Thirteen

Rating:
Summary: 13 out of 14 Stars.
Review: This movie is painful,scary & provacative.Wood is incredible,Hunter is very good,and Reed has dethroned Natalie Portman (and maybe even Britney Spears)as the Lolita of the Millenium!Watch this film,hug your daughter,and thank God if you have a son!

Rating:
Summary: Go see this film!!!
Review: Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, and Nikki Reed are fantastic in this film. By the last scene, I was wiping away tears. Thirteen is real, its gritty, its painful, and its a movie that you should watch.

Rating:
Summary: Vile
Review: When I first heard about this movie, I wanted to vomit. Its a disgusting idea, and why on Earth would any one want to glamorize being a young whore by making a movie about it? I bet Bill Hicks is turning over in his grave.

Rating:
Summary: Trite...A disheartening film with few good moments.
Review: This is one of those classic "psycho white girl movies". I saw it on a trip with a film class I am in today. I expected this movie to be good, especially considering the 3 1/2 star review it got in the paper and the way it was described. It seemed as if it would be a breath of fresh air. I turned out to be proven wrong, and it didn't seem like anyone in my class, including the teacher, saw much in this film.

First off, it's very stereotypical and this tired plot has been done before in many other forgettable movies. There's the goody-goody little preppy blonde white upper middle class lifestyle living girl, who is turned on by a more "rebellious" side. Her friend, who is part of this side, inspires her to act that way. However, what I find to be stereotypical and also somewhat sick is that all of these "bad boys" they seem to be chasing after seem to be black, hispanic, or some other "different" ethnicity (except for one white guy who is not on their level of age). What kind of sly stereotype are they trying to portray here? What was the point of this stereotypical writing? It had absolutely no business being in the movie anyway, this movie was about two traumatized teenage girls acting out. If the script writers have fetishes, they can keep that to themselves. Thanks very much.

While the acting is somewhat convincing, there are no breaks in the film. Even some of the most intense films such as Jacob's Ladder gave the viewer certain breaks to make the viewing experience more worthwhile. Why did they have to show that stupid psycho teenage girl cutting herself like five times? I started closing my eyes after a while, you made your point the first couple times, I didn't need to see her slit her wrists that much. Yuck.

Worst of all, the ending made no damn sense. What was it supposed to mean? If I'm going to spend my time watching the whole movie, the ending had better at least make sense, even if I don't care for it. This ending was stupid and made me feel duped for having sat through the whole thing.

The main good things about this movie are that the concept as a whole was realistic and touched on some rough subjects such as abusive families and bad upbringings pretty well. The actors generally did a decent job. It also never bored me, it remained interesting to watch throughout. But the script writing was so bad and stupid, it just appears to me as another edition to the self-obsessed future-ignoring commercial slop that seems to be forced down the throats of people everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Afterschool not-so-special
Review: If KIDS was a wake-up call to the world, consider THIRTEEN its snooze button. This film chronicles the descent of a "good girl" into the decadent world of sex, drugs, and risque clothing, oh my. Maybe I'm ahead of my time but I don't think these things are all that shocking or even necessarily bad.

A big part of where it fails is in the presentation. Where Larry Clark's film was ugly, dirty and depressing, THIRTEEN is prettied up. Co-writer Nikki Reed even says the events in the film were exaggerated from her own real life experiences.

The performances are very good, especially Evan Rachel Wood as the wayward daughter. I imagine she will go far.

I didn't hate watching THIRTEEN, but it is entertaining for all the wrong reasons. I was laughing when I'm sure I was supposed to be appalled. The ultimate confrontation between mother and daughter amused me the most: "No bra, no panties." If that's an example of the depths to which a teenager can sink, I think we can all stop worrying and rest a little easier.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly depressing, yet somehow very appealing...
Review: If you're lucky enough to have a theater nearby that's playing this movie, go see it! Thirteen is probably one of the more depressing films I've seen in my lifetime, but strangely enough, I found it quite enjoyable. It's definitely on my list of things to buy. (Look it up under DVDs--you can sign up for a reminder, and amazon.com will send you an e-mail whenever it comes out on DVD.)

