Jack-Nicholson Movie Reviews

This film really is spectacular. From the very opening(which is slightly disorienting-but becomes clear quickly), it weaves a tale filled with some very odd and fascinating characters. Nicholson plays a radio deejay of sorts that spouts some fictionalized, but engrossingly told tales. The story itself deals with his visit to his brother-played by Bruce Dern, who he must attempt to talk out of some financial scheming. Dern turns in a fine performance-comparable to his performance in SMILE(very different characters, both great performances). Ellen Burstyn is also terrific. Photography by Laszlo Kovacs ranks up with his best. A welcome follow-up to Rafelson's FIVE EASY PIECES(a follow-up that doesn't get the press it deserves). Looks beautiful on dvd!

The film opens with Nicholson in a tight shot talking to someone. We aren't sure at first to whom he's talking or why. From that opening scene I was hooked. Nicholson is a radio personality (David) who one day gets a phone call from his brother Jason (Bruce Dern) who is in jail. Jason is basically a big-time loser who has been trying all his life to make something big happen. His latest scheme is to encourage his brother to join him and his female companions (played by Ellyn Burstyn and Julia Anne Robinson) in Atlantic City while contemplating the purchase of an island near Hawaii. Many strange events happen along the way, not the least of which finds the two women competing for Jason's affection. A very strange scene occurs involving a fire on the beach. Without giving too much away, I will say that this is a turning point that has tremendous impact later in the story. So few films today have even slightly interesting characters. These characters are so vivid and interesting that you can't help but be intrigued, wondering what's going to happen next. Each scene seems to have no rhyme or reason, until finally the pieces fall into place. When the pieces do come together, you realize that you've witnessed something very unique, original, and haunting.

The four leading actors are all at the top of their form. I have never seen Nicholson timid, unsure, or at a loss for words before. Dern is hopelessly reckless. Robinson is an innocent in an evil environment. Burstyn is perfect as the key to the whole story, which is one that I'll never forget. You'll think about this quiet little film long after the credits are over.

Dont miss it, you'll be sorry if you do

Before I saw this film I had now idea why Jack Nicholson was so famous. Now I know. He grabbed my attention right from the begining of this film, and watching him through out the rest of this movie was very very very enjoyable.

Helen Hunt and the other supporting casts had superb performances as well. All the characters had terrific chemistries together. This film is loaded with laughs. From the moment when Jack made his first appearance to the time when he met Helen Hunt. Every moment seemed real and fun to watch. However, Jack made the biggest impact on this movie. Every time Jack comes on, the movie takes on a different track. Lets just say Jack was like the trigger, and without him this movie wouldn't of been "as good".

Jack Nicholsen playing a malcontent, yet successful writer. He seems to write romances, beacause a woman working at his publishing company asks him how write women so well. His reply: I take away reason and go on from there.Helen Hunt did a tremendous job and is well cast alongside Jack Nicholsen. The script is extremely well written and engrossing, and could forget that adorable Brussels Griffen? It really deserved it's oscars and nominations.

This video ran chills down my spine. Steven is my hero and Im dying to see more honored to him. He should re-release his older hits in the theatre and make a sequal to Close Encounters. He's a genius!

Captain Epps receives a chance to command the line's prestigious flag ship, the Queen Adelaide, for one voyage--one big problem, though--he never commanded a passenger liner before. When he calls an officer's meeting and describes passengers as "animated cargo," you see trouble brewing. His crew and passengers let their base desires dictate their actions--gold digger first officer hoping for that rich gal as a ticket to dry land and chasing pretty women night and day, purser Prittiwell running scams to bilk the company and passengers of their money, widow Mrs. Judd hoping to hook a ship's officer, Major Broster reminding everyone of his power and influence, the sexy Daphne Portious wreaking havoc for Epps, the battling Cokes and their belligerent boy, and the list goes on. Epps fights his best to keep on top of this larcenous lot, aided by his poor valet, Tiny. The exaggerated characterizations leave you in tears of laughter. A laugh out loud farce from beginning to end.

This series of videos were all incredible. This one narrated by Jack Nicholson with incredible music by Bobby McFerrin was absolutely wonderful! The Just-so-stories are great and enhanced by this duo. The illustrations are also first rate.

"Rabbit Ears" is easily the best series of children's videos out there. And the best of the best are the two stories narrated by Jack Nicholson (this one and THE ELEPHANT's CHILD). Nicholson's wry, sardonic voice, the imaginative drawings, and Bobby McPheron's strange, otherworldly vocals give an exotic and magical feel to these two stories. For those who aren't familiar with Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories," the two fables are about what happens, "back when the world was new and all," to two animals who are rude, unpleasant, and lazy. For those who aren't familiar with the Rabbit Ears line, these videos and tapes, which are appropriate for kids of about four and up, are storytelling at its best. A great alternative to too many cartoons.

