Freaktana
A Major Disappointment
Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Irishchatter
This isn't the first time Christina Ricci disappointed me, she's a great little actress but this isn't the best movie she has ever done in her film career. That's only just my opinion!I felt the movie was very confusing, are we concentrating on Christina Ricci's character or the boy. Even though the plot says it's about the boy but it's also about Dino Chalmers. Which one are we concentrating on here? Thanks to the movie making me bored, I did not get to see Christina Ricci's and Ruby Rose's love scene. Yeah it was my fault for not seeing it but really, Ruby Rose didn't seem to appear much. It would be far better off if they concentrating on one story and not have them lumped on top of each other! This movie is all over the shop, it seriously needs redecorating!
Lee Eisenberg
Over the years it's been good to see that Christina Ricci has not only stayed in control of herself but has stuck to good roles. Her appearances in movies like "The Ice Storm", "The Opposite of Sex" and "The Laramie Project" proved that she wasn't going to be another one of these child stars who turns into a train wreck. One of her latest efforts is "Around the Block", in which she plays a woman teaching poverty-stricken Australian children Shakespeare. I understand that the movie focuses partly on the 2004 Redfern riots, which resulted from the death of an Aboriginal boy. The movie gives one a sense of what things are like for Australia's indigenous population. The Aborigines are 1% of Australia's population but 40% of its prison population (this even though Australia's white population is descended from people sent to jail). But anyway, it's a really good movie. I recommend it.
Stephan Lorenzen
I'll admit I downloaded this based on the fact that Christina Ricci was the lead in it. To my surprise, it was the acting of the supporting cast that really led the way here. It is a very different character for Ricci, who has been sort of typecast as an oddball since her early Addams Family days. As a viewer, you are immediately taken in by the boy Liam who has secured the role of Hamlet in the school play. If you are a Shakespeare buff like I am, you will love the Hamlet plot lines and dynamics running throughout the film. You can see hints of that from the trailer but I didn't know just how central to the story Hamlet would be until I saw it for myself. It's a modern twist on an age-old tale, and with that, Around The Block is able to bring something new to the table.
Jennifer McIlhenney
Around The Block leans on a wide array of emotions and generates a lot of power from the relationships that the boy Liam has in his life, including the ones with his father, mother and brother. Because of the strength in those relationships, Around The Block runs so much deeper than the teacher-student relationship that the majority of the film is centered around. Hunter Page-Lochard's performance as Liam is quite simply a standout. I enjoy emotionally-charged movies and that's where this one will resonate with me. It is also a highly-stylized and vibrant film which makes it an enjoyable experience aesthetically. Despite the familiar setup, there are very interesting fault lines running under the surface of Around The Block.
