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Movies / Upcoming / Monster's Ball
Monster's Ball

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Monster's Ball (2001)

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Reviews Counted:141

Fresh:120

Rotten:21

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: Somber and thought provoking, Monster's Ball has great performances all around.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $31,252,964

Synopsis: MONSTER'S BALL is a hard hitting Southern drama tempered by a story of powerful, life-changing love. It is the story of Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), an embittered prison guard working on Death Row... MONSTER'S BALL is a hard hitting Southern drama tempered by a story of powerful, life-changing love. It is the story of Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), an embittered prison guard working on Death Row who begins an unlikely, but emotionally charged affair with Leticia (Halle Berry), the wife of a man he has just executed. MONSTER'S BALL also features Heath Ledger and Peter Boyle. Boyle plays Hank’s bigoted, aging father, whose hatred seems to have poisoned his entire family as much as the family business, which is working on the prison Death Squad. Ledger plays Hank’s son, who is hell-bent on getting out of the family business. The film is directed by award-winning filmmaker Marc Forster. He was nominated for an IFP/West Spirit Award as Best Low Budget Feature and won the Movado "Someone to Watch" Prize at the 2001 Spirit Awards for his film, "Everything Put Together."

Set in Georgia, MONSTER'S BALL was filmed entirely on location in and around New Orleans, Louisiana and at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola (also known as "The Farm").

MONSTER'S BALL is from an original screenplay by Milo Addica and Will Rokos, is produced by Lee Daniels, executive produced by Mark Urman, Mike Paseornek, and co-produced by Milo Addica and Will Rokos. Lions Gate Films will release the film in December, 2001. -- © 2001 Lions Gate Films [More]

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Mos Def

Director: Marc Forster

Director: Marc Forster
Screenwriter: Milo Addica, Will Rokos
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Monster's Ball

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
06/13/02
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
08/17/02
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It says something that the film has stayed with me well past the entire year-end Oscar season screening frenzy, when I sat through twice the usual number of films.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/25/02
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

mostly resides in a mood of loss, somberness and prejudice, with a tender tiny beating heart of hope.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
01/18/02
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

Far too studied to generate much impact.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/25/01
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice

Estupenda muestra de lo que se puede lograr con una historia que muestre a las personas como lo que son: seres humanos en busca de su realización y su lugar en la vida.

Full Review Source: Moviola | comment Comment
05/07/02
Jorge Avila Andrade
Jorge Avila Andrade
Moviola

Raw moments of naked emotion rip through the contrived tragedies of the script and Forster's careful control and choreography.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
02/07/02
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Monster's Ball drills at us the same way a dentist goes at your teeth, creating pain but for a greater good.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
02/08/02
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

The kind of quiet, effective film that burrows under the viewer's skin and takes root before you've had a chance to realize that it's permeated your constitutional makeup.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
02/10/02
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

A powerful and poignant motion picture not about racism and redemption, as one might initially suppose, but about one of the most urgent and universal of human needs -- that of finding solace for pain and loneliness.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
02/10/02
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

A candid, gut-level emotional powerhouse.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
01/26/02
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

an Oprah-mistic movie in which people overcome a lifetime’s worth of bad habits by 'opening up.'

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
12/25/01
Tom Block
Tom Block
culturevulture.net

It's Berry who sets the pace. Her performance is a triumph of emotion and abandon.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
02/07/02
Jay Boyar
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel

This strangely entrancing drama conveys the redemptive power of love in Hank, a hard man who has closed down his emotions long ago.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
12/24/01
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Well-told, sad and funny and ultimately uplifting.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
11/29/01
Bridget Byrne
Bridget Byrne
Boxoffice Magazine

A serious movie made by seriously talented people, and I never quite came 'round to it.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
07/20/02
Mark Caro
Mark Caro
Chicago Tribune

The best thing Marc Forster's direction does is take these characters through their experiences at a convincingly naturalistic respiratory rate...

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
02/08/02
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe

This is pure adult drama, about issues that are deep as life itself.

Full Review Source: Norman Transcript | comment Comment
03/15/02
Jim Chastain
Jim Chastain
Norman Transcript

As the film progresses it becomes clear that, like a dance, Forster's film is predicated on machination but distinguished by grace.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
12/24/01
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

How nice it must be to be Hank, the strong man, swooping in to be Leticia's knight-in-shining-armor. How convenient, also, that this woman happens to be as beautiful as Halle Berry.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
07/12/02
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies
 
 
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