Echoing in the deepest depths of space, a humble prayer ascends: One from Maire Taylor, a smart, beautiful businesswoman who asks that her husband find the strength and wisdom to let go of ... See full summary »
Director:
Michael Landon Jr.
Stars:
Christian Kane,
Marley Shelton,
Ryan McPartlin
Plump kids are lured into joining a posh fat camp with the promise of quick weight loss and good times, only to find that the facility is a woodland hellhole run by a psycho ex-fitness instructor.
An Iowa corn farmer, hearing voices, interprets them as a command to build a baseball diamond in his fields; he does, and the 1919 Chicago White Sox come.
Director:
Phil Alden Robinson
Stars:
Kevin Costner,
James Earl Jones,
Ray Liotta
Wilbur the pig is scared of the end of the season, because he knows that come that time, he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
Director:
Gary Winick
Stars:
Dakota Fanning,
Julia Roberts,
Oprah Winfrey
A boy named Walter is dropped by his mother Mae at his great-uncles' house. Later, Walter will find out his great-uncles' big secret, and rumors say that Hub and Garth, Walter's great-uncles, have stolen a lot of gold and money. (some say they stole it from Al Capone) Did they really steal that money or not?Written by
Christina ^_^
The house used in the film is a real house and is occupied. It differs from the film version in that the set builders added the tower (which is obviously too small for a bedroom) and they added a wrap-around porch to the right of the main porch, along with a fake door between the two windows of the bedroom where the porch was added. Originally the house was white with a silver-painted corrugated metal roof. After the production the house, fence and immediate grounds were returned to their original form but with a white-painted roof. When the homeowners saw the place after it had been dressed and distressed, the wife hyperventilated and nearly passed out. Her husband assured her that the producers would return the home to perfect condition when the movie was completed. See more »
Goofs
When the lion is in the crate and they are going to shoot it you can see the chain holding the lion in the crate running down her chest partly exposed, they tried covering it up with fur, you can see it in several shots. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Adult Walter:
[answering the phone]
Hello?
Sheriff:
Walter?
Adult Walter:
Yes.
Sheriff:
This is Sheriff Brady. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. It's about your uncles.
See more »
Crazy Credits
During the end credits, the adult Walter's cartoons depict a variety of adventures. See more »
Alternate Versions
For the UK cinema release, the distributors requested a PG certificate from the BBFC and 21 secs of footage was cut to remove shots of flick knives and violence. DVD releases were upgraded to a 12 certificate and the cuts were reinstated. See more »
The first thing I noticed in this film was the farmhouse, a caliche road, and the mailbox--and I knew it was rural Texas. Then I noticed a couple of uncles sitting on their front porch with shotguns, and a young teenage boy not knowing exactly what to think. I was hooked immediately when flipping through the TV channels and seeing Secondhand Lions.
This film was made in Pflugerville, a suburb northeast of Austin, and of course there is a rural road, a farm house, and stock tank (pond). It was the first thing that caught my attention, and it felt like Texas. And then there was Michael Cain and Robert Duval playing characters in Texas. I've seen this movie five times or so, and it is not difficult to imagine Robert Duval playing a character from Texas. However, Michael Cain, well if his Texas accent wasn't perfect, his character was perfectly played! And as brilliant as Cain might have been, Robert Duval was just as good as Robert Duval can be, and that's about as good as it gets. Cain plays Garth, and Duval plays Hub and the 13-or 14-year-old Walter is basically dumped with the uncles by his mother one afternoon. The uncles aren't happy about the situation. Walter's not happy about the stranding with the uncles. But the audience is in for a treat as this story develops.
While Haley Joel Osment played a believable Walter, and Kyra Sedgwick was also excellent as Mae the mom, the movie's writer and director Tim McCanlies has to be given credit for a realistic setting, and an amazing story that allows character development, and what might be a pretty bad situation, child abandonment with strange relatives, to become a wonderful story.
Yes, Cain and Duval play curmudgeonly uncles, but they also play loving and caring uncles who grow so close to Walter, they try to figure out how to protect him from his irresponsible mother. Work in some traveling salesmen, that occasionally succeed in getting past the shotgun blasts from the front porch, to sell garden seeds (in a variety of packages, but only corn grew), or to sell a sickly lioness, and this plot is wonderful.
The lioness is nurtured back to health by Walter, but one day she escapes and heads into the garden of fully grown corn. I probably would have named this movie "Lions in the Cornfield," because that is an extremely strong image from this movie, and seeming ridiculous situation. But Secondhand Lions actually uses the symbol of the uncles as aging, yet protective lions who have had better days, and Jasmine the lioness, to communicate all that is quirky and good in life.
As strong as Duval and Cain may be in their acting roles, the story is equally as idealistic in siding with right, and opposing evil. When a movie is idealistic, and believable, and fun, I can't help but give this film a solid recommendation (9 of 10 stars).
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
The first thing I noticed in this film was the farmhouse, a caliche road, and the mailbox--and I knew it was rural Texas. Then I noticed a couple of uncles sitting on their front porch with shotguns, and a young teenage boy not knowing exactly what to think. I was hooked immediately when flipping through the TV channels and seeing Secondhand Lions.
This film was made in Pflugerville, a suburb northeast of Austin, and of course there is a rural road, a farm house, and stock tank (pond). It was the first thing that caught my attention, and it felt like Texas. And then there was Michael Cain and Robert Duval playing characters in Texas. I've seen this movie five times or so, and it is not difficult to imagine Robert Duval playing a character from Texas. However, Michael Cain, well if his Texas accent wasn't perfect, his character was perfectly played! And as brilliant as Cain might have been, Robert Duval was just as good as Robert Duval can be, and that's about as good as it gets. Cain plays Garth, and Duval plays Hub and the 13-or 14-year-old Walter is basically dumped with the uncles by his mother one afternoon. The uncles aren't happy about the situation. Walter's not happy about the stranding with the uncles. But the audience is in for a treat as this story develops.
While Haley Joel Osment played a believable Walter, and Kyra Sedgwick was also excellent as Mae the mom, the movie's writer and director Tim McCanlies has to be given credit for a realistic setting, and an amazing story that allows character development, and what might be a pretty bad situation, child abandonment with strange relatives, to become a wonderful story.
Yes, Cain and Duval play curmudgeonly uncles, but they also play loving and caring uncles who grow so close to Walter, they try to figure out how to protect him from his irresponsible mother. Work in some traveling salesmen, that occasionally succeed in getting past the shotgun blasts from the front porch, to sell garden seeds (in a variety of packages, but only corn grew), or to sell a sickly lioness, and this plot is wonderful.
The lioness is nurtured back to health by Walter, but one day she escapes and heads into the garden of fully grown corn. I probably would have named this movie "Lions in the Cornfield," because that is an extremely strong image from this movie, and seeming ridiculous situation. But Secondhand Lions actually uses the symbol of the uncles as aging, yet protective lions who have had better days, and Jasmine the lioness, to communicate all that is quirky and good in life.
As strong as Duval and Cain may be in their acting roles, the story is equally as idealistic in siding with right, and opposing evil. When a movie is idealistic, and believable, and fun, I can't help but give this film a solid recommendation (9 of 10 stars).