I remember watching this little gem on television in Concord, California around 1964! I loved this film as a child and just got my kids the video last night for a peek after some 37 (!) years. It's every bit as charming as Disney's earlier GREYFRIAR'S BOBBY (with Donald Crisp), and, thanks to a strong cast led by Patrick McGoohan and Susan Hampshire, infinitely more enjoyable! The film tells the story of a Scottish veterinarian Andrew MacDhui and daughter Mary, whose affection for a beautiful cat named Thomasina comes between them. When the cat is seriously injured, Mary's father "puts the cat to sleep" but Thomasina is disovered by Lori MacGregor, who nurses the cat back to health. Her love and understanding finally reunite father and daughter in the touching climax. Although the film wasn't a huge box-office success, it was considered one of the best foreign productions released by the Disney studio in the sixties.

Paul Gallico's charming little story "Thomasina" is turned into an equally lovely little Disney film from 1964 directed by Don Chaffey ("Greyfriars Bobby"). Veterinarian Andrew MacDhui (Patrick McGoohan) is a widower who is raising his young daughter Mary (Karen Dotrice) in Scotland in 1912. Andrew has no empathy for the townsfolk who love their pets and when Mary's beloved cat Thomasina is injured he quickly decides the animal should be killed. Mary is distraught and Andrew simply cannot understand why the logic of the situation is not clear to the girl. Mary and her friends prepare an elaborate funeral for Thomasina, at which point Lori MacGregor (Susan Hampshire) shows up. The children think she is a witch, but in truth she lives in the woods and nurses injured animals back to health using love and common sense. Lori recognizes the cat is not dead and takes it home to help it recover, during which time Thomasina goes to Cat Heaven in a marvelously fanciful sequence. Andrew has a bad reputation with the locals because he killed his daughter's cat and they start taking their pets to Lori. Andrew finally goes to see her and is not so busy being impressed by her healing skills that he fails to fall in love with her. But then Mary sees Thomasina walking outside her house and chases after her in a driving storm and ends up catching pneumonia. The doctors hold out no hope to the frantic Andrew, and Lori tells him that only he can help Mary recover using the power of love.

Lots of Disney movies have a cold-hearted adult transformed into a human being, and "The Three Lives of Thomasina" is one of the best of this type of film, even better than "Pollyanna. " This is mainly because it has the virtue of a first-rate cast, from McGoohan, Hampshire and Dotrice as the three principles to Finlay Currie and Laurence Naismith standing out in the supporting cast. Elspeth March supplies the voice of Thomasina, who gets to comment on the action from time to time, and Matthew Garber, who went on with Dotrice to play the kids in "Mary Poppins," also has a small role. But at the heart of this film is Paul Gallico's endearing fable. I think this is just a nice little film and I am not even a cat person.

I saw this in the theater when I was very little. My dad teased me later when I told him it made me "get a tear in my eye." It still does.

I watched it today with my 5-year-old neighbor girl. She said she "loved it." I bought the movie for my son when he was a preschooler. (He particularly loved the scenes with Jodie--the little boy--and the beautiful "witch.") My son 12, and his friend, 10, also watched much of the movie today. There are plenty of scenes that made them laugh. Some parts drag a bit (the father and the vicar had several scenes dull to a child, but important in developing the plot).

I was looking for a DVD version because I know that my video has a few scenes slightly edited. The Disney channel version some years back was a little more complete.

I don't think it's so terrible for a child to experience a little human emotion. Yes, the movie has some tear-jerking potential, but it has a happy ending. The 5-year-old didn't shed a tear today. I was just a bit less stoic. I am sentimental about orange tabby cats & have always had at least one . . .

Another reviewer comments that the events in this film conspire to make Jack Nicholson (or rather Melvyn Udall) a human being. On the contrary, this is a film where the central character, an obsessive-compulsive bigot, is human from the start: We just don't realize it. A key moment in the film is when Simon, Melvin's gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear), is telling the young male prostitute, Vincent (Skeet Ulrich), about his art, and comments that he likes to watch people because sometimes, when you look at someone long enough, "you see their humanity." At that point Vincent is momentarily enabled to see something beyond the seedy world of male prostitution; at the same time Simon gives us the interpretive key to the whole movie. It is a film about three very different people who discover their common humanity.

