Great Expectations (1998)

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Siskoid
Alfonso Cuarón's modern-day take on Dickens' Great Expectations uses contemporary mores to make the story a lot steamier than I remember the book being, but the relationship between Finn (what was wrong with Pip? oh okay) and Estella nevertheless left me a little cold. It's not that Gwyneth Paltrow isn't hot, it's that she's been weaponized by her broken-hearted aunt to destroy men, so has an emotional detachment that makes her, well, cold. Anne Bancroft as the crazy aunt is a much better character. Where Pip wanted to become a gentleman, Finn instead enters the art world, one of many well-calculated changes from the book, and the plot about his mysterious patron is well played too, effective in that I plum forgot what the book did there while watching. So yeah, a cool adaptation, but with a 90s gloss that distanced me from the material, not quite as strong as I'd hoped it would be given the director's later work. 7 years ago
alexthekid
Great story and great cast but absolutely terrible execution. It's like they were in a hurry to do it, I'm not sure what it is but there is no heart, no soul in this film. Seems like a poorly done student film. Could have been such a good film though, kind of sad it wasn't. 3 years 9 months ago
Windill
The casting was not good enough for such an ambitious adaptation. And I must say that the direction also disappointed me. 5 years 1 month ago