Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Sean Lamberger Ian McKellan is a Nazi war criminal hiding long-term in suburban America. Four decades after the war, a bright high school student with a fascination about WWII marks him on a bus ride and the two embark on a lengthy game of one-upsmanship. Oddly, the kid seems the more villainous of the two, though McKellan is himself far from heroic. I can't shake the sense that the concept was more daring than the film in this case. Featuring a Nazi in a decidedly grey light is a different take, for sure, but I felt like the filmmakers were always too afraid to go anywhere truly risqué with that material, and the core relationship between the two leads is toothless and pantomimed. Maybe that can be primarily chalked up to acting - Brad Renfro, who plays the kid, is positively grating in the role - but even removing that from the equation doesn't completely settle my stomach. It's a film that dances and loiters, but rarely has much to say of genuine power or meaning; wannabe edgy, using the taboo of an old war uniform to mask a serious lack of substance. Even the big reveal at the end, when everything comes apart at the seams, is hollow, telegraphed and half an hour behind schedule.

LeonLouisRicci Totally Believable in its Unbelievability this is a Well Made, Acted, and Fittingly Disturbing Creep-Film from Writer Stephen King and the Sophomore Movie from Director Bryan Singer. There is Definitely Talent at Work here and No Play.There is not an Ounce of Joy or Humor in this Relentlessly Downbeat Study of Young Evil meeting up with Old Evil and Discovering a Kindred Dark-Half. It is not an Easy Movie to Like and it is not an Easy Movie to Dismiss, because it Never Resorts to Horror Story Clichés or Psycho-Drama Sameness. These are Demonic Personifications. There is one, a Death Camp Nazi that got Away and is Hiding as an American Citizen ("I vote, I pay taxes), and Another, a High-School Whiz Kid about to Graduate the Top of His Class at age 16, who is an Evolving Psychopath, and Hiding in His Clean Cut Suburban Home as a Clean Cut Athlete (He was such a nice Boy, no one had any idea, you can just hear the sound bytes in the future).There are other Things going on, like Impotence, Homosexuality, Murder, and Pedophilia just in case You were not having a Good Time. But that's the Point, this isn't a Good Time. It's the Holocaust of the Past and Spree or Serial Killer of the Future Passing Each Other like Satanic Ships in the Night. Out with the Old and In with the New.

deatman9 They take so many of Steven Kings many best sellers and turn them into movies. For the most part they miss the mark by a longshot with only around three exceptions maybe 5 depending on who you ask these include The Shining, Stand by Me, and the Shawshank Redemtion. Most of his books tuned into movies are terrible and this is one of those.The acting is alright but its nothing like the book at all. The book was very disturbing while this is not in the least disturbing. The story line is not even kept the same. It was the biggest disappointment since "IT" you should only really watch this if you have not read the book but then again Id just say read the book.This movie is about a young boy who finds out one of the elderly men in his neighbourhood is actually a Nazi war criminal. He ends up blackmailing him into telling him the horrors of the Nazi death camps because the kid has a sick obsession with it. He thinks he has all the control over the old man but the old has his tricks.Like I said this movie is no where near as good as the book. If you want a really intense disturbing book read it stay away from the movie unless there is no chance you will ever read the book.

MeloDee The movie Apt Pupil begins with a slow, but definitely solid start. Our protagonist, Todd Bowen, is an honor student at his high school. His history teacher is teaching "holocaust week" and Todd becomes intrigued and heads off to the library after class for more information.On his bus ride home, he spots a man who looks familiar- a little too familiar. Todd recognizes him to be Kurt Dussander, a Nazi who is being hunted for various crimes he committed during the second world war. After collecting a lot of evidence proving that the man he spotted was indeed Kurt Dussander, Todd decides to confront him. He gives Dussander (who is living under the alias Arthur Denker) an ultimatum; tell me all about your involvement in the holocaust, or I turn you and all the evidence over to the police. Dussander agrees to share his stories with Todd, and thus was the beginning of a confederacy that was to lead both parties involved down a path of darkness. Ian McKellan gives an amazing performance as the sarcastic and witty Kurt Dussander. In my opinion, McKellan definitely carried the movie. He was totally convincing as the seventy-five year-old former Nazi, so much so that it was almost hard to imagine him as the same man who would later play as the vivacious villain Magneto of the X-men series, or the kindhearted and powerful wizard Gandalf of the Lord of the of the Rings. Brad Renfro gave a less thrilling performance as Todd Bowen, the highly intelligent protagonist with a shade for the sadistic. Renfro was too many sullen stares, bored smirks and petulant exclamations, and too little harsh resolve, but at moments he did shine. And perhaps his moody performance was somewhat appropriate to the character, a teenage boy entangled in something from which he could not escape.I cannot accurately draw a comparison between the book and the movie, having only seen the movie, but I can say that from what I've heard and read, the book and movie should be judged on their own merits. The movie isn't so much as an adaptation as much as almost a reinterpretation or retelling of the original story, and has a drastically different ending from the book. All in all I can say that I enjoyed the film- it didn't absolutely blow me away or have me eager to watch it a second time- but it was worth the paltry sum that I paid for it and maybe more.