|
List Price: $14.98Price: $0.48 You Save: $14.50 (97%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780783231655
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
ISBN: 0783231652
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: June 08, 1999
Running Time: 106 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: November 04, 1998
Sales Rank: 26487
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 1998 and winner of several awards including the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, Gods and Monsters is a compassionate speculation about the final days of James Whale (1889-1957), the director of Frankenstein and 20 other films of the 1930s and '40s, who was openly gay at a time when homosexuality in Hollywood was discreetly concealed. Adapted and directed by Bill Condon from Christopher Bram's novel Father of Frankenstein, the film stars Ian McKellen in a sublime performance as the white-haired Whale, who is portrayed as a dapper gent and amateur artist prompted by failing health into melancholy remembrance of things past. Flashbacks of lost love, World War I battle trauma, and glory days in Hollywood combine with Whale's present-day attraction to a newly hired yard worker (Brendan Fraser) whose hunky, Frankenstein-like physique makes him an ideal model for Whale's fixated sketching.
The friendship between the handsome gardener and his elderly gay admirer is by turns tenuous, humorous, mutually beneficial, and ultimately rather sad--but to Condon's credit Whale is never seen as pathetic, lecherous, or senile. Equally rich is the rapport between Whale and his long-time housekeeper (played with wry sarcasm by Lynn Redgrave), who serves as protector, mother, and even surrogate spouse while Whale's mental state deteriorates. Flashbacks to Whale's filmmaking days are painstakingly authentic (particularly in the casting of look-alike actors playing Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester), and all of these ingredients combine to make Gods and Monsters (executive produced by horror novelist-filmmaker Clive Barker) a touchingly affectionate film that succeeds on many levels. It is at once a keen glimpse of Hollywood's past, a loving tribute to James Whale, and a richly moving, delicately balanced drama about loneliness, memory, and the passions that keep us alive. --Jeff Shannon
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
"Gods and Monsters" boasts an elegant and insightful script, fine acting from all the principals (Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser in particular), and a delicate sense of fading eroticism (the brief reverie of a remembered pool party is one of the most poignant evocations of lost romantic vigor ever put on film). The historical and fictional elements are well integrated. A film that "stays with you" long after the final image fades. The transfer to DVD is sharp and the layered sound quality excellent. ... Read More
Rating: -
This movie is quite simply perfect. Life and death, love and friendship they're all explored here in some detail. There is so much more here than just a film for people looking for gay issues explored. Here we have the story of the fictionalized last days of Frankenstein director James Whale, but more specifically what we have is the story of a friendship between two characters who need something from each other. One who doesn't know how to live, and the other who doesn't know how to die. They both ... Read More
Rating: -
An elderly man, mostly isolated and dying from the effects of a series of strokes, befriends the least likely of friends.
James Whale was a clergyman's son, grew up poor outside London, a WW1 veteran and was gay. He joined the movie industry as a set designer and became a director. He helmed about 20 movies in the thirties and early forties and retired early to paint and relax by the pool. After a series of strokes, he committed suicide rather than suffer for the rest of his life. Gods ... Read More
Rating:  -
I thought this was an excellent, well cast movie. I really liked the concept and the look that it gave us into the real people behind the scenes of old Hollywood. Brendan Frasier is not a great actor by any means but he is perfect in the part of the hulking everyman landscaper. Really good movie but I fear that many will not be able to put their homophobia aside and give it a chance.
Rating:  -
I never would have bought this except that I lost the copy I naively borrowed from the library, and I needed a replacement copy. I tried twice to watch it, and both times quit in disgust.
Browse for similar items by category:
|
|
Cunard Line has announced that its new
85,000-ton cruise ship, which is scheduled to enter service in 2008, will be
named Queen Victoria. Based in Southampton, England, the Cunard Queen Victoria will be
the second largest Cunard Queen ever built. Together with the current flagship,
Queen Elizabeth 2, and Queen Mary 2, the biggest passenger liner ever, the
Cunard fleet will include three Queens for the first time – truly the most
famous ocean liners in the world.
Crystal Cruises
Cruise
Queen Victoria will enter service in the company’s 165th anniversary and will
operate cruises to and from Southampton to the Mediterranean, the Canaries,
Northern Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. The 1,968-passenger vessel
will feature a covered wraparound promenade deck, a forward-facing observation
lounge, a large Lido pool with a retractable magrodome, and 10 of the12
passenger decks will be served by exterior glass-walled lifts. Like QE2 and QM2,
the liner will have a Queens Grill, offering single-seating gourmet dining.
There will also be a unique Colonial Restaurant on Deck 11 with spectacular
panoramic views.
Queen Victoria cruises will offer a wide range of
accommodations, large standard outside cabins (170 square feet) and a high
percentage of balcony cabins (67%), thereby bringing new levels of luxury and
choice to passengers preferring to depart from a European port. Cruise
Queen Victoria!
Deluxe Cruise
The on-board menus, entertainment and lecture program will be geared to British
tastes and the currency will be sterling. Queen Victoria will fly the red
ensign; she will have the name of her home port, Southampton, on her stern, and
she will have a British Captain and Officers.
In design terms the cruise Cunard Queen Victoria will have an undeniably British feel with two British design
teams being responsible for the interior of the Cunard Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria is being built at Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, near
Venice, with her keel laid on July 12, 2003. One of the most technically
advanced shipbuilders in the world, Fincantieri has built more than 7,000
vessels, including many for Cunard’s parent Carnival Corporation. Originally
ordered as the fifth in a series of five 'Vista' class ships for sister company
Holland America, the contact was signed over to Cunard before the keel was laid
and Holland America then ordered a further ship for delivery in 2006.
Enjoy a Cruise on Queen Victoria. The
lead ship in the series, Zuiderdam, entered service in December 2002.
No cruise schedules have yet been
announced. Her float out is scheduled for May 2007, prior to
her delivery in March 2008.She is scheduled to enter service in April 2008. |
