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Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

Director - Jonathan Liebesman, Cinematography - Lukas Ettlin

"...an unprecedented meteor shower falling off the coast of Tokyo. The entire city is mesmerized by this incredible sight. Two hours after the first contact, an unidentified enemy has reached our coastlines in a swift and militaristic attack. Right now one thing is clear: The world is at war."

Rambling Reviews: Hearts in Atlantis (2001)

*5th viewing*

I’ll admit, I’m a fan of Stephen King, even if I haven’t read as many books or seen as many adaptations as a lot of other people. One of the adaptations I have seen, though, is 2001′s Hearts in Atlantis starring Anthony Hopkins and Anton Yelchin.

Beware of potential spoilers ahead.

The film centers on Bobby Garfield during the summer of 1960 (though, basically, the majority of the film is told through a grown-up Bobby having flashbacks about that summer in the winter of 2000), whose life changes after a strange man, Ted Brautigan, moves into his house as a boarder. The two then develop an inter-generational friendship which forever changes how Bobby sees the world around him.

Now, I can’t even begin to describe how amazing the acting was. I mean, you’d expect someone of Anthony Hopkins’ caliber to be good, but I’d say he went above and beyond expectations here. And not to mention Anton Yelchin and Mika Boorem (who would both go on to be in Along Came a Spider later that same year) are, once again, really good for being 12 and 14 at the time. But really, special mention goes out to Anton, who showed a rather impressive variety of emotions, especially by child actor standards (hell, it even made me emotional, but there’s equal chance that’s also due to hindsight). As for the rest of the cast, they were rather good, including Hope Davis (Liz Garfield), Will Rothhaar(John “Sully” Sullivan), and even Alan Tudyk (who cameos as a guy at a carnival).

As for the story, I thought it was beautiful, but then again, maybe that’s another thing I should’ve expected, considering it’s based on a Stephen King novel. It tackles the issues of growing up, and how eventually, childhood melts away and we’re faced with the harsh realities of real life. I know that that may not have been what the phrase “Hearts in Atlantis” may have been referring to in the novel (yes, I read the short story that inspired this movie, though, I’ve yet to read the rest of the novel), but I felt that they found a lovely interpretation nonetheless.

I also felt the characters were amazingly written. Bobby was a really nice kid who was also inquisitive about the world (kind of like the guy playing him!). Carol was a really kind, yet really brave girl, and Sully was also a pretty fun kid to be around. As for Ted, despite the fact that he had an odd habit of lapsing out at times (due to psychic visions and whatnot), seemed like a kindly old gentleman, and I loved how he became something of a father figure to Bobby. That being said, though, I can’t stand Bobby’s mother, Liz. She was just so vain, stingy and neglectful (please keep in mind, I have very little tolerance for terrible parents), to a point where she couldn’t so much as be bothered to give her son a proper 11th birthday (for reference, Bobby wanted a bike, she got him an “adult” library card because it was free). Look, I know she told him repeatedly that his deceased father left them with money problems, but it was implied that she was actually lying about those, in the book even more so. You can also tell me of later scenes all you want, but even then there is just no excuse for how she treats her son (I’ve always gotten this sense that she doesn’t even care about him a good majority of the time). Actually, one of my favorite scenes in this film was when he was calling her out on all her BS, because, really, she had it coming (fun fact: they actually rewrote this scene at one point, but then Anton, who was 12 at the time, called the director, told him that he preferred the original version because he felt he could portray it with stronger emotions, and that’s the version you see in the final cut).

As for the changes made from book to screen, I can understand completely. See, in the original novel, the “low men” were agents of the Crimson King (from the Dark Tower series for those of you who are unfamiliar with that series), but in the movie, they’re government agents that are recruiting psychics for the fight against Communism. There are also a few other changes here and there, but I feel that some of those contain spoilers that are a bit too major than I’d like to delve into in this series, so I’ll leave it at that for now.

PS: This movie has an amazing soundtrack with a score composed by Mychael Danna and songs pulled from the 50s and 60s, most notably “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by the Platters (seriously, every time, I say, “Dammit!” because this song is so good).

Hearts in Atlantis is a beautifully written coming-of-age story with amazing actors and characters to back it up. This is one of those movies that I’d recommend for anyone, whether or not you’re acquainted with Stephen King’s books.

90/100 A-