Green Book

I was aware of the Green Book, however the movie puts in real life perspective of how horrible the experience was for those restricted to certain motels and restaurants. Dr. Shirley, who was highly educated, did not receive the professionalism he deserved. I HIGHLY recommend this movie.

This movie is, simply put, beyond Oscar worthy. It is HUMANE worthy. It is a significant history lesson, a personal story on both sides of grasping with what is acceptable and who you are and how far you are willing to go to be truly YOU. Maheshala Ali is a flawless actor, but in Green Book he gives us his soul performance. You cant fake that. He is as pure as a character actor can get. I almost didnt recognize Vigo Mortensen, but fell in love with his caricature of the Italian mob stereotype which he played on for purpose in the role of his character. Two more atypical and diverse characters you could not have put together. Their scenes together are raw and smooth at once. The supporting cast really are the foundation of the two characters and deserve as much accolade as the stars. Im usually not into emotion driven movies but movies like this and Moonlight are just too alluring not to get captured by and held riveted to the significant power of it. All those awards were more than deserved. In fact it should have been a clean sweep. It WAS the best movie of 2018 with the best of everything it entailed. I am so in love with this movie.

This movie was well acted and well written. The content was thought-provoking and timely. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone/everyone.

GREAT SCRIPT WRITING!!! When a movie can make a person laugh and cry it deserves an “Academy Award!” And this movie won an AA! But, Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali should have won “Best Actor” academy awards! Bad on Hollywood’s part. Viggo played an excellent character part as an uneducated Italian-American and Mahershala played a excellent Virtuoso Pianist. I’m an author, singer, songwriter and future scriptwriter and, this movie touched my heart! It was funny from the start to the finish and in between made me cry because of racism and real life situations/circumstances. If you want to get out of the Covid-19 pandemic blues and LAUGH your guts out because, laughing is healing, WATCH THIS MOVIE!!! I bought this movie 7/6/2021 and have watched it 20 times now and gonna watch it the rest of the year. Because I personally NEED to LAUGH. This pandemic has been murderous to say the least! So everyone should rent or buy this great movie and watch it. It makes me laugh more than it makes me cry. This movie should have won 5 Academy Awards! Shame on you Hollywood. But, thank you for a great movie. I want to thank Nick Vallelonga for exposing his families private life as well as the script writer who should have won an Academy Award for best script/screenwriter and the director. I give this movie a 10 Star Rating!!!!!!!!!! RB, Santa Cruz, CA

I usually do not care to watch a movie more than once so I dont have a reason to purchase many DVDs. I have, maybe, a dozen favorites in my collection that I gladly will watch again and again. This one made the list! Funny thing, I almost didnt rent it - it was on my maybe watch list for so long it no long was available from my movie service. Then a friend rented it and highly recommended it. I watched it and knew it was something I could easily watch again - and have it on hand when guests come over and want to watch a good movie. Excellent story - excellent acting - powerful message.

Pros: The movie was engaging. There were no moments where we were wondering when this seen will end. The actors embodied the characters very well and delivered their lines in a superb manner. Good story line. The movie is not a documentary about the life of Dr. Don Shirley. It is documenting an Italian driver/body guard’s experience, who was hired by the record company to accompanying an African American musician through the Deep South during the sixties and insure the success of this journey. It simplifies racism for an audience that otherwise may not have wanted to see the movie. There are many tragically comedic moments and some moments showing the dichotomy of a situation. While the story does not have an academic level of documentation, at the very least it motivates an intellectual curiosity to want to learn more about Dr. Shirley. The movie has very well written dialogue, such as “the world is full of lonely people who are waiting for the other person to make a move”, another one “genius is not enough, it takes courage..” (I maybe paraphrasing). I particularly appreciated the lack of heavy musical background which made it possible to concentrate on the essence of the movie. Cons: Not at all appropriate for young audience (even if they are older than 13) or family viewing. Swear words were used. It felt like if the director was taking a cheap and easy stab by relying heavily on negative Italian stereotype. The driver character played by non-Italian was made to look stupid and illiterate. But never the less had the ability to navigate successfully through difficult situations. Dr. Shirley was portrayed as a homosexual. Not sure if this is an authentic depiction, however this diversion in the story was sudden and unexpected, it did not seem real. Especially when Dr. Shirley in the movie stated his marriage failed because he could not be a piano player and a husband at the same time. If it is true that he was homosexual, the dialogue at this point should have had some additional discussion of his orientation. Although there was no nudity, I think the movie would have been better if it did not include this unrealistic seen. The end was predictable but I cannot say that I did not enjoy the “feel good” ending.

The DVD played fine without any skips. However, there were two or three places in the DVD where there were light inconsistencies regarding reflections on the windshield and light shining around the characters heads which I do not remember when watching it when it aired on cable. Why was this a copy made in Mexico? I thought that the DVD was US made.

This was a wonderful movie. I highly recommend it.

EXCELLENT movie! A personal fav!

Great movie based on a true story!