Brightest Star (2014)

Rather than subject yourself to this train wreck of a movie, I recommend doing a chore you absolutely abhor. This way you will accomplish something & not waste 80 minutes of life on this meandering movie. Cleaning gutters immediately comes to mind. Rose McIver is a beautiful young actress that has yet to find a movie to do her justice. This had the screen time, but little else to forward her career. Chris Lowell wants desperately to be Jake Gylenhall, but aside from few physical similarities (good looks, not one of them) he epically fails. His acting was plain awful. He exuded energy that made you wish you were anywhere else. The script may have called for a confused young man, but he came across as an arrogant guy in real life trying to quash that arrogance in pursuing his futile attempt to convey other emotions. Plus, few things grate on one's nerves like an arrogant actor with no talent or reason to be so. The story felt like a folded up tent, many lines of direction jumbled into a fantastic mess. There were no redeeming qualities to be found, and I looked quite intently & thoroughly. I rate it 2/10 stars because Rose McIver is beautiful & I feel sorry that she was in this movie versus almost any other. She was cheated, and hopefully she will bounce back & achieve her potential. There was no brightness to this star except the wonderful release I felt when it ended. Be warned, watching this in it's entirety may give even pacifists the desire to hurt something or someone. I've done my best to be fair & mild in this review. Knox D. Alford, III

I found the movie awesome to watch. Unlike the previous review of it, I am struck by Chris Lowell's face and thought that it was used well.I say this because I found Chris well able to convey strong emotion just by looks in his eyes and the expression on his face. His eyes and face said it all and there was no need for dialog. I get why the film maker just had a lot of shots of his face. Those pictures were worth a thousand words. Yes, Chris Lowell has a pretty face, but if you look past the face to see what was beneath, you get the pain his character is in. I was deeply touched by his portrayal because it captured the deeper heart level of what was going on internally for the character. I think he carried the film and hope to see him much much more.

There is one thing about this flick that ruined the whole movie for me! Why? Oh, Why? Did Maggie Kiley use so many close-ups of Chris Lowell's face? It's like every 8 minutes --- close-up. Does Ms Kiley have a 'thing' for Lowell's face? Am I the only one to notice this weird obsession from start to finish?Actually the plot gets difficult to follow because Lowell's face is constantly taking over the story. I get the message - he's young, confused, thinks he's in love, and like most people finding direction and focus in ones life is not easy. This would have been a superb story had Maggie Kiley stuck with the conscience direction of 'the boy'. Instead she plastered his face on screen at every chance. It got on my nerve's!So to sum up this review - if you want a shallow story floating around a guy's pretty face - this is the flick for you!

This movie is going to reach the stars, and they have only just set out. "The Boy" is on his journey, and seems to make the right decisions at just the right times, even though at the time they seem so wrong, and unplanned. I once had a Charlotte, and I lost her, I will always long for mine, and according to this movie things can work out, but I would need to have found my Lita, the heart, and soul of this movie really. The real girl, the best line from Lita "Growing on your own always seems to involve being depressed." yeah that one knows stuff. I know I have let plenty of those slip past. This is a fabulous story that is filmed beautifully, and acted with full intent, and love. Each character brings so much to this young man's life, even if they are only in his life for such a short time. I really Enjoyed this movie, I liked the way that time passed with you noticing the technology, and rest of the little minutia that change like the seasons that flash by so quickly. I would recommend this film to anyone. There is nothing dark, or dirty, and the language is all pretty PG. This is simply a love story, and a really good one.