Reviews

I didn't know who was in this. I don't think I've ever seen jennifer Lopez in a film before. I really liked the "Ramona" performance. I was pleasantly surprised to see her name come up at the end. Extraordinary performance.

Simply great soundtrack. I enjoyed the characters. I thought the device of the reporter was nicely done. If I could criticize anything, i would say they could have cut it by 20 minutes.

I may see it again.

Interesting combo of send-up and genuine entertainment. For example, there are two production numbers that are exaggerated, but not in a way that diminishes the original genres that they were derived from. Instead they are updated, and watchable.

It's not a weighty movie -- just a lightweight look at a bygone era, and the things that happen when movies are being made, with familiar faces (although I challenge you to spot Frances McDormand) and funny jokes. I don't know what anyone else is saying about Channing Tatum, but I really liked his performance. And this guy Alden Ehrenreich -- whoa! He is just great. He has a gift for comedy and movie star good looks, and his character is *earnest* -- and likable. He is fun to watch. The secretary to Eddie Mannix, the studio head (presumably named after notorious MGM fixer Eddie Mannix) is a prominent character and she is compelling - she steals every scene, I think: Heather Goldenhersh! Today she'd be a producer, and I think the movie makers are making a poignant statement with her character.

Lots of cameos: "Newman" from "Seinfeld,: David Krumholtz, Alison Pill from "Newsroom," the stand-up comic from "Mad Men" -- really fun seeing so many familiar faces in unfamiliar roles.

I saw it in preview at Cinemark Egyptian in Hanover Maryland. I can't wait till it opens so I can see it again.

Saw this at Maryland Film Festival and it was received very well.

It's a documentary about a free school in New Jersey. The film maker and the sort of main character (the director of the free school, Alex) presented the film, which was shot in 2007 and 2008, at the Festival.

The movie follows a group of kids who are the first students of this new free school. Without giving anything away, there is much conflict that arises around a couple of kids, especially one particular child -- if you watch the movie, you'll probably have a pretty good idea of which kid is going to be at the center of the conflict pretty much from the beginning. There is also one child who takes charge of the situation in a way that I think most adults would not be capable of. The children, given huge amounts of autonomy, behave in various admirable and not-so-admirable ways.

What stands out in this documentary is the ability of the director, who operated the camera, to seemingly always know where to point the camera. Of course, the viewer doesn't know what events were missed, but what was captured is woven together into an fascinating narrative, complete with an amazing climax.

I was a homemaker and homeschool parent from about 1987 - 2000 -- I worked with lots of homeschoolers (mainly unschoolers) and much of what is presented in "Approaching the Elephant" was familiar to me - the balance between allowing the children autonomy and self-direction on the one hand, and creating chaos and child tyrants on the other.

Luckily for the filmmaker, although not necessarily for the students and the administrator of the school, there were lots of interesting things going on at this place.

This film is utterly absorbing, and there's never a dull moment.

Every once in a while you see a gem at Maryland Film Festival. This picture is a gem.

I'm giving them an extra point or two for being young filmmakers. Really good tho. A dream of a screenplay, with several events taken from the filmmakers' lives -- Lawrence Michael Levine wrote and directed, and plays the male lead. His real-life wife, Sophia Takal, co-stars. Ms Takal's dream of resurrecting a casino, which Mr Levine thought was a bad idea in real life, recurs in the film, and the mysterious wild canaries of the title appear at the casino.

This is a screwball murder mystery a la The Thin Man. Levine and Takal are also big Colombo fans, and Colombo's trench coat makes an appearance.

A very hip comedy, with great jokes and payoffs (a running gag about who should drive the car pays off hilariously), along with expert physical comedy. Funny and endearing. Nick and Nora would be proud.

Saw this yesterday at Cinema Sundays at the Charles in Baltimore.... Masterful. Wonderful appearances by Katy Mixon ("Eastbound and Down"), Kathy Baker and Lisa Gay Hamilton. Michael Shannon is compelling, and Jessica Chastain is simply wonderful. Shea Whigham is fantastic as Curtis's work buddy; the dialogue between those two at work is hyper-real. The entire film feels like a slice of reality -- excellent casting, dialogue, and production design no doubt account for this.

The host of CSC said he enjoyed the score -- can't wait to see it again so I can hear the score. It certainly worked on me, even if I "heard" only a little of it.

