Reviews

Good things: acting is okay, the action is okay, the demonstration of random and sometimes obscure knowledge is okay. There is some cleverness (like the sort of cleverness you see in comic books)

Bad things: there is no real engineering. Let me explain. There are engineering like problems used in weird situations, but there is no way in heck that a real engineering genius would contrive or actually use some of these ideas (if they would even work) because none of them are "performant". By performant, I mean, they don't account for precision or probability of failure. Using an oxygen tank as a reliable propulsion to go *up* a zip line? Yeah, right. Only in M:I movies, maybe. The Myth Busters would love this show. Actually, no maybe they wouldn't, because they like to doctor the disproven myths in order to make them work. Many of the solutions displayed here are beyond re-fabrication.

They wanted the genius of the team from House M. D. and got a bunch of vogue kids posing as cliché nerds. It's downright cringe for anyone that knows anything at all about technology or engineering and the sciences.

First, good stuff. The film is well done, the production quality high, the acting believable, the world immersive, the ambiance stunning, the music, well, good, but overly insistent, a rather pleasant overpowering sound that turns into a rather unpleasant tinnitus two hours later.

I forced myself to read the book first. I was excited to read the book. I didn't like it for a variety of reasons, but this is about the movie, and I tried my best to forget about the book and focus on the movie when watching it, I found I rather enjoyed it. But it definitely didn't make me feel like I had a great experience. Nothing to write home about and tell others they should see it. The characters, both in the book and in the movie are one dimensional. They were written that way on purpose. They have a drive, a reason for that drive, and that's about it. Though our main character Paul is supposed to be coming of age, there's much ado about nothing. He has powers, and he is honing them. He is finding his real purpose even though it is pretty clear exactly what that is from the get go. This movie obviously sets up Paul's destiny for a follow up film. The problem is, we already know what his destiny is even if we haven't read the book. I'm not giving anything away by saying he's considered a messiah because the movie tells us that possibility right in the beginning.

The movie is definitely good. It has some action, but really, the most important thing is it builds a world we want to know more about, and the characters are believable enough that we want to join them in their discovery of it. But the story itself is not mind blowing, and, in my humble opinion, never really was. In short, I walked away mildly happy having watched a well done production, albeit telling a lackluster story, and me with the chorus of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" replaying in my head for some reason.

Touching on the idea of solitude doesn't make for an automatic romantic situation, especially when the spark was a morally irresponsible decision. No amount of pretty music can make up for how this story sets its foundation. If the viewer can get past that one little aspect -- for me a very big, critical aspect -- they might be able to enjoy the movie for its other qualities. I for one, could not avail myself of that bad taste in my mouth right from the get go, no matter how persistent the music tried to make me think otherwise.

The plot is simple, but the actors did a real good job in making it believable. The man finds himself stranded on a ship bound for a distant planet, the intent of the journey being colonization. There are other people, but they are all asleep. He woke up too early to find there is still 90 years to go before reaching the destination. He opts to wake one of the passengers for companionship, and thus the romance begins.

Being somewhat of a mix of a soap-opera, "The Pretender", and "Dawson's Creek", this show certainly surprised me, especially since I don't much care for those three.

We start with a basic mysterious boy story - he has some exceptional abilities, no memory, a caring psychiatrist, a newly acquired family to take him in, and a mysterious stalker - within which setting he must try to discover his identity.

This premise sounds pretty boring and even overdone in movies and TV, but the show grew on me, and I was hooked by the end of the season. Though many comments complain about the poor script and wooden acting, I beg to differ. Matt Dallas is well cast as a juvenile and naive character. He is supposed to have that doe-eyed-in-on-coming-head-lights look. I have to admit that some of the overall dialogue approaches cheesiness at times, but for the most part, the story stands well on its own and makes up for that.

I also thought this had nowhere to go after the first season, but the writers managed to put in a decent finale that will keep fans interested for the next season.

Some people have complained about the "adultness" of the material. I suppose this isn't the type of show for children to watch if they aren't yet familiar with typical teenager topics like sex, drinking, relationships, drugs, and general mischief; all the stuff that I'm sure many parents want to turn a blind eye to. Is it appropriate for ABC Family channel? You be the judge. Try it out, though. I think you'll enjoy the series. 7/10

I've seen this just recently and get a bit nostalgic because I've seen similar situations in real life. So take me with a grain of salt. I'll be a bit biased.

You have a person (Dutton) that quite probably escaped home to become a bar pianist because of reasons--which are made readily apparent in the young smart teen's (Natalie Portman) observation--that he has "daddy downer and brother bummer". He returns to his hometown, with feeling a bit bad about not doing the "normal" thing, like getting a sales job and having a family, thinking about dropping the piano gig, etc. Meanwhile, his high-school buddies, also having their own regrets and issues, seem to have not aged a bit in their attitudes. But, we find out they have, each in their own way.

Mostly, the script is excellent, if only slightly cheesy at times. But, it is really hard not to like this film. Contrary to some other comments, the dialogue seems to be well done and very natural. The script is simple and realistic and accomplishes that without becoming pretentious and full of itself.

It is not an avant-garde art film with a statement, but rather a look on a sort of "life decision, if you will". Have other movies done this same twenty-something theme? Of course. That doesn't bother me.

It appears that everybody seems to go on about how Natalie Portman "made" the movie, and believe me, her performance quite easily allows you to you fall in love with the character Marty, but I think there was a general chemistry in all of the performances which makes it all the worthwhile to watch, and hopefully enjoy. Rappaport was excellent, and also Matt Dillon, which some people may think had a relatively simple role. And Timothy Dutton is great, even, as it were, that somebody in an earlier comment said "give him a comb". I think that person missed the point.

To sum up, it makes for a good flick if you can relate to the characters and, just maybe, if you cannot. I'm giving it a 9/10.