Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Gabriel Batista "Pay It Forward" is a well-directed film, with a great cast and a reflective and very impactful script. The great discussions highlighted here speak about the ways of life and how great is our fear of having more or of fixing the bad. How can you have an erroneous opinion by thinking only of your own ideals without waiting for the circumstances in which these ideals lead you to end up changing or even changing your own personality? I know, and I understand, that many viewers do not hesitate to say that the ending was a bit exaggerated just to thrill, but in fact the final ONLY serves to increase the art of the film even more.

Paul J. Nemecek Last week I reviewed a film called The Contender. The title would have been even more appropriate for this week's film Pay It Forward. In the 1954 Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront Marlon Brando has a great speech in which he says, "I could've been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am." I left Pay It Forward thinking a great deal about what it could have been.The premise is engaging. Kevin Spacey plays a middle-school teacher who challenges his students to come up with a strategy for changing the world. One of his students, Trevor, comes up with the interesting idea that is the heart of the film. He says that we worry about paying people back when they do us a favor--maybe we should pay it forward. He decides that he will do something for three different people, instructing them each to do something positive for three other people instead of paying him back. If this exponential altruism catches on it might just change the world.One of Trevor's not-so-random acts of kindness is to get his mother together with his teacher. Trevor is an only child living with an overworked alcoholic mother. His teacher is a single man with a badly scarred face. He knows that they would be good for each other and does everything he can to get them together.There are, of course, complications. The primary weakness of the film is best described by quoting Richard Foster. Foster tells of a publisher who responded to a manuscript by saying "this is original and creative . . . unfortunately the parts that are original are not creative, and the parts that are creative are not original." Once we get past the engaging premise the film becomes a virtual compendium of cliches. We move back and forth between the chain of altruism and the budding romance but both plot lines are chock full of melodramatic machinations.The sad thing is that with a little better writing this could have been an excellent film. The performances are outstanding. Kevin Spacey is excellent as always, Helen Hunt gives one of the best performances of her career, and Haley Joel Osment proves that he is, pound for pound, one of the best actors working.I liked the film overall, but I really wanted to like it more than I did. In this season where we are drowning in the politics of self-interest, anything that encourages civility and compassion is a refreshing change. My expectations were so high that I left a bit disappointed. I am hoping that if I lower your expectations you might see it and like it more than you thought you would. It would please me greatly to do you that small favor. If it does work out that way, no need to thank me or pay me back, just pay it forward.

Reno Rangan After watching this film I just remembered the quote from 'Sullivan's Travels' which says 'film's the greatest educational medium the world has ever known'. Indeed, cinema's for entertainment as well acts as a message deliverer. This was an inspirational movie, and everybody must see it. I know I'm a bit late to see it, better late than never, right? I'm really glad for having it at the right time because 15 years ago I did not have this blog to write about it.OK, the name of the movie represents the theme of the story. No matter its a developed or developing country, society needs something like the idea this movie talks about. Carrying a good social message, the movie slightly lags behind the too much on the emotions, especially the end part. There won't be a problem if you like melodrama. Other than that, I feel the conclusion was smart and strong, a better solution which would appeal for certain group rather alternate finale.The film was based on the novel of the same name, crafted by a fine director with the wonderful cast. Haley Joel Osment had a great career as a child-star, you should check some of his films if you love children's movies including this title on the top of that list. As a middle aged actor, Helen Hunt's one of the last best performances before turning into a senior artist. It's not a usual role for Kevin Spacey, but he nailed it with the good dialogues. Especially his talk about the topic 'child abuse' was a great thing from the movie. Overall, the actors get more credit for the first- class acts as the script demanded for their respective roles.What did you ever do to change the world. A movie about a man who achieved in science gets the Oscar, not that real man. A movie about a man escapes from the war prison camp and slavery gets the award, and again none of those real persons. But a movie with the original, intelligent, inspiring, specially designed for a movie was not even a contender of the Oscars. Of course, it was transformed from a book, though there are/were no real people behind these great characters, all are imagined/created for the book and the movie. I never understood the American Academy Awards.By now you would know that I hate critics badly if you are a regular reader of my blog. Once again they failed to recognise how great the morality of the story is, rather they have concentrated to criticise the writing and the technical aspect of the film. Although, it was not a box office flop or earned beyond, but got a lot of praise from the families. It's a wonderful family drama, but still too far from being a masterpiece. Intelligent enough one to get motivated towards the social issues. Being practical in the real world is a concern as it is risky, depending on the situation and the person, just like this movie's ending. Rare to find a movie like this, you must check it out.8/10

mark.waltz Certainly the idea of a world utopia where everyone gives more than they take sounds like heaven on earth, but since the chances of that happening are smaller than earth being hit by a meteor, we have to settle for the fantasy of what that would be like. This film explores what the world would be like through the eyes of half a dozen unrelated strangers whose paths cross simply because of a good deed done by one without the expectations of something in return. It starts off in a rather confusing state as each of the characters are introduced, from a wealthy businessman who gives a total stranger the keys to his Jaguar to a prison inmate that stranger (who happens to be a reporter) goes to interview upon learning of the term "pay it forward".However, it is three major characters who carry the base of the story, and when they are introduced, the glue which keeps the story together begins to stick. They are emotionally and physical scarred Junior High history teacher Kevin Spacey, an alcoholic Vegas showgirl/cocktail waitress (Helen Hunt) and her young son, Haley Joel Osmont, who takes Spacey's assignment "Find something you feel that would change the world and make it happen", who is the heart and soul of around which "pay it forward" means. While other kids are too busy with sports, video games or the opposite sex, Osmont takes the challenge to heart, and befriends a homeless drug addict who takes the steps to sober up all because some stranger he met in his homeless camp takes an interest in him without judgment.Of course, the world weary Hunt is horrified to find a strange man taking a shower in her home and this leads her to confront her son's teacher. But as parents learn in the most trying of life lessons, they need to listen to their children more often, and when she discovers the magic of what her son is doing, she is drawn both into the bright light of what he is doing and sobering up with the support of her son and his teacher who reveals his innermost feelings towards her when she begins to find herself attracted to him.These three characters fortunately dominate the bulk of the story and there are only fleeting glimpses into the lives of the others involved, tying together as the prison inmate (David Ramsey) tells his story. It involves a drunken homeless woman (Angie Dickinson looking quite different than normal) who rescued him from a precarious predicament, and in true soap opera fashion, all the characters end up being tied together in a rather surprising way. The story takes a romantic turn when Spacey gets beyond his insecurities over his physical deformities and bares not only his body but his soul to the equally destroyed Hunt. This is a story of two emotionally dead people coming back to life, but the threat of Hunt's past comes back in the form of her estranged husband (Jon Bon Jovi) who claims to be reformed. But is he? Not according to his emotionally distant son who not only locks him out of his room but his heart as well. When Spacey reveals the story behind the scars, it really becomes heartbreaking, and he gives one of the best performances in modern cinema.Of course, there has to be a lesson learned for not only the characters, but the audience as well, and like history has shown, that can only come through a tragedy and a sacrifice. This is where you get your Kleenex out, because even if the "Pay It Forward" theme is something that sounds too good to be true, the heart and soul behind it grabs you in completely. I have seen many movies with remarkable kids over the years, and even met some, and in this messed up world of ours, that is the hope of our future that each coming generation will produce someone like Haley Joel Osment's Trevor. Cinema today is often a mixed bag of trash but sometimes there comes out of it an instant classic that is not only a piece of art, but something so profound that it seems divinely inspired.