Critic Reviews
Goya's Ghosts (2007) Rank 2 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (64) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
New York Times (Matt Zoller Seitz)
Goya’s Ghosts, the new feature from the director Milos Forman, is an unwieldy mix of political satire and lavish period soap opera. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at New York Times (Matt Zoller Seitz)
Sun Online (Johnny Vaughan)
Classy cinematography and powerful performances by all. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Sun Online (Johnny Vaughan)
Arizona Republic (Richard Nilsen)
It's a richly seen and felt movie, but not one with a feel-good message. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Arizona Republic (Richard Nilsen)
Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
Goya's Ghosts uses the lives of artists and historical figures to show us the best and the worst of our human impulses. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
Goya's Ghosts starts its first half in Spain in the year 1792, amid the tension of the French Revolution, where Francisco Goya (Skarsgard, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), one of the country's most famous of painters, has drawn the suspicious ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
San Jose Mercury News (Bruce Newman)
There's an unfortunate tendency in this movie for the forces of history to overtake scenes. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at San Jose Mercury News (Bruce Newman)
Christian Science Monitor (Peter Rainer)
Portman is saddled with the worst role. Ines spends much of her screen time acting blighted and deranged, a condition not improved by Portman's penchant for stage theatrics. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Christian Science Monitor (Peter Rainer)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
The film's seriousness of intent is unimpeachable but the execution borders on farce. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
Onion AV Club (Tasha Robinson)
If Forman is trying to communicate that art isn't an effective way to change American society, he's proved his point neatly with this muddled, wandering dud. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Onion AV Club (Tasha Robinson)
Hollywood.com (--)
Newsday (Gene Seymour)
The problem with Goya's Ghosts lies in its conception of Goya himself, who is depicted as being both a blithe suck-up and embittered moralist. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Newsday (Gene Seymour)
New York Daily News (Elizabeth Weitzman)
Fascinating ideas do hover, like mournful specters, around the edges of this meticulously detailed movie. But then they disappear, leaving us vaguely sad and unsettled, with nothing solid to grasp. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at New York Daily News (Elizabeth Weitzman)
Houston Chronicle (Bruce Westbrook)
Bucket Reviews (Danny Baldwin)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Michael Machosky)
Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
Ultimately Goya's Ghosts left me wanting to watch Amadeus again, for the pleasure of a story well told. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
[Forman] merely gives it a high polish, with lots of beautiful costumes, makeup and set designs, hoping that the Academy will remember him once more. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
...only captivates when Forman and his production designers echo some of the painter's more famous tableaus. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
Miami Herald (Marta Barber)
Captures the essence of the period -- an intriguing, backward era in Spain -- but without the emotional impact that such a film requires. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Miami Herald (Marta Barber)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
The movie is uneven in the extreme, to the extent that it feels like two imperfectly wed pictures. The first, while not extraordinary, at least contains some interesting ideas. The second borders on embarrassing. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Reel.com (Pam Grady)
The biggest problem with the movie isn't the actors or even the half-baked script; it is that it never successfully draws one into its world. Watching Goya's Ghosts , one begins to daydream about Michael Palin. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Reel.com (Pam Grady)
San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)
What Forman doesn't give us is drama of sure coherence or credibility, but the trappings entrance. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)
Minneapolis Star Tribune (Colin Covert)
The film's greatest moments of artistry are in the credits, which feature a breathtaking gallery of the painter's work. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Minneapolis Star Tribune (Colin Covert)
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Let’s say that in this twenty-first century world, you want to make a film that will throw a harsh light on religious fanaticism and say something about the conflict between it—and the brutality it engenders—and secular rationalism. What historical ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Las Vegas Weekly (Josh Bell)
A disjointed oddity. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Las Vegas Weekly (Josh Bell)
Independent (--)
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. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Independent (--)
Channel 4 Film (--)
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. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Channel 4 Film (--)
Guardian [UK] (Peter Bradshaw)
The idea and presence of Goya himself is somehow off-centre and off-balance throughout this directionless movie. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Guardian [UK] (Peter Bradshaw)
thelondonpaper (Neil Smith)
It’s as dull as the proverbial ditchwater. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at thelondonpaper (Neil Smith)
BBC (Laura Bushell)
Despite noteworthy attention to period detail in production and costume design, these are not enough to carry the film's confused plot. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at BBC (Laura Bushell)
Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
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. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
Movies for the Masses (Joseph Proimakis)
Times [UK] (Wendy Ide)
It’s never entirely clear who or what the film is about. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Times [UK] (Wendy Ide)
Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Think of it as an Amadeus that doesn't work. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
This is London (Derek Malcolm)
The whole thing creaks along like an anaemic snail. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at This is London (Derek Malcolm)
Greenwich Village Gazette (Eric Lurio)
he acting is rather good, but only Ms. Portman and Mr. Quaid really shine. ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Greenwich Village Gazette (Eric Lurio)
Slant Magazine (Nick Schager)
milos Foreman goes astray with Goya's Ghosts, a beautiful disaster of a period picture that weaves its preposterous story around Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgård) during the Spanish Inquisition and Napoleon's invasion of Spain. In 1792 Madrid, Brother ...read the complete Goya's Ghosts movie review at Slant Magazine (Nick Schager)
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