Cheap Cds - Atonement [2007]

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Disapointing
Comment: I brought this film based on the good reviews people had been giving it but was seriously
disapointed in it, it didn't have much of a storyline and was a bit all over the place.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great film- deserves the Oscar nominations
Comment: Watched this last night with 3 other friends. Was a bit confused at first with the two views of
each scene but soon realised what was going on. THought the character of Byrony was good, am sure I
would have slapped her though. I thought that the actress that played her, deserved an bafta
nomination. Keira and James were brilliant. Found the film quite depressing but thats the nature of
it, dont watch it if you want to be cheered up! Thought the ending was just sublime. My biggest
praise must go to the music which has been so cleverly written. Not sure what some of these people
were watching but it certainly wasnt the same film I saw, maybe they should have read the book
first!

Customer Rating:

Summary: luckily for this film, I'm a patient person.
Comment: There was a lot of hype surrounding this film, as you know. I, a movie addict, ofcourse had to go
watch it too. So there I sat, in a cinema in London, waiting for the magic to happen. It did
alright, but for atleast the first half hour I found the ceiling more interesting to watch than the
movie.

You have to have patience for this film. Perseverance to sit through it. />For most of the first part of the movie, we see the same events twice, once as observed by
Cecilia's sister from a distance, and once "as they happen," which we later learn isn't any more
accurate than the first version.

When well done, this way of storytelling can really
work for the movie, like Morgan Freeman's voice-over did in the "Shawshank Redemption" (which is far
superb in my opinion.) In "Atonement," I'm not sure it's a success or a failure. The young Briony
worked on my nerves and this feeling increased as the film progressed and I got to see "what really
happened."
The film tries to explain the little girl's actions and opnions, which is done
well. The only thing they failed to do was to create sympathy for her. If I had a little sister like
Briony, I would've kicked her out of the house, she's that irritating.

Keira Knightly
(Cecilia) and James McAvoy (Robbie) save the movie with their great acting. Their chemistry is
fantastic and Keira really is a girl to die for in this movie. Very thin (almost anorexic) but
gorgeous nontheless.

As the movie moves on and irritating young Briony has grown up,
it becomes more bearable. Enjoyable even. It was only then that I actually relaxed in my chair
instead of making up my mind whether I'll leave the cinema or not. The scenes and soundtrack is
really well done, it's as much a piece of art as Keira is beautiful.

I'm not going to
reveal too much of the plot; you probably know already and many reviewers have put a synopsis in
their review if you need it. I just wanted to point out that the movie is very slow and detailed.
And you'll have to sit through a long time being put up with an irritating "main character" (the
movie can't seem to be able to choose between the irritating brat and the lovely couple, whose love
seems to be doomed forever)

Customer Rating:

Summary: BAFTAs no longer mean anything.
Comment: After hearing so much about this film, I decided to buy the DVD (It was on special). After the two
hours, I felt disappointed by the film, and especially the ending. Although the acting was
excellent, the plot and characterisation was terrible.
For the first 45 minutes, until it
jumps 4 years, the plot is good, and you can follow what is happening. However, there are still
problems. Firstly, the film keeps jumping between the view point of Briny, and the point of view of
Robbie and Cecilia. It is terribly unclear, and the film doesn't explain this at all. Also, the film
doesn't delve far into the characters thoughts or emotions. It doesn't tell you anything of what
happened previously to the film, despite cryptically referring to it.
Another disappointment
is how little the film shows of the romance between Robbie and Cecilia. This makes the whole affair
extremely shallow. There is no flirting, or any type of romance whatsoever. All you get to see is a
scene with them breaking a vase, and around 3 minutes worth of them having sex in the library. />Briny gets jealous of them, and tells the police that Robbie did something he didn't do; and he
gets sent to prison.
It gets much worse after the time jump. The story goes to France, where
Cecilia is working as a nurse, Briny as a trainee nurse, and Robbie of fighting as a private, after
being released from Prison. From this point on, the story looses focuses, and forgets its plot. It
becomes long drawn out, and impossible to follow. Focus changes one ach of the three characters, and
it is impossible to tell whether what you are seeing is Robbie's hallucinations, what Briny is
imagining and what is actually physically happening. There is now way of telling what is going
on.
The end though is a crime. It sends doubt over everything which happened after the time
jump, and turns the entire film into a tragedy, and leaving the viewing completely unassisted. />Overall, I believe this film is absolute "arty" nonsense. I haven't read the book, but if it just
like this long drawn out, confusing film, I hope never to read it. The very basic plot of the story
would have been very good. It's a shame that this was ruined by the shallowness of the characters
and the unclear use of time switching.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Poor
Comment: Without any doubt Atonement is a poor film. Every scene is far too try hard. Always attempting to be
a 'classical' shot in cinema that in years to come we are meant to have up on the wall as posters. I
haven't read the book so was unaware (mostly) to the plot of the film. I liked the way we saw it
from two perspectives but I found the film unintersting and limp far too often. It was clear to me
from the start that the ending would be anything but happy and whilst this is no basis to give it a
poor review the fact that I could see it coming so clearly, is. It is just a let down and I felt the
script never called for any of the participants to do much more that give these lines as if it were
a rehersal. I actually feel that there was enough there to make this pretty good. In the end I felt
it was just far to appreciative of itself. Presuming we'd all trumpet its arrival. It takes more
than a few reasonably attractive shots of the british countryside and some silhouette's to convince
a viewer this film is any good. These poor attempts to paper over obvious cracks just aren't enough.
If it were to win an academy award I'd know for sure that the Oscars know nothing and are led by
hype. By all means give it a try but I suspect it is a film that people will love or hate. It wasn't
the former for me.

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