Girl with a Pearl Earring

Pros: Gorgeous cinematography, Scarlett Johanssen.
Cons: The plot is nearly nonexistant, and it drags in spots.

Some years back, I became fascinated with the works of Johannes Vermeer. His small paintings of everyday life in the baroque period have always fascinated me, but now I started to have the time and leisure to really start looking at them and taking in ...

Pros: A quiet and introspective film with no glitz, no glamour.
Cons: Missing a couple of key sections of the book.

So often, the movie industry is hesitant to put out a movie if it doesn't contain a great deal of overt sex and/or larger than life violence. It's almost as if at times, they think that our senses have to be overloaded in order for us to feel like we ...

Pros: Interesting movie, maintains the viewer's attention, good acting, vivid cinematography.
Cons: No plot, no emotions.

Following the inspiration behind the famous Vermeer painting, this movie seeks to take us behind the scenes, into the tumultuous life of a young Dutch maiden, her fascination and devotion to an art that she cannot understand, and her dangerous attraction ...

Pros: cinematography, story itself
Cons: too predictable and slow, pasty look of women

There are all sorts of hidden dangers when crafting a movie based on a book. There are issues with some scenes not translating to the big screen and those who read the book will usually be the first to point out what’s missing. When both the book ...

Pros: beautiful cinematography, sets, costumes, Johannson
Cons: plot, screenplay, supporting characters

Girl with a Pearl Earring is so slow-moving at times that my friend Lisa and I burst out laughing. One too many ridiculously long, meaningful stares made me giddy. Luckily, there were only two other people in the theater, so not very many people ...

Pros: A Ravishing, Breathtaking Film from Peter Webber.
Cons: Some Omitted Characters & Subplots will Upset Fans of the Book.

When news of a film version of Tracy Chevalier’s 1998 best-selling novel “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, about the famous Johannes Vermeer painting, came to the forefront. Many who knew about film adaptations on best-selling novels it would have a hard ...

Pros: Deft recreation of period and time of Delft, Holland, 1665.
Cons: Characterization, music, plot, flimsy imagination

Back when Peter Greenaway was making good, if at least interesting films, he was justifiably praised for capturing the essence of Dutch portrait paintings on the rolling canvas of film. Not coincidentally, Greenaway is also a painter in his own ...

Pros: Beautifully photographed, leisurely pace, spare theme, demands attention
Cons: None

We were fortunate to attend a special preview screening of The Girl with the Pearl Earring a few nights ago. This film by Peter Webber is based on Tracey Chevalier’s popular novel of the same name. It is the first feature film for ...

Pros: Scarlet Johansson, the introspective storyline works after all.
Cons: Sometimes boring, gritty film.

The innocent stare of Griet as portrayed by Scarlet Johansson, is what I remember most about the Girl with a Pearl Earring. That blank stare sometimes devoid of emotions, but etched with innocent wonder; that sometimes quizzical look that played ...

Pros: Photography, detail, mood and Johansson
Cons: Plot is clumsy at times; pacing is slow, if you need explosions to have fun

First off, who was the moron in the Lions Gate marketing department who couldn't come up with a better tagline than: The Best-Selling Novel Comes Magically to Life! That's the kind of thing that you really should wait for some hack critic like Earl ...

Pros: evocative
Cons: slow

Quick, name a famous Dutch painter. Who'd you come up with? Rembrandt, perhaps, or van Gogh? You'd have to be a pretty big Art History geek to think of Johannes Vermeer, but his works are every bit as masterful as those of his famous countrymen. ...

Pros: A wonderful Scarlett Johansson; fine supporting performances and excellent production craft
Cons: Vermeer who? Film may only attract a small clique of an audience

2003 was a year for breakthrough performances, if not necessarily cinematic ones, and lost in the overwhelming praise of what a blessed year 2003 was for Sean Penn or Paris Hilton was the sensational ascent of screen wunderkind Scarlett Johansson. Having ...

Pros: Johansson, Acting, Character, Chevalier’s Novel, Plot, Setting, Cinematography, Dialogue, Music, Director, Screenwriter, Make Up
Cons: None

"Girl with a Pearl Earring" was a film adapted from Tracy Chevalier's novel. While she sold her book, the producers had a desire to make it so called the "emotional truth" of the book. Chevalier wanted to keep away from unsuitable actors, invasive music ...

Pros: Looks good, decent acting, Fundamental Idea
Cons: Pacing, Character Issues, Utter lack of genuine plot

It seems that with "Amadeus" and "Shakespeare In Love," movie writers came up with a pretty decent idea: why not make movies focusing on artists and their art? This is a fundamentally great idea. "Amadeus" tells well the story of the genius of ...

Pros: Great cast, beautiful cinematography
Cons: Dull direction, laughable script

A fancy pedigree, classy cast, and even the luminous Scarlett Johansson (‘Lost in Translation’, ‘Ghost World’) can’t save ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ from being a dull and unlikely drama about one of painter Johannes ...