Many reviews of this film complain about its sexual content. Honestly, I don't think it's that bad. It's not very graphic at all. The movie hints at quite a bit, but it doesn't actually show anything...There is occasional kissing, and one short scene of pretty extensive making out, but that's as far as it goes. The only nudity in the film is of the mother, and it's completely non-sexual. (She's in the shower)

There's definitely some significant drug use in the movie. Tracy and Evie get high, they drink, and later on, they're shown snorting cocaine. I have to mention, however, that none of this stuff is glorified at any time in the movie.

Altogether, Thirteen is definitely worth seeing. It's tragic (in a good way). It's a great movie for all you melodramatic, melancholy personality types who enjoy being depressed sometimes. Trust me. I'm one of them.

Rating:
Summary: Thirteen opens eyes
Review: This is a review I wrote for my campus newspaper, North Georgia College & State University's The Voice. I hope it proves useful to potential viewers for this great flick.

Have you been looking for a movie that steps beyond the standard action and chick-flick fare? Did the latest comedy or slasher flick leave you snoring? If you are seeking more substantial fare in your next movie, look no further than the riveting Thirteen. Starring Evan Rachel Wood, Holly Hunter and Nikki Reed, who also co-wrote the film, Thirteen is a shockingly realistic portrayal of adolescence that pulls no punches and makes no apologies for its message.

The film follows protagonist Tracy (Wood) through a journey of maturation. As the film begins, Tracy is a star student from a broken home, spending time with all of the unpopular kids who actually care about grades. After being snubbed by Evie (Reed) and her entourage of popular girls, Tracy begins to undergo a metamorphosis from sweet, innocent, over-achieving child to rebellious, seductive, lawless teenager trapped in almost every vice imaginable. Although it is fairly obvious to the audience from the beginning, Tracy and her mother, Mel (Hunter), are almost completely oblivious to the fact that these changes are catalyzed by Evie, who is quick to adopt Tracy once she "proves" herself.

Only making matters worse, Mel's live-in boyfriend soon comes back from a halfway house, further straining her relationship with Tracy, even as Tracy's real father's job keeps him too busy to visit during their agreed-upon times. Thirteen's portrayal of Tracy's home life is heart-wrenching and hauntingly realistic.

Throughout the harrowing school year, Thirteen leaves its audience stunned by its gritty realism in portraying middle school. Where most pre-teen/teen movies gloss over the nasty elements of school and life, Thirteen presents them in all their visceral glory.

While several viewers were upset by the fact that Thirteen seemed to offer no real consequences or solutions for Tracy and Evie's behavior, the point seems to be more a wake-up call to what teenagers are going through, even as early as age 13, and the ending, though ambiguous, actually does offer a very valuable solution.

This film comes highly recommended to any parent or education major, no matter what grade level their students are in. It is all too easy to forget what it is like to go through middle school and high school, and it is important to know that students are experimenting with almost everything, from sex and drugs to bodily mutilation, at younger and younger ages.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing...
Review: This film is beyond belief. I was stunned by the performance of Holly Hunter. She is incredible, nothing more to say! As for the story itself, it was honest, direct and shocking. People may not like it, but it was very, very true to life and serious. Unflinching. Stone cold. Clearly a very negative portrayal, but real and decent and honest which is so hard to come by nowadays in media in general, movies or otherwise. A must see and I think for teenagers as well!!

Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 STARS: Thirteen is an Odd Number
Review: THIRTEEN has a lot of interesting things on its mind but unfortunately only a fair amount of interesting ways in which to present these ideas. We are once again in rebellious teen country; this time though, we are in the very young teen/middle school arena and for many people the idea of young teenage girls and boys smoking, taking dope, sniffing aerosol, having sex and shoplifting is as foreign to them as aliens from Mars.
The director and co-screenwriter Catherine Hardwicke has fashioned a mise en scene that rightfully and truthfully makes all of this seem as natural as a young persons first case of acne. It's happening now, it's happening everywhere, face it and deal with it Hardwicke is saying. In this sense, THIRTEEN is a very important and timely document.
Down to it's bare bones though, THIRTEEN is an often told story of wanting to belong, wanting to be popular, wanting to wear the most fashionable clothes and wanting to hang with the most popular kids as exemplified in the relationship of Nerdy Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Lolita-like Evie (Nikki Reed-also a co-screenwriter).
Upon seeing a transformed Evie after a school vacation, Tracy in essence falls in love with her and does anything that she can to emulate her in every way possible. Tracy rejects the teachings and abandons the loving upbringing of her gentle Mom (the amazing Holly Hunter) and becomes an acolyte in the School of Evie with all its attendant hedonistic teachings. And this is where problems arise both to Tracy as a character and to us as the audience. Tracy's transformation is too quick, too easy, too pronounced for us to accept it wholeheartedly.
THIRTEEN is important because it reveals a world that is as foreign to most people as that of the Maori people in WHALE RIDER and for this Hardwicke is to be commended. And Holly Hunter's deeply committed and persuasive performance is a marvel. But ultimately THIRTEEN is so eager to be hip and to promote its sociological points above all else, that it forgets that the simplest stories are best when they are simply told.

Rating:
Summary: One Of 2003's Best Films!
Review: I going to put this as simple and direct as possible. "Thirteen" is one of the year's best films. It is an unflinching, realistic movie that has star making performances from it's two lead actors. What I love most about this movie is that it takes a stand. It sets up it's goals and it examines those themes to it's fullest possible potential. This is a movie that after watching it you can't say "Well, I wish it would of went more into so and so or such and such." The movie is bold. It may be hard to watch for some. I have what you could call a "strong stomach". I can watch a horror and and see someone get sliced and diced and not blink. But there were scenes in this movie that made me uneasy. The movie has this "in your face" approach to it but it works.

"Thirteen" stars Evan Rachel Wood as Tracy. A young innocent 13 year old girl. Who seems to get along with her mother. But, she's not the most popular girl in school. And she wants to hang with the "in" crowd. Which is headed by Evie (Nikki Reed, the co-writer of the film). Evie picks on Tracy at first. As I said Tracy is the nice girl. And Evie and her friends think of her as boring. But Tracy will do what she has to in order to fit in. As the days go on Tracy's mother, Melanie (Holly Hunter) is starting to notice major changes in her daughter. And she doesn't like what she is seeing.

The lines seem to be drawn on this one. A lot of people I've read seem to dislike this movie. They say the movie has nothing new to say. Even if that was true. "Thirteen" presents things in such a new light that it's like seeing someone deal with these subjects for the first time. The movie does not hold back. There are scenes dealing with teen sex, drug use, and self-mutilation (these are the scenes that made me close my eyes). If you don't think you can handle seeing this material in a realistic intense way, I seriously don't advise you to see this movie.

A lot of people may walk out of "Thirteen" and not like it. But, let me just say this. And I know I'm probably repeating myself. Even if you don't like this movie you cann't deny the fact that the movie takes a stand. The movie has powerful scenes. The movie never holds back. It doesn't hint with it's material. It sets a course and rides down that path until the end.

There is one thing about "Thirteen" I didn't like. The last act. It's here the narrative structure seems a bit off. The movie at this point is merely getting by on it's emotion. I also didn't like the last scene. Things become too hazy. But I was blown away by the "attack" of the movie. How strong and powerful it is. The movie truly does deserve 3 Oscar nominations for it's performances by the lead stars. This is one of the year's best films. Please make an effort to see it.

Bottom-line:One of the year's best. A strong gripping intense "in your face" movie. Realistic and unflinching "Thirteen" takes a stand and delivers!