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Feb 06, 2014biffblack rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Like a fine wine, "Altered States" keeps getting better with age. I can relish the picture now in a way that was slightly impossible back in December 1980. My mother and I went to see this movie together, and I remember vividly how angry she was after the screening -- she was speechless with anger!!! Russell's decision to have the physics nerd characters rattle off scientific jargon at breakneck tempos was a stroke of directorial genius! The actors are thoroughly believable and even sexy. The ending might be a cliche, a lot of people then and now objected to the resolution, yet Blair Brown makes it work. She invests the role with so much hard-edged emotion that I/we/you/me are utterly convinced that she could do what she could do. Brava!!!