Shine
This movie looked good in the commercials. Plus they said stuff like, "When was the last time audiences and critics agreed on a movie?" Whoa! Now there's a good point. About all I could gather from the commercials was that it was about a pianist and something about overcoming obstacles. Which, looking back, is pretty accurate.
"Shine" is actually based on the true story of pianist David Helfgott, which I didn't know until the movie was all over and the credits were rolling. It didn't make much of a difference, though. The movie still held up, and knowing he was a real guy didn't make me feel any differently about him, except that I wanted to find a biography of him and read it. Which made me realize that the movie didn't completely satisfy my need to know him. It covered David from childhood and unfortunately it wasn't able to completely explain him in adulthood. At least that's how I felt.
I got home that night and the Golden Globes were on, and I tuned in just in time to see the actor who portrayed grown-up David win the Best Actor award, which he totally deserved. He did an amazing job of playing a man who was mentally unstable, yet very lovable and sympathetic.
The thing about "Shine" was that every shot in the film was a photograph. As the movie went on, I kept thinking about how the direction was geared toward making it look beautiful, which really affected the story, because I don't think the story was as strong as it could've been. But you were so busy admiring the beauty of the film that you didn't notice so much or even care that there were gaps. I wanted more explained to me. Like what happened to him, and why he snapped when he did. And what was happening in his mind while he was babbling and acting silly. We got to know many other things, but not that.
I don't see why people are making such a big deal out of this movie. It was an excellent movie. It was well worth seeing. It did, however, leave something to be desired. For me. So maybe it's just me. It just wasn't "The English Patient", that's all.