The little girl who plays the deaf daughter, Tova Stewart, centers the picture -- it wouldn't have worked without her, and with her it works -- man, does it work. Much of what I've seen and heard in the real world since watching it has reminded me of the film. Not easy to watch, but very rewarding

My wife and I saw this as a revival at the Charles Theater in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Katherine Hepburn, Technicolor, good reputation -- how can you lose, right? About an hour in, at the time when Rosano Brazzi had come to the pensione and K Hepburn was being absolutely obnoxious to him, I gave a big sigh, and Mary asked if I was ready to leave. I said only if she was -- "I'm ready," she said.

What a stupid movie! She was acting the way no one acts, then, now, or ever. Comparing it to "Roman Holiday," well, there's no comparison. "RH" is a delight -- this is a look inside the mind of a very disturbed person who, if she ever did hook up with a man, would make his life miserable until he found a way to escape her.

Comparing it to "Miss Potter," the seduction scene in "MP" is actually very sexy -- Renee Zellwegger shows us a woman who hadn't realized she had sexual urges until, suddenly, everything comes rushing in and she realizes she's not only in love, she's EXCITED.

I did not see the whole thing, but that's because the whole thing wasn't worth my time to wait for. I would have stayed if the Long-suffering Mrs hadn't been ready to leave too.

Wow -- should have seen "City Island" again!

"Fish Tank" is about Mia, a 15-year old girl who lives with her younger sister and their mother in low-income housing in Essex, near London, England.

Mia, played by Katie Jarvis, who was 17 at the time the film was shot, is on the way to a worse life than she already has lived. She is being kicked out of school, her hair-trigger temper and violent behavior have alienated her from her friends, and she has a hate-hate relationship with her mother.

Into Mia's life comes her mom's new "friend," Connor (Michael Fassbender). Connor is ruggedly good looking, and he's actually nice to the girls, something they're not used to.

Connor's presence in Mia's life changes her in many ways, some of them good.

Katie Jarvis had no experience as an actor prior to her being chosen by director Andrea Arnold ("Red Road") -- in fact, Arnold "discovered" Jarvis when she saw her loudly arguing with her boyfriend at a train station. In 2008 she was an unemployed school dropout. In 2009 she was nominated for Best Actress by the British Independent Film Association (she didn't get it, but did win "Most Promising Newcomer.") Katie Jarvis's performance is a delight (although her character and the film's plot are anything but delightful). Her ability to display complex sets of emotions on her face is simply phenomenal, especially given her lack of acting experience.

Comic relief comes in the form of 12-year old Rebecca Griffiths,a wonderful little clown who plays little sister Tyler. Hers is a brave performance, alternately hilarious and moving.

This movie is a dark and frightening look at a life on the edge of destruction. It is violent and mostly pessimistic. It is profane and disturbing, but it is not without hope.

Saw this at Cinema Sundays at the Charles here in Baltimore.

The audience liked it a lot, from their reactions during the film and also at the Q&A. Parker Posey and Demi Moore play two sisters who are faced with taking care of their father in the house where they grew up. Their father, played by Rip Torn, is becoming less and less compos mentis. Not forgetting the wonderful Ellen Barkin, who brings humanity to the role of Shelley, a woman who has reached bottom.

The movie has some pretty trippy sections, a fair amount of things that make you not so sure what's supposed to be happening in the movie's reality, and what's just happening in the head of one of the characters.

It's primarily a good-natured comedy about people and how they get along. It's very funny, with some subtle and unexpected laughs. I can't wait for this to be shown in a local theater so I can see it again.

Well, I'm in love with this web series. I have watched the first season in, like, an evening, on Youtube, and now I'm hungry for more. According to IMDb there are more made, but I can't find them yet. It's about people who are members of an on-line gaming "guild" who begin to interact face-to-face.

Felicia Day, who is "Penny from the Laundry" in "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog", writes the episodes -- very imaginative and funny. Greg Benson directs some of the eps, while Kim Evey produces -- they of "Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show." It was supported by a Pay Pal button when it started. I think that's great!

The characters are funny and appealing: they've found some really interesting people to play the slightly over-the-top characters. THere's a running joke in which Clara ("real name: Clara") neglects her children because she's too busy gaming on line. Vork, Zaboo, and Codex (Felicia Day) do improv in L.A. The rest were cast through casting calls. Search for "The Guild" on Youtube and you'll find it. Enjoy!

I thought the movie was okay, what I could understand of it.

