First off, I liked it a bit better then "American Beauty" even though it had the same style and texture. I thought it was more upbeat in places and fit very well with the movie, coming in at all the right places a great job by Thomas Newman, hope he wins the Oscar this time. I would rate the score with having **** stars, and I think the release that Varese is giving us is for the most part complete.

“Pay It Forward” is directed by Mimi Leader (ER, Deep Impact and The Peacemaker) and she does a great job, I can't even begin to tell you. Her sense of the story and how its characters interact is flawless. The film focus on a boy named Trevor McKinney played by Haley Joel Osment, his mom, Arlene McKinney, played by Helen Hunt, and his social studies teacher, Eugene Simonet, played by Kevin Spacey. The story goes like this, its Trevor's first day of 7th grade and his new teacher gives him a year long extra credit assignment "take what you don't like about this world and flip it upside down." Or, try to make the world a better place. The powerhouse performances by this great trio of actors are flawless and all three are Oscar worthy. The script is also great, the story has a good message and personally, I loved it. As to the editing, the great David Rosenbloom who also did editing work for Leader's other two films was top notch with a great opening sequence (if you have seen the movie, where Trevor is riding his bike)

I always say the sign of any good movie is that I cry. And this one made me cry. When it all came down to it, this movie was great, I loved every minute of it and so did the two friend I saw it with, and they were not all that excited about going to it, but I finally convinced them to do so, they came out and thanked me for making them see the movie and that made me feel good inside. Who knows, now that I've seen the movie, why not put "pay it forwad" in to action

Oh course, I need to act locally, but I can think globally.

I hope at Oscar time this movie gets some buzz, it really deserves it.

***1/2 out of ****

Also, on a huge off topic, but not really, there is a site that is called the "Pay it Forward" Foundation that was started by the author, Catherine Ryan Hyde. I'm a sucker for good causes, because I try to make the world a getter place for others. Having problems at home and who are dealing and learning things about themselves, in simple terms, I'm a great listener, and I think that some of us from MM.com can actually put this in to action. The link is below and I hope that you check it out.

Links:
www.payitforward.com (Movie Offical Site}
www.payitforwardfoundation.org (Foundation Site)
www.varesesarabande.com Soundtrack Offical Site

--Kyp
Writer/Editor

NP: American Beauty: Thomas Newman (****) <--It was the closest thing I had to "Pay It Forward."

you've convinced me.

I'll be goin'.

But you have your thoughts and I have mine, I am glad that you fould the film entertaining

--Kyp
Writer/Editor

NP: Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx

I'd be really curious to see how faithful this movie is to the book. It reminds me in several unfortunate ways of "Leaving Las Vegas": a grimy little story that just can't
recover from being given the Hollywood treatment. Some scenes play well and it's an interesting idea, but overall, it's an EXTREMELY top-heavy cast (Angie Dickinson
as a bloated homeless woman? Jon Bon Jovi as an angry alcoholic boyfriend --for a 10-second role, no less? The gorgeous Jim Caviezel as a toothless junkie?), and I think
the director badly mishandles a few moments of high drama, in addition to employing some really clumsy foreshadowing. I also think the film makes a critical mistake with the
boy, but I won't blow that "surprise." Helen Hunt, an actress I despise, is essentially reprising her "As Good As It Gets" role, only
this time she will be praised for the grittiness of her peroxide-blonde, smudged-eyeliner "realistic" portrayal.
Gag me. Spacey is completely credible as a junior-high teacher & has some great moments in the classroom, but there's NO WAY IN HELL his character would be at all drawn to Hunt's. He'd run a million miles in the opposite direction.

--Kyp
Writer/Editor

NP: Chrono Cross OST

I very much enjoyed the score, actually it will probably end up being one of my favs. I thought only a handful of cues were similiar to American Beauty...mainly in terms of instrumentation. There are many quiet and very nice piano bits that remind me of pieces of The Green Mile and The Horse Whisper. This AB beauty style of composition is evident, though, just like with Erin Brockovich. Tom needs another romantic movie to score so he can produce something else along the lines of Meet Joe Black.

I did like the movie quite well. There are some significant differences in contrast with the book, notably:

(1) Kevin Spacey's character was black and named Mr. St. Clair vs. Simonet. He wore an eye patch too.

(2) The film never introduced Mrs. Greenberg, an elderly widow that was part of Trevor's orginial Pay It Forward plan. He helped her with her garden...she died the next morning.

(3) The relationship between Jerry and Arlene was illustrated a bit differently in the book. Some key situations within the text that I felt should have been included in the film.

(4) Arlene's mother was introduced differently.

(5) The ending was different. As opposed to spoling for those who have not seen, I'll reserve. Same outcome, somewhat different circumstance.

(6) Arlene (Trevor's mom) was extremely well portrayed (in terms of appearance, dialog, issues, etc.) in relation to the book.

There is some good Oscar material here, though. My vote: