The Battle of Shaker Heights

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Pleased
Review: *background

I have always been a Shia Labeoudf fan. When I saw the "Battle of Shaker Heights" trailer I knew I had to see it just because it had Shia in it. I am lucky enough to live about 20 miles from Shaker Heights, so despite the limited release I was able to see it in theaters. The day it came out, I picked up the paper and was dissapointed to see that it had only recieved 2 1/2 stars. I still went to see it, not expecting very much, and boy was I pleasantly suprised.

The storyline was incerdibly touching and so real that everyone can see themselves in one of the characters. I laughed out loud at least a dozen times. What was so touching was the article I read after I had seen the film about the extreme parallels between Shia's real life experiences with his father and the role of Kelly's father in this film. It was probably difficult for Shia to revisit certain aspects of his childhood, but at the same time I really think this aided him in making his character come alive.

I did not watch the "Project Greenlight" show but I plan to watch it when it comes out on DVD. I think this movie might have been even better if the studio was given more money and time to produce it. It is a shame that movies like Gigli get millions of dollars to produce and this movie barely had enough to scrape by.

*Synopsis

Some critics labeled this movie as a dull coming of age story. I beg to differ. Kelly ( Shia's character) was able to derive a sense of gravity from his interactions with his mother ( Kathleen Quiinlan), who was a starving artist, and his father (William Sadler) a recovering drug addict, that at times made it difficult to predict whether the movie would end up being a drama or comedy.

This story chronicles Kelly, a war reanactor enthusiast, who falls for his wealthy friend Bart's ( Elden Henson) sister, Tabby ( AMY Smart). Kelly akwardly approaches any social situation with the same cluelessness he employs on the mock battle field. He even mentions to Bart that he writes his own rules about everything. Unfortuantely in highschool individuality is not a hot commodity. Instead of blending in, all of Kelly's flaws are accentuated by his akward, sometimes forward demeanor. You can only imagine how funny his interactions are when he attempts to win the heart of Tabby. Despite his flaws and quirks, the audience will end up rooting for him to win all the perverbial "battles" in his own life.

Due to his friends urging, Kelly eventually takes a stand against his peers in school and confronts his parents. He later is forced to deal with regret after seeking revenge on a certain classmate that had been his greatest nemisis. The movie ends on a bittersweet note when Kelly ultimately reconciles with his father and forgives him for squandering his college savings for drugs. Kelly also realizes that Tabby ( Amy Smart) has entered into a grown up world in which Kelly is not yet accustomed to. When Tabby dismisses Kelly, it is a moment that everyone can relate to. It will bring the viewer back to their own experience of akward adolescent relationships. It definately is a pivotal moment in the film, and rightfully so.

I think that this movie was much better than critics suggested and it proves that movies do not need to be laced with vulgarity and sex to be entertaining. Perhaps this is why the critics did not enjoy it. Maybe we are so used to seeing garbage that it has become some sort of standard in which we measure everything by.

Bottom line : See this movie you wont be dissapointed.

Rating:
Summary: Shia LaBeouf
Review: As seen in Holes and Even Stevens, Shia LaBeouf arrives in the award winning film, The Battle of Shaker Heights, to where Kelly E., a 17-year-old boy is threatened by challeges of his own. Now Kelly must choose what to do.

Rating:
Summary: Nice movie
Review: BoSH is a nice movie. It's a growing up movie, with great acting. As far as the dvd is concerned, I was hoping for a making of featurette.

Rating:
Summary: David and Goliath
Review: Fans like myself of HBO's PROJECT GREENLIGHT are unfortunately more than aware of the making of THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS: itself a battle of visions and wills.
The Project is a competition which, in this case chose Erica Beeney's screenplay and as directors of this screenplay, Kyle Rankin and Efram Potelle. Rankin and Potelle submitted a short film of uncommon grace and humor and deserved to be given the chance to film this screenplay. Chris Moore the producer (American Pie Movies) did everything he could to dilute the talents of Potelle and Rankin and unfortunately in the process did the same to Beeney's screenplay. "They" gave these artists the opportunity to make a studio film and then bit by bit stripped away and soiled their artistic visions by demanding changes with the threat of discharge if they didn't make them. Nasty Stuff, if you ask me. I don't know whose movie is on view in the in theaters now, but it I were Rankin, Potelle and Beeney, I'd remove my name.