It is based on a novel, which I haven't read, so I don't know how much of the corniness of I-used-to-be-happy-but-now-Im'-SO-sad motif comes from the novel and how much comes from the filmmaker. But I was plenty sick of seeing this young woman wallowing around in her own self pity, scene after scene. We get it already -- she's unhappy! Good grief.

But my main complaint is that, while I understood all the Bengali (I presume) dialogue, I understood only a little of the English dialogue, because the former was given subtitles and the latter was not. Partly the sound quality, partly the fact that the characters were speaking very heavily accented English -- some of the most pivotal lines, which I was leaning forward to hear, turned out to be gibberish. Very frustrating. This movie needs subtitles throughOUT. Without them, in the auditorium where I saw it anyway (Cinema Sundays at the Charles in Baltimore), nobody knew what they were saying! I'd know more how I felt about the movie if I knew what the people were saying. I did enjoy the older daughter though. I've had one of those, and it rang true!

I'm pretty generous with films which I like -- if I'm really enjoying something, I'll usually give it a 10. Some people save 10 for that rare film that comes along every couple of years, and I wish I did that, so I could bestow a rare 10 on this film. But, 10 is as high as it goes.

I saw it at Cinema Sundays at the Charles, here in Baltimore. As the director, who presented the film, said about persuading people to see the movie, "Let's see, it's a film about a singing revolution in Estonia, what shall we do instead?" But, he said, once people see it they love it. Certainly we did -- there was applause for two-thirds of the credits, and then a long, partially standing, ovation for the director after the credits were over.

The film opens with history -- the Soviet occupation of Estonia under Stalin, then the Nazi occupation, then after that the Soviets again.

Then it goes to the present day -- a man is conducting what seems to be a chorus of thousands of people, of all ages, in a song -- the subtitles tell you it's a patriotic song. The shots of the faces of the singers and the audience are warm and moving -- most of the people are smiling --some in the audience are holding back tears. The physical beauty of the people and the setting, combined with the welling voices and harmonies, are powerful, entrancing.

The movie then describes, through incredible archival footage combined with interviews with people who participated on various sides, Estonia's use of song and non-violence to precipitate the downfall of the Soviet Union.

This is a story and a half -- and it's much more powerful because you know, incredibly, it really happened. This is a story of people who, after thousands of years on the land, were occupied by Germany in the 1200s and were essential serfs for 600 years. In 1869 their awakening nationalism led to the first singing festival (Laulupidu).

In 1918 the country declared independence, but after about 20 years the land was again occupied, this time by Bolsheviks. The land was then briefly occupied by Nazi Germany, and then became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

In 1947, the Singing Festival was reborn. To mark the occasion, a composer wrote a tune for a patriotic poem, which translates as "Land of my fathers, land that I love" in English, and it became a musical symbol of the desire for independence of the Estonian people. But in 1969, the 100th anniversary of the singing festival, the Soviets forbade the singing of "Land of my fathers." Nevertheless, the choir, having sung their Soviet songs, refused to leave the stage, and 20,000 audience members began singing "Land of my fathers" in defiance of the authorities. Eventually the Soviets allowed the song's composer onto the stage to conduct the song, as though it was their idea all along.

That act of defiance -- that singing of a song -- marked the start of a non-violent revolution which brought independence to Estonia and led directly to the breakup of the Soviet Union. The movie details the various times when things could have gone wrong -- the times when the Estonians might have gone too far and precipitated a bloodbath. But, through a combination of bravery and a stubborn refusal either to back down or provoke, Estonian nationalists created a unique revolution -- the Singing Revolution.

This is a gorgeous story -- a story of persistence, bravery, sacrifice. This is a movie which will appeal to the Left and the Right. It's a movie which makes a case for nationalism. It's a movie which will inspire you.

I am not much on horror movies. In fact, I'm known as El Pollo (The Chicken) when it comes to movies. For example, I hate movies which revel in violence: I would no more see "No Country for Old Men" than I would go quail "hunting" with Dick Cheney. Will I see "Sweeney Todd?" Sure I will -- just as soon as pigs fly out my rear end whistling the "Colonel Bogey March."

But I went to see "El Orfanato" because I gathered that it was more of a ghost story than a horror film, and that it was more of a thoughtful reflection on The Unseen World, like "Don't Look Now," or "The Sixth Sense," than a movie whose main purpose was to scare the bejabbers out of the audience.

