sheelagrant This film works at all levels and is excellent. The writing is superb, believable, entertaining. All of the actors do a believable job. The directing, with great transitions and 'cross-scenes' for lack of the correct film term, is also excellent. The scenery is beautiful and adds to the story like a character or characters depending on whether it's a beach scene or a city street scene. This film definitely deserves 10 stars if one is to be fair & unbiased. If this were a different type of film, done by different people in Hollywood it would be considered one of the great films. I would recommend this film to others. It manages to entertain without the sex and extreme violence of many modern films. If you are a fan of Andy Garcia you will definitely love this film. I have purchased it for my media library to watch over again.

james_jones What are you ex-patriots smoking? Andy Garcia is a b-movie actor, with minimal talent and all of this shows in his embarrassing opus from a narrow minded, spoiled rich kid from Miami. Hold this film up to Walter Salles' Motorcycle Diaries and lets see which film wilts in the light of day. Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman look awkwardly out of place. And everyone's speaking English?! WTF! Many things have been said about Ernesto Guevara, but Garcia carelessly passes him off as a bloodthirsty tyrant. This was not the depiction I felt after seeing the better film released a year before that portrays a thoughtful medical student who was determined to blur the lines drawing up North, South and Central America. Like I said, This is your Brain (Motorcycle Diaries)and This is your brain on Drugs (Lost City).

JoeytheBrit One day someone is going to make a decent film about the Cuban revolution, but in the meantime we will have to put up with half-baked efforts like this and Havana.There is no doubting the earnestness of actor-director Andy Garcia's convictions but what we basically have here is an overlong and rather dull vanity project. Garcia plays Fico, an affluent nightclub owner who finds his family and life slowly disintegrating in the midst of the events leading up to - and consequences of - Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution. Long, deliberately-paced films are usually that way to establish a number of characters in depth and to lure the viewer into investing their sympathy and concern for these characters. But this film seems to take forever to tell us very little about Garcia's Fico or any other members of his family. Garcia looks perpetually miserable and seems to be trying to imitate Al Pacino in the Godfather movies, while the film itself seems to be trying to establish an epic sweep that it completely fails to achieve.The film looks and sounds terrific, but Garcia isn't a great, or even particularly accomplished director. And what exactly is the purpose of Bill Murray's character? He's supposed to be a writer with an infectious sense of humour but he rarely says anything funny despite the reactions of other characters, and his presence adds nothing to the plot. Similarly, Dustin Hoffman pops in for a couple of meaningless scenes as Meyer Lansky which wouldn't be missed if they were removed.

rajaspencer Certainly I understand the passion (and the political statement) of this movie. If you voted for McCain, thought Elian Gonzales should have stayed apart from his father, and have not been to Cuba in the last 30 years you will love the movie. If on the other hand you did not grow up in Miami, and use the internet to discover the true history you might not. If like me you take both the US (Republican) spin AND the Cuban Government spin then ignore those and look at the international perspective you discover the movie lacks balance.It is from the hard line approach of the Cuban expatriate community and no doubt they are thrilled and shed tears at its mention. But if we really look at the plausibility of the plot it borders on absurdity. Here is a very rich Cuban, from a very rich family fleeing his country penniless. Nah, the nature of Cuba in 1959 and 1960 1) provided ample opportunity to see the writing on the wall 2) Every rich Cuban I know had big money in the US. They did not arrive and work washing dishes. Furthermore, Cubans (unlike my forefathers) were given loans for housing, loans for education, and loans for businesses. A well connected Club owner with a tobacco background would certainly be well connected. Thus we see the political statement.I do like Mr. Garcia (how can you not?) I do understand how he feels and why this film was so important to him. I think some of the readers will understand the lack of balance if they either look at the spin less international mainstream view or visit Cuba when Obama lifts the travel ban. We are the only country in the world that views Cuba as part of the axis of evil (a terrorist sponsor)....Why is that?