are we to say that she wasn't thinking these things?
Why is it we force ourselves to believe she has to be some kind of demon woman always thinking about her next murder?

There was no sympathy elicited when she shot the innocent family man at the end. We knew that was horribly fucked up and wrong.

Besides, it was the directors aim to make her story a heartbreaking story. She said she had access to letter aileen wrote from prison, that they were very emotional and heartbreaking.

The ending was so sad too...
lists of all the cliches..."Love conquers all" etc...
'well...they gotta tell you something'

 

[HelloAngel]

And also remember, this was a dramatized account "based on a true story." What the director intented to do is make a good, dramatic movie. This was not a documentary. Facts were changed, and situations were created that didn't necessarily happen.

I haven't forced myself to believe that she was a "monster." Nor do I believe the killings were necessarily premeditated. Like I said, it's one thing "in self defense" - it's another thing to keep killing. I have to sympathize with the families on this one. I remember when the story of the killings broke here (again, I live near where they happened) and saw the heartbreak of the families. Just like I dealt with the news when Ted Bundy was killing in South Florida. Sorry. I just refuse to sympathize with someone who commits multiple murders. While I respect and understand the search for love and compassion - murder is not the only option on how to make things work. The ballad of "Lee" and "Selby" did not necessarily happen as such.

 

[tackleberry]

TOTALLY Disagree about the acting in this movie. I don't care how good her makeup job was or how many pounds she gained for this role, she was not TRUTHFULL in this film at all. She was clownish and fake: The way she walked, talked, stood. And Christ how many times is she gonna cry??? God!

Good acting does NOT eQual lots of hightened emotion, and makeup/gaining lots of pounds on your waist!! It has to do with truthfulness and subtlty.

The only reason she won an acadamy award was because she looked so "ugly" being such a gorgeous woman. Thats the ONLY reason she won! Pitiful.

You wanna see good acting, warch the young girl from Whale Rider or watch Sean Penn in anything he does.

 

[Basstrap]

the way she talked, walked and stood was brilliant my friend, and those are presicely the reasons why she got so much acclaim for the role. She carried herself like someone is is disturbed and borderline mentally ill
No, my sweet for once I agree with the oscars in their desicion

and hello angel, I'm quite aware that it is not a documentary...but that doesn't bother me. historical accuracy with relation to her girlfriends or whatever doesn't appeal to me anyway.
What appeals to me is trying to find the human reasoning behind the monster. This movie isn't about the families of the deceased, if it was it would have been a very different movie. This is about her.
one of the things I really enjoyed about it is that there was not ONE 'normal' person in the whole movie besides for the guy at the end.

it was a world of killers, mentally ill, religious fanatics...I found that contributed to a very somber atmosphere

anyway, different strokes I guess

 

[Basstrap]

and I think you can count the number of times she cried on one hand, dude...
and if you don't like the actors crying never go see a sean penn movie!!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i liked the movie monster, but it was still hard to sympathize with her. the first time, i was in total shock but thinking "that asshole deserved it." but then she did it again and again. i'll never forget that guy who was a cop, on his hands and knees crying and begging her not to kill him, telling her about his daughter. then she shot him. she just found it much easier to kill and rob them than to do anything else. i can sympathize with her not being able to find a decent job, but there's other ways out than killing for a living and then living off their car and money until you run out.

i too lived in florida during all this. i was too young to remember it, but my mom remembers it. it's hard to tell if she just snapped and went crazy or if she was just too stupid to keep her stories straight and kept convincing herself that that was the truth.

but as for the movie, yes i thought the acting was good.