And so it turned out to be. Which isn't to say that it didn't scare the bejabbers out of the audience! Several times.

The film comes from Spain, and stars Spanish TV star Belen Rueda as Laura. We learn that Laura was an inmate of an orphanage, that she was adopted away from the orphanage, and that she has, at the present time, returned to the old property with her husband and adopted child to create a home for neglected children.

This movie, like "Sixth Sense" (one of my all-time favorite films) is about love and death. In fact, I think they both share the same message, that is, that helping those most in need of help gives life meaning.

I enjoyed "The Orphanage," and I think you will too. If you just plain don't like being frightened in movies, then stay away. But there's no glorified violence and -- you know how the music builds and builds, more and more ominous, and the thing which is about to attack gets closer and closer? There is some of that, but mostly it's used as exposition -- it's when you're not really expecting anything that the director pushes the bejabbers button, leaving the audience chuckling -- like, "whoo -- THAT was a GOOD one!"

I think folks who like a good haunted house story will like this, and people who like a good love story will like it as well.

I enjoyed this film and I'm going to review it instead of discussing the pros and cons of Israel/Palestine.

I saw it at Cinema Sundays at the Charles, here in Baltimore MD USA.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not Jewish, and I am anti-Israel and pro-Palestine.

At Cinema Sundays, the host is Jewish, and this week's discussion leader is also Jewish -- I think I'm safe in saying it's a largely Jewish group which goes to Cinema Sundays and attended this screening. Although a show of hands said that more liked it than disliked it, the host and discussion leader didn't like it at all --- the discussion leader had even skipped the pre-screening the day before -- his reason seemed to boil down to he had better things to do.

The discussion was largely (but not all) panning the film.

I thought (with one glaring exception, which I won't reveal here) that the movie was balanced, while telling the story primarily from the Jewish side. In the foreground, it concerns an American Jew and an Arab Palestinian who meet in the U.S. and become friends. Each finds himself going to Palestine in 1947, knowing that a conflict is coming, a struggle for control of the land. The story of these two men and their friends and lovers is in the foreground, and in the background is the story of the British leaving Palestine, and the U.N. vote for partition.

There's a fair amount of violence, sudden, unexpected violence realistically portrayed. However, there's no enjoyment of the mayhem, and but little glorification of it.

I felt well-informed by the movie in terms of its telling of the story of the birth of Israel. I think this is good story-telling -- although, of course, the two main characters keep encountering each other even after they split up - well, duh, it's a movie about these two characters! :o) A little cinematic license. There's a very touching and emotional scene near the end which had me riveted.

I think the story is told relatively objectively (which is to say, more objectively than, say, 90% of news coverage here in the USA, which overwhelmingly favors Israel) while holding out hope for reconciliation between Arabs and Jews in Israel/Palestine. And, I have to say, I think that's why so many people at Cinema Sundays disliked the movie, without really being able to articulate why ("I've seen this all before, oversimplified, unlikely...") -- because it was objective and told the Arab side, and portrayed the Palestinians as human beings who suffered in the partition.

I give it an 8 because of the one pulled punch, which I thought destroyed the balance of the film. I'll discuss that on the Message Boards, as I don't want to Spoil the movie.

I recommend "Nine Lives" highly.

I was at the Charles Theater in Baltimore and wanted to see another movie (having seen the revival, a 1936 Jean Renoir film, and "Boys of Baraka") and all I knew about "Nine Lives" was the poster, which is not very informative, the list of performers (among them Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Mary Kay Place, Cissy Spacek) and a tagline, "Every life has a story. And every story has a life of its own," which tells you, like, nothing.... Nevertheless, I decided to gamble Last time I gambled like this was "The Benchwarmers" at Towson Commons, so this doesn't always work out.

It took a while to get into the film. It's tedious at first, maybe because we're trained, when we sit down in the auditorium, to expect three acts, with setup, conflict, and resolution (or whatever they are). This movie tells you about the lives of nine women, and each "chapter" is named after the woman it tells you about. Each vignette is, in effect, spying on one particular, short period in the woman's life. Some of them know each other. As in "Crash" (also set in LA, also favoring steadicam shots), some of them don't know each other so much as interact with each other in passing. So there IS NO setup -- the only things you know about what came before are what is revealed during the scene, and sometimes that isn't much, while sometimes you learn enough about an entire life through ten to twelve minutes of dialogue and superb acting that you may know more about this woman than people who think they've known her for years. There isn't much resolution -- you're ripped out of the scene just as fast as you appeared in it as an observer. So it takes some getting used to.

