Very best movie i ever watch

the audience applauded

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

I admit that I've never really given much thought to the career of Kirstie Alley ... as I've never really seen her do anything worth making note of ... until today. In the Salem Witch trial, she radiates a truthfulness that I have never seen in any of her past performances. She borders, at times, of overacting ... however, one wonders if this is due to the script, or did someone forget to tell us that she was playing the part of a woman bordering upon insanity? I prefer to think it was a problem with the script.Shirley MacLaine ... OMG ... I have to say that I never ever thought I would see Shirley MacLaine in the all together, the all together as naked as the day that she was born ... and I'm not so sure I shall ever get over the experience! I can't believe that the script would call for her not to cry during this humiliating experience. But it is one heck of a soul baring scene. I do have to say that the prison scene "and I shall find GOD there" was sheer genius, and the acting made all the more memorable.I, obviously, found the scripting to offer so much less than what this most talented cast brought forth out of the depths of their bowels ... EWWW ... sorry, got carried away. Its just that most of the acting in this movie was worthy to be shown in theaters, and not as a TV movie. And i can't believe that I have only just discovered this movie 12 years after it was made.The Salem Witch Trials are true American horror stories that will never be forgotten, especially as it is a true testament to man's inhumanity to man ... for nothing more than the greed of man ... and, even more so, the church! More children of GOD have been tormented, tortured, and murdered, in the name of a false god that I pray I never come face to face with. Oh, that's right ... that god doesn't exist ... THANK GOD!Update ... I have just discovered that the DVD of this movie has a problem to which I have only been watching the last half of the movie! For the first time I am watching the full movie and now it makes sense.

I looked this up on IMDb because I found a DVD copy in the discount bin, and wanted to know if it was worth the $4 ... I've been greatly interested in this period of history since I first saw The Crucible on stage, and also because one of my ancestors (Susannah North Martin) was hanged as a witch at Salem. I might guess that the above critiques that compared The Crucible (movie, not play, apparently) in any manner are perhaps not remembering that Miller's opus was an allegory for the McCarthy hearings during the Red Scare of the early 1950s, so Miller may have, in fact, taken some literary liberties with facts that could have been documented. (In his defense, I would suggest that the research done since his play was produced (and that story probably stimulated a lot of the research) has answered a great number of questions, and perhaps clarified inaccuracies presented, regardless of their sources.) I missed seeing this on TV when it ran, and since the above reviews generally are favorable, I will definitely be going back to the discount bin to purchase a copy. I expect that I have often spent money more foolishly, and at worst I will be able to pass a few hours enjoying the entertainment aspect of the story line. It will give me one more chance to glean background information on my family and their times. (BTW, Cotton Mather's alleged comment, which suggested that even though their guilt may have been in doubt, the court should "hang them anyway" has etched his place in history near the bottom of the garbage pile, regardless of his later recanting of the sentiment.)

I was pleased to finally see Hollywood come out with a more realistic portrayal of the events surrounding one of the darkest periods in American history. The acting is excellent and the events are about as close to reality as you will ever get out of our American movie industry, which is usually incapable of portraying such historical facts without garbaging things up with special effects and their two cents worth of fiction thrown in for the purpose of maintaining the interest of those with IQ's that parallel the range of springtime temperatures. I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in this period of our history.

Having read the play, "The Crucible" and being a fan of the play, this movie is a pure travesty. I think if the director of this movie was to watch the movie "The Crucible" he would have learned what to do and not to do in this movie.I was just wondering, where was the character that came to Salem, that specialist in witchcraft? I can't remember his name, but he was one of the coolest characters in the book, and he should have been in this movie. He is the guy that starts believing that the girls are just faking it.I think the acting of the girls "afflicted" by the "witches" did a superb acting job.