I watched this on the plane a few days ago and it was awful. Catherine Zeta Jones' accent was cringeworthy. I didn't feel for any of the characters at all. And it had that stupid cliche line that's in all movies like this- Q: "How did you do that?" A: "Magic!".
Don't see this movie.
I agree with you -- her accent was awful and the movie itself was crap. The worst thing was the voiceover narration.
"I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles." -- Mike Huckabee, February 9th, 2008
I totally agree with you. Just an awful excuse for a motion picture. Catherine Zeta Jones was horrible. As an aging actress, she needs to cover up more of that unflattering body of hers. She needs to get real. The story was ridiculous and a slap in the face to Harry Houdini. I think it's rotten how film makers always take liberties with the lives of dead people and try to make them into something they weren't. It's defamation at its worst. Anyways, just a loser of a film overall, insulting to anyone with an IQ in double digits or higher.
share*spoilers here*
Agreed. Also, the way Houdini died in the end was crap, even if it was factual. The legend is that he dies doing a trick, not getting punched in the liver. Lame.
It may be "lame" and less exciting, but it's true! At least this movie tried to stay somewhat true to the facts. Other movies have Houdini dying during his Water Torture Cell trick. This is the first Houdini one I've seen that was accurate! At least give it credit for that.
And I personally think that Catherine Zeta-Jones is still beautiful, even as she ages. We all are aging, and she still looks pretty good to me!
It may be "lame" and less exciting, but it's true! At least this movie tried to stay somewhat true to the facts. Other movies have Houdini dying during his Water Torture Cell trick. This is the first Houdini one I've seen that was accurate! At least give it credit for that.
In the movie after he is punched, it is written (DIRECTLY WRITTEN ON-SCREEN) that Houdini died from complications with a ruptured appendix. It never claimed the punch killed him on site. So implying he died right there by the punch, is just not true.
And being accurate regarding his death does not require being accurate to his height. If you only like movies that are 100% accurate to true events, you're missing so many great movies.
There is some fact to this story. It seems that part of what Houdini did was stress his body beyond normal means to show he could use his mind to control his body. Think David Blaine In a Block of ice in Times Square... etc...
The story goes that he claimed that no one could knock him down with one punch or something, and this guy punched him in the liver earlier that day... Not sure if it caused him permanent injury, but it supposedly impeded his ability to do the Chinese Water Torture effect which he had done more than a few times successfully. Not exactly sure what the story was but the punch to the kidney was supposed to be a contributing factor.
Unfortunately many people believe that Harry Houdini died IN the water torture tank...and that he had died the first time he attempted the trick. This is simply something Hollywood made up for their movie with Tony Curtis, it played up the drama. Just shows how fiction can replace fact in the minds of people, who do not know whether to believe a story told to them, from someone, who heard it from someone who heard it from someone who was there, or believe a story told to them by someone who might have just watched the movie and confused it with an actual story told by someone...etc, etc, etc.
Sometimes before we shout out.." that's not how it happened." one needs to make sure their sources are credible. If you wish to know the real story of Harry Houdini, the best source is S.A.M. or I.B.M. ( not the corporation.).
From Wikipedia:
Houdini made a number of movies, but quit acting when it failed to bring in money. He was also a keen aviator, and aimed to become the first man to fly a plane in Australia, but according to the official definition of sustained flight, he was beaten to it by two others. Even the circumstances of his death were dramatic and mysterious. According to one version, a student in Montreal asked him if his stomach was hard enough to take any blow, to which he replied that it was, whereupon the student rained a series of blows on it before Houdini had had time to tense up. A few days later, he died of a ruptured appendix. But this may have been unconnected, as he had already been suffering appendicitis and refusing to seek medical attention.[1]
does it prove it was so? No, it just proves that when it comes to harry Houdini... chances are, no one knows. Except the doctor that performed his autopsy, if there was one.
WHAT??? CZJ is gorgeous, and always has been. People like you are the reason women in Hollywood (and by extension, woman all over this country and the world) are judged so unfairly. Is it realistic to expect a 20-year-old woman to look 20 for the rest of her life? Is that even LOGICAL??? She didn't even take off her clothes in this flick, what movie were you watching? You think that because she's over 40, she should dress like a NUN??
This movie was dreadful, for a LOT of reasons -- but CZJ's body wasn't one of them!
"I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles." -- Mike Huckabee, February 9th, 2008
You have to be joking CZJ is a badly aging raddled actress of very little talent except for gold digging which she is the worlds top expert.
The film was one of the worst for very lazy script and as for the acting well I seen far better in an infant school nativity play.
The whole horrible mess was Ghastly.
you can clearly see why CZJ has hitched her self to the fourtune Of the douglas clan.
As her so called talent if she ever had any has long since left town in a great hurry.
Agreed - the movie wasn't nearly as bad as people here make it out to be. But then, too many audiences don't appreciate character studies. If things aren't blowing up real good, they don't have the attention span to appreciate a movie like this.
But regardless of that, Saoirse Ronan stole the movie. She has been just outstanding in everything she has been in. Unfortunately, she has been in some really bad movies ("I Could Never Be Your Woman" was infinitely worse than "Death Defying Acts", and still she was excellent in it).
Catherine Zeta-Jones was also excellent in this film, showing again what a talented actress she is. The movie is worth seeing just for Ronan's and Zeta-Jones' performances.
I am glad I saw the movie.
I enjoy it a lot.
I am glad I never care about IMDB reviews, becoz your arguments are completely out of reasons.
Catherine Zeta Jones' accent was cringeworthy
stupid cliche line that's in all movies like this- Q: "How did you do that?" A: "Magic!".
Her accent was fine and it did what it had to do. As someone that has been accused of being from all manner of other countries to which I have never been, all because I 'speak funny', I can tell you that accents are not so easily pigionholed. All I did was pronounce things fully and I was suddenly 'foreign'.
Many people have accents that change as they get older, absorb from other people or are just peculiar. To say that 'she wasn't Scottish enough' or whatever is to say that all Scottish people speak the exact same way. That is a pretty limited world view.
Besides, we don't know if she WAS Scottish. The film doesn't say. We don't know where she grew up and who she grew up with. I have heard all manner of broken, mixed and bastardised accents in my time as a language teacher (and these are from the OTHER ENGLISH TEACHERS!).
(EDIT - people don't bother adding to threads of the same topic, so why shouldn't I just post this reply again?)
I do agree with all those who love this movie becaus it is simply put a lovely, beautifully and full of wonder made work! Not to forget Artfull and greatly acted out by each person in it. Which, to end, is ofcourse my opinion. Do watch it would be my advice...!!
shareYou got it all wrong.
The people complaining about her accent is right. There's only one 'scottish' and every person in a country speaks the exact same way. And people moving to the country starts speaking with the same accent instantly.
xD
The funniest thing though.. is that some of the people complaining about accents, only know accents from movies :).
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