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34
10,000 B.C.
55
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62
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36
College Road Trip
xx
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31
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41
Drillbit Taylor
57
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67
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54
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49
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34
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57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
xx
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71
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61
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65
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79
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35
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73
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24
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37
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xx
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58
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48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
55
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22
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69
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44
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53
Sex and the City: The Movie
76
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37
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37
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61
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47
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55
Street Kings
33
Superhero Movie
93
WALL-E
64
Wanted
36
What Happens in Vegas...
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
93
WALL-E
79
Iron Man
76
Shine a Light
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Horton Hears a Who!
69
Redbelt
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
44
Ruins, The
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
xx
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
xx
Dark Knight, The
xx
Mamma Mia!
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

83
Alexandra
80
Band's Visit, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
47
Bella
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
59
Blind Mountain
55
Bra Boys
60
Brick Lane
70
Caramel
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
78
Counterfeiters, The
52
Diminished Capacity
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
84
Edge of Heaven, The
52
Elsa & Fred
79
Encounters at the End of the World
62
Expired
64
Fall, The
51
Finding Amanda
57
Flawless
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
60
Fugitive Pieces
45
Full Grown Men
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
69
Go-Getter, The
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
63
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
68
Heartbeat Detector
34
Holding Trevor
68
Honeydripper
55
Irina Palm
69
Jellyfish
60
Jihad for Love, A
68
Kabluey
62
Kiss the Bride
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
82
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38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
70
Love Songs
64
Married Life
30
Meet Bill
33
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53
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74
Mongol
52
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52
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71
My Brother Is an Only Child
84
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61
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69
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61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
72
Priceless
51
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55
Quid Pro Quo
29
Red Roses and Petrol
79
Reprise
71
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56
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51
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76
Shotgun Stories
66
Son of Rambow
70
Standard Operating Procedure
62
Stuck
72
Surfwise
81
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56
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xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
71
To the Limit
54
Tracey Fragments, The
70
Trumbo
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
56
Unknown Woman
86
Up the Yangtze
79
Visitor, The
62
Wackness, The
37
War, Inc.
64
Water Lilies
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
55
Without the King
72
Woman on the Beach
64
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
84
My Winnipeg
84
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
82
Last Mistress, The
81
Tell No One
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Reprise
79
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
76
Shotgun Stories
75
Young@Heart
74
Mongol
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Surfwise
71
To the Limit
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Roman de gare
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Trumbo
70
Love Songs
70
Caramel
69
Go-Getter, The
69
Operation Filmmaker
69
Jellyfish
68
Kabluey
68
Heartbeat Detector
68
Honeydripper
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
66
Son of Rambow
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
64
Married Life
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
64
XXY
64
Water Lilies
64
Fall, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
63
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Stuck
62
Expired
62
Wackness, The
62
Kiss the Bride
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
On the Rumba River
60
Fugitive Pieces
60
Brick Lane
60
Jihad for Love, A
59
Blind Mountain
57
Flawless
56
Unknown Woman
56
Then She Found Me
56
Sangre de mi sangre
55
Quid Pro Quo
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
55
Irina Palm
55
Bra Boys
55
Without the King
54
Tracey Fragments, The
53
Mister Lonely
52
Diminished Capacity
52
Elsa & Fred
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
51
Savage Grace
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Bella
45
Full Grown Men
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
37
War, Inc.
34
Holding Trevor
33
Miss Conception
30
Meet Bill
29
Red Roses and Petrol
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Half Nelson
ThinkFilm
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for drug content throughout, language and some sexuality
Starring
Ryan Gosling,
Shareeka Epps,
Anthony Mackie,
Monique Curnen,
Deborah Rush,
Jay O. Sanders,
and
Tina Holmes
Dan, an idealistic inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit, and Drey, one of his troubled students, stumble into an unexpected friendship that threatens either to undo them or to provide the vital change they both need to move forward in their lives. (ThinkFilm)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Ryan Fleck
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 13, 2007
Theatrical: August 11, 2006
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
106 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic), 2006 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Half Nelson offers an opportunity to marvel, once again, at the dazzling talent of Ryan Gosling for playing young men as believable as they are psychologically trip-wired.

100
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Superb drama from New York-based filmmakers Ryan Flek and Anna Boden.

