Conference bookie::movies

I too enjoyed this movie very much.  Thought all actors were good and give 
credit to the director for the "naturalness" of the nudity - didn't seem 
exploitive at all - thought the scene where Liam went swimming was pretty
funny/awkward (as it should be)  I agree that the courtroom scene was not 
as dramatic as I thought it would be.  Also would have liked to have seen 
a little more development of the relationship between Liam and Natasha's
characters before the end of the movie and, what happened to Nell 
immediately following the court decision - skipping ahead 6 years left out 
a lot of info.  Thought the chemistry between Liam and Natasha was fairly 
evident - good thing since they are married in real life.  However, I 
thought the chemistry between him and Jodie was even stronger.  Just the
way the characters are written I guess.  Did anyone else start thinking 
about just how many backwoods people there might be?  Could people exist 
without *any* outside contact?  

    Can someone give a short synopsis of what Nell is really about? The
    trailers (for once) don't give much away. Is Jodie supposed to be 
    just a backwoods person, or slightly retarded?
    
    Is Natasha Richardson American or British?
    
    
    Thanks,
    
    Marilyn

    From what I gather, Nell is raised in the woods by a mother who has a
    stroke causing a speech impediment. (This gives the movie its plot -
    trying to unravel her language, rather than deal with classic wild
    child questions such as, "Is language learned or innate?") The mother
    dies when she's still a child, and she survives on her own. She's not
    mentally disabled at all.

    Natasha Richardson is English, the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave.

    Lisa

a bit more without giving too much away...

	Nell's mother used to have a local kid delivery supplies to a
	rock where she would leave a money pouch.  One day the kid 
	decided to go up to the shack and sees the mother dead on the
	floor, but obviously not as she had fallen (Nell had crossed her
	arms and put flowers over her eyes).  The local doctor (Liam) is
	called in, and he discovers Nell.  No one had any idea that she
	existed.  Natasha Richardson's character is contacted by the doctor
	to try and help break the language barrier.  The court case involves
	whether or not Nell *needs* outside assistance (ie. is she 
	competent?) or whether or not she can be left alone to be self
	sufficient.  There are other important aspects to the story, but
	I wouldn't want to give anymore away (and hope I haven't already
	said too much for some people!)

    I'm expressing an dissenting view of Nell. 
    
    I did not enjoy the movie as much as I'd hoped to. I thought Jodi 
    Foster's performance was marginal. The court room scene was contrived
    at best. Bottom line.... I had serious difficulty suspending my dis-
    belief of Jodi Foster as a "wild child". All I saw was the actress. 
    
    No doubt the academy will nominate her for yet another oscar. I didn't 
    believe she deserved the Oscar for Silence of the Lambs. I'm preparing 
    myself for another disappointment should she win for this role. I'm not 
    a huge Foster fan, however; I thought her Oscar for "The Accused" was 
    well deserved.                                                     

	>>I didn't 
	>>believe she deserved the Oscar for Silence of the Lambs. 

	I didn't think so either.  No way, no how.

> ... and give credit to the director for the "naturalness" of the nudity -
> didn't seem exploitive at all .....

	BTW, I don't believe Jodie Foster would of bared all had it been.
	If I'm not mistaken, this is the first she has appeared nude
	in a film ....

> The mother dies when she's still a child, and she survives on her own.

	Small correction, the mother dies while Nell is an adult.  Someone
	else died while Nell was still a child.

	Outstanding film.  Foster has once again proven she can act,
	direct, and produce (she was listed as co-producer on this one).
	Just yesterday I was channel surfing and caught an episode of
	the original "Kung Fu" series with a young Foster.  Even then
	she was a fine actor.

	The only thing I didn't like was that the story twice made mention
	that Nell's mother may of been rich, but that was all we ever
	hear of it.

    
    	"Freaky Friday" - there's a blast from the past!!
    
    
    							GTI
    

    re .7

       >Small correction, the mother dies while Nell is an adult.  Someone
       >else died while Nell was still a child.

    Thanks. I didn't see the film until this weekend and was based .4 on
    what I rememebered hearing in the press. 

	>The only thing I didn't like was that the story twice made mention
	>that Nell's mother may of been rich, but that was all we ever
	>hear of it.

    I didn't remember hearing she was rich, just that she owned the land. 
    I wondered where they got the money to pay for groceries. 

    I enjoyed it though I thought the courtroom scene was out of character. 
    Natasha and Liam should work together much more often!

    Lisa

> I didn't remember hearing she was rich, just that she owned the land. 

	That was one scene that hinted at it.  The Sheriff or whoever
	it was implied she owned lots of land.  Then in a later scene
	the newspaper/tabloid headline was something like "millionare
	lives in woods and never spent a dollar".

	Maybe some more scenes were cut that would of explained more?

    re .10

	>Then in a later scene
	>the newspaper/tabloid headline was something like "millionare
	>lives in woods and never spent a dollar".

