Rating: 
Summary: A solid film packed with inspiration.
Review: (...)"Finding Forrester" is a wonderful movie fit for the entire family. Hollywood has produced an excellent story that does not rely on sex-appeal or large ammounts of swearing to engage the audience. Sean Connery and Robert Brown deliver excellent performances in this down to earth movie. Sit down with your family and watch "Finding Forrester", your time will be well spent.
Rating: 
Summary: Great actors formula movie
Review: It has been done a million times and this won't be the last time the "teacher, student, rebel," mechanism will be tried. Take one recluse (Sean Connery) and an aspiring under privileged student (Rob Brown VI) to cancel out a dysfunctional environment. They even have a common nasty antagonist (F. Murray Abraham) to pick on. Predictability is not the problem. It starts out so noisy that you will have to turn the sound off for the first five minutes. Everything from the story to the environment to the camera shots is mediocre. Anything that may have been of use for writing or refereed to writing is glossed over with music or faded out. You can be assured this movie has nothing to do with writing other than hitting the (typewriter) keys hard enough. The characters (not that the actors did not try) had no depth. Too many things were inferred from obscure camera shots. You get the picture.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrived "heartwarmer"
Review: A young black man from the Bronx who is a gifted writer and basketball player meets up with a legendary, reclusive author
who becomes his mentor. Sounds like an uplifting tale of triumph and sure-fire Oscar bait? Think again. This tedious drama plays out more like an elongated episode of "Facts of Life".
A real legend, Sean Connery, plays the reclusive author. According to the story and for reasons not clear, he wrote a literary masterpiece several decades ago and then was never heard from again. He has spent the past few decades holed up in his apartment in the Bronx watching the world, and passing birds, with binoculars. Down in the 'hood and playing ball within Connery's view, is Jamal (Ron Brown), a soft spoken, mean-with-a-basketball, but highly literate ghetto boy. Him and his homies speculate about the odd duck they see peering out and Jamal is dared into breaking into the apartment. He runs out
when Connery wakes up and leaves behind his backpack. Later, it's returned with the famed author having gone through with
tell tale red pen marks all of his notebooks critiquing his work. A friendship is born and a protegee/master relationship is born.
Meanwhile, Jamal's test scores have come in and the amazed administration at his local public school call a meeting with him,his mother and a staff member from an elite private school from Manhattan. The elite school wants to offer Jamal an academic scholarship and "wouldn't mind" if he played ball for them as well. Yes, the semester has already begun but they explain that they like to hold a few spots for prospective candidates while they wait for the mysterious test scores to surface. He accepts and his next challenge is the school's stern literature teacher, played by the great F. Murray Abraham. He is a no-nonesense type who is suspicious of Jamal's writing ability and sets out to prove his theory that his writing is not his own. Oh, he also has a long-standing bone to pick with they genius writer, Connery's character, who he reveres and who sabotaged a publishing deal he had several years ago.
Can you guess where this is going? If you said a triumphant final act in which the good ghetto boy is exonerated and the mean Abraham character is put in his place, then you have the potential makings of a screenwriter.
All of this comes from the great director, Gus Van Sant, who brought us the masterpiece "To Die For" and the fine "Good Will Hunting". (The less said about the "Psycho" remake, the better.) I can see a roomful of film executive suits standing around and something like the following conversation was had: You got Connery, a legend, Van Sant, he understand this touchy feely thing, Oscar winners F. Murray (Amadeus)and Anna (The Piano) Paquin, now that's class, and an unbilled cameo by a big star to boot! Plus, it has a nice story about an a lovable old codger and an inner city ghetto boy. We got all our demographic bases convered! We got one here that should make waves at the box office and bring home those little gold statues. Wrong.
The film is surprisingly unengaging and plays out like a by-the-numbers movie of the week. Rob Brown, in his film debut seems to sleepwalk through the role and is unengaging. We learn very little about him and the audience is left very removed from his
character. This is a critical flaw. F. Murray Abrahams character is strictly a one-note villain. Anna is cute but has little to do. This one should find it's audience on Lifetime.
Rating: 
Summary: A very underrated film
Review: This movie provides an uplifting storyline, outstanding performances from the two leads and is suitable for family viewing. I thought it was one of the better films of the year.
The script is generally well written and the young actors who portray the high school kids from the Bronx were excellent. Busta Rhymes the rap artist plays a very sympathetic older brother and does a great job. Overall this is a very enjoyable movie that I would highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for every movie collection
Review: First saw this film on a flight from Greece to the U.S.; as long as the trip was, watching "Finding Forrester" made it incredibly enjoyable. I purchased the DVD as soon as I could and shared it with my family. So far, everyone I've recomended it to has loved it. You will laugh, you will cry, you will be changed forever.
