Bravetown (2015)

I went into this because I like Lucas Till. I have put off watching it for several weeks because I thought I would be wasting my time. I have so many movies and TV shows to watch and I just can't spend time on bad ones. This is not rated very highly on IMDb and that put me off.Well I was wrong! And any reviewer that says this is not a worthwhile movie failed to watch it. It is a little hard to watch because of the strong emotion but well worth your time. This is a movie with heart overflowing.It is a huge plot with lots and lots of character arcs. A whole town full of them. At first, you might think all of the townies are nutz but it comes out why and there is a good reason. Hundreds of them.I don't want to spoil the ride but this is one I might see multiple times and that's unusual. There is so much to it. The plot is tight. There are parallels in individual story lines of the characters that you might catch. They are not obvious but just watch this carefully, not while playing poker as I was at the start but really watch it. It will make a big impression on you. I guarantee it! Mike

Proving Hollywood is will to sell out war vets for ticket sales.I don't really know how to classify this film under any one particular genre. I guess it's more or less a teen-romance, but it has elements of other emotion based films. Anti-war stance, coming of age, bad boy turns good, dance off, and the classic redemption tale are all part of this jumbled mess. It's not great... yeah... it's just not very good either.Outside of the thematic issues, the characters are pretty awful. The main couple aren't really to be admired in this film. I found the young heart-throb to be a pretty awful person. I get that he has had a rough life, but a 18 year old NY DJ with drug issues and a whiny personality isn't someone who I felt any apathy for. His girlfriend isn't much better, and her acting skills were pretty off. She couldn't look a single person in the eye the whole film, which really throws off any of the argumentative scenes she's involved with. There is a scene where they are both hurling "WHO'S GOT THE HARDER LIFE," moments which is really just painful to watch. Josh Duhamel isn't half bad, as the PTSD recovering soldier returned home to council underprivileged kids. He's the only believable character.There is a massive problem with this film, as anyone who watched it through till the end will know. It has possibly the most redundant ending of any film I've seen. SPOILERS HERE:Outside of the relationship that is formed between the two main characters, they may have changed (SLIGHTLY) as individuals, but what about their real problems? You might think they have come to accept the death of a loved one, but what about the boy's relationship with his father and mother? The daughter's mentally ill mother, and her deepening depression? His drug addiction? It leaves all of these huge problems still hanging at the end. I know... movies don't have to summarize all the problems and should leave some questions at the end, but those are for IDEA films, and this is most definitely not one of those.Anyways, I rated it pretty low for it's use of war vets in a dance off, for WAY MORE BEATS HEADPHONES SHOTS THAN ARE NECESSARY (I don't know a single DJ who uses those, buy some freaking marshals man), and the constant references to Platoon. Which is a much better film. You're better off watching that.3/10

You have to be VERY brave to sit through this horse-crap of a movie,.I feel AWFUL,.How the "really good" cast could try to "act" their way through it is commendable,.I guess actors need money,.But wow,.I think a DJ movie about Zombies with athletic aspirations to become Junkies would have been a better premise,.Ouch,.Worst movie I can remember,.I have a GREAT memory : ) Do yourself a favor and RUN from this movie,.I guess the one positive is that there are a slew of actors in this flick that can look back and say that THIS is the worst movie they were ever in,.Please guys,.Never write a script about post-war trauma and dance competitions ever again,.How it was done ONCE is incredible

Greetings again from the darkness. It's a coming of age film. Nope, it's small town Americana film. Wait … it's a high school dance film. Hold on, it's an anti-war film. Sorry about that, it's a film about families struggling with grief. Not that a film has to be any one type – the best rarely are – but writer Oscar Orlando Torres and first time director Daniel Duron are all over the place with this one.Josh (Lucas Til, Havoc from the X-Men films) is a troubled young man with dazzling DJ skills beloved in the NYC club scene. An unfortunate turn leads to his mother (Maria Bello) and a Judge banishing him to live with his long lost father (Tom Everett Scott) in a small, idyllic place that could be AnyTown USA … or more appropriately, NoPlace USA. Josh is required to go to regular counseling for one year, and of course his therapist (Josh Duhamel) is as unstable as most any patient (as noted by his passion for soccer).As with any new high school student, Josh is quickly befriended by Tony the nerdy little brother of the beautiful dance team captain Mary (Kherington Payne, Fame 2009). Tony is played by Jae Head, who you will remember as the sharp-but-still-goofy little brother in The Blind Side. It's pretty obvious where this is headed when we first see the lame dance routines. In the blink of an eye, Josh's music has elevated the dance team to elite status while he also stumbles into a romantic situation with Mary.We soon learn that this town is hiding something. No, it's not like The Stepford Wives, but in case we can't figure it out on our own, Mary illuminates the War Memorial Tree – filled with military medals awarded to those the town has lost to war. See, the whole town has been touched war casualties, but no one will deal. Laura Dern plays mom to Tony and Mary, but she is so disoriented by grief, that she often thinks her oldest son is still returning home someday.With elements of Footloose and Step Up, the story is continually brought crashing back around us with clips from Platoon – a film Josh so loves that it plays a central role in the film's climax and redemption for all involved. The best parts of the film revolve around grief and pain, but those elements are constantly chopped up with the abbreviated dance contests. Some script doctoring would have helped rescue a film that seems to have too much to say, yet underserves a solid cast (though Til and Payne are too old to play high schoolers).