Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
A sixteen-year-old girl who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.
An American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world around her.
Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a thirteen-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
Director:
Joe Wright
Stars:
Keira Knightley,
James McAvoy,
Brenda Blethyn
An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about, proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
A 14-year-old girl in suburban 1970's Pennsylvania is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from the place between Heaven and Earth, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body. Written by
Anonymous
Mark Wahlberg replaced Ryan Gosling just one day before shooting began. In preparation for the role, Gosling had gained twenty pounds, and grown out a beard. However, he vacated the role because he felt he was too young to play the part. Wahlberg, who had just completed shooting The Happening (2008), another production in Pennsylvania, became available just in time to accept Gosling's role. See more »
Goofs
Vietnamese immigration was limited to families of servicemen prior to 1975, however, there are almost no details given about Holly's character; there is evidence to contradict that she had a serviceman parent as she does not have an Anglo family name. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Susie Salmon:
[voiceover]
I remember being really small; too small to see over the edge of a table. There was a snow globe, and I remember the penguin who lived inside the globe. He was all alone in there, and I worried for him.
See more »
I'd like to preface my review with a comment about the negativity circulating around here about this movie. I don't think it's any coincidence that some of these self-appointed "film-making experts" who have nothing remotely positive to say about Jackson's effort cannot formulate complete sentences. It's not surprising at all that someone obsessed with the wetness of a prop in one scene and its dryness in the next lacks the faculty and capacity to appreciate the many merits of this film. It's ridiculous to knit-pick on 'unrealistic' depictions of this aspect of day to day life or that aspect. If you want a realistic depiction of day to day life, observe the world around you, not a movie screen.
The Lovely Bones is being unfairly hammered as maudlin drivel. Some of the concepts and visuals are on the representational side, but if you take this film as a strange amalgam of a murder/suspense thriller and a fantasy in the vein of a children's book, it all works perfectly. The emotional outpouring is portrayed very well by all the players involved. None of it seemed forced. I became emotionally invested early on and the overall impact of this work struck a chord in me that resonated deeply.
More than anything else, this film is unique. Jackson takes many chances when one considers all the traditionally accepted conventions of film making, but unless you are one of those self-absorbed, self-important film student types who endlessly struggle with the "rules of making good films," you'll get something out of this.
The use of CGI was adventurous to be sure, but if one views this piece as an interpretation of life, love, and death through a fantastical lens, then the effects remain harmonious to the telling of the story. More, the CGI in this case describes 'world's unseen,' metaphysical possibilities existing simultaneously without the bounds of physical space and time. A welcome departure from space ships and crumbling cities. Some of the nastiest complaints about the CGI are coming from people who probably have no problem with giant robots that transform into cars and trucks.
Acceptance of a fictional story, the suspension of disbelief, these events occur in the relationship between a movie and its viewer completely apart from all the rules of pacing, subtext, and all the rigid pigeonholes that don't really apply to the creative process anyway. I did not find the Lovely Bones to be maudlin, and I am a pretty jaded movie-viewer.
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I'd like to preface my review with a comment about the negativity circulating around here about this movie. I don't think it's any coincidence that some of these self-appointed "film-making experts" who have nothing remotely positive to say about Jackson's effort cannot formulate complete sentences. It's not surprising at all that someone obsessed with the wetness of a prop in one scene and its dryness in the next lacks the faculty and capacity to appreciate the many merits of this film. It's ridiculous to knit-pick on 'unrealistic' depictions of this aspect of day to day life or that aspect. If you want a realistic depiction of day to day life, observe the world around you, not a movie screen.
The Lovely Bones is being unfairly hammered as maudlin drivel. Some of the concepts and visuals are on the representational side, but if you take this film as a strange amalgam of a murder/suspense thriller and a fantasy in the vein of a children's book, it all works perfectly. The emotional outpouring is portrayed very well by all the players involved. None of it seemed forced. I became emotionally invested early on and the overall impact of this work struck a chord in me that resonated deeply.
More than anything else, this film is unique. Jackson takes many chances when one considers all the traditionally accepted conventions of film making, but unless you are one of those self-absorbed, self-important film student types who endlessly struggle with the "rules of making good films," you'll get something out of this.
The use of CGI was adventurous to be sure, but if one views this piece as an interpretation of life, love, and death through a fantastical lens, then the effects remain harmonious to the telling of the story. More, the CGI in this case describes 'world's unseen,' metaphysical possibilities existing simultaneously without the bounds of physical space and time. A welcome departure from space ships and crumbling cities. Some of the nastiest complaints about the CGI are coming from people who probably have no problem with giant robots that transform into cars and trucks.
Acceptance of a fictional story, the suspension of disbelief, these events occur in the relationship between a movie and its viewer completely apart from all the rules of pacing, subtext, and all the rigid pigeonholes that don't really apply to the creative process anyway. I did not find the Lovely Bones to be maudlin, and I am a pretty jaded movie-viewer.