BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

meghanw Movie was very interesting. Would have been even better if the DVD had captionings or subtitles, which it didn't have. Otherwise I thought the movie was well done. The actual footages throughout the movie were very interesting! And I enjoyed Jonathan Brandis' performance (hard to believe he's gone for good).

mprozaic That was my question. Characters were introduced and used throughout the film, but then they randomly disappear, never to be seen or heard from again.And the ending made absolutely no sense. It just ended.Jonathan Brandis should have given up after his childhood movies or at least taken some acting classes because he is by far one of the worse actors in this film. Of course the worse actress would be Kierra Chaplin. She is a model and that is what she should continue to do. Ms. Chaplin is French and this film is set in northeast Ohio. It seemed extremely out of place for her to have a French accent in this film.Besides the shallow and disapearing characters, the story istself is not that great. Everyone and everything seems to be about THE WAR. Everything is about THE WAR. I know that the Vietnam War was a huge issue back in the 70's, but I also know that it wasn't the only issue.Overall, this movie was terrible and a waste of my time. I give it a 3/10. It only earns it's 3 because of the interesting and beautiful (what looked like) archive footage from the 70's.

robin_lewis To me, this agreeable independent film is exactly what movie making should be about. There is a lot of heart in this story about an introspective young man and his friends dealing with the effects of an unpopular war on their small town lives. The film adaptation of the novel "The Year that Trembled" craftily inundates the peaceful setting of a farmhouse in a meadow with all the passions of 1970 anti-Vietnam War activities ranging from the serious to the inane. Reel footage from the period is artfully infused into the film, as are new characters whose presence and values help explain the legal, political and emotional moods of the era to those unfamiliar with that time. The result was a film that, although choppy at times, was most enjoyable.The characters were all well played. The only disappointment for me was that the part played by Casey (the book's eloquent main character) was diminished in order to develop the other roles.

coma_fire Within the last year or two I've seen a lot of bad movies (The Mexican) but this tops the list as being the worst yet. Creativity is at a complete loss and the casting of actors was even worse. I'd rather see an independent film with unknown actors rather than having to watch Jonathan Brandis prance around the set as if he had a bad case of hemorrhoids. The guy looks disgruntled and constipated throughout the whole film, even when he's engaging in sexual activities with beautiful but untalented actresses. Too much of the film deals with teens smoking pot and discussing (and repeating) the consequences of being drafted into the Vietnam War. Apparently in 1970 that's all that people did, at least that's all that the overly pretentious title represents. With any luck at all The Year that Trembled could be released as a TV movie due to its semi-familiar faces.