Rating:
Summary: Weak meditation on writing
Review: Sean Connery is the enigmatic William Forrester, a brilliant though troubled writer turned recluse after releasing a single literary masterpiece, "Avalon Rising". (Famous hermit Salinger published far more - Forrester's literary contributions, beyond his novel, include periodical ramblings to mags like the New Yorker) Fearing attention, Forrester lives under an assumed name in a dessicated apartment, and frustrates those who would survey his work by dangling the prospect of a second book. Newcomer Rob Brown (supposedly he auditioned for a bit part) is Jamel Wallace, local boy, b-ball maestro and burgeoning writer. Not recognizing the hermit as Forrester, Jamel nevertheless turns to reclusive scot for help in his writing. The need becomes more pronounced when Jamel's writing (and his court magic) gets him a scholarship to an upper-crust prep school. Forrester nurtures Wallace's prose (Write from the heart first, then the head, Forrester advises) while Wallace returns the favor by drawing Wallace out of his shell and preserving the genius's privacy. While at school, Wallace develops his writing under the eye of the Nefarious Professor Crawford (F. Murray Abraham). With Crawford's earlier attempt at publishing thwarted by Forrester ages ago, the professor works his anger out by tyrannizing his wimpy students. To Crawford, a disparity between Jamel's writing and background raises suspicions. Jamel's refusal to conform only spurs Crawford further until the vindictive teacher can show a pattern between Jamel's writing and obscure works by Forrester. Though Director Gus Van Sant gets some good work from his leads, quality performances and deft direction don't rise above a thin and trite story. We know that Forrester hides in his shell for a reason and that Wallace will find someway to ease his pain. We also know that a confrontation between the evil Crawford and Wallace is inevitable. Crawford is incredibly underwritten, like the villain of some action movie - you know he's going to get what's coming to him. He's a bitter bully and a coward. Worse is the school, the sort of stuffy place of learning we've seen in "Dead Poets Society" and "Scent of a Woman", the sort of tradition-bound citadel ruled by old money and populated by craven white males. (The school falls even below this standard - though on academic probation, the school avails itself of Jamel's court skills, and even dangles the prospect of a reprieve, and you've got to wonder what respectable establishment would tolerate as openly a tyrannical, apparently bigoted and not obviously unsuccessful figure like Crawford). The story doesn't do anything to beef up the school, which is populated by weasels cowering before the faculty. There are none of the priceless supporting characters you had in "Good Will Hunting", and Busta-Rhymes is wasted as Jamel's older brother. Though the film is about writing, the script barely treats itself as such, and there are only few lines with Forrester and Jamel jousting on the craft of prose and narrative. I'd suggest "Wonderboys" instead.
Rating:
Summary: You Need to Find Forrester
Review: Every day, Jamal (Rob Brown VI) looks up at the upper-corner Bronx apartment from the neighborhood basketball court. He and his friends wonder who it is staring through the shades back at them. Their curiosity peaks, and Jamal is chosen to discover the deep, dark secret of the person behind the window. Little does he know, finding Forrester (Sean Connery) could change his life forever; and likewise, finding Jamal just might be what Forrester needs, too. This is a good film for those who aspire to break out of the ruts of society, and dare to dream, dream big. Moreover, it is a movie that conveys the truth that we all need each other, and that we bring our own unique gifts to the table of life. Sean Connery, one of my all-time favorite actors, is wonderful in the lead role of William Forrester, the reclusive award-winning author, as is Brown in his role as Jamal. You can find Forrester by clicking on Amazon.com!
Rating:
Summary: ....
Review: This was a good movie. It's about a writer teaching a kid how to write. And a lot more than that. It's a real sweet and touching movie. I think that everyone should check it out. And it's hard to beleive that this is the lead kid's first movie. He was great and up against Sean Connery. Wow! I hope to see him in some more movies.
Rating:
Summary: "The first rule of writing is to write."
Review: I can never say enough good things about "teacher" movies. Dead Poets Society, Stand and Deliver, Hoosiers, etc. are all fantastic at what they do. But Finding Forrester took such a different direction that even I ran short on good things to say. To have the real teacher be the bad guy, and to have the students (both old and young) save the day in such a non-formulaic manner...THAT'S the essence of good film. On top of it all, this film has it's educational qualities, too. Dead Poets didn't teach you anything superbly literary, nor did Stand and Deliver teach you calculus. This film, however, is a classroom unto itself. While Forrester does not go into massive detail, there is enough here to teach with. The movie goes a long way in showing that writing is not a gift, but a practised art. One does not pop out good words in a moment, nor can everyone write successfully (by this I mean something people OTHER than your mother will read). You don't become good overnight, and you're a damn fool to think so (eh, Prof. Crawford?) Finally, this film shows the most important aspect of its art, which other teacher films have not always hit as well as they hoped: If you want to go somewhere with your talent, just get out there and go, no matter how difficult the journey may actually be.
Rating:
Summary: About growing up -- at any age
Review: Whether in print or on the screen (or on the evening news for that matter), stories that aren't on the fringe of believability rarely find their way to the mass audience - "Forrester" is a runaway. But not so much because of any capricious flights of fancy, but rather because of the fascinating mix of one very bright inner-city youngster who wants desperately to belong, and one churlish and equally bright, but panicky, recluse who wants desperately to be left alone - or so they both thought. A marvelous tale that will probably make some English composition teachers cringe, and will reaffirm many students' suspicions that every school faculty has at least one pompous bigot begging to be dethroned. But the story isn't some intellectual version of the never-ending marshal-arts genre. Rather, "Forrester" is an enthralling story about two people separated by several generations and vastly different experiences, but symbiotically linked by their search to find out what they can accomplish with their uncommon talents, even if it requires each of them to stretch well beyond their comfort zones. "Forrester" is about growing up - as suffered at both the dawn and sunset of adulthood. Superb - I'm well on the way to wearing out my tape.
|