    Hmm. The tabloid headline was "Woman Never Spent a Dollar, Now Worth a
    Million." They showed the paper and the sheriff said the headline
    outloud. I didn't remember seeing anything about her being a
    millionaire.

    Probably a scene or two that would explain all this was cut. It doesn't
    hurt the story any for me though.

    Lisa

    .5 and .6
    
    Welcome to 1995. Foreget the past, let's think of today and the future.
    Get off your soapboxes about the way you would like things. Obviously,
    others felt different as she won the Oscar.
    
    
    

RE .12 (RE .5 and .6) --

Please, no further "did Jodie Foster deserve the Oscar" discussion in this
topic! Start another topic if you want (and please be civil).

-- Nina, with moderator hat on

    
    regarding the wealth of the mother:  i thought the statement that she
    owned much of the surrounding land was a plot device to reinforce the
    notion that nell could have lived there for 30 years or so without
    being seen.
    
    bill

    Seems that the critics liked but didn't *love* Nell.  I went to the movie 
    without great expectations.  I was pleasantly surprized!
    
    Liam/Natasha did a good job. The plot and the script gave them enough to
    build their own characters while integrating well with the rest of the
    film.  I thought Jodi did an outstanding job.  After Nell was
    discovered, I was more curious about how someone with her background
    *would* behave (read "act") than I was judging Jodi's ability to
    portray a character I could not relate to at all.  Maybe some of the
    harsher critics in the conference have more knowlege of what it's 
    like to be raised as Nell was and can better judge her performance.  I
    don't and can't.
    
    The courtroom scene was a little too much.  It would have been better
    (IMO) if Nell mumbled out one very innocent yet very profound statement 
    that set the judge and that professor jerk back on their heels.  A real
    door (and gavel) slammer that would lead to the "5 years later" epilogue 
    as we saw it.  As it was, a strong message was delivered, but it was
    a little too long winded and a little too dramatic (IMO).
    
    No killing, violence, swearing or sex will keep this gem off the very top 
    of the lists.  (And Jodi's night time skinny-dipping scenes were a 
    far cry from being "dirty")  But I though it was one of the best movies
    I've seen in a long time.  I highly recommend Nell to anyone who hasn't
    already had the pleasure.
    
    
    -dave 
                                          

    I was not blown away by this movie and I am a huge Foster fan.  I do
    think she deserved the oscar both times she won it and she has
    certainly paid her Hollywood dues.
    
    This movie though, was average.  I agree, the court room scenes were
    completley unbelievable.  Maybe because we as TV viewers are exposed
    more and more to actual court coverage (and I don't just mean OJ) we
    don't accept as much fictious court room nonsense...I don't know. 
    
    I liked Richardson and Neeson.  They both did a fine job with a soggy
    script.  I thought the characters in this film were much more defined
    then the story, which is backwards IMO.
    
    MJ

I could barely sit through the movie. 

/james

    I just saw Nell Sunday on a plane.
    
    I was pleasantly surprised, actually,
    and liked the movie.  Based on what
    critics had said and some other marginal
    opinions, I thought it was pretty good.
    
    Foster's performance to me was better than
    Lambs.
    
    I must see it again, though, because I
    lost a lot of the dialogue...plane travel
    is not conducive to movie watching.
    
    I did think that the courtroom scenes
    were contrived.

> I just saw Nell Sunday on a plane.
>     
> I must see it again, though, because I
> lost a lot of the dialogue...plane travel
> is not conducive to movie watching.

	If you saw it on a plane then you most likely also lost the
	nude scenes of Jodie Foster ......

    I just saw NELL last night and it was just ok.....
    
    
    my comments may ruin it for some people so don't read this if you
    haven't seen it yet....
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    I thought the whole thing was wierd...the thing with her sister...why
    would she do that to herself and the voices and stuff were creepy.....
    nothing was explained about her sister...I was disappointed....... Mary

  Rented the tape.

  For TV it was ok but not great. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it at the
theater.

  The movie has some good moments and Foster does a fine job but the others
just walked through their parts. The rest of the characters were cartoon cut
outs as if scripts handed to the actors had "White Hat" or "Black Hat" written
at the top in giant letters.

  The mood was pretty good and some of the night time scenes were quite
pleasing to look at but the day time stuff might as well have been someone
video taping in their back yard. 

  Had it's moments but had it's gaps.

  ** out of 5,
  George

    
    BTW, I don't believe Jodie Foster would of bared all had it been.
            If I'm not mistaken, this is the first she has appeared nude
            in a film ....
            
    
    Jodie has appeared nude in at least one other film called "Back Track"
    with Dennis Hopper, a few big names, Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci for two
    that were in it. Kinda slow, strange, but what'd ya expect with Dennis
    Hopper in it?! It is wasn't her nude, I would be very surprised, and it
    was basically a shower scene.
    
    

    not to mention Hotel New Hampshire where she has sex with her brother.