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Movies / On DVD / 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.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong sexual content, language and violence

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 26, 2001 Limited

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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Release:

Jun 11, 2002

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Reviews for Monster's Ball

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121 - 140 (sorted by date)
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Great directing, awesome performances and a consistently important message...

Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | comment Comment
12/28/01
JoBlo
JoBlo
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

Burning with a quiet intensity, Monster's Ball is bolstered by a poetic, intelligent sensibility not seen in an American film since Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/28/01
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Despite the occasionally facile portraiture of screenwriters Will Rokos and Milo Addica, the project is well redeemed by its dank atmosphere and cracker-barrel performances.

comment Comment
12/27/01
Gregory Weinkauf
Gregory Weinkauf
New Times

The fact that the film spares us not only a constant wallow in misery but also cheap, maudlin uplift is pretty miraculous.

Full Review Source: IFilm | comment Comment
12/27/01
Dave White
Dave White
IFilm

Might even be worth a look when it comes out on cable sometime next year. But it's not worth a trip to the arthouse.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
12/27/01
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

It's not exactly a ball, but this movie does feature two monster performances.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
12/27/01
E! Online

Yes, Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry give Oscar caliber performances. But so do Peter Boyle and Puff Daddy. When all the performances are excellent, critics' understand it's the direction.

Full Review Source: ABCNEWS.COM | comment Comment
12/27/01
Joel Siegel
Joel Siegel
ABCNEWS.COM
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of year's most emotionally stirring.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
12/26/01
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A somber meditation on racism and family pathology, anchored by solid performances.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/26/01
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Has everything you could want in an American independent film. It's daring, sexy and redolent with regional atmosphere. All the actors work well above their heads. Many of you will probably hate it anyway.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
12/26/01
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the year's most unusual, subtle and thoroughly involving films.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/26/01
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Enigmatic, elliptical and mesmerizing, Monster's Ball invites myriad responses and interpretations.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/26/01
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is one of those rare movies in which even people glimpsed only for a moment or two seem to have lives that ramify beyond the screen, as if the story were being witnessed rather than dramatized.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/26/01
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

An unusual romance of unlikely people with Halle Berry in a stunning new and mature role.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
12/25/01
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Forster's glib presentation of interracial skin's allure feels ignorant and borderline offensive.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/25/01
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
Filmcritic.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
12/25/01
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

A maddening mess, but there's some real feeling in its madness.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
12/25/01
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
L.A. Weekly

Far too studied to generate much impact.

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

This is an affecting, thought-provoking film despite the plot contrivances on which it depends...a remarkably moving experience.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
12/24/01
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
 
 
121 - 140 (sorted by date)
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