CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Okay this might be a long shot here, but has anyone here seen this movie?

I had wanted to see this movie for a long time, but because I didn't want to be labeled a "Robert Pattinson fangirl (which I'm not!) I decided to wait until it came out of video.

The story is kinda simple, yet at the same time complex:

Tyler's brother killed himself in 1995, and six years later, he is still feeling the pain of his brother's death; his relationship with his father is strained because of this (and the fact that his father is simply never around for him or his eleven year old little sister.)

Tyler isn't really looking for love, but when he meets Ally, (because of a strange idea hi roommate comes up with) he starts to look at life in a whole new way...

Blah blah blah, that's my brief synopsis...

This movie really stuck out to me. I'm really not one of those crazy people who will watch whatever movie the Twilight actors are in, (to be honest, until I watched Thi movie, and Eclispe Robert really never seemed like an amazing actor.)


I really love all the characters in this film. Ally's life is really sad, but she is a positive person with an awesome outlook on life! Why wait for happiness?

And I ADORE Tyler's brotherly relationship with his little sister...it makes me want to be that protective of my little sis!

There are a few scenes in this movie, (and one is pretty extensive, but no detail...) so younger viewers beware.... this is a really really heavy movie with plenty of mature themes such as lots of swearing, suicide, talk about drugs, alcohol use, and a couple non-detailed "scenes."

This movie is on my all-time favorites list.... I don't know why, but I really do think it's a gem.

[spoiler]The ending...will really grab you. O_O[/spoiler]

I haven't heard anything but bad things about this movie honestly. The best line I heard about it was "If this movie is playing at a theatre near you, you might want to consider moving somewhere else." I mean I dunno, I thought that was pretty funny.

But yeah, the major criticisms I've heard about it are that it's ham-handed and over-the-top, and the ending was apparently hideously awful...
[SPOILER]ZOMG 9/11![/SPOILER]
...which hey, I don't have a problem with that in and of itself, any more than I'd have a problem with a movie using say, World War II as a plot device. But from what I heard, it had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story, and was likely thrown in for the sole purpose of trivializing people's feelings about the event...pretty blatant emotional manipulation honestly.

If you enjoyed the movie that is good though! Do not think I am saying you have to dislike it. I am merely giving my opinion and saying what you heard. Do not let others' dislike of this movie prevent you from enjoying it though. I just wouldn't recommend it to anyone here is all I'm sayin'.

Haha...well I don't think it was trivializing it at all, in fact it was like "Don't wait for good things to come...live your life to the fullest while you can, love those whom you love to fullest of your being, because you never know if you'll have tomorrow!" Kind of story... :/ I didn't think the ending was awful...I was like "O_O NO!!!!!!" but in a way that showed I was really into the movie XD.

I'm mostly talking about it here because if anyone here is interested in seeing this movie but may not know much about it, (like I did ) they might want to tread with caution because like I said this movie is REALLY heavy... ._.`

I enjoyed this movie, and I don't really listen to reviewers, I'll give the final word on what I do and do not like, haha. I was just curious if anyone here has seen it, that's all.

And Speaking of tragic plot devices, Grave of the Fireflies did it with WWII and they did it really beautifully, and emotionally... :/

I feel it was trivializing it, and the reason why is because of this.

Could the same results have been achieved by that character, say, being mugged in an alleyway and shot? The answer is yes. The same ending would have happened. The way the character died was unimportant, only their death was important.

So to capitalize on a well-known event like that trivializes it. They could have picked any method of death, but they picked that one for the sole purpose of emotional manipulation.

Compare this with, as you mentioned, Grave of the Fireflies. Could the same results in that movie have been achieved if just Seita and Setsuko's house was blown up? No, it couldn't have. Thus, the movie isn't trivializing World War II, because it is central to the theme of the movie. Since "the twist" at the end of this movie is absolutely unrelated to the rest of it, it is painfully obvious that they threw it in JUST so they could be like "Man we're SO EDGY."