Thirteen

Rating:
Summary: tHIRTEEN**
Review: THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER OWNED.... IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY

Rating:
Summary: BUY it or at least SEE it
Review: This is one of the best movies i have seen. It just showing you dont need a big movie production company to make a great film. Also being that i myself is 13. It is one of those movies you just need to see it. Knowing that they actress of this movies Evan Rachel Wood, and Actress/co-writer Nikki Reed were 14 when filming this movie. Its a wonderful movie about "good girl" Tracy who becomes a the total opposite. Dealing with the infulence of sex and drugs and the habit of cutting because of a problem with her mother. It just a need to see movie. For those who dont know this is a semi-autobiography of actress Nikki Reed even though she is playing the "cool and popular" girl of the school. Evan Rachel Wood acts out her story. BUY it or at least SEE it!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Heavy- what can you say?
Review: Though hardly in the same category as Hotel Rwanda, the same remark once made in light of aforementioned film can apply as easily to 'Thirteen:' it's not the kind of movie you really want to go see, but one that you have to see.
As the voice of a recent teenager, Thirteen's blatant coverage of almost every possible problem teenage girls can face in the tumultuous face of adolescence may shock, appall, and frighten many parents, but the unfortunate truth is that one of Thirteen's greatest appeals (for lack of a better word) is its' haunting realism. Although Tracy, who is just as pretty, popular, and smart as the slightly above average, clean faced thirteen year old girl is expected to be in most cinema portrayals at the beginning of the film, her introduction into the hardcore underbelly of L.A sex, drugs, and a general loss of innocence causes her to become even more out of control than her initial mentor, Evie. You're infuriated by Tracy's furious need to be accepted (played stunningly by Evan Rachel Wood) and at the same time, you look at her from your invisible movie window with a mixed glance of fear and pity. The movie isn't quite enough to make you burst into tragic tears (because the story doesn't really reverberate as your typical boo-hoo tragedy) but it is enough to make you want to grab an adolescent your close to and give them a giant hug; the story's underlying fact that a world so scary and large can come crashing down around a 7th grade girl is a perfect immortalization of just how much harder it is to be a teenager today than one could determine from one glance or your average spoofy teen soap opera.

Rating:
Summary: Just like Mean Girls only with more attitude!!!
Review: Evan rachel wood and Nikki Reed both give stunning performances in this dirty teen drama called thirteen. Watching these two girls experiment with sex, drugs, alcohol, only makes you want more!!! These girls don't mess around they get down... real down....it is a serious movie about how the adolescense period of growing up is pretty difficult. Evan Rachel Wood (Tracy) plays a typical confused "teenager" trying to fit in and be popular in school. One day Tracy meets this other trick named Evi, (Nikki reed) who is infact very hot and popular. In reality she is also a confused girl who comes from a really broken home. In other words, Evi becomes Tracy's bad influence. The message this film is trying to give is that we should watch our damn children and not let our daughters become tramps. This is a good film...if you like watching dopey trix who come from a broken home that like to get down...RENT THIS!

Rating:
Summary: I think I'm Blind.....
Review: Other than the fact this movie was horrible I simply see things really odd in the world, I will never look at piercings the same nor a simple glass of pop.....I seem to see everything in a twisted black and white eclipse, I beleive this is the worst movie I have ever seen.....Horible storyline aka Plot, the thing I hated worst was those two girls....I wanted to strangle them both what exactly was the main thing in this movie either I missed it or there really isn't one, So the director or writer couldn't even think of something a tiny....Little bit better? huh? I mean look at this movie, I mean it does happen in real time drama but the things in between makes as much since as why someone made a no taste candy...and all they say in this movie is the F word.....blah blah NO blah #@&*$ blah blah Ick!!!!#&@(#@^ ahhhhhhhhh this movie has made me a different person and I swear it is not me.

Rating:
Summary: interesting but not realistic
Review: this movie was ruined for me when i started thinking,"i was 13 less than a year ago...and i knew NO ONE like this." it was interesting and moving and all, but no one ounce of real in it. just because thirteen is an interesting number doesnt mean kids that age become these hellians. i think that if the girls were older it would have been better.

**note**It is completely possible that there are 13 year olds like that but it just wasnt realistic to me**

Rating:
Summary: Changes my view on life completly!
Review: This movie was so well put together to be a low budget film! Although I myself am nothing but a teenager, it changed my whole view on teens and the things we do. I can't believe these girls are only 13 doing some of the things they do. All I have to say is this will change your life and the way you view young adults.

Rating:
Summary: Its giving Ideas
Review: Overall a very good movie...but its giving teenages ideas. Because of this movie, Hundreds of teenagers are now cutting themselves just to get attention. Cutting is now a normal part of growing up. They think cutting is the only way to get attention. Again, overall this is a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: Thirteen
Review: This movie was an excellent potrail of being a teenager. I am 16 and I have experienced many of the issues in the film (minus the sex and drugs). I was reading the reviews and I have to say I was quite angry by some of them. One person said he could never see this happening to a girl who had everything in the first place. I grew up in a loving environment. I was not abused or EVER mistreated. Like Tracy, I slowly spiraled downward. To any of you who think it is not possible for a perfectly normal teen make a 180, you're wrong. Yes, environment is a huge factor, but sometimes the war is in the head. To the person who said that someone like Tracy would not cut, maybe you should look around before you talk. I was like Tracy. I used to cut and what I saw in Evan's eyes as she played the character was amazing. I could see her mind working like a cutter. The movie worked perfectly. The only problem I had was the speed of her downfall. In reality, it would take a much longer time. However, this is understandable because they needed to get the story going. Also as a student film maker, I loved what they did with the color. The way they pulled out the color at the end was perfect. Also the way it was filmed (shaky and jerky) was excellent to give the audience cooler perscpective. I hope this movie shows people what not to do, or gives those who have the same problems hope.

