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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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41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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An intense drama that trusts its characters and lets them move freely amongst themselves and react honestly to the situations in which life places them.

Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies | comment Comment
04/24/02
Mark Dujsik
Mark Dujsik
Mark Reviews Movies

[Marc Foster] knows that careful, quiet dialogue, and long, silent pauses speak louder than lengthy emotional summaries.

Full Review Source: NutzWorld | comment Comment
04/15/02
Blake French
Blake French
NutzWorld

Hay escenas duras, y hay detalles de guión que no convencerán si son quisquillosos, pero las actuaciones pagan con creces todos los fallos y valen el pago del boleto.

Full Review Source: Cinenganos | comment Comment
04/14/02
Alex Ramirez
Alex Ramirez
Cinenganos
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Houston Community Newspapers | comment Comment
04/02/02
Gary Brown
Gary Brown
Houston Community Newspapers
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An emotionally devastating movie.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
03/17/02
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

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

While Billy Bob transforms terrifically from a bigot to a noble man in a biracial relationship, Halle is just plain brilliant as a poor and exhausted woman who finally reaches her breaking point.

Full Review Source: BeatBoxBetty.com | comment Comment
03/07/02
BeatBoxBetty.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
03/05/02
Jeremy Heilman
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com

A textbook example of fearless filmmaking, exhibiting a brand of gritty realism that's hard to watch but impossible to ignore.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
03/04/02
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

Monster's Ball tries to put a new spin on the salt and pepper romance plot. The result: a convoluted, overwrought interracial drama that oversells its message

Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment 1 Comment
03/04/02
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
Movie Eye

Please read review - I cannot summarize my amazement.

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
03/02/02
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
03/02/02
Guylaine Cadorette
Guylaine Cadorette
Hollywood.com

The feel bad movie of the winter.

Full Review Source: NUVO Newsweekly | comment Comment
02/26/02
Edward Johnson-Ott
Edward Johnson-Ott
NUVO Newsweekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
02/25/02
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Forster is confident enough in his script and actors, as well he should be, and is content to let them shine.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
02/21/02
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

While I feel it falls short from brilliance in its underwhelming last act, it remains a film which is sure to get to you.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
02/20/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

A powerful, complex, emotionally charged human interest drama...

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/19/02
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Intimate, gruelling, and in some strange way, uplifting.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/17/02
Ben Falk
Ben Falk
BBC

[Forster] tells his story with directness and simplicity and without the high hallmarks of the soaps' gooey emotional lubrication.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/16/02
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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