Sorry, this movie sucks

hyped garbage

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The title of this film refers to the title of a collection of novellas and short stories by Stephen King. This collection contains two novellas and three short stories with recurring characters: "Low Men in Yellow Coats," "Hearts in Atlantis," "Blind Willie," "Why We're in Vietnam," "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling." The film only concerns the first and the last sections of this book. Ted Brautigan is an old man on the run who one day arrives in the house where a young boy Bobby Garfield lives with his mother. A relation is constructed between the two and it is this very theme of the friendship between an older man and a young boy whose father is dead that the film studies after Stephen King. It is a very pregnant and important theme in Stephen King. Children are always, in a way or another, the victims of the world, of grown-ups especially. Bobby is thus confronted to bullies and he learns how to confront them and defeat them. He is confronted with what might have become love with Carol after a first kiss if he had had the opportunity t-o stay around, but his mother moves away after having been molested, at least, by her own boss during a professional seminar away from home. When back she overreacts against Ted Brautigan accusing him of some crime he did not commit.Yet there is mystery behind Ted Brautigan because he is supposed to be "WANTED" by some low men in yellow coats and he is finally taken away soon after Bobby's mother return. And the betrayal of Ted by Bobby's mother who calls the low men to tell them about where they can find Ted Brautigan could have brought some complete different future to Bobby, but he does not go with Ted and remains with his mother. The film then is very short since we miss everything after that departure and before his return for the burial of his and Carol's friend John Sullivan. The end is even made kind of sentimental with Bobby re-visiting his old home and meeting Carol's daughter, Carol being dead, and he presents her with an old picture of Carol as an angel in some school play.The film misses what some see in the book: the fact that baby- boomers missed their historic challenge to produce a better world that is, instead, drowning under a heavy hurricane of consumer's goods. We are far from "love and peace = INFORMATION," as Carol used to state. Love has become self-centered satisfaction of hormonal impulses. Peace has become the crisscross pattern of simultaneous limited wars all over the world. And information has become the meaningless soup of being over-bombarded by a constant flow of undecipherable news, fake or not. Even the central theme of the friendship between an older man and a young boy is rather schematically reduced to something that is always seen as fishy, fuzzy, maybe false, definitely failed when ending with no hope, like in the book, no hope of Ted Brautigan being free again. That's a shame because such friendships are essential for the simple maturing of boys into responsible and strong adults, and the breaking of it meant for Bobby a ruined youth with two periods in juvenile detention facilities. I regret that mellowing of the book in this film.Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

At face value, this is a decent film. The relationship between Bobby Garfield and Carol Gerber (a brilliant performance from Mika Boreem)) is the centerpiece of the film, and will really tug at your heartstrings as the film comes to a close. Also, the eccentric Ted Brautigan is perfectly cast in Anthony Hopkins, while Bobby's mother Liz Garfield adds a dark aspect. So, all in all, the film is a decent little story that, while never really resolving itself fully, does capture your interest and really make you feel for the protagonists.However, titling the film "Hearts in Atlantis" in trying to capture the essence of Stephen King's masterful novel was an injustice to King's original story, which tells 5-6 different stories and weaves recurring characters into each. In fact, the "Hearts" in the title of King's book is actually a play on words for the card game that Carol Gerber's college friends play relentlessly, day and night.Thus, this film really should have been called "Low Men In Yellow Coats", as that is the King tale that really is being told. Even if that would have happened, though, I think that telling this singular tale does a great injustice to King's great novel. Whereas in the book the story just sets the stage for the drama to come, the film tries its best to inject that drama into only the one story, which is sad. A great attempt is made to do so, but ultimately it will leave you wanting, as it seems (for much of the film) that it is building towards a bigger resolution that never comes.If you read the book, I wouldn't spend too much time/effort acquiring this film, as it doesn't come close to equaling the success of the original novel. However, if you didn't read the book and are a sucker for a good love story, you very well may like this movie much more than I.

Subtle and Low Key Sentimental Thriller that combines Paranormal Underpinnings and Growing Up with a Distracted Mother. Enter Anthony Hopkins a "Strange" Visitor with a Dark Secret and Secret Agents on His trail.The Film is Wonderful the way it keeps the Thriller Aspects in the Background but Never Far from the Proceedings. Hopkins Relationship with Bobby (Anton Yelchin) is Warm, Edgy, and Heartwarming. Mika Boorman also has a Heartfelt Part as Bobby's First Girlfriend and is Radiant. Hope Davis as the Troubled Mother also Delivers the Goods as one of the Movie's Villains. The Excellent Performances lend Credence to the William Goldman's sometimes Vague Script. The Cinematography is also Outstanding.The Soundtrack is Typically Nostalgic with Top 40 Tunes Blasting Away to add some Spunk to the Gloomy Story. With so many Fine Ingredients the Movie Failed however to be Embraced by Critics and the Box-Office. It's one that shouldn't be missed even though it seemed to have been Thoroughly Missed by the Aforementioned.

Hearts in Atlantis is a movie which has many appreciable sides to it. On one hand it's a great mystery movie and on the other it's a great tale of one innocent child who happens to meet a psychic. Two scenes stand out 'perfectly' in my memory and they seem to be some of the best scenes I have ever witnessed on screen: In first one three kids are playing and walking on a railway track which has a shape like a snake and at the end of this railway track there seems to be a horizon with a Neptunian yellow glow of setting sun. This scene is very sensitive and beautiful scene. The scene at the climax where kid drives his bike and disappears is also a very affecting one.This is a mystery movie because many a things are not known. Who the psychic was and why he was being searched by some mysterious bogey-man type agents, where did the father of the kid go and some other things remain unclear. The movie however has a very touching tale of the relation between the kid and the psychic. The kid has a difficult childhood because his mother is not only poor but also mean. The character of the kid has been played very efficiently by Yelchin. As for the psychic, one of the greatest and most charismatic actors of all time, Anthony Hopkins was playing it and he does not let you blink with his majestic style. This is a sentimental movie imbued with colors of mystery. And yes, Stephen King did this one with a bit less of horror and paranormal and he did it brilliantly!