Discussion: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Like most of the world, I feel in love with How To Train Your Dragon in a way I could have never imagined. Everything about that movie was perfection and though I thought it looked like a cool concept, I never expected to love it the way I did.

So I was more than a little skeptical when I heard there was going to be a sequel. Then I saw the direction they were going. They decided to start this story five years later which made Hiccup a young adult. I'm not sure if it is ever confirmed but I imagined he was around 17. But I got really excited for their character designs and for the fact that they could now tell an entirely new story.

Hiccup and Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon

Hiccup and Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon 2

And boy did they! I'll get into some spoiler-y plot stuff soon but suffice to say, this movie is wonderful. I'm not going to review it per say, but I wanted to touch on some of the things I loved about it. Again, there will be spoilers ahead.

1) Hiccup and Astrid's relationship

I love, love, LOVED the portrayal of Hiccup and Astrid's relationship in this movie. From the moment they get on screen together, there is this naturalness with them that feels real and the movie makers left us loads of little clues about this. For instance, Hiccup begins the movie with one braid in his hair but when Astrid sits next to him, she braids another strand which stays there the rest of the movie. We already know that Astrid wears her hair in braids so it feels so natural that she would braid his. He has two braids in his hair for the rest of the movie. Also, when she sits down next to him, he hands her his pen without any comment. You get the feeling that they have a routine, that they know what the other is thinking and I love that. Not to mention, we get to see how much they trust each other.

2) Hiccup and Toothless

Alright, you knew this one was going to be on there. In the first movie, the link between Hiccup and Toothless was beginning to form but by this movie, it is fully formed. They are one, thinking in unison, understanding each other and it is amazing to watch. I loved seeing how much they each rely on each other, Hiccup because he can move so much faster with Toothless and Toothless because Hiccup helps him fly. The fact that neither are complete without the other is this amazing bond and so much deeper than another boy and his pet story.

Because Hiccup and Toothless have such a tight bond, I found it really interesting that the movie decided to test them. Having Toothless kill Hiccup's father while under the influence of the alpha dragon, Bewilderbeast, was one of the most interesting things I've seen happen in a kid's movie. That is DARK on a level I never thought I'd witness. I understand that Toothless was being controlled and that this is really his first time dealing with something like that but I was shocked. Having their bond tested in such a visceral way was so sad to watch and I got really upset watching Hiccup shoo Toothless away when Toothless was trying to figure out what was going on.

I'm not sure I can entirely blame Hiccup for not wanting to figure Toothless for what he did and I could have watched an entire movie of them trying to find their way back to each other. I was satisfied with the ending, that Hiccup's willingness to forgive Toothless and trust him even though the recent past indicated that he shouldn't is what gave Toothless the strength to fight against his very nature but I would have loved to see more on that. Watching them fall back into trusting each other instantly, seeing how Toothless would save Hiccup without any regard for his own life and knowing Hiccup would do the same because without one, there really isn't the other, was so incredible.

3) The Comedic Relief of Ruffnut

This is a kid's movie after all and it is dealing with some really heavy stuff. It was nice to have Ruffnut coming into her own, noticing boys and providing a little bit of comic relief in the middle of the story. The parts with the boys were really funny but my favorite moment was when Ruffnut and Tuffnut get their dragon back and the head her brother rides on comes over to her and she pushes it away because she only likes her side of the dragon.

4) Hiccup's Mother

Disregarding the fact that she is exactly Hiccup and what she does for the story, my husband and I couldn't get over the way she was animated. She was so fluid in her movement, part wild animal herself. The moment when they are riding on their dragons together and she walks across all of the dragons, using her staff as a way to cling to one with a horn or when she was on her own and uses that staff to be lowered to the ground is one of the highlights of the entire movie. She was beautiful.

5) The Moment Stoick and Valka Reunite

If there was one moment in this film where I held my breath, it was this one. There was something so natural about the dumbfounded way Hiccup's father walked toward his mother, with her apologizing the entire time, and when he reached out and touched her face, it was beautiful. I know this is a small moment in the scheme of things, a great moment embedded in 120 minutes of great moments, but there was something so touching about it. You felt a real longing, a real love, a life they could of have, blossom right on screen.

