Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

paul2001sw-1 In Guiseppe Tornatore's 'The Starmaker', Dr. Morelli travels around post-war Sicily offering to turn people into movie stars. He is, of course, a con-man, but in giving the people a space to vent their dreams, he actually performs a kind of public service. It's a nice idea, and there are some charming details in the film, but as a whole, this movie is somewhat contrived and it runs of the risk of representing the Sicilian peasantry as little more than idiots. Some of the same themes (the death of traditional but impoverished societies, the desire of their inhabitants to escape to a new life, the semi-racist superiority of money-making outsiders) are dealt with more obliquely, but also more cleverly and in a broader context, by Guilo Amelio's breathtaking 'Lamerica', another Italian film made at about the same time, which I would heartily recommend.

Chivo This film should be taught in Film Schools worldwide. The characters are richly drawn and multi-dimensional, and they evolve onscreen. The actors are so imbued with their characters that you become completely absorbed in their stories. This film is a beautiful study of the power films have on our lives. Heartbreaking, intense, beautiful.

xrellerx Emotions of enthusiasm break down in sensitive portraits of poor Sicilians who reveal their inner self in two minutes they have in front of a camera. Realism all the way and yet i had to think of the enthusiasm Kusturica had in Black Cat White Cat although none of the characters are that absurd. If you see European movies like this after all the American commercial rubbish you get a glimpse of what film can give us! Good acting and writing, beautiful locations, a lot of strong character studies and very, very impressive camera work. Absolutely not a waste of your time!

inframan This movie, by the director of Cinema Paradiso, "disappointed" a lot of American movie reviewers because it lacks the sentimentality and pat structure of CP. But it's far more epic, poetic & imaginative (& much less PC) and absolutely gorgeous to watch. Ignore the puritans at the NY Times & SF Chronicle. Watch this movie. You won't be sorry.