Yosemite (2015) Reviews

• Did not find James Franco's childhood all that interesting.

  subxerogravity2016-01-19

  Sometimes Yosemite felt like the equivalent of watching paint dry. It's suppose to create some type of emotion in me, but I did not catch it. despite understanding the story of the tree boys that dominate the movie. But there came a point for me were I just was not emotionally invested enough in what I saw on the screen. I wanted to like it too, but it falls very short of the goal it tries to accomplish. A little too dead pan. It's impressive that putting James Franco on the poster was enough to get this thing released in the tiny theater I saw it in, but it's not entertaining enough as a movie for nothing too happen. it's too real and true to the source material that did not transfer over too well. Maybe works better as the book it was based on. I like Franco's other novel turned movie Palo Alto better

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• A solid film that goes too far off track

  PeterLormeReviews2016-04-04

  Yosemite (2015) is a solid coming of age film that goes too far off track. I was really enjoying Yosemite for the first 30 minutes or so. After a while, the film became misguided and lost my interest. The cinematography is nice, and I loved the retro aspect felt throughout. The acting is great. James Franco is good, but he only shows up for the first 20 minutes and then vanishes. But at times, the directing seems vague. Some scenes feel out of place, and the story becomes nebulous. The film is obviously inspired by "Stand By Me", but it lacks the charm and humour. 'Yosemite' is certainly not a bad film. However, it does gradually lose focus,and in the process, loses the audience's interest.

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• Some Good Moments But Not Enough

  larrys32016-02-23

  Set in 1985 in the city of Palo Alto, California,this movie written and directed by Gabrielle Demeesterre, is based on 2 short stories from James Franco's 2013 book "A California Childhood". Upon reading the premise of the film, I wondered if it it would compare in any way to Rob Reiner's 1986 classic "Stand By Me",but it really doesn't compare, like very few, if any movies could. The story revolves around the coming-of-age adventures of 3 fifth graders Chris (Everett Meckler), Joe (Alec Mansky), and Ted (Calum John), who are all newcomers to the silver screen. The boys are trying to cope with friendships, broken families, the death of loved ones, missing family pets, as well as an encroachment on Palo Alto by mountain lions, who are feeling the pinch of expanding cities into their natural habitats and thus have been entering neighborhoods looking for water and food. Although this indie maintains a good sense of foreboding throughout, it never seems to actualize enough dramatic tension to be engrossing. Also, there are some plot elements that remain too ambiguous, such as the actual intentions of the young man Henry (Henry Hopper), who rather creepily befriends Joe and invites him to his house to read comic books. All in all, I thought this movie has some good moments, but there weren't enough of them to cohere into an absorbing and enjoyable film.

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• A Blurred Mess

  kitcolfort2016-03-02

  Let me start by saying, I'm glad I didn't pay to see this movie. I found it to watch online and given the rating another website had given it, I went ahead for it thinking that it couldn't be awful. And it wasn't awful - just wasn't good either. Yosemite has effectively blurred the lines of it's acts, there's no distinction between the first, second and third. The direction of the film is awful, to say the least. Instead of having interlacing story lines between three different boys, it blurs them and leaves you asking whose who. The film is supposedly about three boys, unfolding Palo Alto as a mountain lion is apparently loose. The mountain lion isn't even mentioned till three-quarters the way through the movie, and only shows up briefly for one scene, only a body even. Yosemite tries to be an artistic film, when it falls flat in places it shouldn't.

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• Beautiful but does not speak to viewers

  Gordon-112016-03-10

  This film tells the story of three children who goes to the same class in school in a suburban part of Palo Alto, where lions roam and threaten the safety of people. "Yosemite" has good camera with, good lighting and good visual presentation of scenes. The technical aspects are great, but there's no content. All we see in the first segment is three people walking around in a beautiful national park. The second segment shows an unlikely friendship between a boy and an adult male, but that's pretty uneventful to the point of boredom. The third story is slightly more happening, but it is still rather dull and boring. Maybe the film is of personal significance to the director and producers, and this personal meaning doesn't translate across to the viewers.

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