The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Spoilers.Films like this are so well-meaning and full of enthusiasm for their subject matter that you almost feel guilty for not liking them as much as you know the makers want you to. Writer and director Michael Schroeder hits on a really neat idea about a bunch of retired below-the-line filmmakers having their lives enriched by the opportunity to help a high school student called Cameron make his 10-minute student film, but diminishes its impact with a little too much sentimentality, some plot strands that go nowhere and no small amount of predictability.Christopher Plummer, looking not unlike an ageing John Huston, plays 'Flash' Madden, a former gaffer now reduced to drunkenly yelling at the screen and arguing with other customers at a run-down revival cinema. Madden was given his nickname by no less a legend than Orson Welles, but he represents the unglamorous side of the industry: the underpaid, overworked and unappreciated crew members nobody knows – not even movie buffs – whose countless movie credits count for nothing as they languish in an industry retirement home, forgotten or abandoned by their families. Madden's date of birth is shown as 1920, and the film is set in the present day, meaning he and his buddies are all approaching 90 when the action takes place, which is stretching credibility a little, but Plummer is very good in the role of the irascible old-timer, who hides his fear of ageing and death behind an angry mask, and tries to keep it at bay with copious amounts of Wild Turkey.Once Cameron's managed to enlist the aid of Flash, they visit Mickey Hopkins (M. Emmett Walsh, who looks like one of those big old cuddly muppets these days), a washed-up writer living in a dilapidated retirement home. Seeing the conditions he lives in, Cameron drops his original idea of a man who builds a car out of vacuum cleaner parts in favour of an expose of retirement home abuse and neglect. This is the director's cue to inject a little social commentary about our throwaway society into what is essentially a fantasy tale, and a laboured sub-plot-cum-metaphor about Flash's dream of releasing captive dogs into a park to enjoy one last moment of freedom before they're rounded up and put to sleep.The film is OK, and it's packed with movie references which should keep the buffs interested, but it feels a little disjointed at times. There are some surprisingly effective scenes, but characters drift in and out, and Flash's big hissy fit seems manufactured for dramatic effect rather than part of a realistic character arc. That he will die before the little film is screened is never in doubt, as is the fact that he will die a better man for helping Cameron.

I would like to tell everyone out there, the director and everyone that words on this film did a superb job! I have waited over almost 1 year to see this film, and I was able to view a consideration version... I can't wait until it is available as a full version to purchase in stores. Christopher Plummer was superb in this part. I just cant get over how well put together this was... If only all films were this good. It was fantastic! Quodos to all involved... one of the best films I have seen in a long time... This movie is going on my top 3 list of films I have seen in my lifetime. Great story, great actors, I cant say anymore! 10 Oscars for you! Cheers!

I'm glad I saw this film. Because I very nearly didn't. Over here the new films open on Friday so the critics on the daily newspapers file their copy on Thursday/Friday and those that I read more or less dismissed it but one of the Sunday Broadsheets gave it a three-star rating so I decided to give it a whirl and, like I just now told you I'm glad I did. As it turned out it played to an audience of one but, to paraphrase Shakespeare's Henry V the fewer spectators the greater share of happiness. In retrospect this may well be a fantasy. Though it's played down the story takes place at Christmas time lending a Miracle On 34th Street element and in saying that I've emulated one of the elements of Man In The Chair, the referential; old movies are talked about and clips are shown both credited and uncredited. Most serious fans would recognize the uncredited clip from His Girl Friday but some may have trouble with The Angel And The Badman and that in itself could be a coded reference to the perhaps supernatural aspects. The story begins as school is breaking up for the holidays. They will return in three weeks so this can't be the long summer vacation which leaves Easter or Christmas. Because we're in LA there are no obvious signs other than a couple of almost subliminal shots of holly, Santa, etc. Cameron is a troubled teenager unhappy at home with a negative stepfather and consistently over-matches himself against a gang of school bullies. His one escape is the world of 'classic' movies and he has eyes to direct a ten-minute short which carries a prize. In his natural habitat, a re-run movie theatre, he encounters Flash Madden (Christopher Plummer), a senior drunk living in a Retirement Home for Movie Workers plus someone who knows more about old movies than Cameron and doesn't care who knows it. To cut to the chase they form an alliance and with the help of other vets in the Home they make Cameron's movie on the scandal of treatment of the elderly in America which moves the negative stepfather to change his opinion of Cameron making for the fairytale Miracle On 34th St element which is, however, balanced by the death of Flash. Christopher Plummer is outstanding in a role that has Oscar written all over it but all the cast are excellent and at the risk of seeming churlish I'll single out M Emmet Walsh for special mention. I'll be waiting for the DVD.

Just got a chance to see this at the Heartland Film Festival. This is a wonderful film. You can read the synopsis for more detailed account of the movie, but for me, it's a reminder to live life together. Plummer's character is a gruff old gaffer that hasn't had many friends and lives in his former glory. But now near the end of his life, he meets a kid that wants to learn about how to shoot a film. At first, he's resistant, but eventually warms up to the idea and then enlists the help of many other former craftsmen in the field. It's a touching story. Plummer is awesome in the film. There are some effects that get a little jarring after a while, but don't detract from the film overall. It feels a bit like Finding Forrester at times, but hey, all the great story's have been done, and this is an awesome variation on that theme. A definite must see...especially film buffs.