Best movie of this year hands down!

The Worst Film Ever

Absolutely brilliant

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

A shy, stuttering 8-year-old boy moves from the orphanage he's lived in since the death of his grandmother to an Irish island with his adoptive, free-spirited woman and her cold, silent husband. The story that unfolds is about both the boy and the husband coming out of their shells and learning to express and value what's important in their lives.THE GOOD: The performances of every single actor in the film stand out. Particularly the child actors do an extraordinary job. The emotional fabric of the film is wonderful. You have to be touched if you have any emotions at all! The cinematography is jaw-dropping-gorgeous, owing mostly to the beautiful Irish setting.THE BAD: There's no way around the simplicity of the script; you know everything that's going to happen long, long before it actually happens. In most films, this would be crippling; however, here it doesn't really matter because the story's about the characters, not the plot.THE VERDICT: Heart-warming, beautiful, emotional, and family-friendly. You should most certainly watch this.

If you're looking for a feel good film, "A Shine of Rainbows" (2009) maybe right up your alley. Pop the lid off the Midol, swallow a couple of capsules, put on your stretchy sweat pants allowing room for the bloat, dig out the heating pad, lay on the couch and pull up "A Shine of Rainbows" on your Instant Queue playlist on Netflix and let the tears roll. It's a real feel-good experience. (Hopefully, your significant other won't view it as another one of your bawling shows).Maire O'Donnell (Connie Nielson) is a happy go-lucky, colorful, free spirited woman who adopts ten-year-old Tomas from an orphanage, and takes him to her home on Corrie Island, off the coast of Ireland. Once Tomas arrives, he must learn to adapt to his surroundings on the island, learn to make friends with children his age regardless of his inability to speak without stuttering, and win the heart of Maire's husband, Alec (Aidan Quinn) in order to stay on the island. Alec silently disapproves of Tomas' timidness and stutter, which causes friction between Maire and Alec.Maire's positive, vibrant, and warm personality teaches Tomas everything that he needs to know lies within himself--all he has to do search within. When tragedy strikes, Tomas digs deep to find solace with nature and with himself. Tomas is convinced that love exists when he experiences the beauty of an exploded rainbow and the magic that it holds."A Shine of Rainbows won" the Heartland Film Festival Award. The message in "A Shine of Rainbows" is powerfully intoxicating, devastatingly sad, and realistically rewarding displaying array of hope in the most tragic of circumstances. This film touches the heart inside out, leaving the viewer with a trail of tears and a deeper meaning about the magic of love.

Sometimes the Netflix recommendations work, sometimes they don't. This time they did. The source novel was written in 1984 so I expect the story was probably set in the 1970s or so. A shy young boy of 8 has been in an orphanage and without any warning, one day he is called over and told he is going home with a woman. She had been observing him and knew he would be the ideal choice for adoption. She and her husband had tried to have a child of their own, without success.On the trip to his new home, which required a ride in a boat to the island homestead, he became seasick, it was his first experience on water. In fact just about everything was new and he was shy, and spoke with a slight stammer.Connie Nielsen is great as the wife, and eventual "mother", Maire. Her husband is Aidan Quinn as Alec. They love each other but are opposites, she is caring and warm, he is a typical task-oriented man living off the land and the nearby sea.The boy is John Bell as Tomás, and it would be hard to imagine anyone else playing the part so well. Unsure at first he gets used to the routine, the chores, the school, and the new neighbor kids. He is happy in his new home, he asks permission to call this lady "mom" and she agrees enthusiastically. It seems like a perfect fit.Mom is not well, and when things take a turn for the worse Tomás wonders if he will be allowed to stay, at a place that he now considers his home. Things turn out well, after a series of trials, and soon he has a dad too. They help each other see the world in better ways.A really fine, small movie with superb acting. The location isn't bad either!

Please don't read this review if you don't want to know any small details from this film.It is impossible not to be moved emotionally by this film, the acting is superb, and the little boys acting will wrench your heart out, particularly when the man in the film burns the dead woman's clothes.I loved the Irish landscape, and the little cottage from where the story takes place.And the ending where the man adopts the little boy and the little boy calls the man his dad, made me literally cry.And watch out for the little seal, it's gorgeous, the seal is the little boys friend, almost human. Watch this film with your family, and keep watching no matter how boring you feel it maybe, my bet is you will cry.I wish they made more films like this, human, endearing, adult.