Melvin is a hateful and insensitive recluse with a debilitating mental disorder; Carol (Helen Hunt), a Manhattan waitress struggling with her son's chronic illness and finding her identity swallowed up in the process; Simon, a gay artist who loses everything when he is attacked and robbed in his own home. One by one they must learn to see the humanity in each other and, as importantly, in themselves ("Where'd I go?" asks Simon as he looks at the reflection of his battered face in the mirror). We, too, must learn to see the human being underneath the spiteful and vicious (if somewhat the "loveable rogue") in Melvin.

The theme is developed sensitively and beautifully throughout the course of the film (perhaps only slightly overlong at more than two hours), with help coming from a fourth character, Verdelle, a dog, whose pivotal role in the narrative is easily overlooked (standing in the same cinematic tradition as Toto of "The Wizard of Oz"). By the end of the film, we are aware that the big issues in the character's lives are still to be totally overcome, but the process of resolution has begun as it should, with the characters each recognizing the dignity and worth of the others (and themselves).

James L. Brook's delicate direction carefully avoids excessive sentimentalism and saccharine sweetness (though admittedly, it teeters perilously close to the edge at times), and results in one of the most charming and profound comedies of recent years.

I hate to admit it, but I've never been a fan of Jack Nicholson.

Also, I've never been smitten with the lovely Helen Hunt.

Lastly, Greg Kinnear has always been REALLY too smarmy for me.

However, somehow AS GOOD AS IT GETS has a special place in my heart.

Nicholson is absolutely fabulous as the neurotic writer who, due to circumstances wildly beyond his control, has to not so much step outside of his comfort zone as he has to destroy the barriers that have isolated him from society when the people that make up the routine of his life -- eating at the corner restaurant, pestering the gay neighbors -- start to come apart at the seams. The crusty exterior, we learn, is just a facade, and the man underneath -- while not perfect -- accepts that life is worth living ... as good as it gets.

Helen Hunt is absolutely radiant in the role as the corner shop waitress who's forced to deal with Nicholson's habits ... and, much to her surprise and the audience, she begins to experience true emotion for the man.

Greg Kinnear plays the struggling artist role to perfection. He has bouts of great self-esteem countered by comic moments of heightened anxiety, and the subtlety he brings to his portrayal is may be all-too-Hollywood but is surprisingly human.

A perfect mix, this film is about AS GOOD AS IT GETS.

Jack Nicholson's line peppers the whole film. Just a surprise hit with amazing performances by Greg Kinear, Cub Gooding, Jr. [who disappoints me to no end with his current choices in films!]. Helen Hunt is great, Jack is awesome. MAYBE one of his best performances.

There are so tremendously comic moments in the film. There are some brutally honest moments in the film. It is everything at once and yet so simplistic. Just a terrific film.

Another reviewer comments that the events in this film conspire to make Jack Nicholson (or rather Melvyn Udall) a human being. On the contrary, this is a film where the central character, an obsessive-compulsive bigot, is human from the start: We just don't realize it. A key moment in the film is when Simon, Melvin's gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear), is telling the young male prostitute, Vincent (Skeet Ulrich), about his art, and comments that he likes to watch people because sometimes, when you look at someone long enough, "you see their humanity." At that point Vincent is momentarily enabled to see something beyond the seedy world of male prostitution; at the same time Simon gives us the interpretive key to the whole movie. It is a film about three very different people who discover their common humanity.

Melvin is a hateful and insensitive recluse with a debilitating mental disorder; Carol (Helen Hunt), a Manhattan waitress struggling with her son's chronic illness and finding her identity swallowed up in the process; Simon, a gay artist who loses everything when he is attacked and robbed in his own home. One by one they must learn to see the humanity in each other and, as importantly, in themselves ("Where'd I go?" asks Simon as he looks at the reflection of his battered face in the mirror). We, too, must learn to see the human being underneath the spiteful and vicious (if somewhat the "loveable rogue") in Melvin.

The theme is developed sensitively and beautifully throughout the course of the film (perhaps only slightly overlong at more than two hours), with help coming from a fourth character, Verdelle, a dog, whose pivotal role in the narrative is easily overlooked (standing in the same cinematic tradition as Toto of "The Wizard of Oz"). By the end of the film, we are aware that the big issues in the character's lives are still to be totally overcome, but the process of resolution has begun as it should, with the characters each recognizing the dignity and worth of the others (and themselves).

James L. Brook's delicate direction carefully avoids excessive sentimentalism and saccharine sweetness (though admittedly, it teeters perilously close to the edge at times), and results in one of the most charming and profound comedies of recent years.

I hate to admit it, but I've never been a fan of Jack Nicholson.

Also, I've never been smitten with the lovely Helen Hunt.

Lastly, Greg Kinnear has always been REALLY too smarmy for me.

However, somehow AS GOOD AS IT GETS has a special place in my heart.

