Rating: 
Summary: OK movie, but regretably it dove into stereotypes.
Review: The plot wandered without much purpose for half of the movie but was not particularly bad. However when the inevitable representation of evil was selectd to be a (probably) self hating closet teenage gay (or maybe cross dresser - you couldn't be sure)I was [angry]. I thought that the era of Hollywood gay stereotyping was beyond us. ... Worse, the lesson that Hopkins' character gave to the little boy was that it was dandy to blackmail the evil teenager to shame him into submission. What a message. Shame on you. If you have gay sensitivities, this unnecessary plot line will dominate your impression of the film and kill it - justifiably so.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding sad movie!!!
Review: Since it was a story by Stephen King I knew it was going to be excellent! Usually all Stephen king's dramas are well done, Stand By Me and the Green Mile was another movie that went by his stories. This movie simingly suprised me since i thought it had something to do with Atlantis... the island that sank years ago! Hearts In Atlants was a very sad, warm hearted movie that almost put wind in my eyes. It had a very good story that kept on developing thru the entire film. Be prepared for another warm hearted film that has a sense of magic to it... only thing I have to say is TWO THUMBS UP!!
Rating:
Summary: An diffenrent Unique film.
Review: When an middle aged man of the name of Bobbly Garfield (David Morse) goes back to his childhood home to his best friend funeral, also discover that his first love has also died. Bobby remembers as a Child (Wonderfully Played by Anton Yelchin) that, he meets a mystery man by the name of Ted Brautigan (Well Acted by Oscar Winner-Anthony Hopkins), who come to live in the second floor of his home. Bobby knows that Ted is Unique with a Gift, he has and then, that's starts a friendship between the Two but Ted's Life is Haunted by Men, they are on the search for him. Little that Bobby Knows about it, Ted and Boddy have an unusual friendship that keeps them together.Strongly Directed by Scott Hicks (Shine, Snow Falling on Cedars) made a well made film, that is from Novelist-Stephen King's Novel that brings respectables film adaptions, dramas as Stand by Me, The Shanshank Redemption and The Green Mile. The Screenplay from the Novel is Written by William Goldman (Who did wrote the adapation from a Stephen King's Book-Misery, Which Kathy Bates wins for Best Actress). Goldman is a Two-Time Oscar Winner is Now working in another King's Adapation:Dreamcatcher will be directed by Lawrence Kadsen. Hearts in Atlantis also has an lovely Cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski and fine Performances by Hope Davis and Mika Boorem. The film also has a great Soundtrack. DVD's has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an clear Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD Extras:An Commentary Track by Scott Hicks. Interview with Anthony Hopking and Tralier. This is a Sweetly Nostalgic Coming of Age film. Super 35. Grade:A-.
Rating:
Summary: Read the book !
Review: I red the book few months back and it was grate. But sadly , the movie did not capture the feelings and the magical moments of Bobby and Ted. It's kind of like a summary of the whole story ( which is part of a lager story that follow each individual in this first part called "Hearts in Atlantis" into there adulthood.)
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Movie with some Differences from the Book
Review: I'll say it up front. This movie has variances from the Stephen King story upon which it's based (called 'Low Men in Yellow Coats', which is part of the larger book 'Hearts in Atlantis'). But the changes haven't diminished the story any. The movie surrounds a summer during the boyhood of the main character, Bobby Garfield. Bobby lives with his mother in a boarding house, and they take in an elderly boarder by the name of Ted Brautigan (played brilliantly by Anthony Hopkins). Brautigan, as it turns out, has psychic powers and is on the run from government agents seeking to capture and return him to the institution from which he escaped. During the course of the movie, Bobby is hired as Brautigan's eyes and ears to inform him of any suspicious people searching about for Ted. Though the movie's central plot is about Ted and his quest to remain free of his pursuers, this is a much larger and gentler picture about a boy growing up, learning to love, and finding out how to be a true and loyal friend. It's a bittersweet movie about growing up, disappointment, and making the most of your life and the people who you care about. As a story, this movie is very well paced and interesting. The characters are believable and the dialogue is, at times, quite beautiful. While the plot differs from the story by Stephen King, which may disappoint some, these changes are necessary. In the book, Ted Brautigan is a Breaker working against his will for the Crimson King to bring down the Dark Tower (which ties in very heavily to the multi-part Dark Tower series that Mr. King is currently working his way through). In the book, Brautigan's pursuers aren't government agents, but are otherworldly creatures sent to reclaim Brautigan. Obviously, these references would have been lost on the movie-going audience and had to be abandoned to avoid confusion. What I did wish that they had left in, however, was the ending to the story, which has Bobby receiving a letter from Ted after his departure. The letter contains rose petals from another world (presumably the world of the Dark Tower) signifying that Ted has again escaped and wishes to let Bobby know this. Thus, the book's ending is much more upbeat than the movie's, in my opinion. However, as long as you don't get caught up in comparing the book to the movie, this is a wonderful piece of film that is well deserving of the time it takes to watch it. It's not as good as the Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile, but it's still very very good.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely but lightweight film
