8 1/2 Women

Pros: Some truly hilarious dialogue
Cons: After we become accustomed to having our notions of what is tabboo swept aside, there's not much that the film can do to challenge or amuse us

"Dickens? Heavens no! A Dickens heroine would never let you see her sitting on the loo. A Jane Austen heroine just might."

Despite its title (an obvious reference to Fellini's Otto e Mezzo), 8 1/2 Women is...

Pros: Greenaway Knows How to Frame a Scene
Cons: Often Leans Towards Perversion at Art's Sake

"How many film directors make films to fulfill their own sexual fantasies?"

Such are the words of Philip Emmenthal (Standing) as he contemplates Fellini's standings after seeing 8½ and making his own personal brothel of unusual,...

Pros: John Standing, Matthew Delamare, Polly Walker
Cons: None of the visual style that made Greenaway famous

Peter Greenaway's films are always a challenge, even for his most devoted admirers. I am a member of that group. I traveled 90 minutes each way to see his new film '8 1/2 Women'. His films are incredibly (really, an understatement) complex, both visually...

Pros: Interesting concepts
Cons: Many times boring

Back in the mid-1980s there was a catchy little ditty from The Nails about the singer's real or imagined sexual encounters with 44 distinct women. Appropriately titled "88 Lines About 44 Women," the song was one of those one-hit wonders that...

Pros: can't think of a one
Cons: banal tripe

If you loved Peter Greenaway's other flims for their lyric visuals and surrealism, skip 8 1/2 Women. If you know nothing about Peter Greenaway but just want a jaunt into decadent and misogynistic sexuality, you should still skip this movie.

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Pros: Anything by Peter Greenaway is worthwhile; Sacha Vierny's excellent cinematography; intricate dialogue; outstanding performances by John Standing, Matthew Delamere and Polly Walker
Cons: Subject matter GUARANTEED to offend; a comatose performance by the usually reliable Toni Collette; Amanda Plummer... period (she really went from intriguing talent to mannered pariah in no time flat)

I must admit that the films of Peter Greenaway introduced me to a cinematic world I never knew existed. Since "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" came out in the late-eighties amidst much controversy, I've been what you may call...

Pros: A few arresting images
Cons: Quite possibly Greenaway's worst movie

I used to consider myself an ardent Greenaway aficionado. The Draughtsman's Contract, The Belly of An Architect and Drowning By Numbers were visually spectacular, daring and challenging films, and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover was a...

Pros: Can't think of any
Cons: Boring, lacks plot, very bizarre

As a Vivian Wu fan, I expected 8½ Women to be a good follow-up to her performance in The Pillow Book. Unfortunately, this movie didn't have much of a plot, and was basically about a father and son and their harem of women. Not much to the movie other...

Pros: Nothing
Cons: Waste of time and money

He continues to create this movies that make you leave the theater thinking -- How can someone actually create a movie like that. Greenaway seems to have a habit of trying deliberately to disgust his viewers.

I am sorry to say that it was one...