At the end of vignette one I asked myself a question about the shooting, and paid close attention through vignette two to see if my suspicion was correct - it was. Suffice to say that the camera-work is done in a way that I don't believe has ever been done before. I believe this film sets a standard, for people who care about such things. If you don't, that's okay too. But it enhances the enjoyment for technique-o-philes, and I suspect it enhanced more than one performance as well.

The last scene is a little story of a mother, along with her daughter, paying a ritual, once-a-year visit to a grave. If you are someone who spent a lot of time with a daughter when she was (or is) a child, I think this scene will resonate with you. It certainly did with me.

See this film.

I saw this at Cinema Sundays at the Charles in Baltimore.

The host, Jonathan Palevsky, actually arranged to have three Indian motorcycles in the theater for us to check out! And their owners were there to talk about them. Really cool! I enjoyed it a lot. Good acting, not overdone. Beautiful cinematography, just exquisite. Neat characters. Exciting story.

Parts of the film feel artificial -- the disclaimer says that although the film is based on real events, some characters are made up, some are composites, and some events are - I believe the word used is: "fictionalized." There are definitely times when you think, 'yeah, uh, huh, riiight." Still, really exciting, good story. I suspect kids would like it, maybe eight and up, maybe 10. Or it might not grab kids until early teens, I'm not sure. But it's suitable for them - at least I'd have taken my kid to it when she was eight.

I hope word of mouth is good to this picture. I think motorheads are going to dig the heck out of this picture, if they see it (the ones at Cinema Sundays seemed to), and I think effete intellectual snobs will like it too (*I* did!!). I said about "The Greatest Game Ever Played," "It's a chick flick - but it's about GOLF!" :O) Same with WFI. As it says in the trailer: based on one hell of a true story.

I saw this at Cinema Sundays at the Charles in Baltimore. The auditorium was full and there were about 300 people in the theater.

I think the two hosts who had previewed the movie yesterday were surprised at the audience's reaction. Both remarked at how different it was to watch it with a crowd compared to just the two of them at the preview screening.

The audience liked it a lot, me included. I had not expected to like it -- but I laughed and laughed.

The thing is, it's subtle. There are people who don't "get" the movie -- criticizing it because he's trying to tell American jokes to Indian audiences when that's the humor of it -- he's doing stuff, like schtick with a ventriloquist's dummy drinking water (when it's supposed to be the *ventriloquist* who drinks the water) that only someone who's seen the standard ventriloquist act would understand -- he's poking fun at himself and Americans and if you don't get that the whole thing seems stupider than it is. The whole thing with the Indian audience had me in stitches.

Anyway, the audience reaction was positive, and when the moderator started downplaying the screenplay for not having a good "act 3" the audience did not seem sympathetic -- when one of the audience said that she thought too many people were over-intellectualizing it, she got some nice applause -- I think the moderator felt kind of defensive because we (or the vocal people anyway) did not buy his analysis, and because we liked the film more than he did.

One thing the moderator said that I did agree with was that this film was like Parker and Stone's "World Police," except that film did everything over the top and "Looking for Comedy" was understated. I think, first, that this film was a much better and subtler statement, and secondly agree that this film is very "under the top." So I liked the film, and gave it a 9.

Plus - I have to say - Sheetal Sheth is a complete pleasure to watch. Those wondering why it was filmed in India instead of a country that is more usually regarded as a "Muslim country" may need to look no further than the fact that Sheetal Sheth is of Indian descent -- he could only cast her as his guide/secretary if the film took place in India. Works for me!

This film is chock-full of little surprises, many of them funny. The fact that it's written and directed by a 24-year old blows my mind. Some of the scenes where the high school kids are using ecstasy made me very uncomfortable because I have a kid that age and I could picture her using it. As parent of a teen, I found the depictions of the parent-child interactions to be dead-on accurate.

I enjoyed the film's many little jokes, and I enjoyed the fact that not everything made perfect sense and not all the issues were resolved by the end. To paraphrase Mark Twain, truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction is required to stick to that which is possible, while truth is not.

This is a film which plays with the viewer, allowing us believe that people are what other people think they are, only to allow us later to realize that the folks we assumed were right were completely ignorant of the real situation. One of the film's strongest scenes, a scene about which we feel very relieved and sympathetic about what the character is doing, turns out to be based on a completely wrong assumption, and the character, while admirable, is totally wrong. It's very subtly done, I think. Very realistic.

