Third Star (2010)

Third Star is a brilliantly written film with talented actors, beautiful scenery, and a moving soundtrack. There is a lot of symbolism throughout the film (there is even symbolism within the title itself).There is a certain subtlety that adds to the overall tone to the film. While there are many heartbreaking moments throughout, the majority of the film has an incredibly positive theme.While each actor had an incredible performance, one that always stuck out to me was Cumberbatch as the lead, James. He has no troubles letting the audience feel exactly what James is feeling. You understand his anger. You feel his sadness. You crave to feel the happiness that he wants to feel in his last days. Each actor has heartbreaking moments throughout.Although the language is a tad heavy in this film, I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants good laughs, a heart-warming story about friendship, or even anyone who wants to cry. I promise, you will experience all three while watching this film.

The emotions evoked from this movie is just too powerful. Benedict's performance; his every wince and moan at the pain suffered by a cancer patient, his glossed-over eyes depicts those of a person falling in and out of morphine daydream. His performance is just brilliant. This movie also brings out the question of morality. Do you or do you not help a person in this much of pain? Could you bear to see your friend suffer for the sake of adhering to what society deems as moral?The questions that James asked his friends about what they're doing with their lives makes you think whether you are doing enough with yours. Would you wish you'd have more time to do the things you always put off doing, or would you be able to die with no regrets, with no urgency or need to tie loose ends.

In giving a movie ten stars I feel like I really have to explain why but I'm not sure I even can. The first reviewer on this movie talks about how boring most of the movie is but I have to say I disagree. Although I can see how some people might not be enraptured by parts of the film I really enjoyed all of it, even the parts that seemed unimportant. I thought the acting was amazing, everyone did a perfect job, there were humorous parts that sort of caught you off guard and you CANNOT help but sympathize heavily with these characters.And then there's the ending. I have to agree that the ending is the best part of the film, and I also have to say that I never cry at movies.I really don't. I might get teary eyed at a sentimental or touching scene but I have only actually cried at a movie maybe twice in my life. I cried at this movie a LOT, and rather heavily. And at the end I sat through the entire credit reel just crying and crying. I generally don't like sad movies but this was beautiful and tells an amazing story about friends and what they'll do for each other even in terrible situations no one should have to deal with. It's short, and perfectly so.And I'm just not sure I can express beyond this how much this movie has EFFECTED me. I will buy it at some point and it will be in my list of top ten movies of all time. I'm shocked by the low viewer ratings but I do realize a lot of people have a hard time with "slow moving" films and I suppose this could qualify as one but the slow moving plot really sets the mood and gets you attached to the characters before the end. And I just must say I loved this movie.

The premise of this movie is pretty simple and straightforward - four good friends decide to go on a sort of backpacking journey, simple enough except that one of them is dying and this trip is his last wish in a way. For a movie that starts of a bit slow it packs a big emotional punch in the end, surprising you completely. The performances by all four leads were exceptional and you really believe these four people have been friends for years, their interactions and gestures are very believable. But Benedict Cumberbatch stood out from the rest with his subtlety and emotion that pulls you in without saying much yet making a point (the scene in the tent after he wakes up in the middle of the night with everyone sleeping comes to mind). Also the actor that played Miles was great, the last scene between him and James at the beach was almost painful to watch because it just felt so real, which is a testament to great acting on their parts. All in all, a great little gem of a movie well worth seeing, if you can pull through the slower parts it will reward you with great scenery, heartbreaking performances and a thought provoking ending.