Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Brennan Camacho
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
urnotdb
Title word was coined as the capital of hell in a line (recited in the film) from Milton's Paradise Lost. The film examines the politics of poetry in turn-of 18th century England. New approaches to science and government were reflected in a radical/conservative rift among artists. Interesting look at what might have inspired and constrained Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan." Sounds boring but isn't; imaginative depiction of Coleridge's drug-induced visions and how he may have visualized what he was about to write during his "research" (like Method acting). I knew the famous lines from these poems but now I might be better prepared to read the rest. Intriguing, multi-layered story (don't know if it's "true" but certainly plausible) might have benefited from more historical background. Good performances; subtle Samantha Morton.
gorgan
This movie is totally divorced from the historical realities of the subject matter it purports to represent. It fabricates intrigues and events that never happened to Wordsworth and Coleridge, and omits important stages and events in their lives, like their trip to Germany, or Coleridge's sojourn in Malta.If you make it through the lousy acting and made-for-TV cheesy production values to the climax of the film, you are treated to a ridiculously lurid scene where we learn of betrayal and harm that just never happened in real life.One clue that the screenwriter Boyce had no interest in maintaining any sense of historical accuracy can be seen in that fact that he has his characters refer to Coleridge as "Sam". As it turns out, throughout his life, Coleridge was called by friends and associates "Col" or "Samuel" or "Estece" (from his initials "S.T.C.") but never just plain "Sam".
George Parker
A drama first and biopic second, "Pandaemonium" tells of the midlife of renown classical wordsmith and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge who's life was not terribly interesting though he was on the cutting edge of 19th century neoromantic poetry. Probably taking some liberties for dramatic purposes, the film involves the poet's relationships with William Wordsworth, his opium addiction, his troubled marriage, and, of course, his struggle with the demons of the creative process. Visually beautiful, well acted, but a tad theatrical with some annoying interjections, Pandaemonium" is probably too esoteric for the film-going public at large. A splendid effort which will likely be most appreciated by those into classical literature - particularly 19th century poetry. (B)
Josef Tura-2
(minor spoiler)where Wordsworth turns with gleeful villainy and spouts some sort of line like "I destroyed it because I DETEST it, and everything it stood for." And then he curls his moustache and ties Coleridge's small son to a railroad track... wellmaybe I made up that last part... The performers were quite good, but script was awful because the script I assume was written on a bet to try and mix a Scooby-Doo adventure with BBC melodrama. Because at the end our villain is unmasked, our hero is vindicated and Wordsworth might have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those darn hippies. CURSES, foiled again.This film is an embarrassment to history, to screenwriting, and to literature. I gave this film a 1 because there is no zero.