I liked the score a lot -- I thought it really aided the film, really helped set the mood -- the film has a couple of screwball moments, and the background music helps establish that.

The valedictorian speech is a hoot and a half -- got a big laugh! The movie is really in my head right now -- saw it this morning. Will try to see it again, time allowing. Tens are hard to come by, but a solid nine in my book.

I was afraid to go see this because I'm not usually much on tense movies about unpleasant subjects.

Wife and I saw this at Cinema Sundays at the Charles here in Baltimore, with discussion afterward hosted by a Johns Hopkins Medical Center sexologist. After the film, the moderator asked for a show of hands, and it was unanimous in favor of the movie, for what that's worth. It obviously had all of us eating out of its hand.

Kevin Bacon deserves Best Actor for this. He is so good in this movie it's unbelievable. A couple of scenes stand out in my memory where his face does such a good job of revealing the interior feelings of his character -- god he's good at what he does! Mos Def (how can you take a guy seriously whose name is Mos Def? nevertheless...) is just as good as he can be as Police Sgt Lucas, the (as was pointed out in discussion at CSC) conscience of the Bacon character. Scary, caring, dedicated, puzzled, sad -- a beautifully written and beautifully acted character!! Best Supporting Actor! Kyra Sedgwick is also excellent. And I can't not mention the child star of the film, whose character's name is Robin! There's a very uncomfortable scene between the Bacon character and Robin, the whole movie turns on this scene: this kid is as good as it gets! I'm blown away by the writing and the acting -- an excellent film which I recommend heartily!

I haven't read any comments before posting this.

I saw it last night with my wife and I liked it a lot and she didn't like it much. It's kind of unbelievable in parts -- you keep thinking: he has a CELL PHONE!

But: "willing suspension of disbelief" and all that -- I sat back and enjoyed the characters, who were fun and interesting, especially "Shaggy," who really brings the movie back into contact with real life when it threatens to escape -- his part in the final scene in Bellucci's when Alex and Matt finally meet is just delicious. And I enjoyed the plot, which keeps developing -- one of those films where people in the audience are talking to the character on the screen (Alex, in this case): "You *lyin'* b****!"

What I liked most was the story-telling: the place of Wicker Park really exists in my mind now, with so many associations, going back to their first date -- you know it's their spot, and you know why. The story is revealed in a way that's maddening for a while -- why don't they show us the woman's face as she makes her way around the apartment?! -- but at the end you understand why, and it's very satisfying. What I keep thinking as I think back on the movie is how much like writing it is: I love the split screen and the lack of linearity, which somehow cross the gap between writing and cinema. The way you see a scene and you don't notice something, and then you watch the same scene again, with emphasis on another character, knowing what you now know, and suddenly its import is clear -- that was terrific. Art which is all about the art of making art is bad art, IMV, but art which tells a story and at the same time teaches you something about the making of art is all the better for it. That's how I feel about "Wicker Park."

I'm in love with this movie, and can't wait to see it again.

Including me. I went to bed thinking about it and woke up thinking about it.

Mary Louise Parker ("Angels in America") really stood out for me as the protagonist Mary's mother. I thought she was the emotional center of the film -- the one the audience looked to to know what was right. Martin Donovan is a stitch as Pastor Skip.

I actually thought the film was a little tougher on Hillary-Faye, Mandy Moore's overly-evangelical character, than it needed to be, but I also thought it showed her as someone who was just trying to do the right thing, even though you hated her for it. A fully-realized character, very well-played and directed.

I am a left-wing atheist with spiritual leanings, and I loved it! Big laughs throughout, including the one where Cassandra asks Roland, Why does any Christian girl go to a Planned Parenthood Clinic. They've kept it out of the trailer, thanks goodness because it's a lovely surprise. They do have Hillary-Faye's hysterical line, "I - crashed -my van into Jesus!!"

I thought the direction was excellent, and the script teriffic. There's a part where pregnant Mary is about to go to the hospital in an ambulance, and there's only room for one person. It's a huge laugh, funny and moving, and the timing is perfect.

There were two people during the Q&A at the MD Film Festival who had had experience with Christian schools. One had attended as a student, and was quite emotional and resentful as she told Brian Dannelly that he had gotten it just right. The other was a parent whose daughter had gone to a Christian school, and she said it was accurate also, and she was also emotional and resentful of what she seemed to think the school had done to her daughter.

