Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Ian (Flash Review)Abound in Italian style, attitude, symbolism and culture, this is a film that properly uses the medium of film, as only film can do, as it explores the story of essentially a film director with a creative block. While attempting to direct a film with a big budget, the director is dealing with the complexity of it all as he is unable to give answers to questions asked of him along with assorted personalities and their influences on his efforts. Everyone he encounters seems to want to get a part in the film, famous or not and his wife is frustrated by envy at his popularity and with all the woman in and around the film. The film's timeline jumps around a bit rather seamlessly so pay attention. Mixed into that approach are musings on age, life & death, love, fame as well as frequent Catholic religious references. Will the director get his inspirational spark? How will assorted relationships play out? Awash in slick cinematography, the scenes looked stellar and had rich blacks and whites. While the pace was slower, it allowed time for contemplation and this would be an ideal film to rewatch and analyze with a film class as I'm sure I didn't catch all the story points.

framptonhollis Funny, fast, exuberant, exciting, and excellent, Fellini's finest (two) hour(s) is a legitimate masterpiece, no exaggeration or even personal opinion necessary. It's really hard for me to find one thing wrong with the film, but it is extremely easy for me to find what is right about it! The plot centers around a filmmaker played with overwhelming suavity and sarcastic comedy by the great Marcello Mastroianni who is struggling to work on his latest film, a project that seems to hint at having the intentions of being autobiographical, centering on religion, skepticism, life, love, and so on, all while he himself is struggling with some inner crisis as well as having some pretty severe marital conflicts. Compared to the other Fellini milestones up until this point, the actual conflict is relatively minimal. There are naturally many moments of drama and sadness, but they never come close to reaching the tragic heights of a film like La Strada, Nights of Caribia, or even La dolce vita, all of which don't really conclude with much cheer or hope, even if signs of said cheer or hope can be found within them. However, 8 1/2, for the most part, is, in both the strictest and most lenient senses of the term, a comedy. It is a jovial experience all around, particularly as the tale closes and a truly magnificent carnivalesque dance number spirals merrily and surrealistically round Fellini's laughing lens in one of the most memorable, hopeful, and simply brilliant endings to any film made thus fair and, I bet you, any film that is to be made in the near or far future.

Chris Haskell For the sake of this review, I am going to assume that Fellini was trying to make a movie, got stuck, and finally decided the best way forward is to make a movie about how difficult it is to make a movie. Apologies to history if that's not what happened. There are lessons I have resonated with in this movie that I have not commonly seen in reviews, so I thought I would jot them down for others. I hope they are helpful:1. You will get stuck in life. Even if you are doing something you are good at and enjoy. There are moments where you will not be able to finish something, or maybe start something, that is important to you.2. If you are headed in a direction that is unproductive or will cause you pain, take the time necessary to stop and recognize the fact that it temporarily sucks. Based on the content and themes in the film I am assuming Fellini had this moment of realization. 3. Reflect. The visions and dreams in this movie are a beautiful representation of the importance of reflecting on who you are or the experiences that have shaped you. You do have to face reality, but roots are important and do influence who we are and the way we see the world. Guido's conversation with the priests is a perfect example. Is the main character religious? It's complicated. And this brief conversation makes the memory of his childhood so important. 4. Be willing to give it up. When he makes the decision to cancel the production, Guido loses the white-knuckle grip he had on having to get it done, which led to his epiphany that he had everything he needed for his movie right in front of him. The order of this is important. If he would have remained unwilling to lose it, he would have either finished something he was unhappy with or it would have never seen the light of day. Neither of those options would have led to 8 1/2. 5. Be bold. There were many voices in his life telling Guido to be different than who he was. There was unnecessary time pressure, high expectations, actors and actresses wanting answers or they were not going to get involved, blah blah blah. He was the only person who could make the final movie, as was Fellini. There are some things that only you can do. Once you find that thing, be bold and believe that you are the best in the world at it. You don't have to brag, just know it. It will dramatically impact your confidence and most likely results. Thank you for reading if you made it all the way through.

leandro216 A movie with no story. A full immersion into the memories and the psychological face of the director. The great idea is that Fellini after the success of "La Dolce Vita" didn't know what to do. So he made a movie talking about a Director who has a lack of inspiration. After that we can appreciate the surreal scenes from the beginning to the end. This is one of my favourite movie, even if there isn't a specific reason. I dislike the character of Mastroianni, the typical snooty Italian intellectual, but the way Fellini, directs the dreams is so gorgeous. I think he is inspired of the Welles's way of moving the camera. Cinema of the Dream, from Bergam to Lynch, from Chaplin to Antonioni, this is one of the best example.