6) Hiccup's Inventions

We knew Hiccup thought out side of the Viking ship the first time we met him. His inventions were nothing compared to what we get in this movie. This time around, he has loads of gadgets he's been perfecting over the five years since we've met him and I love that this is something carried over to the next movie. He has never had brute strength on his side and must rely on his brains to keep him alive. His new fire engulfed sword is a wonderful example of that. We even get to see all the neat things it can do in a comical sequence where Hiccup and Astrid are "captured".

7) The Dragon Animation

Oh. My. God. Watching the dragon interact with human is wonderful but even better than that is watching them interact with each other. I could watch the scene where we first get to see Astrid and Hiccup together a million times because as much as I was focused on Astrid and Hiccup, I was also trying to watch the dragons in the background. They were playing fetch (with an entire tree), smelling each other and playing around. The dragon interactions were just insanely good.

I could keep going. The plot change up from Hiccup being right in the first movie to his father being right in the second one, the interesting way they fought a war with dragons, the addition of Eret (Son of Eret) learning about how amazing dragons could be in a single scene, and more make this movie INCREDIBLE. If you are a fan of dragons, coming of age stories, Vikings, cats, dogs, wolves, owls, family stories or you know, have eyeballs and a heart, I think you'll like this movie.

I want to know if you saw it. Did you like it?

The Amazing Spiderman 2: Gwen Stacy Discussion

There are going to be a lot of reviews on The Amazing Spiderman 2 and they're most likely going to tell you that it is a mess. I think this is a pretty accurate description. This movie suffered from trying to fit too many story lines into one movie- Peter discovering his father's role at Oscorp, the intro and rise of the Goblin, Electro and his origins plus his subsequent fall into insanity, Gwen and Peter's relationship and more. Seriously, no wonder most of the plot lines got frayed!

But I don't want to talk about that because that's not what sparked my interest in this film. What I want to talk about is the treatment of Gwen Stacy. So if you haven't seen this movie and don't want the ending spoiled for you, STOP READING!

SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS AHEAD!
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

 Alright, if you get it spoiled now, don't say I didn't warn you!

I feel like I need to start this out by saying that I have never read the comics. I mean, maybe when I was little on rainy days but nothing that serious. So I didn't know that Gwen was written to die until I watched a comics review a few weeks ago where they predicted that this movie would end in her death.

Now, in the comment section of a recent The Mary Sue review, there is a war raging about whether or not Gwen Stacy's death worked or if it was just a cheap ploy to motive Peter's character arc.

The term they are using is "fridging" which refers to "putting women in refrigerators". I wasn't familiar with the term so I looked it up. It's basic definition is the act of killing off a female character to further motivate a male character and boils down to the female only being important because of the role her death plays to the male's point of view.

Basically, Gwen Stacy in the comics. She is only there to be eye candy and when they wanted to give Parker's character have more motivation, they killed her off so he could deal with the guilt of not being able to save her.

I do take issue with this trope. I don't have any issue if writer's are striving to change it.

Now, I totally get both sides of this argument. Yes, the movie made Gwen into this pretty cool chick that was a super smart and savvy girl scientist. She made her own decisions--choosing to end things with Peter when he flaked out, choosing to go to Oxford over Peter and finally choosing to go help Peter defeat Electro. But they took away her choice to be involved when the Goblin came and stole her to get back at Peter. Her involvement with that fight wasn't by choice.

But where I have an issue is that because she doesn't have a choice in that one incident, it somehow negates the fact that she has been her own woman since the beginning. In life, we can't chose how we impact other people, and I get that in fiction, the writer's do, but if Gwen was going to die, isn't it better that Peter, the person who loved her, felt that impact on a personal and professional level? Just like if Peter were the one that ended up dead, she would probably struggle with feelings of remorse. After all, when she was in the tower when they were fighting Electro, she made the decision to pull the switch. What if it had killed Peter and the series went on focusing on how that impacted her? Would we still be having this discussion?

I feel this is especially important because I really believe the writer's strove to make Gwen Stacy more than a plot device in these movies. They wanted her to be more than the girl who died. They wanted her to be the girl that lived, that Peter could have been happy with, that had a mind of her own, that made her own choices even if that meant walking away from the person she loved and even if it meant putting herself in harm's way. So the fact that she did die when she knew she would be in danger, when she knew that being with Peter was dangerous, when she lived in a city attacked by mutant villains, doesn't mean she was fridged. Her death didn't negate the fact that when she was alive, she lived. It just meant that she made her own choices that lead to her death.

