chaos-rampant Synopsis tells us GW is a 'delicately told and deceptively simple story of a group of children' but what I saw was a coming-of-age slice of minimalist Americana too deliberate to resonate with true emotional gravitas and too restrained and artificial to examine the children as anything else than vessels for whatever fancy monologues DGG put in their mouths, every pause and glance of the movie calculated to emulate a specific type of film, I won't say art-house because I don't consider Terrence Malick whom DGG seems to be channeling an art-house filmmaker and I won't even say southern Gothic because DGG lacks the affinity for the Gothic that made TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD such a good movie (the parts of it that don't have Gregory Peck giving courtroom speeches that is) or Flannery O'Connor's children characters so alive and vivid. Filling the gaps with quirks (argh!!) and lacking the truthfulness and honesty the material deserves, for all it has going for it (a sense of pace and framing, which to me, like I said above, seems a bit too coldly calculated which is not surprising given DGG's age when he made it), Green's debut can be in turns good, amusing, annoying, and embarrassingly bad. But then I remind myself it's the debut of a 25 year old director. While directors who worked in the studio system 50 years ago (in the US, Italy, and Japan) got their chance behind the camera only after painstaking tutelage as assistants and technicians in various posts and got to make plenty of bad-average programme films before they hit their stride, young directors these days are called to succeed on their first film, get a good festival run and maybe a DVD deal if they're lucky, wash dishes to repay credit card debts for the next 10 years if they're not. I don't know what to think about DGG though. UNDERTOW showed significant progress as long as it remained geared towards a taut Night Of the Hunteresque southern-fried thriller and before it regressed back to Green's feeble GW shenanigans for the final act. PINEAPPLE EXPRESS has none of whatever mark these two films taken together would suggest. Although a less ambitious debut, I think his friend Jeff Nichols eclipsed him with (the DGG produced) SHOTGUN STORIES.

Joseph Sylvers Like reading a great novel. The words which pour out of these kids mouths, are at times completely natural and others poetic and rich. This is not your typical independent film, dealing with "life amongst the poor", in fact though destitute the setting is kinda magical and Utopian. (George doesn't get harassed, assaulted, while patrolling the neighborhood with a cape? Adults and children, speak to each other with no recognition of age, etc.) But none of this distracts from the "realism" of the story or characters, well realism is the wrong word...naturalism seems more fitting.A group of friends in North Carolina (all played by real people, no actors) deal with boredom, crushes, and growing up, until tragedy strikes, and changes them all, some attempt to escape, others take to lofty (super-heroesque) heroism.May seem a bit slow to some, but it's sincerely one of the best movies I've ever seen, it has a life and uniqueness all it's own which is difficult to put into words. I'd heard whispers of this movie for years, and now that I've finally seen it, I understand exactly the reasons for the hushed admiration and awe.A moving and inspiring masterpiece, I wish there were more like this...for one it's a film with non-middle class black characters, which doesn't immediately fall into clichés of race, class, etc, allowing the characters to grow into actual 3 dimensional human forms, and not just sacrificial lambs for heavy handed social tragedy (Okay I'm getting a bit off point, and maybe personalizing this, but it did make a difference in my appreciation, and perhaps Gordon's directing. In the Charlie Rose Interview (for those of you with the DVD), Gordon mentions for instance using ambient and string music as opposed to traditionally expected "hip hop" or "urban music". It's small details like this which help establish the films tone apart from it's environment, and to show how tranquil and mystical even junkyards and vacant lots can seem to fresh eyes and minds.)....Anywho it's a great film."I just wish I had my own tropical island, I wish... I wish I was... I could go to China, I wish I could go out of The States... I wish I had my own planet, I wish I... I wish there were 200 of me, man... I wish I could just sit around with computers and technology and just brainstorm all day man. I wish I was born again... I wish I could get saved and give my life to Christ... then maybe he can forgive me for what I did... I wish there was just one belief... my belief."

bandw I wanted to see this movie ever since Roger Ebert heaped praise on it, so I was surprised that I found it to be suffocating, frustrating, and depressing. I just wanted the people in this movie to have more, not just financially, but more opportunity, more respect, more reason to live. If that was indeed the point, then this movie did not give me any new insights.The interaction among the kids was mundane, except for an occasional soliloquy, or exchange, that obviously came directly from the screen writer's imagination and seemed out-of-place. The adult males were a sad lot - the goofiness of one of the construction workers seemed forced, as did much of the story line.This movie is nicely photographed and created a mood, but there was just not enough here to get me involved.

Jim This is one of the worse movies I've ever seen in my life. If you don't believe it, see it yourself. You'll be sorry. I can't believe the glowing reviews. This just plain sucks. Someone compared it to watching paint dry. Believe me watching paint dry is much more exciting. The movie has no entertainment value whatsoever.So Roger Ebert liked it and gave it '****'. So? He's an idiot. Rent this movie and see for yourself. No wonder Gene Siskel argued with him so much. He's probably rolling over in his grave after seeing Ebert's rating on this one.The glowing reviews on this website? They're out of their minds, period.