Begin Again

I knew virtually nothing about this film - hadn't even seen the trailer - when I drug my wife to see it last night, and we were both very pleasantly surprised. The characters are drawn in such a way that they are both like-able and relatable. In the end, the film builds emotion with the audience not by means of incredible stretches of the imagination, but through a gradually reinforced empathy. I have seen all the summer blockbusters, and the single largest failure in most of them is that they create shallow characters that the audience does not care about.

The dynamics used in this movie cause an engagement in the audience that is necessary in ANY film for it to be great. This one is not to be missed in the CGI-filled summer.

I was a big fan of the group the Frames and was very excited when I learned about "Once" directed by John Carney and starring Glen Hasard both members of the Frames. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it had an almost documentary like feel to it. Begin again for me was a statement about how music affects our lives and how different songs can take on different meanings for all of us. For my wife and myself , Ben Folds the Luckiest has a special meaning in our relationship, to most others, it is just another song.

I loved how Begin Again opens with a rather banal sounding song being sung by Kiera Knightly in a small nightclub as Ruffalo stands enthralled. Then for the next 15 minutes we discover why.

The movie uses music in that way several times and I felt it really worked. Your enjoyment of the film will probably be greatly determined by what you think of the music. I happened to love it. Even that banal song soon takes on all new meaning. The entire cast is great and Ruffalo certainly delivers one of his strongest performances.

I have not seen Words and Pictures. My limited knowledge of the film is that it might have a similar theme when it comes to music in our lives. This is a little feel good movie. The kind of film that is a welcome respite in Summer blockbuster season. Last year we had the Way Way back to fill this niche. This year is is Begin Again.

First, I love that you put the song, Thinking About Your Love, by Skipworth and Turner, in this movie! I've always loved their songs, beat and talent. Great choice. The original music was also quite good! Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly were great, as well as his wife, Catherine Keener, who is always great, and the daughter, Hailee Steinfeld. I love the whole idea of the movie. I could imagine it was fun from the moment John Carney wrote it and set about making it in to a movie. The idea for an album is too clever. Toying with love interests also kept the movie intriguing as did the creative process that was always at work, throughout the movie. My number one judge of a good movie is did it hold my interest and this movie definitely did. I think another way of putting it would be, did the movie seem like it did not seem long, whatever the length of the movie, if it didn't seem long, then it worked, because you lost track of time by being drawn in to the story and characters. Great story and movie! I definitely recommend people go see it and hope it catches fire, because it's much better than most of the movies that are out this summer.

I was expecting a cheesy film. I am not into musicals so was hesitant to commit to this film, in a theatre. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I find some of Ruffalos work, like Now you see me, to be hard to sit through. I did not dislike that film, but I hated his performance. Part of it was how vapid the character was. In this film it is the opposite. He is charming, roguish, creative, and delightful to watch. Quite frankly I did not think Knightly was up to this either. Was I ever surprised. She was great. Well written, well directed, and very good overall. In these days of Hollywood losing its edge, and producing more and more low quality, derivative work, it is refreshing to see a film like this one. And I did not even need to use my earplugs. Transformer this film was not. Thankfully.

This movie helped me get through a phase in a life and definitely helped me .love it yes it has its flows but whatever