Anyone seen Monster's Ball (2001)?

I’ve been sitting on this idea for about a week now—trying to decide if I should actually start a thread or if someone else beat me to it already. If this has been done before, my bad! I was finally nudged to post by Dante, who was saying something along the lines of, "...why don't you guys start threads about movies you've watched lately?"—or at least that's how I remember him saying it.🙂 Cheers. Here's looking at you!

Anyway, Monster's Ball is definitely one of those heavier movies I caught recently—it really sticks with you. The title sounds a bit silly at first, which might put some people off, but it’s not actually what it sounds like. Just as a reminder—Halle Berry won an Oscar for her role in it.
Besides Halle, you've also got the stubborn Billy Bob Thornton in the mix.

The movie is pretty depressing overall—even with that somewhat Hollywood happy ending thrown in. It feels like it hits all those heavy themes—misanthropy, racism, sheer apathy, and that whole crime-and-punishment vibe—it’s almost like listening to a Latin lecture, honestly. 😁 Anyway, back to the usual topics—those deep, endless debates that honestly feel bigger than the movie itself. It feels like a losing battle we’re all fighting from day one—whether we're having a rough go of it or not—just because we were born with this awareness of how fleeting everything is. We're basically just constantly wrestling with time and the fact that nothing lasts. But, uh, anyway. I don't want to sound like that total philosophy geek over on the Reddit forums. 😉
So, you get those emotional gut punches and all those sharp spikes—but it’s handled pretty subtly, I guess. They don't just shove the point right in your face—which is probably for the best.

Anyway, if you caught it—go ahead and dive in!

It’s a bit of a heavy watch, but honestly, it's pretty good...
Halle Berry really knows how to deliver an incredible performance when she wants to...
And she’s definitely got a great figure, too...

...My take? Halle Berry looks great, but the rest of the movie is just total American trash... It drags on for two hours when it could've been over in 45 minutes... I don't know... maybe I just don't get this kind of stuff...👎

...honestly, I couldn't care less about the movie Green Mile either....it just drags on for three hours and there's no Halle Berry.

I’m totally with you on Green Mile. It’s like if Forrest Gump were a prison guard—plus you’ve got that scene at the end where the big Black guy is vomiting up those bugs...
🙄
But hey, I guess that’s just what you get when a movie is based on a Stephen King story, right?
Personally, I think Monster's Ball feels way darker and more profound.
(Within the usual Hollywood mainstream constraints, obviously.)

Peter Williams9 said:Well, I guess that's what happens when you try to adapt a Stephen King story.

Oof, this feels like a total mess of a Stephen King adaptation, and honestly, that's a mistake. Don't go there. 😉

On a different note, I have nothing but praise for Monster's Ball. It was easily one of my top five films from last year. The cast is fantastic—Billy Bob Thornton and Peter Boyle were great, and Halle Berry gave a really solid performance...

The direction and script are top-notch, the music is appropriately heavy, and the ending lands perfectly. How could you ask for more?

Especially that incredibly powerful scene between Peter Boyle and Halle Berry, where she storms out of the house at the end of their talk right toward Billy just to tell him, "I met your dad!" 👍

Kiki said:Bleak, but alright.
Halle Berry can really act when she wants to.
Plus, she's got a great body.

And she’s a total ice queen!👎

Her ex even went public with that one...😢

Oh, please, don't you dare go thinking she’s cold or anything like that... It honestly seems to me like her partner just loves to tear down everything and everyone in his path because he’s clearly struggling with a massive inferiority complex since his wife is actually more successful and popular than he is, so he tries to justify his own cheating by making up these ridiculous excuses about how Halle Berry is "frigid"...
🙄

I’m such an idiot—clearly I have no clue how to bold a specific part of the text. It was supposed to be just '...King adaptations'

This isn't exactly light reading.
🙄

I haven't even sat through the movie, but I’m giving it 300 points just for the breasts. Those curves were everywhere. 😁

Peter Williams9 said:The Shining with Jack Nicholson is probably just that classic "exception to the rule... blah blah".