I think I also have a big problem with this entire idea, especially in modern fiction, because it seems like the only way around this definition is for a female character to chose to die and while that is beautiful, life doesn't always work that way. A lot of us sure as hell wouldn't chose to die in most circumstances. We'd fight to live and we want our characters to fight too. So yes, maybe Gwen's character could have fought a little more but I still don't see how the outcome would have changed. Sometimes even super powers don't make us fast enough.

I guess I'm taking issue with this entire thing because I write fiction and sometimes, people just have to die, especially when it is right for the story. Heck, even when I create a story, I have a good idea before I even go in to write a single word about the fate of my characters and I know which ones are going to live and which ones need to be sacrificed for the greater good of the storytelling. It doesn't mean those that are going to die are any less than the ones that live unless I'm failing at my job. If I don't make these characters breathe and feel and strive and love before they die, then there is an injustice. That is where the problem lies.

I think Gwen did live. She was unpredictable, strong, smart, funny and forward thinking. She was willing to give up everything to accomplish her goals and she continued to fight against Peter's assessment that his world was too dangerous for her. She reminded him over and over that it was her choice and when he couldn't accept that, she left him.

She lived.

And just because she died doesn't make her life onscreen any less. Just because we saw how it affected Peter doesn't cheapen her. It just makes it real. Because if life isn't sloppy, unpredictable and dangerous and if loss doesn't make you think then it loses its beauty.

Personally, I think Gwen blew the doors off of the refrigerator, stretched her legs and told Peter to go get her a beer. And we'll be thinking about this newer version of her long after we've forgotten which villain belongs to which movie.

Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures

This review is a little late because I wanted to see the movie twice before passing any kind of concrete judgment on it. The truth is, Beautiful Creatures is not very much like the book it is inspired from. It uses the same characters but their roles are very different and the ending is almost completely different. I wanted to give myself some time to really reflect on that and decide what I thought.

And I know that I liked it. A lot.

I don't think the movie is better than the book but I don't think the book is better than the movie either. Some of the things they omitted from the movie I missed but I thought the editing they did to the plot really worked to the movies advantage and the acting was stellar.

I know that a lot of times people hope they cast unknowns in the lead roles but I'm not one of those. I'd prefer to see established actors in the roles of the character's I love. But Alden Ehrenreich (Ethan Wate) and Alice Englert (Lena Duchannes rhymes with rain) proved me wrong and now I'm a believer. Seriously, these actors were oozing chemistry and delivered lines that would have been cheesy from any other mouth but were believable from them.

I thought that Ehrenreich was particularly skilled at saying things like "I've been dreaming of you for months" and "no matter what they do, no matter what they do to me, I'm still here" with such passion and emotion and charm you couldn't help but believe it. He was skilled at the awkward with his funny little laugh and with shock and with passion. I kept being blown away with the way he delivered line after line like he believed it himself. It's something I haven't seen in a long time and something I really appreciated. I also thought his Southern accent was spot on. I first I was pretty sure I was going to get annoyed but a few minutes into the movie and I didn't even notice it. Felt completely natural.

Alice Englert (Lena) had an even harder time with me. See, I wasn't crazy about book Lena. I liked her okay but I didn't understand her motivations and she ended up confusing me even more than she confused Ethan. But Englert made me love Lena. She was charming and sweetly awkward and fiercely strong all at the flip of a switch. Particularly the times when she was fighting her dark nature. They could have been really bad but she kept it in check with just an edge of insanity. Just a glimmer. And it worked so well. Again, I believed in her. Because I did, it allowed me to believe in them together. I was right there with them when they were fighting, when they were talking and when they were just hanging out.

What made me believe in this movie before I saw it was the cast of established actors they had to back up the newbies. You've got Viola Davis who I'll love in pretty much any role who does a great job of being both Amma and Marian, Jeremy Irons was just creepy enough to portray Macon, Emmy Rossum was a wonderfully bad (in an oh-so-good way) Ridley and Emma Thompson was downright delicious as Ms. Lincoln/Sarafine.