I think this movie is going to do very very well. I hope it does.

The wife and I just saw this and we both LOVED it. Scott Baio was excellent, and all the main actors were great. The writing was super, the dialogue was inspired. I voted 9 -- no flaws, just an excellent film.

I enjoyed the humor -- there are scenes where the Scott Baio character, who owns a bakery and also works in acquisitions for some kind of holding company, criticizes the junk food his colleagues eat, which is really enjoyable -- director goes out of her way to emphasize a connection between an empty diet and an empty soul -- piggishness in business and porcine manners. I really enjoyed the skewering of the Scott Baio character's colleagues in the business world. The boss is a hoot.

I enjoyed the way the first doc and the nun are both jerks. A nun as an incompetent jerk going through the motions is kind of different! The nun character is a little gem. She rolls her eyes at the end of her last scene! :0)

I think the Kristin Minter character is exceedingly well-drawn -- the character is not particularly pretty, and not really very likeable, and the bargain she is offered is not much of a bargain. But what a great ride! In all, my wife and I both thought that even though there was a formula obviously being followed, that the movie did an excellent job of following it. The whole idea of the "merger" that the Baio character offers her is charming and very different from anything I can remember seeing in a movie.

I enjoyed the old-world mother and father, and Eddie and Pino working at the bakery. Pino is terrific. He's scary and pitiable and is the character I identified with most. He brings humanity to developmental disability in a way I don't think I've seen before. Reminds me a bit of Mickey Rooney in "Bill." (no small compliment) What a terrific acting job by Shuler Hensley! Great writing too.

I cried through the last half of this movie. I want to see it again.

I saw Anne B. Real at the Maryland Film Festival. It is great!

The lead actress (credited on screen as JNYCE and credited on IMDB as Ja Nice) Richardson is fantastic as Cynthia, going to high school in greater NYC, who dreams of a career as a hip hop artist, but who is surrounded by people who want to use her, or who tell her she won't amount to anything. She is fantastic. At the Festival, the director, Lisa France, told us that the young woman was an R&B performer, not a hip hop artist, and was not an experienced actor. The producer, who was there at the Q&A, credited Lisa France's direction as contributing to the excellent acting job by JNYCE.

Jackie Quinones plays her friend Kitty. She is a hoot! From the first time she comes on screen you know this is going to be a fun movie because she's in it -- very loud and brassy and New York, funny and appealing. Every filmmaker, I think, hopes for a scene-stealer like this in his/her movie. What a find! What a great job! Many of her lines are improvised, since they re-wrote the script to give her more screen time, and they didn't have dialogue ready.

Most of the audience at MFF was grown-ups, and the prevailing idea during the Q&A was that this was a great message movie for kids, especially teen-age girls (I have one, 16). I bought the DVD, and raved about the film when I got home. My daughter watched it and I'm happy to say she loved it. It's not a given that something that adults think is good for kids is something the kid herself will enjoy, but mine likes the film a lot. She's coming with me to see it again at a thank-you screening for MFF volunteers.

Interestingly shot, excellent performances from a mixture of brand new actors and veterans, well-written and exciting! A great film for adults, and a great film for teen-agers of any color from any part of the world.

Brian Keith as the sheriff is perfect in the role. One of the funniest people ever, Jonothan Winters, is hilarious -- he putters around the kitchen with his hearing aid turned off while his wife tries to get his attention, tied to a chair hung up on the wall, is one of the great comedy scenes of all times. He's oblivious, she's frantic, and it just gets funnier and funnier. Michael J Pollard is funny in his extremely odd way. Paul Ford as the VFW guy is side-splittingly funny. Alan Arkin is great. Theodore Bikel is excellent. Carl Reiner as "Whittaker Walt" is great; the guy who plays Alexei and the woman who plays Allison are as good as they can be -- what ever happened to them? The scene at the end where the jets fly over -- well, my eyes are tearing as I type this. This is one of my top 10 all time movies.

The dialogue is clever as it can be, the situations are funny (the Russian sailors walking through town wearing thrift store trenchcoats, shouting, "E-Mare-Jen-See, E-Mare-Jen-See, all the pipples to get from strits!"), the message is terrific, and was much needed at the time, which is that beneath all the sputtering and fear are PEOPLE who forget all the conflict when innocent lives are in danger.