The Normal Heart (2014)

The greatest movie ever made..!

Strictly average movie

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The cast and crew no doubt, found this a difficult movie to make. Being barely a teenager in the early - mid 80's, this movie pushed a lot of buttons for me. The tragedy, the fear, the advertisements on TV, the statistics and newspapers kept me firmly in the closet and firmly and completely non sexual. I understand the sexual scenes were required and the promiscuity were factual and needed to be shown, I did find it an extremely confronting movie but, I couldn't recommend it to anyone more. It's one of the must see movies of the 21st century.

Fire Island was a free zone for the gay community for sex, drugs and disco, and continues to remain as a memorial to all who lost their life due to the AIDS virus. Back before it was known as HIV, "the gay cancer" brutally murdered innocent young men who only knew about sexually transmitted diseases discussed in their high school health classes, and many of them were barely in college, let alone grown up. Along with "And the Band Played On", this drama about the early years takes an unflinching, unapologetic look at those early years. Featuring Julia Roberts as a wheelchair bound doctor fighting to discover what is killing gay men, this also casts many actors, best known for their stage roles, a few who have moved onto the big or small screens, but put their hearts in contributing to this outstanding film version of the controversial play. Fighting against the bigotry and often closeted politicians of the early 198O's, this doesn't shirk in exposing the sexual freedoms of the times, featuring complete male nudity and obvious simulated sex that was obviously unsafe. This dramatizes the issues within the gay community itself as well as understandable prejudices that plagued them through heterosexual fear and even social outcasts within the community itself. Some of the gay men are presented as bitchy or overly effeminate, but that doesn't dilute the impact of their suffering. With an allegedly gay New York mayor and a president who had gay friends yet did nothing to solve this crisis, AIDS had no reason to infect as many people straight or gay, as long as it did.A scene in a disco where a fund-raiser is going on really hits the emotional cord by showing the determined ailing men covered in Kaposi's blotches, unable to dance to "I Will Survive" yet determined to go on as long as they can, even if it's just another couple of hours. Ghostly visions, pleading for one last moment with their beloved pet and pleading with family members for acceptance and compassion are dramatized with a plainly made up Roberts tough but filled with compassion. Young lovers watching their partner suffer and ultimately pass on. Sharing those few moments they have left, yet paranoid over being abandoned. This shows it all. Superb makeup artistry shows the deterioration of healthy, handsome men who turn into barely walking skeletons.Among the superb cast are Jim Parsons who makes a funeral speech that sums it up for hundreds of thousands, Danielle Ferland as a woman volunteer at the gay men's health crisis who lost her best friend just hours before, Alfred Molina as an attorney who promises to help his gay brother yet is filled with prejudices and fears that he can't escape from. One truly haunting moment shows a mother's reaction to her son's death, something I had to see at several memorial services For those of us old enough to remember this era and still suffering from the memory of losing a loved one, we sit nearby those empty chairs at empty tables, grateful to be alive yet longing to once again hug those we loved and lost. I came out after seeing the early AIDS drama "Parting Glances" and dealt with my share of loss with friends and lovers, some whose deaths I only found out about recently. 35 years later, I find that I am out of tears. Fortunately, that number is decreasing, but this shows some of the horrific experience experiences that the world suffered through. At times hard to take, like "Schindler's List", this shows what we must not go through again.

it just put America shame -how can you name an airport after that rotten Reagen who did everything in his power to ignore what's happening even his fellow actors dying of this disease shame on you big time! very good movie indeed a must see for the gay community and a warning to the 'young'generation HIV is not dead but spreading more rapidly than ever! Mark Ruffalo is excellent as Julia Roberts the polo riddled doctor who despite all her effort didn't get any support from the government The dark years of the early 80's when the gay community was left to it's on devices to try and save our dying friends and lovers As the white house scene says since they thoughts AIDS is 'only' killing gays nothing was done-and the main thing of the movie which they didn't elaborate further that the US secretly experimented with viruses that kills gays-one day the truth might come out that this is the real cause and not some silly story about the green monkeys

It's 1981 and gay men are enjoying their sexual freedom. Only more and more of them are dying. Nobody knows what the cause is. Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo) is a writer. Ben (Alfred Molina) is his brother. Dr. Emma Brookner (Julia Roberts) is advocating for gay men to stop having sex. Felix Turner (Matt Bomer) is the NY Times writer who usually does fluff pieces. Bruce Niles (Taylor Kitsch) and Tommy Boatwright (Jim Parsons) are some of the people in the gay community.The first 30 minutes is more thrilling and more compelling than any overblown action. The scenes of people trying to figure out what to do are the best. It's exciting. It's also scary like a horror movie. The romance between Weeks and Turner is the weakest part of the movie. There is a big epidemic and the love story diminishes it. For some reason, I'm reminded of Michael Bay's Pearl Habor. The world is changing and I rather have the movie concentrate on the war, not the romance. I get more from Ned and his brother. I understand where they're going with the romance but it feels more like a waste of time. There are so many great scenes with great acting. Joe Mantello explodes on the screen. Taylor Kitsch retells an incredibly touching story. Julia Roberts overdoes it a little. Overall, there is a lot of great acting in a compelling historical drama.