Judi Dench is fantastic at any roles she plays.
However, this movie was just disappointing at best.

Nothing but the same tired stereotypes of women.

Sad/lonely pathetic spinster with cats.
Predatory lesbian.
Prudish old battleaxe.
Emotional vampire.

Disatisfied housewife has affair, feels guilty, wants to return.
Lonley woman just wanting to feel ‘wanted’.
etc. etc.

The film is rather timeless, you could almost set this film in anytime as greed is (unfortunately) ageless.

For the Hubbards, greed is stronger than family ties or anything else for that matter. They steal from everyone (including each other) and take advantage of the working poor and the disadvantaged minorities. They think only of themselves.

Bette Davis is superb (of course) and her character Regina Giddons (nee Hubbard) is fascinating in its replulsiveness and sheer selfishness. For those who believe the cliched stereotypes that woman are naturally loving, nurturing, & selfless—here’s a good example otherwsie. Her contempt for those who are “soft”, her refusal to aid her husband (unless there was something in it for her) is possibly even more chilling than if she had made a direct attempt to end his life.

It was refreshing to see (esp. in an old film) a young woman “Zan” being encouraged by the men who love her to think for herself and to question authority. She’s being taught to think about the greater good, to break her family’s mold and to care about others.

Warning: you need to be able to deal with situations/beliefs that would be appalling today.
This is very much a movie of its time.

So if you can (temporarily!) ignore the racism of its portrayal of African-Americans as buffoons/simpletons and if you can (temporarily!) ignore the gendered assumptions that women are a bit illogical, a bit too fond of clothes/jewelry, etc. and that women should use their bodies/sexuality for gain—you can enjoy this film.

It’s incredibly silly. Don’t try to analyze the plot. The ending is ridiculously simplistic.
It’s your standard screwball comedy that tries to spin a romantic love story on the idea of “divorcing for love”. The dialogue (by Preston Sturges who also directs) is quite sharp and witty and makes the movie enjoyable (despite it’s flaws). Colbert & McCrea are good at what they do and work well together.

So if you like this sort of thing, (the genre, the actors, the director, etc.) – you’ll probably enjoy this film.

This is a sort of sequel to God of Gamblers (Du Shen) w/ Chow Yun Fat and also a sequel to Stephen Chow’s “All for the Winner”.
However 3 years later the same director made Du Shen 2 which was also called God Of Gamblers 2.

I’m not a Michael Bay fan – I think he’s all about explosions and overthetop action at the expense of plot.
But I love scifi movies & I like Ewan McGregor so I rented it anyway.
The plot was ok. Sort of a Logans Run meets THX1138.

But the constant stream of obvious pointed product placement the entire length of the film was revolting!

Additionally, any film made in my lifetime makes a joke about not giving women credit cards can not be a film I would recommend to anyone.

I’m a fan of both Gary Cooper and Fritz Lang films, and while I don’t think this film is either person’s greatest work, I did enjoy it.

I think it’s important to think about the time this was filmed and to think about how close it was to the events at the time, coming mere months after the US had bombed the Japanese.

I think it was an important step at the time to make us aware of the dangers of nuclear weapons.

I felt the film was careful not to turn into a propoganda piece trying to stir up hatred and fear.

I also enjoyed see the “average” (if we all looked like movie stars) people doing what they could to fight the enemy. This wasn’t supposed to be a trained James Bond, just someone truly concerned with helping as he could.

I think what I liked best about the film is that it actually featured strong female characters. There was a famous and respected female nuclear physicists (in a world where women are STILL discriminated against in the sciences at Ivy League schools)! There was a female spy. There was a schoolteacher turned resistance fighter. There were evil women who killed. Women were just as much a part of everything that went on as anyone else.

Spoiler warning
Without revealing too much, I’d like to say that I also enjoyed the ending! How novel to see duty was chosen over escape or personal comfort. Coming from a woman (who has probably been socialized that men/love is everything) – that was refreshing to see in a movie! No unrealistically wrapped up happy ending.

Ok, it wasn’t even that great of a documentary. I thought the editing was poorly done.

It needs to be seen just to see those actual words coming out of an actual person’s mouth.
It needs to be seen by people who think insane religous fanatics building an army and indoctrinating people doesn’t happen in the US.

I really did think it was a stereotype of the crazy Christians and that there were just a few nutcase out there – but I was startled to learn there are a lot of them out there!

This movie scared me. It angered me. I pittied the poor children being indoctrinated in ignorance and blind faith. I was embarrassed and saddened to watch children not allowed to learn science (evolution, global warming, etc.)

People like this give organized religon a bad name!

The good thing about this film is that it energized me to fight back against their anti-government, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-choice stances and attempts to infiltrate the govt and tell me how to live my life. If they’re spoiling for a fight and creating “gods army”, I think we have no choice but to stand up to them.

After seeing this movie I made a donation to Americans United for Sep. of Church & State and I’m thinking of upping my next donation to Planned Parenthood and any other group that has to fight these kind of people.

AKA: Jing zhuong zhui nu zi zhi er

AKA:
Zai jian ying xiong (1988)

Joi gin ying hung (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

There are too many reviews already praising this film indepth.
I just had to add that having been to Berlin a few years ago and visting the Checkpoint Charlie museum and reading about the history of the city during WWII and after – I was incredibly interested in how citizens of East Germany lived during those times. (I regretted then and now DEEPLY regret not finding time to visit the Stasi archives/ museum!)

That would have been enough for a great film, but the painful reality of our current government taking away our civil rights and warrantless wiretapping it’s citizens makes this resonate much more personally.

And I didn’t even make the connection to the fact that the film starts in 1984 (surely a nod to Orwell) until I read some other comments.

The film does have a few minor flaws, but it has so much resonance that it becomes a great film.

p.s. I kept thinking the main actor resembled Kevin Spacey – I’m sad to hear that he passed away. He was great and I would have liked to see him in more.