Popular reviews

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  Review by Jeffrey Overstreet ★★★★★ 15

  16 THINGS ABOUT GOSFORD PARK

  1. Still my favorite Altman film.
  2. Still head and shoulders above the entirety of Downton Abbey.
  3. Still the most virtuosic choreography of a large ensemble cast I've ever seen.
  4. I miss Clive Owen.
  5. That scene with Tom Hollander eating jam in the cellar. That scene.
  6. I believe that when he goes home from work, Richard E. Grant dresses and behaves just like this.
  7. All of the moments with Claudie Blakely and Jeremy Northam at the piano.
  8. Vermeer-worthy moments of the staff listening to Northam's music.
  9. Maggie Smith can give a great performance when all we see is her pointing finger: "Now that you can be discreet about."…

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  Review by eely ★★★½ 3

  i swear to god so many of these white people had at least one doppelgänger running around this estate because i could NOT tell them apart

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  Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 7

  The best directed, superbly acted, stunningly scripted, intelligent, socially satirical and most beautifully shot cup of Earl Grey I've ever had.

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  Review by brat pacino ★★★½ 1

  tom hollander stans lemme hear you make some noise (not to be confused with spider-twink)

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  Review by marsha ★★½

  did they purposely make it impossible to remember any character’s name or was i just too bored to keep up ...?

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★★ 1

  I saw this at the exact age in which seeing Tom Hollander eat the tiniest spoonfuls of jam is sexual to me

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  Review by luvi ★★★½ 2

  so dumbledore was quite the little bitch in his day uh

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  Review by amaya ★★ 2

  this is so british it sweats tea

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★ 6

  Even though I have always had a great appreciation for Altman's films, I have never been able to fully connect with his cinema. That is until now.

  The film that laid the foundation for one of the greatest British soap operas of all time, Downton Abbey, fails to reach the same level of intrigue and melodramatic pleasure as its successor. However, the sweeping camerawork that dances through each scenery adds an element of class to the film. Consequently, I must say that the cinematography is first-class, with a subtle shimmer that gives the film a dreamlike ambience that lends itself to the idea of a surrealistic mood. The performances from this superb cast are excellent as it deals with the…

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  Review by Branson Reese

  Never seen Downtown Abbey (was starting to die of alcoholism when it was popular) but I can tell this is better. I've seen enough fucking gifs of Maggie Smith slyly drinking tea to know which way the wind's blowing on that one. Much stronger artistic choice to present her as merely the wittiest ruling class monster in the room rather than an epic shade queen or whatever.

  Didn't watch this for years because it just seemed to be Not My Thing. It still isn't but if British upstairs downstairs period pieces and Robert Altman ensemble films are having a showdown I know who's riding off into the sunset every time.

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  Review by Muriel

  of course robert altman made me care about a bunch of british obnoxious people for over two hours, even so if you asked me to tell you one of those people names i couldn’t do it. downstairs is where it was at tho.

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  Review by Evan T ★★★★½

  Not Altman’s finest hour, but still a complex, plate-spinning, side-eyed near-masterpiece, such an achievement in fact that to knock the craft here is to essentially watch the film with your eyes closed. There are thirty-six main characters in Gosford Park, all with their own arcs and threads, constantly weaving through the fabric of the story. Imagine a 70s whodunnit stitched together with a period costume drama and this is what you get, a moving painting that doesn’t ease up in its evolutionary process, and a study on how judgment looks the same no matter what class division it originates from. As always, Altman’s talent is discernible from the first shot, his ear for naturalistic dual-dialogue making for a delightfully sassy collision of both peasants and posh-toffs alike. We can thank this gem for films like Knives Out or Phantom Thread, its influence reaching a damn sight further than Downton Abbey. One of the great British casts in cinema history.