The scenery was just...oh, I could look at the scenery they created forever and ever. Seriously, the outside of the Ravenwood mansion was the perfect haunted house, the echo of the book covers in the wrought iron gate, the grandeur and clean lines of the inside of the Ravenwood mansion that was every changing with the season were all just perfect. All this coupled with the lazy spanish moss clinging to the trees, the bright green forest wrapping around the little town and the old houses. As it was in the book, Gaitlin was thoroughly and wonderfully represented on the big screen.

So now onto the thing that changed the most... the plot. There I sat in the theater, fresh off the novel, thinking I knew everything in the world that was going to happen. And then I was surprised over and over as things were changed. Anyone that read my review of the book knows I had some problems with the length and in turn, some of the plotting. I felt the book was a little convoluted and I'm still not completely sure what happened at the end. The movie did a wonderful job of streamlining and simplifying the plot. It was a lot clearer and a lot easier to understand in my opinion. I won't go into the exact changes but I will say that everything fit together better for me and the character's role were a little clearer. The one thing I really wish they would have added into the movie from the book is Lena and Ethan's ability to communicate telepathically with each other. It would have made the final scene make a lot more sense.

Over all, I think this was a well written, well cast and very well acted movie that stayed true to the spirit of the book. For me, that's really all you can ask for. If you haven't seen it, I'd suggest going and if you have, I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

Mini Movie Reviews- Brave and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

It's been a quite a good weekend for movies. Not only did Brave come out, which I have been waiting for since the teaser trailer but so did Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter which looked pretty much epic. So I went to both over the weekend and wanted to share my thoughts on them.

I did the midnight premiere of Abe Lincoln. I’d seen both trailers but I still wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The trailers made it look kind of serious but the premise was so silly that I wasn’t sure if this movie wanted you to take it serious or not.

Turns out that it did.

Don’t get me wrong, it knew it was a satire on historical fiction and would nod at its roots sometimes but for the most part, we as the audience were totally supposed to take Lincoln serious as he hunts down the creatures of the night. And it worked. Through some amazing choreographed fight scenes, great special affects and gorgeous settings, this dark historical incites excitement while mixing in Lincoln’s political roots. One second he’s a badass chopping off a vampire’s head and the next he is giving speeches about freeing slaves. It does have some rocky transitions as Lincoln grows older but for the most part it is a fast pace thriller with plenty of surprises and some seriously scary vamps.

Next up was Pixar’s latest Brave which I’ve been brimming with excitement over. Being as this is the first time Pixar has tackled a movie about a girl and it was set in Scotland, I knew from the second the teaser came out that I needed to see this one. I’d read some earlier reviews which praised the look of Brave but stated that it lacked heart.

Brave confirmed why I don’t ever listen to reviewers. This movie blew me away with its wild beauty, its free spirit and its touching and gorgeous storytelling. It has everything that we’ve come to love about Pixar movies but this time it has given someone for the girls to look up to.

The voice acting was spot on, the jokes were great and the animation and design was breathtaking. I thought the story of a girl and her mother trying to see eye to eye was a perfect route for them to go and the main character Merida was as wild, charming and lovable as every other Pixar character I’ve seen. My husband (who is trying to get in to computer animation) marveled at her hair which took three years to create and looked incredible. Brave had me laughing at the right parts and tearing up at the others as it weaves a magical tale about fate. This is a must-see for everyone and one I’ll definitely be re-visiting, probably in theaters!

Do you plan on seeing either of these movies?

Movie Review: Easy A

Easy A
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: September 17, 2010
Tagline: Let's not and say we did (best tagline ever!)
Director: Will Gluck
Recognizable Actors: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Cam Gigandet. Lisa Kudrow, and Stanley Tucci
Plot: After a little white lie about her virginity gets out, a clean cut high school girl sees her life paralleling Hester Prynne's in "The Scarlett", which she is currently studying in school -- until she decides to use the rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.

The Short Review: Witty, hilarious with the right amount of awkward humor, this movie is a must see for any lover of YA.

The Review: From the moment I saw the first trailer, I knew I had to see this movie. Before even knowing about the plot. I saw that Emma Stone (of Zombieland & House Bunny) played the lead Olive and I knew it was going to be great. Then I saw what it was about-- a girl that accidentally spreads a rumor about herself and uses the chance to make herself more popular. Plus, it utilizes a popular trend in novels right now by paralleling the action with an classic perfectly.

