Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Sick Product of a Sick System

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It seems like there's almost a rule that "indies" must depict sadness and despair. I guess it's considered "chic" in creative circles. This one takes that path, but redeems itself with a couple of sunny, hopeful characters, and a happy ending. There's only so many frames you can bear seeing some morose character experience their depression. This one goes overboard for a while, and manipulates you with a musical sequence. But don't despair.It's a sweet picture that won't gouge your innards with the graphic sex and violence that almost every other film uses. A few interesting details for those outside of California:The main character goes back to his blue collar, single story, simple ranch house-style hometown southeast of L.A. It's a remnant of a once working class white town in a region with many of that type. It was once covered with citrus orchards and palm trees. But now it is predominantly Hispanic, as are all the surrounding towns. The culture of lunchbox-carrying white people on the outskirts of L.A. is almost gone, with a complete reversal of population. Even the character has long since left. Ironically his next door neighbor is white, played by an Australian actress. What are the odds?But it also shows how wherever you go, and whatever you do, there are always stories developing. He meets a white girl working at a Latino market who takes a platonic interest in him, and encounters other characters he never asked to meet. Stuff happens, and stories are rolling at every exit off the highway.The religious theme is specifically Catholic-oriented. Which makes sense, since Latinos are Catholic, and even white working class people are often Catholic. Luke Wilson himself grew up Catholic. I don't think Protestants obsess over physical images of Jesus, which is a major plot device here.We are given zero information about this man's profession, or his specific health condition. What do his neighbor ladies do to pay the rent? Why is he single? Where did he live prior to returning to his hometown?Not so bad. If you need to be uplifted with a message of hope, and you can stand the boredom, give it a try. The real message is that faith itself heals.

This is a slickly-produced movingly-scored well-acted piece of sappy sentimental crap. Avoiding any real consideration of the fundamental issues in these kinds of pareidolic manifestations (if you look that word up you'll find that it refers to the ability of human beings to see patterns in random phenomena, you know, like the images you can see in clouds), this movie instead goes for the easy cheap shot. It's real blood, it's unexplainable, it must be a miracle. Everyone is healed, and the guy gets the girl (and her cute kid) to boot. There was actually a good idea for a movie hiding in there somewhere, a movie that explored the psychological dimensions of spiritual experience while avoiding simplistic and unrealistic "Hollywood" endings. But no, that is not this movie. If you have a critical thinking bone in your body, avoid this film.(a footnote: when I was twelve my parents had the shower in the kids' bathroom re-tiled. I discovered that right at my height was a tile which had a pattern where you could very clearly see the face and head of Albert Einstein. I was so taken by this that I showed it to a number of people, and they could see it too. These were machine-made tiles with a swirling random pattern. The makers of this movie might have concluded that this said something about the sanctity of a great scientist. What it did for me was cultivate an awareness of and an interest in the phenomenon of pareidolia.)

Why is everybody reviewing this wonderful film saying they did not like it because they do not like how it depicts a supposed miracle from a supposed god? I myself am a profound atheist. Hell, i'm even an anti-Christian. I'm not even baptised and I never went to church once in my life. I'm just happy that way :) But does that make this a bad movie? No it doesn't. The actors are absolutely brilliant and feel real-life. The camera-work pulls you right in. The story is simple yet powerful. The music is well-chosen, touching and stands on it's own in little moments of self-reflection. It had been long since I was this moved by a movie. Just watch it ... without presumptions ... without thinking ... and maybe you too will be moved.

I only give a rating of 9 when after i see a movie, when it leaves me wanting more and gets me thinking about it long after it has ended. This is one of those films. What makes it special is the deft, subtle direction of mark pellington and great acting by the main leads. Luke Wilson is brilliant as the supposedly terminally ill man going "home" to live his last days in solitude and peace. His personality is constant throughout the shenanigans with the"face on the wall", unlike other movies where you can easily reach the conclusion that "he wouldn't do that or that couldn't happen", everything in this movie makes perfect sense. Reading some of the other reviews on here, i thought I was on an aethiest's forum! I didn't see this movie in this terms, it works on many levels simply because it reinforces the notion of the human spirit and that love does indeed conquer all. There are so many clever things here that make this superior to other films in the genre like the fact that even half way through you're not entirely sure if Henry is dying and the fact that although you really want his relationship with the equally impressive radha mitchell to get physical, it never really does. I'm going to watch this movie again soon and I'll reckon I'll pick up some more nuances and like it even more.