Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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

The magic realism is there. Whether you believe it or not it is a convenient way to introduce the authors beliefs . I found the movie entertaining and worthwhile although certainly not original.

Alright, so going through the reviews it's painfully obvious someone who created the movie is writing overwhelmingly positive reviews under recently created accounts to bump up the IMDb score... seeing how they all give ten stars, have atrocious grammar, and are all within the same time frame. And, every other review names the movie as it actually is, a disgusting waste.Now, the fake comments easily summarize the movie for what it is; a fake, corporate, pretentious and phoned-in mess. The movie was written as a Hallmark produced pamphlet of inspirational quotes- which really isn't that far from the original source material. Mindless things you've heard a thousand times, like "be yourself!" and "live in the now!". The dialogue is cringe, clichéd and delivered with obnoxious performances. I hate Nick Nolte for this. His stupid, monotone, pretentious lines and delivery; his character, named Socrates, is so infuriatingly on- the-nose with third grade reading level symbolism it's disgusting.Our main man is an Andrew Garfield discount, with a third of the charm or skill. He is written the way evangelical moms or corporate producers think college students are like. He's insufferable, unlikable, and you're frustrated or bored with him.The characters are all cardboard cutouts and fill some stupid, mindless quota of what some dribbling idiot thought a movie about sports and inspirational quotes should be. The story line and pacing alone will make you irritated.The cinematography and set design is so bad, it somehow makes Berkeley and the East Bay look like a stucco and beige paint wasteland. The shots are vague and boring, over-the-shoulder. Everything feels so plastic and fake (which also describes the entire movie). This movie is for idiots who like sports that nobody cares about, and have such completely worthless lives they need to pick up HallMark cards with slogans literally written into this movie.God almighty.

The opening scene of Peaceful Warrior hooked me into watching all of it. I had been dubious because of Nick Nolte and the whole spiritual angle -wondering how that was going to play out, but ultimately this was uplifting and inspiring and Nolte was very good as the grumpy, gravelly voiced sensei master.This is the kind of movie that you'd have to watch several times to catch all the quotable/livable meanings.Its along the lines of 'The Karate Kid' (but based on a well received book) following Dan Millman as a gifted gymnast bound for Olympic gold. Initially he has it all; trophies, girls, fast motorcycles, and wild parties but all that changes the night he meets a mysterious stranger in a gas station (Nolte) who holds the power to tap into new worlds of strength and understanding. Dan is sceptical at first but comes to understand that he has a lot to learn about... life.This wasn't a perfect movie but it was sorta powerful. The gymnastic scenes were well done including a freaky dream sequence. A couple of familiar faces from TV in the cast; Paul Wesley from Vampire Diaries and Tim DeKay from White Collar. Now I gotta read go the book. 01/13

Note: This review does not reveal specific details, but it may reveal the overall storyline and especially the way the movie may end. I am confused as to where I should place this movie: it has a great message embedded in the teachings of the "Socrates" character and in the interactions between the protagonist and Socrates, but the storyline is poor, predictable and "americanized" in the sense that the actions of the protagonist, especially towards how the plot develops towards the end goes against the core of the teaching and the message it is trying to convey. It's as if they hijacked a noble message and twisted it enough to apply it in a wrong way to a poor purpose and a mediocre ending. Therefore I will give it a 6. Another related point, in the recommendations of IMDb "People who liked this also liked..." they provide suggestions for other movies like "The Notebook" and "Pride and Prejudice"... what do those movies have in common? I advise IMDb to revise and make amendments to this program because it is quite flawed overall (not just for this movie). There are much better algorithms to enable finding similar movies, the one used now is quite useless. I honestly prefer to view the lists the other users have written (when they are available) to get good recommendations.