100
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
What is different about Half Nelson is the execution, the kind of subtlety in writing, directing and acting (by costars Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie as well as Gosling) you seldom see.

100
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
A dedicated, charismatic, crack-addicted history teacher is the most believable protagonist in an American movie this year.

91
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The movie lives in its small details.

91
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Gosling excels at playing contradictory characters like this one, having kick-started his career as a Jewish neo-Nazi in "The Believer," but here, his inner turmoil rarely gets vocalized. It's a remarkably subtle performance.

90
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
At a time when most American movies, studio made or "independent," seem ever more divorced from anything approximating actual life experience, Half Nelson is so sobering and searingly truthful that watching it feels like being tossed from a calm beach into a raging current.

90
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
What makes Half Nelson both an unusual and an exceptional American film, particularly at a time when even films about Sept. 11 are professed to have no politics, is its insistence on political consciousness as a moral imperative.

90
Village Voice
Rob Nelson
The audacity of making an inner-city drama in which the white-male authority figure is the crackhead finds its equal in Gosling's already legendary performance, a high-wire act that's gutsiest for its unconscionable charm.

88
USA Today
Claudia Puig
A compelling drama that establishes Ryan Gosling as one of the finest actors of his generation.

88
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Gosling may be the soul of Half Nelson, but Epps is the film's heart.

88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
No halves about it: Half Nelson is a wholly absorbing and delicately shaded portrait of an educator played by Ryan Gosling, a young man harboring an offstage secret.

83
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Gosling, who was amazing in "The Believer" but hasn't yet connected substantially with a big audience, continues to impress.

83
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Best where it counts the most - in its recognition of how difficult it will be for Dan and Drey to turn their lives around.

83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Gianni Truzzi
Just in time for back-to-school, this smart film about a troubled teacher and student upends most movie images, both romantic and negatively stereotyped, of the urban classroom.

80
Empire
Angie Errigo
Just wonderful with its offbeat but wholly credible storyline, down-to-earth style and exceptionally fine performances.

80
Slate
Dana Stevens
It keeps surprising us, mainly by being consistently smarter and sadder than inspirational-teacher movies usually let themselves be.

80
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
It's a complex and defiant fable of American life run just slightly off the rails, delivering all the impact of "Crash" without the phony-baloney paradoxes or brick-in-the-face message delivery.

80
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Nearly every scene rings with its own ragged truth, which becomes increasingly painful as Dan's addiction becomes more unmanageable and as he refuses to confront the untenable politics of his own behavior.

80
Film Threat
Don R. Lewis
Fleck manages to mix the storylines which include drug abuse, political commentary and making good choices about your life's path flawlessly.

80
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
Downbeat as it is, Half Nelson is a genuinely inspirational film--a terrifically compelling character study and a tricky exploration of the links (and busted links) between the personal and the political.

80
The Hollywood Reporter
James Greenberg
If there was ever any doubt, with Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling establishes himself as a major talent and one of the finest young actors around.

80
Variety
Dennis Harvey
Avoiding rote inspirational notes as well as boyz-in-the-hood violence, scrupulously low-key drama nonetheless builds to a powerful impact.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Half Nelson, with its bleakly hopeful view of humanity both damned and redeemed – simultaneously – is uncomfortably, almost exactly right.

75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The movie is not credible, even in an inner-city setting. At the same time, it's touching.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
You never catch Gosling doing anything out of character. It's the first Oscar-caliber performance I've seen so far this year.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
This is a grown-up film that puts liberalism under the microscope and finds it tired -- not a dirty word, as neo-cons believe, and not a panacea, as sentimentalists wish, but just tired and longing for rejuvenation.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It's a performance that will make you cringe - with despair, with empathy - as Gosling's Dan takes one self-destructive step after another.

75
Premiere
Krista Vitola
Nelson works largely because Gosling and Epps work flawlessly together.

75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
It is not easy to watch, yet beyond the traps that society and the urban culture have set up for Drey and the other kids, and the traps that Dan is falling into on his own, this is ultimately a hopeful story of common humanity.

50
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Too bad there is only about half an hour's worth of story here. Mostly, we just watch the teacher get high, and his classroom talks about civil rights are nothing but filler.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 110 User Votes
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