I can't say I was disappointed in the list.

The writing is one of the areas where this novel shines. Every word out of Stone's mouth is funny and witty. I would have spent the entire hour just listening to her tell the story on her podcast (though I'm glad I got to SEE what she was saying). From the time she got a singing card which she proclaimed "lame" and then sang with it all weekend, I knew it was going to be one of those movies. Plus, they allowed the main character to be book smart which an almost foreign concept in high school films right now as WELL as street smart. She figured out how to use the rumor mill in her school to her best advantage and made it work.

The other cast of crazy character around her really helped to fill in the movie. From her Frenemy with the nudist parents to her crush who was the mascot of their school (and whose name would change every time the mascot did-- Woodchuck Todd to Lobster Todd) to her oddball parents to the Jesus Freak a la Hillary Faye in Saved. Everyone in the movie was a little off and was amazing because of it.

I could figure out where this movie was going and I really tried. She just kept digger herself into a bigger rut of lies and I wasn't sure she'd be able to get out of it. It tested the bounds of what is "proper" for teens to be and what is "reality". Those who were "proper" like Amanda Bynes religious nut character were out of it and portrayed just as mean as the other character. Olive was portrayed as Hester Prynne and we got to follow her around and see the reason she made each decision she did and the direct consequences of those decisions. It made a statement about people who have "reputations" being the ones that really get to see the true side of others because they don't worry about being judged. The funny thing is, Olive never did anything that was being said and in actuality was the only one who was "good". She had her problems but she would never do most of the things the other character's did and then let her take the blame for.

Emma Stone thinks you should see it too!

This idea of Olive as Hester brings me to my last point. I was a little worried about how following a classic while telling a modern story would play out on the big screen. I have to say, the director and writer worked it in flawlessly. We get a quick sum up of the novel thanks to the old black and white version of the movie (you must have the original NOT the Demi Moore version with her in the bathtub, advice directly from Olive's mouth) and then see how each person in the movie loosely takes on a person from the novel. We also get the literal "A" sown on to all of Olive's clothing which she did to truly make a statement.

Like I said in the beginning, this movie is entertaining and a great commentary on high school now if not a little exaggerated. I really enjoyed going through everything with Olive's great sense of wit as a guide, keeping the story running. I highly recommend it. It truly felt like one of my YA novels come to life in an exciting and visually pleasing way!

Rating:

Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: August 13, 2010
Tagline: An epic of epic epicness
Director: Edgar Wright
Recognizable actors: Micheal Cera, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, and Kieran Culkin
Plot: Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend's evil exes in order to win her heart.

The Short Review: If you don't read another single word in this review, read this-- go see it now!

The Review: An epic of epic epicness, indeed. Scott Pilgrim is based off a short comic series with the same plot-- Scott must defeat all seven of Ramona Flower's evil exes before he can finally be with her. This movie has loads of lines you'll hear people saying over and over again and had the entire group I went with still talking about it hours afterwards.

Much like a musical is set up so that you know at any time one of the characters might start sining and dancing, Scott Pilgrim gives the set-up of a really rocking video game from the beginning. We met our main characters and their surroundings by being given their stats right up front. For the most part, we hang with Scott's band (and both his girlfriends) who are all in their early twenty something and video game junkies. Because of our cast of characters, I got the feeling that we were seeing the world perhaps how they wanted to see it.

And they way they wanted to see life is like a large video game. The entire movie is peppered with classic video game music (to my delight, Zelda's "The Goddess Appears" seemed to be the most popular theme song), gaming bars (we get a really great scene where Scott has a pee bar that he empties, bad guys dropping coins when they are defeated, high scores, and other gaming paraphernalia so that when an evil ex pops in to whip some serious Scott butt, it feels fluent and natural with the world we are in.

This movie really shines everywhere. The acting is awesome, the writing is filled with unforgettable lines and scenes, the visuals are amazing to witness and the audio will be in your head days after the movie has ended. Because there are so many great aspects to this movie, I'm going to focus on two.

