TinsHeadline Touches You

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

jlthornb51 Any review of this film must begin with pointing out the most outstanding performance and real reason for seeing it. Ms. Emily Watson gives a performance of overwhelming power, of such beauty, subtlety, and artistic perfection that it defies description. Watson has a talent, humanity, and artistry that goes beyond all words. In Fireflies in the Garden it is one of compassion, love, and a uniquely smoldering sexuality that belongs to Emily Watson alone. There are many superb actresses working in film today but only one continues to burn her being into the very soul of audiences with one performance after another.

rafecomo I must confess I saw this film just cause it had some of my favorite actors together, such as Willem Dafoe and Julia Roberts, but reading some reviews and opinions on this film I thought I'll be disappointed, however I have it a chance, and ended up very pleasantly surprised.Even though plot wise the movie is not really a deep film and can be quite predictable, it still holds up as a very good piece of art, I'm surprised I liked it this much, since this kind of films that don't really have a lot of depth don't impress me, however, this film presents human relationships and traumas that people grow up with, as well as the treasure that family is. The music of this film is amazingly perfect, creating a calm mood that is present during most of the film, and to be honest it's one of the simplest, yet most beautiful scores I've ever heard. Also, the photography of the film is also perfect, combing colors in shots that look like a painting, and choosing angles to create a very beautiful shot. Overall, it's a very "clean" and calm film, ideal for people that like this kind of movies, and the performances are also very good, even that by Reynolds, who I'm not a fan of, but on this one he does put a good performance as well as the rest of the cast.

TxMike The backstory is as interesting as is the movie itself. Writer/director Lee lost his own mother just a few years ago and much of Michael here can be considered autobiographical.The very first scene sets the mood and establishes the key family dynamics. Dad, mom, and young Michael are in the car, it is raining, young Michael is putting his hand on the rear window. Dad rhetorically asks "How many times have I told you not to touch the glass?" Michael pulls his hand away, but not long after defiantly puts it back. Dad stops the car, Michael gets out in the rain, dad says "You remember how to get home." The perfect family is most often a myth, outsiders see a mom, dad, and one or more kids all seemingly in perfect harmony. But dynamics inside the family, in the car, at the dinner table, in the garage, often paint a much different picture.In this story the mother is the "frame" that holds everything together. But when she is gone, what happens? Ryan Reynolds is good in a serious role as Michael Taylor , who as a young adult is an author. He is coming home for his sister's graduation. On the plane a flight attendant brings a copy of his book and asks if he would sign it, which he does willingly.Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as the dad, professor Charles Taylor . Julia Roberts is the mom, Lisa Taylor , who gave up her career to function as an at-home mom.I will admit that the first few scenes were a bit off-putting, as they switched seemingly randomly between the past and the present. My wife and I had a bit of difficulty figuring out who each character was and how they were related. But getting past that it turned out to be a good story of family dynamics.SPOILERS: Charles is very difficult, very controlling, yet also in need of a certain amount of ego-stroking. Lisa understands him well and helps keep things balanced. But while they are going to pick up Lisa's sister, sis's son is in the street retrieving a home-run hit by his little sister. Momentarily distracted by Lisa's need to put on makeup in the car, Charlie veers to avoid the boy and crashes into a utility pole. Lisa was not wearing her seat belt, the car was perhaps too old to have air bags, and Lisa died. The aftermath threw family members into a renewed state of unrest but eventually Michael and Charlie begin to manage their differences. In going through some papers and phone call records of his mom's he figures out she had been having an affair and was in fact planning on leaving Charlie. Michael looked up the man and in essence thanked his for giving a bit of happiness to his mom, after all after she was dead there was no additional consequence.

akash_sebastian With such an incredible cast and what seemed to an interesting premise (as seen from the trailers), the characters (other than the main one, Michael) lack depth and the movie feels quite rushed, under-developed and flat. It fails to deliver the impact it needed. With yet another story of a dysfunctional family, the director fails (or is too lazy) to push the story or the characters hard enough. All the actors fit their roles well enough. They are the main reason which keeps you interested. The movie is good, but could have been great.I don't know what so many star actors saw in the script to sign this movie...