Sadly Over-hyped

Good movie but grossly overrated

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Angela's Ashes (1999): Dir: Alan Parker / Cast: Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens, Michael Legge: Fashioned together by many effective subplots that could stand alone. Title refers to trials and heartaches of a woman who raises her children practically by herself yet losing some in the process. Her husband constantly wastes their income at the bars. This subplot is unfortunately left hanging in conclusion. Director Alan Parker does a skilled job. His range of genres stretches from Midnight Express to Pink Floyd: The Wall. Strong acting by Emily Watson who pushes forward despite overbearing odds and every problem that presented itself. Robert Carlyle as her drunken husband knows how low he has sunk and the disappointment he presents to his family. One could say that he just lived on with emotional consequences but that area of the story seems loosely handled. Joe Breen, Michael Legge and Ciaran Owens are the young actors who portray Angela's son whose point of view we observe throughout. They are featured to represent each of the three acts that doesn't quite payoff the screenplay. He sympathizes with his father but feels closure with his mother whom risked much so that he may obtain a future. It is a well crafted film that doesn't always work but its message is mending life where others saw fit to break it. Score: 7 / 10

A distraught young family make the long journey from America back to Ireland to discover it is much worse than when they left.Starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle.Written by Frank McCourt ( Book ), Laura Jones (Screenplay) and Alan Parker (Screenplay).Directed by Alan Parker.This is an incredibly touching and well acted movie. I was especially impressed with the young actors. They always say never to work with animals or children but I don't think I've ever watched a film with better acting performances from children.As well as the terrific acting, the storyline is emotionally compelling and at times pretty hilarious. The location filming is superb and it is overall a brilliantly produced movie. It is nostalgic, heart warming and terrifying in equal measure.I haven't read the original book yet but I have a feeling it's probably even better. I'll have to read it at some point.Great film.10/10

I'd have more respect for the author if he'd stayed in Ireland and tried to do something positive for his people."Author" being the appropriate word as apparently Mr McCourt later admitted to making a significant proportion of "Angela's Ashes" up. "Welcome to Ireland - please set your watches back 100 years" as the Aer Lingus cabin crew used to say jokingly to one another. I blame the Brits - I mean why not?You'll never get to heaven if you blame The Pope now will you? However you dress it up,the McCourt's unquestioning acceptance of the Church's teachings and their own position at the absolute bottom of the pile were at least partly to blame for the intense misery of their lives. Set in what is clearly Limerick's rainy season,the movie is an unremitting grind of squalor.Women are merely baby - making machines and if you lose one child you can have another soon enough so you can. In complete contrast to the wonderful "The Commitments" where the very existence of the group is a two - fingered affront to the perceived roles of its members,"Angela's Ashes" shows the Irish people to be fearful,superstitious and totally subservient to the Church/State which is a sign of how much the country has developed in the intervening years. Mr R.Carlyle has a fine old time as the drunken wastrel father .Weak,gaunt and haunted,he is too much of a stereotype to engage any sympathy.Miss E.Watson,doomed to eternal pregnancy by her faith is stoic and loving. "Angela's Ashes" was a huge success as a book because you could put it down,open a nice Merlot,knock up an environmentally friendly sustainable snack then continue to read about some poor sods starving to death in a freezing cold country as you wriggled your toes in your Peruvian Lama wool socks. In the cinema there was no such comfort - hence the movie did rather less well. Misery - it is said - loves company.But apparently only in the privacy of your own home.

I won't begin to repeat or re-hash the numerous excellent comments on this movie. I'm in the camp of thinking it is a masterpiece, with excellent performances. I watched the movie just this week, and am starting the book now; I'll be interested to see what I think after I read the book.The one comment I'd make is that the movie could have been shortened. I was surprised that it was nearly 2 1/2 hours long. I think that, as sometimes happens, there was a feeling that the entire book needed to be captured; some judicious editing would have been desirable. For instance, as has been pointed out, fewer scenes with the chamber pot would still have conveyed the point. (Not sure if this is a true "spoiler", but better to be safe than sorry...) Notwithstanding that, the movie never "dragged" for me; and in spite of the obviously dreary nature of much of the movie, I was not depressed by it at any point. I guess that this is partly due to the fact that the resilience of the human spirit shown through the entire story.