AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Ploydsge just watch it!

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Reno Rangan The concept was inspired by the real, but I was not expecting a camp like this practically exist. I mean, I'm familiar with juvenile detention and reform centres, not something like this. It was more like an another American thing, especially for kids with the tough attitude and of course who are a junkie. The institution is not the issue, but privatisation was the.You might have heard it a million times that PJ Boudousque was looked alike Ryan Gosling. I thought he was related to him, but he was not. Anyway, it was a perfect launch, might have not an overwhelmed movie, but he got a chance to appear in a proficient role for the first time in front of the camera.A fair quality product for half a million budgets. Slightly a weak narration, especially after a fine first and third act, I felt something was missing in between. I was anticipating a strong conclusion, but it was way stronger and unexpectedly a violent just like 'Bellflower'. I think worth a watch if you limit your expectation.6½/10

Peter Pluymers "Welcome to paradise boys. This is Coldwater. I am Colonel Frank Reichert, United States Marine Corps, retired. You can call me Colonel. You can call me sir. It's up to you. The choice is yours. Life here, gentlemen, is very simple. Let's not bullshit each other. You're here because you f*cked up. We're here to fix that. So, you show me that you have a willingness and desire to change. Simple as that.""Coldwater" eventually evolved into a rather impressive and hard pruning drama in which the existence of so-called re-education camps in the US are denounced. The film isn't based on an actual true story (I guess), but is an outline of how things are done in such disciplinary camps that actually exist there and where the shown practices are applied daily. These places are rather prison camps where humiliation is a standard instead of re-education. The objective is more like a psychological torture of young people who end up there, with the sole purpose to get them back on the right track before they risk an actual prison sentence. The juveniles are sent there at the insistence of the parents to guide them into a better and controlled life without crime. But I'm afraid some youngsters end up there because parents are fed up with them or are in the process of picking up their own miserable lives without a reluctant and rebellious child. This is proved by the presence of a sniveling chubby kid who was send over there because he got bad grades in school and did some ditching.We see Brad Lunders (PJ Boudousqué) being lifted from his bed in the middle of the night, being handcuffed and dumped in a van between some other victims, while his mother looks at it with a face scarred by guilt. And before he knows it he arrives in camp "Coldwater", led by the former marine Colonel Frank Reichert (James C. Burns) who believes in certain values like discipline and disciplinary penalties for indiscipline. It's obvious that some practices aren't really kosher and are being covered with the cloak of charity. Reichert is assisted by trustees : young men who also ended up there once and voluntarily, or perhaps forcibly, choose to participate in the re-education of young offenders. This place somewhere in the middle of nowhere is like hell on earth for these internees and can be compared to a prison camp from the 2nd World War. Perhaps the applied tortures aren't as horrible as those in that period, but the impact of it on these young people is indisputable. Similarly for Brad who realizes that he can only survive by accepting this rotten system and realizes it's best to fit the straitjacket prescribed by the sadistic camp leader.I'm sure this will be repeated indefinitely, but Boudousqué eerily resembles Ryan Gosling. Not only his physical appearance but also his style of acting is the same as that of Gosling. That stoic calmness he exudes, that serene facial expression showing how he assesses each situation and the determination with which he concentrates on the intended goal. But despite his angelic appearance he's not unconditional innocent. In terms of character he differs at first sight considerably with the character of Burns. But on second thoughts they are more alike than you'd expect : they both suffer from a traumatic experience out of the past and they both have leadership qualities. And despite that Brad hates the Colonel and wants to pull the rug out from underneath him , he could definitely become someone like him."Coldwater" was a terrific movie to watch, despite the sometimes uncomfortable scenes. Perfectly imaged, at the right pace. Vincent Grashaw intuitively developed this difficult story. Without realizing, a period of 2 years elapsed subtly punctuated by several flashbacks which gave us an insight into the life of Brad. Certainly not in a disturbing way and brought in a fluid manner. And the moment you conclude that it's apparently a typical moralizing film, the final denouement hits you like a sledgehammer. A discharge of pent-up anger and frustration that degenerates into a chaotic situation full of rage and revenge. Ultimately the film leaves you with mixed feelings. As soon as the situation became clear, there's a sense of compassion and you sympathize with the youngsters who try to survive in these inhumane conditions. By the end this feeling is still reverberating, but perhaps some of them really belonged there. I'm sure these situations don't occur everywhere as shown here. However, it is better to avoid such a place as "Coldwater".More reviews here : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be

ddcharbon This film has a political agenda, one I happen to agree with. That is, there's something wrong with juvenile detention facilities that are de facto concentration camps, that have no legal oversight or laws pertaining to them and where many young men have died over the last thirty years and whose only justification for this legal carte blanche is that the parents are the ones "sentencing" their kids there. The torture is certainly disturbing. But unlike one of the reviewers, I don't see much in the way of character development here. And while the young actor--who is the spitting image of Ryan Gosling (he even _acts_ like him)--does a good job; he develops along very predictable lines. The other characters are fundamentally flat, especially the Colonel who remains a cipher throughout the film: we never learn really why he's such an asshole or what he thinks about his own asshole behavior. Character development for him turns out to be drinking more in the film's third act and fondling his pistol with suicidal thoughts. The film ends very disturbingly and certainly leaves a mark, as it were. But the final confrontation between Brad and the Colonel is absolutely wordless and without much depth--a problem with much of the film. I think it won at the film festivals for the disturbing violence yoked to its liberal politics, not for its storytelling.

C.H Newell I'd been waiting to get a glimpse of Coldwater for some time; this afternoon, I finally got my chance. There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this film. We see the tale of a young man named Brad who, after some unfortunate incidents in his life (he is certainly at fault- there are no real attempts to gloss over his character in the beginning), is sent away to one of those youth rehabilitation camps, or better yet boot camps, like the ones you used to see on Maury back in the day. Once there, he realizes not only does he have to deal with what he's done in his life, but he also has to try and contend with the ex-colonel who runs the camp and the string of young psychotics he's given some authority to so they can help run the place. It's brutal at times, harsh. It speaks to what is going on today. People act like, oh poor privileged kids are sent to a camp where they're yelled at, big deal- just because it's not a war torn country these kids are in, just because they're not poor and starving, it does not make their plight any less real. These things are truly going on in life. No young person, regardless of their tendencies towards criminal behaviour, should be stabbed with keys, or beaten, or whipped, tortured in any fashion. This film speaks to many things going on around the world in the name of helping others, especially wayward youths.Mainly the acting really does it for me. The young man who plays Brad is wonderful, and I thought he did a great job throughout the entire film. Many of the young guys who had a significant amount of screen time really were spot on. James C. Burns did an amazing job of bringing to a life a real menace. Not only was the colonel character awful, he seemed to enjoy being awful, and it can't be easy for an actor to get into that sort of thing. Though the colonel is a bad man, it's interesting to see the character go through his own inner turmoil; one particular scene has him drinking Jack Daniels, puffing a cigar, chasing some of the young men he's charged with rehabilitating while they jog in front of him, and laughing himself to death. It's really raw, disturbing stuff.The end of the film is what essentially put this from 7 to an 8 stars out of 10 for me. I imagined it would come to a very different close, but about 10-15 minutes left I realized it was going somewhere a little further. It was intense, and really got to me. The end comes as bittersweet- Brad comes to terms with what he has done in the past by doing something that needed to be done in the present. I really don't want to ruin it, so I'll say no more. Great performances, pretty nice story, and the cinematography was well done. Highly recommend giving it a watch, especially if you enjoy prison-type stories; though this is more youth offenders, still along the same sort of fare.