semirachan

Reading the reviews of this film I can see the point of view of why it might be trashy and "camp", though I would say this is a great exaggeration. There are one or two scenes that may be labeled as such but overall this movie contains beautiful shots, amazing acting from all 4 title names and a compelling story. This is not my genre of film at all and I wouldn't call myself a Lee Daniels fan, though I wouldn't say I don't like him either, but the story, cinematography and of course the acting hooked me in the first 5 mins and it was non stop till the end- the very end I assure you. I highly recommend this film. Zac Efron proves himself if that's what may deter you from the film. Great.. very pleasantly surprised at how well done this was. 8 for sure.

The Longest Ride was one of my favourite Nicholas Sparks novels. It was extremely well written, coming together quite nicely at the end, it was a page turner and I was excited for the movie. However, I have never been more disappointed with the execution of a film like I have with this. The casting for Luke was spot on, but what they did with his character greatly hurt the charm of his character. That being said the casting for Sophia and her roommate Marcia was horrendous. Sophia was supposed to be a strong, smart character with some fire but Brit Robertson brought this ditzy, flimsy feel to the character that can quite easily turn one off of the character. I have always hated the liberties taken with Sparks' novels when they are being turned into films and cutting Brian out of the film completely and that whole subplot between him and Sophia also took away greatly from what made the novel interesting. For once, I would like a capable screenwriter to do a Nicholas Sparks novel justice.