Diagonaldi Very well executed

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

wxl51 This just in, folks: Women (all, no matter how depraved) are good; men (all, no matter how virtuous) are bad.Meat- eaters bad, vegetarians good.The ONLY reason I didn't rate it one star is the somewhat decent performances by Pfeiffer and Lange.Talk about Hollywood trashing the heartland - as it is so fond of doing.The producers and directors should collectively be hanged. What more does IMDb require to write a review?

ninja77 SPOILERS... I had just finished this excellent book and was excited about seeing the film. In particular I was looking for resonant scenes like Larry's kitchen cabinets left out in the rain, the building chemistry between Ginny and Jess, the mounting sense of loss felt by Ginny when each of her family members betrays her, particularly the last wounding blow from Rose. The film rushes from scene to scene, never giving any moment time to resonate with emotion. The result is the feeling that you don't get to know or care about any of the characters. In the book I felt sorrow and shock when Pete died, in spite of his many flaws. In the film he is about as two-dimensional as you can get. Jessica Lange has chops as an actress and could have made Ginny into the sympathetic character she is in the book. Unfortunately, the screenplay and direction didn't allow for it. The film feels mechanical, almost like you can picture the director checking off each scene in her to-do list. Make the breast cancer known, check. Show attraction between Ginny and Jess by having him touch her neck, check. Show Larry deciding to give up the farm, check. I agree with those who said it felt like a Lifetime special. I'm disappointed because the actors are top-notch, especially the freakishly gorgeous Michelle Pfeifer and the criminally under-rated Jennifer Jason Leigh. The land was just as much a character in the book as any of the people, and I wonder what the director could have been thinking by not showing this more. In the end you feel like the sexual abuse and the death of a sister are manipulative plot devices to jerk out the tears. I blame the direction and the screenplay adaptation. Terrence Mallick could have done justice to this great book. I wonder what Jane Smiley thought.

oskie-1 When I unsuspectedly rented A Thousand Acres, I thought I was in for an entertaining King Lear story and of course Michelle Pfeiffer was in it, so what could go wrong?Very quickly, however, I realized that this story was about A Thousand Other Things besides just Acres. I started crying and couldn't stop until long after the movie ended. Thank you Jane, Laura and Jocelyn, for bringing us such a wonderfully subtle and compassionate movie! Thank you cast, for being involved and portraying the characters with such depth and gentleness! I recognized the Angry sister; the Runaway sister and the sister in Denial. I recognized the Abusive Husband and why he was there and then the Father, oh oh the Father... all superbly played. I also recognized myself and this movie was an eye-opener, a relief, a chance to face my OWN truth and finally doing something about it. I truly hope A Thousand Acres has had the same effect on some others out there.Since I didn't understand why the cover said the film was about sisters fighting over land -they weren't fighting each other at all- I watched it a second time. Then I was able to see that if one hadn't lived a similar story, one would easily miss the overwhelming undercurrent of dread and fear and the deep bond between the sisters that runs through it all. That is exactly the reason why people in general often overlook the truth about their neighbors for instance.But yet another reason why this movie is so perfect!I don't give a rat's ass (pardon my French) about to what extend the King Lear story is followed. All I know is that I can honestly say: this movie has changed my life.Keep up the good work guys, you CAN and DO make a difference.

MetaLark **** Possible Spoiler **** If you were making a serious movie involving a powerful, but aging father with three apparently ungrateful daughters, featuring actors of the highest caliber, with great cinematography and a beautiful Midwestern setting, now where would you go with it? Why, you'd fashion a modern tragedy after "King Lear" of course.That's what I was expecting. That certainly wasn't what I got. What I got was 105 minutes of feminist tripe--one long harangue about man's inhumanity to woman. Why, there wasn't a decent male in the entire story. You see early on where this film might be headed, but you can't believe anyone would waste all these fine actors and craftsmen on that trite scenario--you just want them to get on with the King Lear theme. But it never happens; and there's the real tragedy if you ask me.Aside from the panorama of glorious rural heartland, about the only thing worth watching in this film was that wonderful chameleon, British actor Colin Firth, practicing his Midwestern accent. Now there was a treat.3/10