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The Good Shepherd

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The Good Shepherd (2006)

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Reviews Counted:161

Fresh:90

Rotten:71

Average Rating:6.1/10

Consensus: This fictitious CIA origin film is an overlong, tedious effort that leaves viewers with more questions than answers.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some violence, sexuality and language

Runtime: 2 hrs 48 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 22, 2006 Wide

Box Office: $59,839,040

Synopsis: With THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Robert De Niro (A BRONX TALE) makes an ambitious return to the director's chair. A labor of love for Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (FORREST GUMP), the film tells an... With THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Robert De Niro (A BRONX TALE) makes an ambitious return to the director's chair. A labor of love for Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (FORREST GUMP), the film tells an epic, fictionalized account of how the Central Intelligence Agency was born. Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, a reserved young man who graduated from Yale in the late 1930s. His membership in the exclusive, hidden Skull and Bones society led him away from poetry and into a relationship with the federal government, who recruited him to help them on several covert operations. Roth's script alternates between Wilson's gradual emergence as a genuine government operative in the early 1940s and the infamous Bay of Pigs conflict in the early 1960s. Along the way, he has a sweet romance with a pretty deaf girl (a sparkling Tammy Blanchard) and ends up marrying the woman he impregnates (Angelina Jolie) out of a strong sense of duty. Throughout the film, the emergence of a mysterious tape haunts Wilson, who is determined to uncover the truth behind a leak in his secret organization. Production designer Jeannine Claudia Oppewall (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN) and costume designer Ann Roth (THE ENGLISH PATIENT, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY) faithfully recreate these earlier periods in American history, while the imagery of Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (J.F.K., THE AVIATOR) casts a warm, stately glow upon De Niro's assembled cast of luminaries (including Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, William Hurt, Billy Crudup, and Joe Pesci). The result is a production that recalls Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION and Steven Spielberg's MUNICH. [More]

Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci, John Turturro

Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci, John Turturro, Keir Dullea, Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, Billy Crudup, William Hurt, Liya Kebede, Gabriel Macht, Jason Patric, Eddie Redmayne, Sándor Técsy

Director: Robert De Niro

Director: Robert De Niro
Producer: Jane Rosenthal
Studio: Universal Pictures

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Release:

Aug 16, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
 
 
 
 

Reviews for The Good Shepherd

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

You will probably come away from it impressed but unmoved.

Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com | comment Comment
02/28/08
Brandon Fibbs
Brandon Fibbs
BrandonFibbs.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
01/15/08
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

Damn near drowns itself with its unwaveringly solemn sense of importance

Full Review Source: Projection Booth | comment Comment
10/25/07
Rob Humanick
Rob Humanick
Projection Booth

Seems thoroughly conflicted about whether it actually buys what it's selling.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
06/27/07
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

publici "Dobri pastir" ne govori ni%u0161ta %u0161to ona, na ovaj ili onaj na%u010Din, ve%u0107 nije znala

Full Review Source: Index.hr | comment Comment
06/22/07
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
Index.hr

A pesar de su extensa duración, la película no parece tener un minuto de sobra. El relato es apasionante, y está servido por un actor-director que ha aprendido mucho de sus maestros.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
04/27/07
Enrique Buchichio
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

In a mystery worthy of the CIA, The Good Shepherd ends up being both too long and too short.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
03/24/07
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
UGO

Not quite unlocking the secret history of the CIA.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
03/21/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio

The Good Shepherd tells a compelling, complex, personal and political story and tells it extremely well. It's an engrossing film.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
03/20/07
Emily S. Mendel
Emily S. Mendel
culturevulture.net

Apropriadamente mergulhado em sombras e belíssimas imagens em contraluz, é o segundo trabalho de De Niro como diretor, que revela, aqui, um olhar inspirado para composições e, como já era de se esperar, um talento inegável para a condução do elenco.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
03/16/07
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Better than any of the feature film versions of John le Carre's novels and nearly as good as the TV mini-series based on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
02/26/07
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

It's a film for fans of John Le Carre, rather than Ian Fleming.

Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
02/26/07
Nicholas Barber
Nicholas Barber
Independent on Sunday

Never manages to create a gripping strand to hold our attention.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
02/26/07
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

Not a film everyone will like. But those who do will appreciate De Niro's insistence on accurate detail.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
02/23/07
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

165 minutes of my life I will never get back, damn it. This is one shepherd that’s lost control of its flock.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
02/23/07
Stuart McGurk
Stuart McGurk
thelondonpaper

De Niro deserves credit for the broad, ambitious canvas he's worked on, but his movie is just as mechanical and humourless as his protagonist.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
02/23/07
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

On paper this had “belter” written all over it. Sadly, Damon’s lifeless performance in the lead role failed to keep me gripped throughout the movie’s bum-numbing 167 minutes.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
02/23/07
Johnny Vaughan
Johnny Vaughan
Sun Online

Touches are just enough to earn The Good Shepherd a third star. But De Niro might want to stick to acting in future.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
02/23/07
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

A wan, muted film that is never less than interesting, but rarely more than that either.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
02/23/07
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph
 
 
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Latest News for The Good Shepherd

July 07, 2008: De Niro Looking for More Good Shepherds Opens in new window
It played to lukewarm reviews and middling box office, but Robert De Niro still wants to follow up The Good Shepherd with a pair of sequels. More...

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