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(1 - 31) of 31 OFCS Rating: 94% Fresh Page   1   4/5 "High ideals clash with Bush-era realities in this class debut - well balanced, wonderfully performed, and refreshingly free from cliche."   Channel 4 Film   Anton Bitel 8/10 "As an achingly wise young student caught between the intentions of those who mean to help and those who mean to exploit her, newcomer Shareeka Epps is simply stunning."   Freeze Dried Movies   Brian Juergens "Dan's take on history%u2014as concept and series of events%u2014has as much to do with his personal past as any ideological leanings."   PopMatters   Cynthia Fuchs 72/100 "Fine performances all around in this admirable, if not exactly great, film."   Cinemania   Dan Jardine 3.5/4 "Ryan Gosling wrestles with adult themes and comes out on top."   rec.arts.movies.reviews   David N. Butterworth A "... a compelling dramatic film that builds its case around facing painful truths."   Ozus' World Movie Reviews   Dennis Schwartz A- "It's serious, yes, but not oppressively so. There is hope in it. It has a whiff of brilliance about it."   EricDSnider.com   Eric D. Snider 3.5/4 "No one can deny the quiet rage and intensifying disbelief...absorbing and structured in its haunting desperation of addiction and social alienation."   Movie Eye   Frank Ochieng B "A good film with a great performance."   One Guy's Opinion   Frank Swietek 5/5 "An engaging American drama about friendship as a curative force that can reach across the generations and transcend even racial barriers. "   Spirituality and Practice   Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat 3.5/5 "Half Nelson doesn't pretend that nobility equals goodness in absolute terms. Dan is noble, but he is also deeply flawed, and his ability to help Drey is balanced by her ability to help him."   Q Network Film Desk   James Kendrick 4/4 " Kudos to writer director Ryan Fleck for keeping it real, no fairy-tale endings and no quick cinematic fixes."   Palo Alto Weekly   Jeanne Aufmuth 8/10 "Gets points for its uniqueness of angle and for operating almost entirely in shades of grey."   Window to the Movies   Jeffrey Chen 2/4 "Whatever confusion it holds at its core, Half Nelson is not a total wash."   MovieMartyr.com   Jeremy Heilman A- "a potent character study that refuses to vanish from memory"   Old School Reviews   John A. Nesbit 2.5/4 "The film builds very nicely and creates a provocative set up where the self-destructive teacher needs to hold it together for the sake of his students and his habit as best he can between fixes."   Bangitout.com   Jordan Hiller 3/5 "A worthy performance in a film that only needed a couple of tweaks to match his contribution."   rec.arts.movies.reviews   Karina Montgomery 3/5 "This is at least the third film out of this year's Sundance centering on a teenage girl's coming of age, and the most quietly observed and convincing."   Film-Forward.com   Kent Turner "Gosling's fashioned a very special performance that carries the picture on its back, saving it from its worst intentions."   Pretentious Musings   Kevin Koehler A "...one of the best male performances of the year from Gosling and a breakthrough for its filmmakers and young costar Epps."   Reeling Reviews   Laura Clifford 4/4 "An excellent film that deserves to put Ryan Gosling in the running for an Oscar nomination."   Aisle Seat   Mike McGranaghan 2/4 "More nuanced than your average Sundance character study, Ryan Fleck's carefully observed Half Nelson still doesn't overcome its origins as a padded-out expansion of the filmmaker's 2002 short Gowanus, Brooklyn."   Slant Magazine   Nick Schager 5/5 "A preocupação do roteiro em contar uma história que soe realista sem perder a força encontra respaldo nas performances centradas da jovem Epps e de Gosling, que mais uma vez prova ser um dos atores mais talentosos de sua geração."   Cinema em Cena   Pablo Villaca 4/5 "This is gripping, moving and extremely thoughtful filmmaking."   Shadows on the Wall   Rich Cline B "The plot is rather stagnant and it has more than its share of dead end subplots, but the three main characters are interesting enough to make this film compelling."   Laramie Movie Scope   Robert Roten C+ "it is still an interesting story of love and friendship between two people a world apart."   Reeling Reviews   Robin Clifford 7/10 "One friend may be all it takes."   Monsters and Critics   Ron Wilkinson 3/4 "Takes the inspirational-teacher formula and reverses it point by point to create a fresh struggle with familiar messages."   Charlotte Weekly   Sean O'Connell 3/4 "The new face of the American liberal."   Film Freak Central   Walter Chaw 3.5/4 "Ryan Gosling turns in the year's best male performance as a inner city high school student battling his own demons while attempting to make an impact in his students' lives."   Oscar Guy   Wesley Lovell 3.5/4 Read review   Big Picture Big Sound   Joe Lozito  (1 - 31) of 31 OFCS Rating: 94% Fresh Page   1