Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

mukul1904 Now, the one-rating is little hard I know But this book series was one of the first I ever read, that's how I started reading booksSo, I had a special place in my heart for its characters and plot but I don't even want to discuss how this movie twisted and turned the book into an excuse to make 5-7 movies

nehatandon0019 It's just soo damn hard to finish this piece of crap! Waste of good cast!Ok, I'm gonna say it...Twilight was ten thousand times better executed than this one. It's soo boring and there's so chemistry between the leads. I mean the story isn't that bad but it's soooo long, some scenes didn't make any sense. I'm gonna need to take a shower to get this off!

Michael Ledo This film incorporates elements of "Twilight" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" to make for a confused film. Lena (Alice Englert) is the new kid in school. Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) who is not the brightest bulb in the pack, is attracted to her, even with her attempts to brush him off. We soon find out Lena has telekinetic powers, as does her family who are not witches but castors. You can look that up on Google.There are flashbacks to a local Civil War battle fought on Dec.21, Lena's birthday. Her 16th birthday is approaching, a time when she will become...Lena could have been played by Kirsten Stewart with an occasional facial expression, while Ethan was an irritating goober. Dad was a creepy gentry, rounding out characters that were fairly stereotypical. The locals were so stereotypical, I almost barfed. I would wait for the DVD with the commentary if you haven't read the book.Parental Guide: No F-bombs, sex, or nudity

kennyminot-1 The user reviews seem invested in two separate issues - whether this is a faithful adaptation of the books or whether it is a worthy successor to the Twilight series. Given that my wife forced me to watch this movie - and I have never seen a Twilight film and don't plan on it in the near future - I thought I could add some perspective not covered by the other reviews. First, this is a terrible movie. The plot is convoluted and basically involves a rather mundane version of the "love conquers all" narrative. If you've ever watched a teen movie, you probably can trace its broad contours, although it adds a weird Civil War backstory and some witch crap for seemingly no reason. The best (and most interesting) moments of the entire movie are when you strip out the fantasy garbage and focus on the teens being normal people, even though, for the most part, they are both unremarkable characters. Second, this movie is a ridiculously stereotypical portrait of the South, one that somehow simultaneously is disrespectful to its residents and somehow at the same time manages to neatly avoid all its problems. For starters, if you're looking for anything close to a respectful depiction of race relations, you're going to be sadly disappointed. The only two black characters are a popular teenager with no brain and the equivalent of the Jamaican voodoo doctor. In addition, the Southern white characters are portrayed as basically stupid hicks, who do weird things like pray in class and talk about Satanism. Especially in contemporary society, teenagers are relatively homogenized by YouTube culture, and they are a little more sophisticated than religious fanatics. Basically, every single character is a stereotype. Interestingly enough, though, the movie even insults our intelligence by failing to depict the rampant self- segregation throughout the South. The movie doesn't even attempt to touch anything about race and uses the Civil War mostly as a set piece to talk about the lives of white people. Granted, I don't watch a lot of teenage dramas, but it's insulting to think that they aren't capable of the critical awareness that is necessary to responsibly deal with these questions. Honestly, it's embarrassing that such high-profiled actors would be involved in this kind of movie that romanticizes the plantation and whitewashes Southern life. On top of that, the casting in this movie is ridiculous. Jeremy Irons is just not believable as an old Southern gentleman, and for all my respect for him as an actor, he's absurd in this part. The main actor has a Southern accent that made me literally laugh when he walked on the screen. Emma Thompson, to her credit, is much better in her role, but sometimes it seems like she's struggling to add depth to the lines. I actually thought Viola Davis was the only actor who "stood out" as being effective in her particular role. I could say more about the movie. The soundtrack, for example, was laughably heavy-handed, and I haven't even begun to talk about issues of gender representation. However, suffice to say, this movie reveals quite a bit about Hollywood's insulting perception of teenagers. They are capable of thinking at a deeper level than is shown in this movie. I continue to be amazed at how Hollywood "talks down" to its audience and then is surprised at why movie profits decline because people choose to stay at home and watch good television. I don't think the question of whether this movie stayed true to its source material is a particularly interesting one - it's difficult for me to imagine a way this particular plot with these characters could ever become something more than pop drivel.