Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

bergamo-90614 When the name Debra winger comes to mind, immediately the trifecta of Urban Cowboy, Officer and Gentlemen and terms of endearment comes to mind. However, she is much more than that. Shadow lands deserves the same attention as those movies of her. Shadow-lands is one of the most beautiful movies in terms of portraying human emotions and is equally beautiful as her earlier ToE. Even with similar subject matters, Joy is very different from Emma and CS Lewis is no Flap Horton. Anthony Hopkins does complete 360 from his character as the scary Hannibal Lecter to the very sympathetic CS Lewis. There is a scene at the end where his timing and acting is just beautiful. However, it is not just the performance of the leads that is beautiful; it is movie as whole, the music, the cinematography that makes it beautifully vibrant movie.

Matt matt I'm impressed with the volume of favorable reviews of this film. If you've gone this far, there's no reason at all for me to rehash the plot, the marvelous acting, or the directorial skills displayed here. If I may add something new to the reviews, I would like to say that it's a sad world where Anthony Hopkins is much more known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lechter in The Silence Of The Lambs franchise. I despised those movies, not because I don't like horrific flicks. Check out my other reviews if you think I'm a sob sister who just can't take it. But this is not a review of those films, so I'll proceed...What makes this film rise to greatness is it's portrayal of a man who thinks he has life, the universe, and everything, all wrapped up in a tidy intellectual package, and then finds himself doing and feeling things which force him to completely reevaluate the foundations of his life and faith. I can't help but think that there are many Christians who considered the subject of C. S. Lewis to be safe ground to venture through. Those who only know him through his Narnia stories, and the approval given for those films by their clergy, must have been quite surprised to find the man willing to break immigration laws to wed a somewhat bohemian woman for reasons of citizenship. I hope that those who first recoil at the truth of his life, grow as Lewis did as he faced the contradictions to his smug, self satisfied, view of himself and his faith. If you're a macho man who can't imagine himself capable of crying at a film, get ready to have the rug pulled out from under your pretension. This film hits notes of truth in sadness that are specifically male, and completely missing from 99.99% of cinematography. You will cry not because you are manipulated, but because you recognize yourself in this gentle intellectual facing the glory of love, the pain of unfair tragedy, and the responsibility that endures beyond the drama. Whoever you are, whatever you believe, watch this wonderful film. Share it with a loved one.

lawrence_elliott Richard Attenborough is a classy fellow who deserves to be recognized as a great film director. His more recent "Grey Owl" is brilliant! This film moves the heart like no other film I have ever witnessed! "Forrest Gump" gently touches the nerve endings. This film rams the gut! But what a classy production this is all the way through. A beautiful mellifluous script with tenderly rendered scenes of sensitive acting will have any audience in full approbation clamouring for more. I have said enough. You will cry in this one. Hopkins as a leading man makes C.S. Lewis human. This is a wonderful, tender, gentle-paced film that will stand the test of time! Mark my words! Own it today!

barrymalvina I have read the first page of the above reviews, and cannot find fault with anything contained therein. This movie is an emotional experience making us all think about life, death and and our own personal views of these things. I guess it must work 100% for anyone who is only a moviegoer and likes this sort of thing. However, to really appreciate the deeper messages in the film, I think one would need to be a little familiar with Lewis's whole life and his writings. Perhaps in this respect I was expecting too much of a mere movie. The inaccuracies were also a little disconcerting, for instance Joy only appears to have one son, but I do understand this was done for dramatic effect, rather than a "goof"! I guess this film can be described as a biopic. It should certainly never be presented as a biography, and I trust it never has been, or will be in the future. Film-makers have the funds to make a biography which should be accurate in historical and geographical detail. It can also be controversial, which this film is not and was never intended to be. In other words, even in this highly dramatised account of Lewis's love life, I would have liked to have seen some reference to his sexual experiences before meeting Joy, and I would have liked to have had a little more information given on Joy's motives for writing to Lewis and ultimately visiting him. I think in real life, Joy was already aware of her cancer before she even travelled to England the first time, because it was very far advanced when it was finally diagnosed. To meet a very well-established Englishman, to be able to settle with her son(s) permanently in the UK, seems to me a perfectly reasonable thing for her to have planned. I wonder if C. S. Lewis ever thought of that possibility before he died? An excellent film, and recommended even for anyone more interested in the really true lives of famous people.