Don't listen to the negative reviews

Captivating movie !

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Vanessa Hudgens has certainly come a long way since her days in the family- friendly movies 'High-School Musical'. She is fairly unrecognizable in Ronald Krauss's film 'Gimme Shelter'. It definitely takes some gigantic balls to title your film after one of the best documentaries ever made based on the Rolling Stones, but like that one, this film too is also based on true events. 'Gimme Shelter' is a rough movie to get through, but has a silver lining like a Disney movie. While some of the instances and pieces of dialogue are too "on the nose' for my taste, I expect fans of Hudgens to turn a small profit this January on the indie circuit, if not to just see one of their favorite Disney stars do a role they are not expecting.Hudgens plays 16-year-old Agnes 'Apple' Bailey, who looks like she hasn't showered for fifteen days, and decides at the beginning of the movie to cut her own hair very short. Hey eyes tell a very depressing story as she has spent most of her life moving from foster home to foster home, while constantly being physically and verbally abused by almost every she comes in contact with. But this is not the life she wants, and she makes a conscious decision to move out of that life, but when she tries to move in with her sadistic drug-fueled prostitute mother (Rosario Dawson, best part of the movie), Apple finally realizes she is on her own and sets out to find her father, whom she has never met before.Her father is a very successful Wall-Street executive, played by Brendan Fraser, (who seems to not know why he is in this movie, but) who has a giant house and a new family, as he had Apple when he was in his mid-teens. As you can imagine, things don't mix well when Apple shows up unexpectedly. Apple finds out she is pregnant and her father and step mother immediately take her to an abortion clinic, but after seeing the image of her fetus, she wants to keep it. She gets involved in a car accident and ends up in the hospital, where the hospital chaplain (James Earl Jones) befriends her and sends her to a religious shelter for pregnant teens. Maybe it's here that Apple can find what she has always wanted - a family. At least that is what Krauss wants to tell us.The lady who runs this shelter is named Kathy DiFiore (Ann Dowd), and is in fact a real person, and this film is based on her stories, but she takes the backseat to this movie and it is Hudgens's character Apple who we journey with. The three big flaws with 'Gimme Shelter' is its script, score, and execution. The screenplay just hits you with a hammer too hard in to many places, and never gives you the opportunity to enjoy or figure things out for yourself. And the score is way to dramatic, and comes across way to sappy. This could have been a better film if the director just let these things play out normally, but instead there is way to much emphasis on what we are supposed to feel and when.The acting though is solid throughout. Hudgens gives a brilliant performance of intense anger and rage. But all the while she is just an emotional and scarred child who wants to be loved. Her struggle and performance are great and she has come a long way since 'High School Musical'. I wish James Earl Jones had a meatier role here, but he plays the gentile grandfather just fine. Rosario Dawson is the true star here and plays a horrific mother perfectly. She is truly scary.'Gimme Shelter' is a tough movie to get through, as our main character truly goes through some horrendous moments. This film might be to "on the nose' for me, but it's worth a look. And I can't believe that with its title, the Rolling Stones' song was never heard.

Amazing film...Never seen Vanessa this great before...She is totally amazing actress.I had not convinced she would able to break her "Disney" barriers until this film.Her performance is amazing and emotion are so real...The characters are amazing... Amazing story and so realistic.Could always relate to.It is totally about getting back up when you're at the bottom of your worst.Accepting help and finding who you are...Also about forgiveness and friendship and "HOPE"....

I would have to say that this film is awesome since it is one of Vanessa Huygens best performances playing 16 year old Agnes apple bailey who is suddenly pregnant and deals with her drug addicted mother June played by Rosario Dawson who is rather scary in this film. Agnes ends up going to her father Tom played by Brendan Fraser who left when she was rather young and gets a chance to bond with his daughter. At first her father forces her out of the house when Agnes refuses to go through with the abortion and keeps the baby, however throughout the film Agnes starts to find a place of belonging and her own identity when she ends up in a group home for pregnant mothers,

Having taught needs category including the following: detention center and alternative schools for juveniles convicted of assault with weapons; homeless dumpster divers; learning & behavioral disorders; severe & profound, I found our girl to be an exaggerated compilation of many problems all made into one person for dramatic effect that I never saw in real life. The overwhelming majority (95+%) of my ss were actually intelligent and for the most part respectful and willing to make some attempts at improvement (yes, a few, at times, would lose it briefly). The movie showcases the help as being Christian without equal acknowledgement to other beliefs or that none should be promoted as part of help. Helping a person does not mean imposing my value system as an underlying subterfuge within that help. The basics of compassion, respect, tolerance, responsibility are not the province of my religion alone. Evangelizing a specific creed is being dishonest towards that person be they Native Peoples, Jew, Buddhist, Hindi, Muslim, atheist or Christian.