GREAT EXPECTATIONS
by Todd
If you've seen commercials for the new "re-vamped" version of Great
Expectations you're under the impression that Gwyneth Paltrow is in the
movie. After seeing the movie you realize while she did have about ten
minutes of screen time and about 12 lines, it's a wonder how she got top
billing. Now I have nothing against the woman ( She was in the best
movie ever, 7 ) but the makers of this movie didn't give her much to do.
Not that that's incredibly bad. It's actually a good movie centering
around our main man Ethan Hawke's Finn (Apparently Pip wasn't cool
enough) life journey through love and surprising wealth and his dealings
with a strange old woman (Anne Bancroft). Finn goes through the movie
obsessed with Paltrow's Estella, but she is not in the movie nearly
enough to see why she is someone to obsess over. The movie wouldn't
have been as dissapointing to me if the hype and commercials wouldn't
have built up Hawke and Paltrow's relationship. And if you're looking
for similarities to the book they run few and far between, having the
prisoner character ( played by Robert DeNiro who seems to be playing two
diffwerent characters for the two scenes he's in) show up at odd places.
The final fourth of the book is never even put into play (remember, the
exciting part?) All in all, it wasn't that badf, it's probably just not
what you're expecting. (God bless bad puns)
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