Goya's Ghosts (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:83
Fresh:24
Rotten:59
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Ornate costumes and a talented cast can't make up for Ghosts' glacial pace and confused plot.
Theatrical Release:04-05-2007
Synopsis: From two-time Academy Award® winning director Milos Forman and three-time Academy Award® winning producer Saul Zaentz, GOYA'S GHOSTS is a sweeping historical epic, told through the eyes of... [More]
Starring: Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgaard, Randy Quaid
Director: Milos Forman
Reviews for Goya's Ghosts
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 3/5 |
Impressively made, watchable costume drama with strong performances from its three leads, despite the unusual casting. Full Review |
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 2/5 |
The whole thing creaks along like an anaemic snail. Full Review |
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2/5 |
It’s as dull as the proverbial ditchwater. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Any film that sets its vision of Spain in the era of Inquisition and Napoleon against Goya's needs to have something pretty special to offer; this one doesn't. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Classy cinematography and powerful performances by all. Full Review |
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Close to a disaster. Full Review |
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2/5 |
The idea and presence of Goya himself is somehow off-centre and off-balance throughout this directionless movie. Full Review |
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2/5 |
It’s never entirely clear who or what the film is about. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Sumptuously filmed, but so lacking in a central narrative focal point that for all its pretences, Goya's Ghosts succeeds in saying nothing at all. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Despite noteworthy attention to period detail in production and costume design, these are not enough to carry the film's confused plot. Full Review |
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3/5 |
This is a set of footnotes rather than a fully achieved film — but it’s so packed with tidbits of interest it can’t fail to be intermittently diverting. Full Review |
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With its riffs on art, its split-in-half story and Goya-esque production design, you can see it reaching for grand ideas about actions and their reverberations, but it merely rumbles on, illuminating neither the artist nor his tumultuous times. Full Review |
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2/5 |
The cast is rather too eclectic for its own good. These are superior actors, but thrown together like this they all stick out like sore thumbs. Full Review |
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Cumbersome and often stilted, Goya's Ghosts remains a worthy drama Full Review |
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3/6 |
Click to read the article Full Review |
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3/5 |
Goya, aqui, é o coadjuvante de luxo de uma história que não faz jus nem mesmo aos seus protagonistas. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
A storyline that turns so silly, you half-expect Mel Brooks to show up reprising his "Inquisition" musical number from History of the World Part I. Full Review |
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C+ |
Goya gets lost as the filmmakers turn Spanish history into a chronicle of easy contemporary targets. They don't just hit the social-political bull's-eye -- they obliterate it with a cannon and inadvertently scorch the dramatic landscape all around it. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
Captures the essence of the period -- an intriguing, backward era in Spain -- but without the emotional impact that such a film requires. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Reminds us of the wisdom behind the title of Goya's most famous etching: 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.' Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Goya's Ghosts
June 29, 2007:
The ultimate accidental insight provided by the film is that history may be recorded by the victors, but it is far less amenable to being smoothly scripted or orchestrated, either by foreign empires or filmmakers. 
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June 04, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review
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March 31, 2007:
european-films.net's preview & trailer
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March 23, 2007:
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In this week's Ketchup, the first trailer for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" appears on RT, Natalie Portman delights many by showing her stuff in... More...
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