Rating:
Summary: Grinding look at adolescence
Review: "Thirteen" falls in a category I like to call "Teens gone wild." Why not create such a rubric? We've got videos showing animals on rampages, college girls on rampages, and shows with adults behaving badly. I even saw part of a program recently that deals with troubled toddlers. I have yet to see, however, any shows dealing with snarky senior citizens. Anyway, "Teens gone wild" has seen a surge of movies, documentaries, and assorted television programs in recent years. Larry Clark's "Kids" and "Bully" helped kick off the craze. "Fun" is another movie to rent if you want to see adolescents committing crimes and generally acting like psychopaths. Nearly any program on the Lifetime network dealing with kids falls into this category, and occasionally you'll see a documentary on public television dealing with the shoddy moral standards of America's youth. Come to think of it, we really don't need to watch media programs about bad kids when merely opening your daily newspaper will reveal story after story involving crime, drugs, and teenagers. It's sad, really, but just another symptom of a society slipping rapidly into the dark pit of anarchy. Even sadder are the people, including parents, who wring their hands over the latest atrocities yet do nothing to stop it from happening again.

Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a beautiful young girl who lives in a rather chaotic environment. Her mother Melanie (Holly Hunter) is a recovering alcoholic raising Tracy and her brother Mason (Brady Corbet) with little assistance from their father. In the beginning of the film we get a few glimpses of Tracy's character and learn that she has a dark side. A poem she writes and reads for her mother is filled with doom and gloom. Too, this young girl cuts herself with a razorblade whenever stress overwhelms her. Most of this stress seems to arise from school, where Tracy's intelligence and work ethic translates into geek status. She longs to hang out with the popular crowd, which in this case means the clique headed up by the vivacious Evie (Nikki Reed). Actually, "vivacious" probably isn't the correct term to apply to Evie--she's certainly an attractive young lady with an outgoing personality, but her attire and her manner reek of decadence. An opportunity for Tracy to transcend her social status arrives on the heels of a snub. Evie and a friend spurn Tracy's attempts to form a relationship at a local department store, so our girl promptly steals a lady's wallet outside and returns flush with cash. The girls go on a spending spree, and from this point on Tracy and Evie are inseparable.

In no time at all Evie practically moves in with her new friend and begins running the show. Both girls start using all sorts of drugs, drink heavily, sneak out at night, hang out with older guys for bouts of you know what, cut class, steal, and engage in other delinquent behaviors. Melanie at first accepts Evie into her household mainly because she has little reason for apprehension and partly because she wants her daughter to be happy. Besides, Melanie has her own problems to contend with, including struggling with her own sobriety even as she takes into her arms a man named Brady (Jeremy Sisto) whose substance abuse problems occasionally surface from time to time. Any concerns Melanie has about Evie fall by the wayside when the girl tells her that she's a victim of child abuse. Evie is a real schemer, and her influence over Tracy and everyone else around her is so total that it's not long before Melanie and her daughter engage in extended screaming matches over a variety of issues. No kid can indulge in these sorts of behaviors while living at home and expect to keep everything under wraps forever, and such is the case with Tracy. Will Tracy survive? Will she ever return to something resembling normalcy? The conclusion to "Thirteen" is slightly enigmatic and offers few concrete answers to these questions.

"Thirteen" is often a traumatic movie to watch. Seeing kids of such tender years take part in sordid activities isn't the sort of thing most people like to witness, and the film pulls few punches in its portrayal of such activities. It's sufficient to say that the sorts of things kids deal with today are quite different from the things kids dealt with even ten to fifteen years ago. The movie doesn't spend much time trying to place blame or offer solutions, unfortunately, but instead goes for a value neutral character study. I can't say I agree with this approach, but I do find much to like about the actors playing these individuals. Holly Hunter, a woman who simply looks better and better the older she gets, does a great job playing the put upon Melanie. She goes through stages of depression, despair, anger, and denial while trying to deal with her wayward daughter, and does so convincingly. Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed bring a lot to their respective parts, both tearing up the screen as teens wildly and shockingly out of control. Jeremy Sisto is a promising actor currently building up his filmography, but he doesn't get much to do here.

Extras on the "Thirteen" disc include a behind the scenes look at the film, a trailer, deleted scenes, and a commentary track. Realistic, raw, unnerving, and likely destined to become some sort of cult classic, "Thirteen" is a worthy addition to the "Teens gone wild" canon I spoke of earlier. I liked this movie because it dealt with a side of adolescence I knew little to nothing about when I was a similar age, namely what it's like to be a teenage girl. After watching this film, though, I can safely say I'm happy I don't have kids.