A brilliant movie that should never have won Best Picture at the Oscars.

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 1999)

I had seen 'Saving Private Ryan'. I went into the theatre thinking to myself; "If this movie beat 'Saving Private Ryan' then it must be incredible!!". As I watch the movie, I am greeted by some of the best acting I have seen in a movie. A brilliant cast with Judi Dench and Geoffrey Rush as standouts. They really stole the show! (A little more time with them would have been nice.) I liked Gwyneth Paltrow, partly because I am a 16 year-old male, and partly because I have seen her in other movies and I have been a slight fan. The screenplay was incredible! You were really made to think that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet that way! Directing was great. Not a Spielberg by any means, but still good. The sets, the costumes, the sound everything was there! I had a great time watching it...yet I couldn't help but think afterwards that I had been hoodwinked.
I was racking my brains trying to think about the little problem, that minor issue that annoyed me about this movie. I kept thinking to myself; "What am I on about? It was a great movie, brilliant in all respects. What on Earth is it???". Then it hit me, and I don't think anybody has picked this up about it. The pace.
The movie was almost like a Shakespeare play in itself and Shakespeare plays are meant to be taken at a slow pace so that you can understand what is going on. I felt as if after I watched it I still hadn't seen it. It stopped right at the point it should have started. I suppose I might have to see it another time to satisfy my wants, but I don't think it deserved to win Best Picture at the Oscars over 'Saving Private Ryan'. A great and enchanting movie with a brilliant way of going about it. I must look more at the positives, though, and not worry so much about the negatives, but I definitely need to see this another time or maybe two, just so I can truly get the feel of it in me.