Rating: 
Summary: A Movie That Requires Some Patience
Review: O.K. I've read the mixed reviews of this movie and have reached my own conclusion. This is the kind of movie that you need to be in a particular mood and mindset to watch. You will appreciate it a lot more if you find yourself in a relaxed, pensive, philosophical type of mood. The acting is top-notch, even Oscar worthy, but the story which is told in short segments like chapters is rather slow which may bore some viewers who are used to fast-paced action movies. I gave it 5 stars for the acting alone. Give it a try...you may like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple and Touching
Review: Spring Forward didn't get a very wide theatrical release, which is really a shame because it's a very nice film. Spring Forward is a sweet, simple film about two small-town Connecticut park employees, played by Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber. Schreiber's character is young and brash, while Beatty is older and exhausted. Together, they help each other cope through the year of seasons.
Rating:
Summary: A US movie that happily plays like a foreign film
Review: SPRING FORWARD has been released on DVD and hopefully will be featured in displays that will garner the atttention this superb film deserves but lacked during its theatrical release. This is a quietly powerful film, made all the more so because it is created in such a simple, straight forward, coverstational style. This is one of the finest scripts for a film in many years. And Director Tom Gilroy allows the concepts and messages it contains to speak clearly and in an unfettered fashion that drives the points of the story home in the most sincerely beautiful say imaginable.Ned Beatty adds yet another crown to his acting career as the aging, Parks and Recreation worker who gives employment to a newly relased from prison lost youth (Liev Schreiber) and in doing so changes the misguided young man into to a solidly complete human being. Beatty owns this role - the father of a gay son in a small town who has been the victim of homophobia and now is dying of AIDS, while the father mourns the fact he has never been able to relate how deeply he loves this son. These life lessons pour into Paul (Liev Schreiber) who is hungry for acceptance and a sense of future in a world he sees as shallow and offensive. The manner in which these two men slowly develop a relationship that nurtures each other's needs is marked by encounters with small town people who are perceptively defined by superior cameo actors such as Peri Gilpin, Campbell Scott and others whos names fly by too quickly in the final screen credits. The four seasons in this unidentified New England town have rarely been so beautifully captures both in scenery and in the adaptive lifestyles each season commands. But some of the rarest moments are just the quiet, humor-laced, emotionally sensitive simple conversations tha grow between the two main character men. For example, in a discussion about reading, Beatty asks Schreiber about poetry and Scbrieber alludes to the fact that Native Americans use the same word for "breathing" as they do for "poetry", that the importance of making poems is the importance of living each day. Oh, this film is rich in simple philosophy, in the glow of real friendship, in the interplay of each of us as caring, involved-in-living individuals on this communal planet. This is a quietly brilliant achievement, a film you'll want to own.
Rating:
Summary: Spring Forward
Review: This film is wonderful and I found myself stopping the movie at times because I wanted to savor and digest what I had just seen and because underneath it all, I simply did not want to see it end.It is what a movie should be.
Rating:
Summary: A quiet masterpiece
Review: This film took me completely by surprise when I saw it during its brief theatrical release a couple of years ago. Let's face it, how interesting could a movie be considering that it focuses almost entirely on the relationship between two park maintenance workers over the course of a full year, from Spring forward? Well, put your apprehension to rest and take advantage of this long-overdue dvd release, you will enjoy a rewarding and memorable movie experience. Spring Forward features Ned Beatty as a weary but wise maintenance worker showing the ropes to brash, sullen youngster Liev Schreiber. Liev's character has been in trouble with the law and shows no signs of mending his ways during the initial season of their year together, but as the months drag on he is influenced by his co-worker's gentle demeanor and begins to evolve into a better person. I know, still doesn't sound all that interesting but somehow it really works to perfection. The film follows a simple framework of checking in with the characters once each season and gives them the room and time to just interact with each other, unfolding at a leisurely but never boring pace. Their relationship and roles evolve throughout the year, from teacher/student to hesitant friends to father/son to brothers. The characters are so well-developed that I could have watched them together for many more hours, it's one of those rare movies that you just hate to see come to an end.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent on Headphones
Review: This fine character study is everything the other reviewers have stated -- compassionate, understated and intelligent. Ned Beatty is still one of my favorite actors. Can't add anything to what others already said, so I'll go off on a slight tangent. For an obviously low-budget movie, "Spring Forward" has gorgeous production values. Great lighting, great camerawork, excellent editing, beautiful score. But what struck me most, listening to the DVD late at night under headphones so as to not disturb my family, was the sound. The outdoor scenes, of which there are many, are phenomenally recorded. There is a 3-D depth and presence to the soundscapes that you rarely hear even in the majors. Do yourself a favor and experience the movie on headphones.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent on Headphones
Review: This fine character study is everything the other reviewers have stated -- compassionate, understated and intelligent. Ned Beatty is still one of my favorite actors. Can't add anything to what others already said, so I'll go off on a slight tangent. For an obviously low-budget movie, "Spring Forward" has gorgeous production values. Great lighting, great camerawork, excellent editing, beautiful score. But what struck me most, listening to the DVD late at night under headphones so as to not disturb my family, was the sound. The outdoor scenes, of which there are many, are phenomenally recorded. There is a 3-D depth and presence to the soundscapes that you rarely hear even in the majors. Do yourself a favor and experience the movie on headphones.
Rating: 
Summary: Nope, sorry...
Review: This movie tries to be an introspective, thought-provoking indy film about two guys from different generations growing together as friends. Doesn't work, sorry. It tries to be something it isn't. Slowwwww moving, boring diatribe with no real show of connection between the two main characters - just [bad]. I see what they were trying to do, but they don't pull it off. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs caffeine & less political correctness
Review: Too slow for it's own good.
Starts out quite promising, what with the two guys telling off the yuppie and becoming buddies and whatnot, but it never gets beyond a snail's pace. I kept hoping it would pick up.
Too liberal and propagandistic, too; but mainly just too, too, too SLOOOOWWWWWW.....
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