I always felt bad for Hayden Christensen. Sure, he got picked to be in two of the highest grossing and well known movies in history, but he was directed by George Lucas. People hated his character and they hated his performance, which always seemed unfair, as those movies also star Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman (amazing actors all) and they don't give good performances either. Perhaps the problem with Christensen's performance lay, not with him, but with the directing. I've been wanting to catch some of his other work to see for myself, hence this movie. And hey, it also stars Kevin Kline and Kristen Scott Thomas, so it won't be a total waste, right?

As it turns…

This movie has always have been and always will be one of my favorite movies of all time. Ever since I first saw it back in 2001 until now. Anytime I watch this movie, or even hear a snippet from the soundtrack it almost breaks me down. Released in October of 2001 and directed by Irwin Winkler, this film tells the story of a man diagnosed with a terminal disease and how, with the little time he has left, he tries to connect with his son and wife before he goes. This movie is beautifully cast with Kevin Kline as the lead along with Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen (pre Anakin Skywalker), Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen and even a small…

If the title as a contrived metaphor doesn’t set your eyes a-rollin’, the film’s way below sub par rendering of nearly every TV movie cliché in existence may suffice. If you still haven’t had enough, I submit to you the film’s last minute instance of what I’d call the Single Most Convenient Moment In Recent Memory (which should take care of those last few intelligent viewers who’ve been actively forgiving everything else occurring onscreen). And if “forgiving” sounds like a pointed accusation, it needn’t be. Quite the contrary, in fact. I can quite easily see why one would be ready-set-march to exercise a fanatical amount of leniency: the film actually features three proven thespians (Kline, Scott-Thomas and Steenburgen) being directed…

I always felt bad for Hayden Christensen. Sure, he got picked to be in two of the highest grossing and well known movies in history, but he was directed by George Lucas. People hated his character and they hated his performance, which always seemed unfair, as those movies also star Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman (amazing actors all) and they don't give good performances either. Perhaps the problem with Christensen's performance lay, not with him, but with the directing. I've been wanting to catch some of his other work to see for myself, hence this movie. And hey, it also stars Kevin Kline and Kristen Scott Thomas, so it won't be a total waste, right?

As it turns…