Micheal Cera portrays Scott Pilgrim, a twenty three year old Canadian who is in between jobs, and would rather hang out with his band than try to do something about it. What I particularly enjoyed about this movie is that Scott wasn't portrayed as being a "good" guy. Yeah, he's pretty nice to Ramona because he likes her but he also meets her while dating a seventeen year old who is crazy for him (and who he cheats on), he gets emo-ish when he has to fight and he puts himself before the needs of others around him. It sounds like he'd be kind of hard to love but then he goes and beats the snot out of one of Ramona's exes because the ex hit his ex-seventeen year old and he gains points back. Plus, he clever. Cera does an awesome job shining light on Pilgrim's flaws while also showing us he's just a regular guy with regular problems and an array of ninja moves underneath that tiny size X-small t-shirt. 

That's just Cera! I haven't even scratched the surface of awesomeness when it comes to the cast. His band members, particularly the female drummer Kim Pine (played by Alison Pill), both his old girlfriend Knives Chau and his new Ramona, his gay roommate Wallace Wells (played by Keiran Culkin), his younger sister played by Anna Kendrick and all of the exes provide a plethora of hilariousness for Cera to work with. The two that really shine for me where Culkin and Kendrick.

The other aspect I want to take a second to discuss is the visual. These fighting battle where so beautiful witness and there was such an array of things to watch. The script didn't just stick with the normal vs. battle ala Street Fighter, there were multiple styles including skate boarding (like all the skate boarding games out there), a bass battle (like Rock Band), a monster battle (like Pokemon but bigger!) and even super powers. It was beautiful to look at. They also combined comic book elements and even part of the comic in the movie for back story.

I haven't scratched the surface. There are so many lines you're friends will be repeating, so many scenes you'll be laughing at long after the film has finished rolling, so many beautiful visuals to witness that I could go on for days. The only tiny thing I had a problem with in this story was a detail about Scott's little sister calling him little brother but other than that, I can't think of a thing to change.

As I said in the short review, do yourself a favor and witness the epicness. I wish I was instead of writing this review and having to re-live it without seeing it again You won't be disappointed.

5 evil bunnies/5

Rating:

Movie Review: Charlie St. Cloud

Rated: PG 13 

Release Date: July 30, 2010  

Tag Line: Life is for Living

Director: Burr SteersRecognizable 

Actors: Zac Efron, Amanda Crew, and Donal Logue                                            

So, we all knew it was going to happen. Yeah, that's right. Young Troy Bolton has finally grown up. I knew, and I mean I knew, Zac Efron was going to be one of those guys to watch out for. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time when I saw 17 Again.

The glimmer of a real dramatic actor showed up in 17 Again when Mr. Efron read his "letter" out loud to his wife in the court room. I said to myself, self this is it, we've got ourselves a really good actor right here. And I was right!

Charlie St. Cloud follows Charlie's (Efron) life (or lack thereof) after he loses his little brother in a car crash that was partly his fault. I won't spoil too much but I will say that he meets his little brother, Sam (played by Charlie Tahan), everyday in the woods next to the cemetery to teach Sam how to play baseball like he promised.

If you want a better synopsis take a look at the trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1333331737/

I'm not a crier in movies generally speaking (unless it's really late at night and I can't sleep. I will never watch A Walk To Remember again at 3 am), but let me say, the first fifteen minutes of this movie are heart breaking. This is mostly due to a good performance by Zac Efron. When he wakes up in the ambulance and sees Sam lying next to him dead, you feel the pain in his frantic screaming and it's heart breaking.

The plot is strong (because it's based off a novel, of course), not completely relying on the paranormal element, but rather allowing it to coexist perfectly with the character's real life. The relationship between the brothers is really strong on-screen. I was worried at first that we'd get that sugary sweet little kid who never fought with his big brother but right away, we get to see several different sides to Sam and the brothers' relationship.

The only thing I had a little bit of a problem with is the relationship between Charlie and his sailor gal Tess (played by Amanda Crew). I liked them together but they were awfully close after only one day. I needed to see a little more to really believe it. I was willing to give a little because this was only an hour and a half movie but I still needed a little more contact to fully accept it.

But hey, I'm being picky. You heard it here, Charlie St. Cloud is a winner! I also want to say that the kid who played Sam (whose real name is Charlie, heh!) is another one to watch out for. He's a good little actor and I think we'll be seeing more of him!

Rating: