Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

ferdinand1932 Tracing a story between an old man and boy should induce narcolepsy. Although Caine takes the plaudits, and he is a good character actor, this works, and can only really succeed with Milner, who is very good. He is angry and confused but once he settles on the friendship with Caine he shifts and the relationship between the two opens out.It is a bit predictable but it works with the actors, the interchange between them is critical and in this case it does as Caine and Milner react with each other, making it possible for the audience to read their relationship.The other actors, some respected names, are not used as well as they could have been. There were other stories to tell there and its missed. The parents are fine, seen through the boy's eyes.The setting and mood is very well evoked: all dusty and damp with the second best of everything.

SusanHampson I heard this film was moving so I prepared myself for some spillage. Within ten minutes, I was teary - not hose-pipe teary - but I became aware that the tap of emotion was being slowly turned on by the gentle yet persistent hand of pathos. It was during the second scene, when Michael Caine's eyes spewed forth the wretchedness of despair like an urn pours forth water, that I realised that this performance was Caine at his most able; I fumbled for my hanky and decided to ignore the prickle of anguish just for the privilege of seeing his performance.If Michael Caine was a piece of jewellery, he would be a 24-carat-gold antique ring encrusted with rubies, diamonds, sapphires and emeralds; each element perfectly contrasting with its neighbour; a unique mixture of the most precious and luminous stones; never losing their appeal yet probably taken a bit for granted; and only really appreciated by few.In this role, the subtle yet overwhelming brilliance of Caine's portrayal of a man suffering with dementia allows all the dimensions of his talent to shine. This film is the jeweller and his cloth, and Caine is the multi-talented gemstone, in all his mournful glory, at the heart of it.There's no denying that the story is grim. The characters are sad; there is death, decay and dementia in equal measure. It is a bleak yet compelling landscape. The background to the landscape is equally dreary. It's the 80s in an unremarkable backwater outside Hull; the weather is dull; 90 per cent of the film is set in an old people's home; our protagonist has dementia; and his best friend is obsessed with the afterlife (to the extent of recording the dying wheezes of the clients). Not really a crowd pleaser, eh? But believe it or not, this film has a lot of humour running through it. Okay, so it's blacker than Newgate's knocker but it's there in spades. Caine's best mate, Edward, a 10-year-old oddball is as compelling to watch as His Majesty as his hose-pipe gets turned on more than once, and very effectively indeed. He sensitively portrays a maudlin misfit not that dissimilar to the talent bud, Nicholas Hoult's Marcus in 'About a Boy'.This film is a really great example of British film-making at its finest - a good script and fine talent - nothing more nothing less. It is also a great reminder that a low budget does not mean you have to compromise on enjoyment. With this film, you get two superb beacons of light radiating out from a good support cast and a true-to-life story about the reality of old age and all the regret that can accompany it. Powerful stuff.

wokeemosabae This movie actually is not that great. Or great t all for that matter. It's very slow moving and definitely is not a 7 out of 10, usually IMDb is correct in assessments of movies but it got it wrong on this one. I am writing this while waisting 1:30 of my life watching this movie. If you like it, kudos, and this is not one of Caines best movies. I love English movies however this one is terrible. I could barely make out everything that was said and I have seen snatch, lock stock and two smoking barrels, kidulthood,etc. If you are looking for a movie to go to sleep on, this is definitely the one for you. It will put you into a deep sleep and you will not miss a thing. The plot........horrible, the acting........pretty good, the story line...... is lame. I could have written a better story.

charlytully Normally, an old folks home in the boondocks of England run by a quarreling couple on a shoe-string budget with the young son slowly going bonkers from their bickering, from being forced to sleep in a closet, and from being surrounded by eccentric elderly people in various stages of dementia would not shape up to be a barrel of laughs, or even a story likely to capture one's attention. Yet this premise is not that divergent from the first chapter of the PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, known otherwise as Harry Potter, Book One. Before you can mutter "Albus Dumbledore," a mysterious aging magician named Clarence A. Parkinson (Michael Caine) enters the world of young, put-upon Edward (Bill Milner), who's just turning old enough to enter Hogwart's, age 11. The real magic of this movie is THAT THERE IS NONE, and yet it manages to poignantly evoke the triumph of plucky youth prevailing against all odds with a wave of emotion not dissimilar to that evoked when Dumbledore awards Neville Longbottom that final point to clinch the House Cup for Gryffindor near the conclusion of 2001's HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. As an added bonus, this current film is filled with lots of humor, plus a grisly moment that would make Buckbeak's head spin! While waiting for the sixth Harry Potter movie, why not check out IS ANYBODY THERE?