Personally, I think Shawshank Redemption is actually one of the most successful King adaptations out there.

Peter Williams9 said:Totally with you on The Green Mile. That whole thing with Forrest Gump acting like some prison guard, then that big guy at the end throwing up those bugs... just wild.
🙄
But hey, what else can you really expect from a movie based on a Stephen King story?
I still think Monster's Ball hits way harder and goes much deeper.
(At least within the usual Hollywood mainstream bullshit, anyway.)

MB is darker and deeper than GM 😕
Oh, please... MB is "dark and deep"? Give me a break...
----------------that movie is stupid
I have no clue how HBO even snagged an Oscar for it
And I definitely don't get how BBT walked away with an AJ

Why are you guys hating on GM so much?
If you haven't actually read the book, just keep it to yourself.

😁

...if only they’d do a remake of Lingerie.

Peter Morris58 said:It was pretty dull. The acting wasn't anything special, and I don't really get why she won an Oscar when she barely even appears in most of the scenes.

I just finished watching it myself. Poison isn't that movie; you were clearly watching some other "what's-it-called" film... 😁.
Personally, I found the film quite enjoyable, and as someone else mentioned, it is certainly one of the top five films from last year—at least among those I've seen. Comparing it to "The Green Mile"? Well, I think drawing such a comparison is almost an insult to this film. As for the cast, everyone truly rose to the occasion. ("It runs for two hours, though it could have been forty-five minutes" 🙄 ) On the contrary, I feel the pacing was actually spot on—though perhaps it could have used a couple of car chases 🙄? Furthermore, the ending was handled with a subtle touch to avoid feeling overly Hollywood; there is a slight sense of fatalism and impending doom to it. It was very well done.

Honestly, the movie wasn't all that—plus, she already showed off her assets in a previous film, so I'm feeling pretty let down... I'm just mourning the loss of those two CDs I gave them, only to have them get fried...

Now, The Green Mile could have actually worked if they wanted it to, but once you throw in that goofy Tom Hanks, the whole plot just becomes incredibly idiotic—the casting alone makes the entire thing feel cheap...

The Shining... okay, that's a great film, but only if you've decided to enter a deep hibernation for like two or three months, or maybe if you're looking to experience what it feels like to wake up from a coma... man, people, this movie is three hours long; anyone who sits through it in one go deserves a massive medal from the highest office in the land... it's just pure exhaustion, featuring one single scene that’s absolutely terrifying... pathetic...

King's adaptations aren't always total disasters—(Shawshank, Misery, Carrie)—but they don't come anywhere close to the books...

I find myself struggling to see the connection between The Green Mile and Monster's Ball

By the way, while I wouldn't go so far as to call it a masterpiece, it remains one of those rare films that manages to capture the true essence of the American South today—particularly when you consider the rural stretches of Georgia (and I am quite certain the same applies to Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and beyond).
There is this pervasive sense of being trapped, an inescapable cycle of existence where Black Americans find themselves caught on the fringes, passing down the same struggles from one generation to the next. These are places where people have simply accepted their circumstances as the baseline for life, moving through existence with a quiet resignation. They inhabit neighborhoods and small towns where role models are nonexistent, where higher education feels like a distant dream, and where a stint in prison, probation, or even petty theft—like stealing bicycles or car parts—is seen as a common trajectory. It is a world where a meal from Popeyes is a staple and a future career at Wendy's feels like an inevitability. These are communities that have cultivated their own parallel culture, first by being told by outsiders that this way of life is acceptable, and eventually, by convincing themselves of it as well.

I found this movie pretty hard to swallow. At the start, Thornton's character chases two kids off his property just because they're Black. By the end, though, he isn't even acting racist anymore 😕

The only part that actually landed for me was the dark humor at the end—that moment where they’re sitting by the door and you realize there's a third corpse after he's already put his father away. Not to mention the guy's constant habit of ordering black coffee and chocolate ice cream at the diner.

Passed out after like thirty minutes of watching.

Sorry, I just had to.

😛

Maybe I'll have to retake it today...😁 😉