Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The_Film_Cricket How do you make a movie about a child with autism while basically dodging all information about subject? Just take a look at 'House of Cards' and you'll see. Here is a movie that tries to softsoap this disease with lame visuals, overcooked dialogue and an ending that left my attention focusing on the digital soundtrack of 'Jurassic Park' which was bleeding through the walls from the theater next door.Kathleen Turner (one of my favorite actresses) plays a woman whose husband has died and whose autistic daughter has retreated into her own private world. She seeks the help of a professional to break through the barrier. So desperate is Turner to help her daughter that she begins construction on a spiral plywood ramp so that the girl can get to the moon (don't ask).The girl who plays Turner's daughter is not autistic and we can clearly see that. Every time there was a scene at the clinic where Tommy Lee Jones works, I kept wishing that the camera to move past him and start focusing on one of those real autistic children behind him.The mystery of autism is a good subject for a drama, just look at Rain Man. But that film was about the relationship between two brothers. Every time this film needs to settle down and uncover the mystery it would come up with some lame scene so that the writer won't have to think. The lamest being the one where the girl takes finger paints and covers her entire body green so that she can't be seen when standing in front of a tree (again . . . don't ask)

shannonmdavis SPOILER ALERT****************************************** I actually don't know if I give away too much but I am putting the alert here just to be safe.As a mom of a little boy with autism, I was drawn to this movie and come back again from time to time. I always cry at the end knowing that is not a reality for families with autism but wishing it could be. The school where the doctor teaches other kids is the reality I know. And the line (forgive me if it is not exact), "Here, ordinary is extraordinary" is something I think only families dealing with autism truly understand. My son and I have been working with specialists since he was just over a year old. And at 3 years and 9 months, I got my first, self-initiated "Mommy, I need a kiss." I cried with joy for days. He expressed an emotional need, self-initiated it, and said it in a sentence! You can tell when you meet people new to my son and they get so excited about the extraordinary things he can do. But like in this movie when you look at the parents and teachers working so hard, it is on the little things you take for granted. Don't get me wrong. We love the extraordinary things that make our children so special and fascinating. But when the ordinary things happen like the boy at the school hugging his mom for the first time, that is when we parents shout for joy and hoot and holler in celebration.Dealing with a child with autism is like putting together a giant puzzle with infinite pieces. If you like the thrill of figuring things out, then it is great because the puzzle never ends...it just develops into a clearer picture the more you can fit things together. And since the number of pieces are infinite, you don't get a neat little picture on the box that lets you know exactly how things should look and you work towards that. Nope, that kind of puzzle is for amateurs. With autism, you study the pieces as they fit together and learn how they relate to one another and get glimpses of what a bigger picture may look like. But you know at any time one section of the puzzle may elude you completely while another section starts coming together quickly, making sense out of the patterns. And what you get is an ever-growing and changing picture of who that child is.

Mel J Having seen 'House of Cards' a number of times now, I never fail to find this film a involving and intriguing on every viewing. The film revolves around the Ruth Matthews, whose husband dies in a fall and who risks also losing her six-year-old daughter Sally when she retreats into her own world falling the death of her father. As child psychologist Jake determines that the best way to treat Sally is to use therapies similar to how he counsels his autistic patients, Ruth resorts to more eccentric methods of reaching out to her daughter.A number of people seem to dislike 'House of Cards' because they feel it portrays easy cures to autism. However, like other fans of the film, I never believed Sally was autistic but instead was deeply grief-stricken and mentally withdrew from the traumatic world around her, taking on autistic-like traits, so she could try to devise ways to contact her dead father. This theory meant that, for me, this film was not about autism but rather a family coping with loss and grief in different ways and that was what made it both touching and engaging.The adult actors-- Kathleen Turner who played Ruth and Tommy Lee Jones who played Jake-- were both brilliant and you genuinely felt that they both loved this child and were determined to do to whatever it took to help her, albeit in different ways. However, it was the child actors who were truly excellent. For such a young child, Asha Menina was perfect in portraying Sally's emotional distance as she retreated into her own little world. And Shiloh Strong delivered a strong performance as Sally's teenage brother, who was fiercely devoted to his mother and sister and determined to be the man of the family.This film truly succeeded in reminding us that young children can view death very differently from adults and in showing us that there tradition psychological treatments are not always right for everybody. Combined with the haunting soundtrack, 'House of Cards' is enjoyable and will keep you thinking.

przgzr If anyone wants to know medical facts about any disease, he/she should read medical literature, ask a doctor, watch educational program on TV. This is a movie, so the authors have their freedom. Of course, they have certain responsibilities. They shouldn't show obvious mistakes and let us believe they're medical facts (or any other scientific facts) when the movie ends. I can understand upset parents who have to live with their own private horror and know it will last whole life through (without miracles after waking up), but in the end it is clearly shown this was not a case of autism. Traumas can cause extremely different pictures. In adults you can spend months and years searching for somatic cause for headaches, cardiac disorders, or even blindness before it becomes apparent there isn't any. Schizophrenic catatonia is an extreme example, showing neurological symptoms. In children one can find regression (behaving like a younger child) - like enuresis after even many years of successful urinary control. But behavior like autism is also possible. (I don't remember anyone objecting "Tommy", by the way, maybe because it's much more symbolic than the realistic "House of cards".) And traumas for children are often also trauma for adults (parents) who sometimes don't let the physician know the whole truth. Sometimes they're ashamed, sometimes feel guilty, sometimes diminish the cause or even have problems to deal with it themselves, so they deny it can have reflection on health of their child. These parents can also be expected to change doctors or institutions or the way of treatment. Especially in modern world when media give a great space to non-medical treatments, because they sell newspapers (or TV shows) more than real science and completely educated professionals. That can confuse parents, already shocked by disease and afraid of future, progressively with the seriousness of the diagnosis. The way media treat "official medicine" is also important. If their glorify different kinds of magicians and a real doctor can never be heard, let alone become a hero, you can expect parents with lack of belief and very much ready to try another approach, no matter how useless, unsuccessful and even harmful (at least because it means losing precious time). So however unrealistic and hard to watch for real autistic children's parents, this film is honest, even realistic (parents who believe their doctors must understand that there really exist parents who don't!) - and (last but not least) this film is good as a film. It is meant to enjoy it and not to teach medicine. And if you ask yourself some questions it can even upset you (but try "Lorenzo's Oil" if you want it deeper than your skin).Also, some comments (and mine too) could be more adequate in Message boards, so I suggest for any more comments like this Message board to be used, and this place left to viewers who want to give opinions about the movie.