ThiefHott Too much of everything

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Nicole C This movie resembles Les Choristes quite a bit, and seems to be pretty much a copycat. While the characters, and main plot are different, the premise is the same. A boy who has musical talent, but no discipline, and a teacher (or teachers) who believe in helping him reach his full potential. The acting fell short for a movie like this, and did not evoke much emotion from me. Wareing plays his part of an emotionally repressed kid well enough. And Lucas and McHale had supporting roles, so weren't too bad as well. However, I was confused by Hoffman's character and the way he presented himself. First off, he always mumbled, and his voice is so low that it's hardly discernible what he is saying. Then, there's the issue of his characteristics. His character seems a little autistic (think Rain Man), and I got the sense that there might be more to his character than shown, but it is never explored. So, the movie pretty much focuses on Stet, but because there is not much connection with others, or exploration of other characters' backgrounds, the emotions don't transcend the screen. As well, the editing, and probably the directing, had something to do with this slightly disappointing movie. There are instances in the film where images overlap with each other, and this was pretty confusing. Some cuts are disconcerting as well, and made me disconnect further with the film. Additionally, the music that the boys supposedly sang served as an interesting game for my friend and I, as we tried to distinguish what language it was. While some words sounded like English, the rest sounded like gibberish - which we concluded was probably Latin. And while the music was quite enjoyable, the lip-syncing was not. Everything was just disconnected in this movie. Overall, you are better off watching Les Choristes, as there isn't much to miss in this one.

Beatrice Calvert I absolutely loved this movie. It's beautiful! I though about it the entire week after I saw it and I cried when I watched it. Its very beautiful and the music is incredible. A piece of me will will forever be changed because of this movie. I feel inspired and happy whenever i watch it. I strongly recommend that you watch this movie, you'll love it. The story if about a young, rebellious boy with an amazing voice. The only thing he responds to is music. When his school headmistress shows him The Amarican Boychoir and lets him audition for them he bails but soon he's there again, now auditioning for their international school. During the movie you get to follow his life from the bottom to the absolute top. A wonderful story about a boy who has the talent to change his own life for good. Truly, this movie is the best thing I have ever seen and the most beautiful movie i have witnessed.

dmayo-911-597432 You're at the starting point of a walk through many movies (particularly this one and a certain immensely popular franchise) and still more works of Young Adult fiction. It can't contain any spoilers unless you were born yesterday. In that case, it may spoil the whole genre.This should give you the general, not to say generic, idea. A largely orphaned 11-year-old boy with one or more unsympathetic parent figures is sent to a boarding school for children with a special gift. The school is located far out in the country, in a shadowy stone edifice of medieval design. All of the pupils are gifted, but our hero/surrogate is more gifted than the rest. The squabbling faculty includes a martinet, a mentor to our hero, and a revered Master. The Master, whose eyes may or may not twinkle, will become our hero's super-mentor and ace in the hole.The pupils learn the arcana of their art in the classroom and practice it on their own till they can accomplish amazing feats. Among them our hero finds at least one amiable buddy, at least one garden-variety tormentor, and exactly one Aryan-looking arch rival whose malice is a bit thick. He gives the arch rival a well-deserved thrashing, but they do not become best friends afterward as in Young Adult fiction of an earlier era. In fact, our hero couldn't keep out of trouble if he tried (he seldom does), but it's all right because he's the most special child on the premises.Now we jump briefly to another genre. It's the day of the big show, and the star is suddenly out of it. Our heroine (read hero, in the case of Boychoir) must fill in. She'll be all right, they tell her, though they're sweating bullets inside. She's got it in her, she knows the routine by heart. All she has to do is follow the maestro's eyes or the bouncing ball or something. She's going out there a kid, but she's got to come back a star. Yes, she'd blow it if this were only the third reel, but it's almost the end of the movie. So.Now back to the first genre and the denouement of our hero's story. Through superior talent and a bit of learning, he has risen to every challenge. Even if he doesn't get a letter of recommendation from the Master (you'll just have to watch and see about that), we know he has been recognized as the greatest prodigy that ever passed through Hogw--, er, Boychoir School.And that, unfortunately, seems to be what matters above all. In Boychoir, the protagonist's worth apparently increases in his father's eyes, as in those of the Master and the Headmistress, in proportion to his achievement. I agree with another reviewer, Stream-it, who comments, "The messages here seemed to be, very loosely, only those who become 'the best' can expect to receive the love of family and acceptance within their institution of choice. Didn't work for me." (Review title: "Entirely predictable...almost.")The six stars that I've given to this film are mainly for the choral music, which is good as far as it goes, the photography, which is tasteful, and Kevin McHale's performance as Wooly, which is transparently right. Being among the few who haven't seen him in anything else, I don't know whether he's always the same or not. The four missing stars are for the narrative magic that wasn't there.

Cinefill1 -Boychoir is a 2014 American drama film directed by François Girard and written by Ben Ripley. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Debra Winger, Josh Lucas, and the American Boychoir School.--Production: -Hoffman stars in Boychoir as the choir master Carvelle, with Bates as the school's headmistress; the director is François Girard with a script by Ben Ripley. Originally, the cast was to include Alfred Molina, but he left the project. In February 2014, Debra Winger, Eddie Izzard, Kevin McHale, Josh Lucas, and newcomers Garrett Wareing, Joe West, River Alexander, and Grant Venable joined the cast. Wareing plays a young man who joins a boys choir; Winger plays the boy's Odessa, Texas school principal; Izzard, replacing Alfred Molina, will play Drake, the choir master's right-hand at the school; Lucas plays the boy's estranged father. McHale will portray a young music teacher who champions the boy and West, Alexander and Venable play other boys in the chorus. -Principal photography began in February 2014 in New York and in Stamford, New Haven, and Fairfield, Connecticut, some at Fairfield University.--Reception: -Boychoir received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 61% rating based on 23 reviews for an average rating of 5.9/10. The consensus states: "Boychoir rests heavily -- and not always comfortably -- on the shoulders of Dustin Hoffman, whose typically excellent work isn't always quite enough to compensate for an overly predictable drama." On Metacritic, the film holds a 51 out of 100 rating based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".