Nicholson is absolutely fabulous as the neurotic writer who, due to circumstances wildly beyond his control, has to not so much step outside of his comfort zone as he has to destroy the barriers that have isolated him from society when the people that make up the routine of his life -- eating at the corner restaurant, pestering the gay neighbors -- start to come apart at the seams. The crusty exterior, we learn, is just a facade, and the man underneath -- while not perfect -- accepts that life is worth living ... as good as it gets.

Helen Hunt is absolutely radiant in the role as the corner shop waitress who's forced to deal with Nicholson's habits ... and, much to her surprise and the audience, she begins to experience true emotion for the man.

Greg Kinnear plays the struggling artist role to perfection. He has bouts of great self-esteem countered by comic moments of heightened anxiety, and the subtlety he brings to his portrayal is may be all-too-Hollywood but is surprisingly human.

A perfect mix, this film is about AS GOOD AS IT GETS.

Jack Nicholson's line peppers the whole film. Just a surprise hit with amazing performances by Greg Kinear, Cub Gooding, Jr. [who disappoints me to no end with his current choices in films!]. Helen Hunt is great, Jack is awesome. MAYBE one of his best performances.

There are so tremendously comic moments in the film. There are some brutally honest moments in the film. It is everything at once and yet so simplistic. Just a terrific film.

Another reviewer comments that the events in this film conspire to make Jack Nicholson (or rather Melvyn Udall) a human being. On the contrary, this is a film where the central character, an obsessive-compulsive bigot, is human from the start: We just don't realize it. A key moment in the film is when Simon, Melvin's gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear), is telling the young male prostitute, Vincent (Skeet Ulrich), about his art, and comments that he likes to watch people because sometimes, when you look at someone long enough, "you see their humanity." At that point Vincent is momentarily enabled to see something beyond the seedy world of male prostitution; at the same time Simon gives us the interpretive key to the whole movie. It is a film about three very different people who discover their common humanity.

Melvin is a hateful and insensitive recluse with a debilitating mental disorder; Carol (Helen Hunt), a Manhattan waitress struggling with her son's chronic illness and finding her identity swallowed up in the process; Simon, a gay artist who loses everything when he is attacked and robbed in his own home. One by one they must learn to see the humanity in each other and, as importantly, in themselves ("Where'd I go?" asks Simon as he looks at the reflection of his battered face in the mirror). We, too, must learn to see the human being underneath the spiteful and vicious (if somewhat the "loveable rogue") in Melvin.

The theme is developed sensitively and beautifully throughout the course of the film (perhaps only slightly overlong at more than two hours), with help coming from a fourth character, Verdelle, a dog, whose pivotal role in the narrative is easily overlooked (standing in the same cinematic tradition as Toto of "The Wizard of Oz"). By the end of the film, we are aware that the big issues in the character's lives are still to be totally overcome, but the process of resolution has begun as it should, with the characters each recognizing the dignity and worth of the others (and themselves).

James L. Brook's delicate direction carefully avoids excessive sentimentalism and saccharine sweetness (though admittedly, it teeters perilously close to the edge at times), and results in one of the most charming and profound comedies of recent years.

I hate to admit it, but I've never been a fan of Jack Nicholson.

Also, I've never been smitten with the lovely Helen Hunt.

Lastly, Greg Kinnear has always been REALLY too smarmy for me.

However, somehow AS GOOD AS IT GETS has a special place in my heart.

Nicholson is absolutely fabulous as the neurotic writer who, due to circumstances wildly beyond his control, has to not so much step outside of his comfort zone as he has to destroy the barriers that have isolated him from society when the people that make up the routine of his life -- eating at the corner restaurant, pestering the gay neighbors -- start to come apart at the seams. The crusty exterior, we learn, is just a facade, and the man underneath -- while not perfect -- accepts that life is worth living ... as good as it gets.

Helen Hunt is absolutely radiant in the role as the corner shop waitress who's forced to deal with Nicholson's habits ... and, much to her surprise and the audience, she begins to experience true emotion for the man.

Greg Kinnear plays the struggling artist role to perfection. He has bouts of great self-esteem countered by comic moments of heightened anxiety, and the subtlety he brings to his portrayal is may be all-too-Hollywood but is surprisingly human.

A perfect mix, this film is about AS GOOD AS IT GETS.

Jack Nicholson's line peppers the whole film. Just a surprise hit with amazing performances by Greg Kinear, Cub Gooding, Jr. [who disappoints me to no end with his current choices in films!]. Helen Hunt is great, Jack is awesome. MAYBE one of his best performances.

There are so tremendously comic moments in the film. There are some brutally honest moments in the film. It is everything at once and yet so simplistic. Just a terrific film.