Rankin and Potelle filmed a drama with comedy. After the first public screening the studio demanded a more comedic film. Unfortunately since they were on such a tight budget, there was very little comedic footage to tack on. And on and on. A real horror story that Moore and Miramax should be ashamed of.
Right now, as is, TBOSH is a hodgepodge of scenes that are much of the time, incoherent. It is very obvious where comedy stuff was patched in to the detriment of the dramatic flow of the story. Shia LaBeouf comes off best but it is obvious his best scenes were left on the cutting room floor and poor William Sandler and Kathleen Quinlan's roles have been relegated to cameo status.
Since those of us who watched The Project Greenlight episodes know that this released version of THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS is a sad, pallid, botched mess of a film, we long for what might have been if the powers that be had allowed their directors and artisans to do the work they were hired to do.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of time....
Review: I have watched both seasons of Project Greenlight. I really do love the series as to how it shows the business side of film-making. I did enjoy the movie from the first season "Stolen Summer". This movie however was not entertaining. The writing was weak and the editing was weak as well. In the end of the Project Greenlight series for this movie, the directors and producers were talking about making this into a comedy and less of a drama. I found hardly any laughs and felt the movie was somewhat depressing. Kelly's character was a little over-the-top as well. The only time I really laughed was on the gag reel where Chris Moore broke his chair. I think Kyle and Efram have potential but in order to survive in Hollywood, must work on their people / communication / time management skills. I feel the only reason they got picked was that HBO liked the idea of demonstrating what it is like to work with two directors. There were definitly better entries in the director competition (The third season features two writers and one director). I highly recommend the Project Greenlight series yet I wouldn't waste my time trying to find entertaining moments or a point to this poorly developed movie.


Rating:
Summary: A SURPRISING SUCCESS
Review: I watched Project Greenlight when Battle of Shaker Heights was featured. Getting a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the movie making process was fascinating. The show allowed a glimpse of the angst the writer experienced having her story re-written a few times to suit the directors' vision. Conflicts between the directors and the writer and producers as well as Mirimax execs made it seem the movie would not finish successfully.

Sadly, the movie was only released in a limited number of cities and theaters, and probably wasn't the blockbuster hit originally hoped for.

I believe the movie was a huge success in a couple of ways: great writing and super acting by Shia LeBeouf. Witty subtleties in the dialogue can be attributed to brilliant writing. I hope Erica, the writer (also listed in the credits as a bridesmaid), didn't have to compromise as much as it seems she did during the course of Project Greenlight.

I think this was a breakthrough performance for Shia. He artfully and comically captured Kelly's (his character) intriguing mix of angst, passion, self-deprecating humor, knowledge and intellect. I was captivated by his passion, pitied him for being a bully target, and was mad at him for his resentment aimed at his freshly sober dad.

The movie was lacking in plot and character development, especially the relationship between Kelly and his father. This, I believe, was due in great part to editing, and not the original story. Another area I felt the movie lacked was the crush Kelly had on his best friend's sister. It didn't seem particularly believable and more awkward than anything. Hooray that in the end Kelly chose his friend-coworker. That was a much more believable and endearing match.

Though I wouldn't categorize the movie as Oscar-worthy, all in all, it was very sweet and cleanly pulled together. It held my attention and left me loving and empathizing with Kelly.

Rating:
Summary: Shaker Heights fights it's way up the summer movie ladder
Review: I would like to start out by pointing out that the Battle of Shaker Hieghts was written, directed, and had actors that were all under 21. This in itself is completely unapparent. It is about a boy named Kelly Ernswiler (Shia LaBeouf)who just can't quite seem to get what he deserves out of life. He isn't exactly popular at school, his teachers all think he's too smart for his own good, and his dad a recovering drug addict spends most of his time at a shelter for other recovering addicts. the only thing that Kelly seems to do and enjoy is reenact battle scenes from wars. Then one day he meets Bart who is also very interested in wars, and Kelly is taught how to overcome pretty much all his problems. Except for one thing, he starts to fall in love with Bart's older sister. Then, everything just seems to go wrong. But in the end, everything turns out for the best. This movie has a good plot, although slightly predictable. Shia is also very convincing in his part. All in all, I'd give this movie 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: If you are like me and love Shia LaBeouf then there is no doubt you will love this movie.

Rating:
Summary: There was more to this story...
Review: If you watched season 2 of HBO's Project Greenlight you know that the writer of "The Battle Of Shaker Heights" wrote more than just a 79 minute movie. The filmmakers turned the film into something much less than it was on paper. There were so many scenes that were shot, that were deleted from the final cut (which has many movie fans asking "Where is the deleted scenes on the DVD") Yes, (cutting scenes) this is true for any movie and you might say all movies don't have 12 episodes on the making of... that show you what you're missing. So perhaps Project Greenlight hurt the film more than it helped it. Still in all anyone would have been able to see that this movie is missing something. What it isn't missing is a great character and an even better performance from Shia La Beouf. His work is the high light of the movie. THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS received mixed reviews, but everyone can agree Shia La Beouf is a fine actor and his work here will be easy to remember.

Rating:
Summary: There was more to this story...
Review: If you watched season 2 of HBO's Project Greenlight you know that the writer of "The Battle Of Shaker Heights" wrote more than just a 79 minute movie. The filmmakers turned the film into something much less than it was on paper. There were so many scenes that were shot, that were deleted from the final cut (which has many movie fans asking "Where is the deleted scenes on the DVD") Yes, (cutting scenes) this is true for any movie and you might say all movies don't have 12 episodes on the making of... that show you what you're missing. So perhaps Project Greenlight hurt the film more than it helped it. Still in all anyone would have been able to see that this movie is missing something. What it isn't missing is a great character and an even better performance from Shia La Beouf. His work is the high light of the movie. THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS received mixed reviews, but everyone can agree Shia La Beouf is a fine actor and his work here will be easy to remember.