Review: Hearts in Atlantis is a poignant and rather somber movie based on a book by Stephen King. This is not King, the master of horror, but King, the writer of psychological thrillers with splashes of the supernatural. Readers of the book should be warned that the movie eliminates all references to the main character's being an alien and changes him to a mere Earthling with psychic abilities. I think this was done to make the protagonist more accessible and plausible. Bobby [David Morse] is a successful photographer in his early fifties. One day he gets a FedEx package containing an old baseball glove. In this way he learns that one of his best childhood friends has died. He goes back to his hometown for the funeral. He visits his old house, now forlorn and abandoned, and begins to remember the summer he turned eleven years old. Young Bobby [Anton Yelchin] is a bright kid. His Dad died a few years ago. His relationship with his mother [Hope Davis] is tenuous because she isn't very happy. She doesn't make much money and blames the little family's circumstances on her dead husband, whom she claims was an irresponsible gambler. Bobby loves her, but she's hard to live with. The joys of his life are all outside his home and revolve around his best friends, Carol [Mika Boorem] and Sully [Will Rothhaar]. His life begins to change when Ted [Anthony Hopkins] moves into the apartment upstairs. Ted is a warm man by nature, but life has thrown him some curves that make him a reluctant loner. He has an air of mystery around him. He makes most people uncomfortable, but Bobby is too young and open to be anything but fascinated by him. They develop a deep friendship, and Ted becomes a sort of father figure to Bobby. Ted thinks that a group of strange men are looking for him. At first, Bobby accepts this notion as just part of the man's eccentricity. Later, he wonders if Ted is crazy after all. While there are many good elements in Hearts of Atlantis, it is ultimately a rather slight movie. It doesn't have the depth or the fascination of some other movies based on this type of King book, such as Stand by Me and Delores Claiborne.
I suspect that any weaknesses here come from the source material. Like most extremely prolific writers, King's work is not consistently strong. Scott Hicks is a gifted, thoughtful director, and I am sure he gave his best efforts to this project. You don't get any better than Anthony Hopkins, who could mesmerize an audience by reading a tax return. Davis, Yelchin, Boorem and Morse are first rate. Along with fine efforts by the technical crew, which provide a movie that's lovely to look at, as well as listen to, they give Hearts in Atlantis a polish and an entertainment value that far exceeds its merits as a story. In doing so, they have made it a decent and enjoyable movie.
Rating:
Summary: A fine Stephen King adaptation.
Review: Anton Yelchin is an 11-year old child who befriends the kindly and mysterious Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins), an old man with special telepathic powers. Well-made and genuinely heartfelt Stephen King adaptation ably follows in the dramatic footsteps of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile and hammers home a finale both genuinely tear-jerking and uplifting. Superb peformances all around, especially from Hopkins and Hope Davis.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Scott Hicks, dose of William Goldman, & tad of King
Review: Stephen King thought that movie is one of the best interpretations of his work. However if you are looking or crazed space monsters or spooky girls then this is not the movie for you. No movie can cram a whole novel into the limited time available and William Goldman, did a great job of picking while still making the story coherent. The funereal scene and ending scene to make a complete story bracketed the "Low Men" story. He removed all the supernatural references with the exception of being psychic. Then Scott removed all the supernatural gimmicks and let the actors do their jobs. William removed Kings potty mouth and Scott moves the gory scenes off screen, as viewing these is not necessary to the story. What's left is "Hearts in Atlantis". As with many movies such as "Thin Man, The" (1957) by Dashiel Hammett, the movie transcends the writer to become something better then just an animated version of the book. Goldman added a story about a football player to give Bobby Garfield extraordinary stamina when it was needed. Naturally being a DVD there are all the DVD goodies such as the voiceover commentary that adds annotation and an extra dimension to the story by explicitly pointing out what they just infer in the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-warming. One of the best films I've seen all year.
Review: "Hearts in Atlantis" is an excellent coming-of-age drama based on a short story by Stephen King. Anthony Hopkins stars as Ted Brautigan, a mysterious stranger who comes to live with 11 year old Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin) and his selfish mother (Hope Davis) during the 1960s. A strange friendship grows between Ted and Bobby, but Ted's past catches up with him, and weird things begin to happen... Mika Boreem is a truly talented young actress, and Anton Yelchin is perfect as Bobby... The only thing I didn't care for is that I found the ending unsatisfying...
Rating: 
Summary: Nostalgia flick gone awry...
Review: After watching this movie, I'm pretty sure that it was a nostalgia film aimed at people who grew up in the 50's and enjoy reminiscing about "the golden days" of their childhood. The film lacks any real climax and doesn't seem to go much of anywhere. Unless you connect with "hey, I remember playing like that listening to those songs!" you aren't going to connect to this movie at all. The progression from pre-adolescence "ewww, kissing" to adolescence "I love you carol" in young Bobby simply happens to quickly to be believed and then the movie piles on top of that a whole lot of unanswered questions. How did his first love die? I'm betting that the target audience of the film is an age group that no longer asks such questions. What was the need for the whole violence against women sub plot. Was it really necessary for the film? Did it add anything? Was that the only way to set the Mother against Hopkin's character? And the whole "bullied kid beats up bully" thing was far too simplistic a solution. If you were a boy growing up in the 50's, I bet this is a movie you will really like. Otherwise, it's just not a good movie.
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