The style of movies I generally like are the more indie films.. BUT they usually lack a reasonable pace, probably because it's easier to edit and storyboard a film on a small budget with limited cuts and dialogue... And usually there's not much humor or real life dialogue in them, or it just doesn't appeal to me.

Half Nelson finally showed up in my Netflix queue, and watched it today with my parents and brother. It is awesome. Ryan Gosling did an incredible job, as did Shareeka Epps.

I'm usually drawn to any cinema 'hero' that is fundamentally flawed from the get go, but the acting and realism made this one rise above for me.

Anyone else? Seen it?

I saw this quite a while ago and loved it. The realness of the acting and the story was excellent IMO. I can't remember if I posted about it in the orchard, but yeah. LOVED it.

great movie... I need to see it again with M...

I have it Netflixed at home now, I'm going to watch commentary tonight but if you think you can watch it in the next few days I'll float it your way.

Trudes, I did a quick search on here before posting this thread and couldn't find one. The only talk of it was in this year's Oscar hubbub.

His character is so well acted... It may be really foreign to many people but it seems very real to me.

I saw this in the local independent theater when it came out. I completely expected Shareeka Epps to be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in this film. She captures subtle emotions more effectively than many actresses twice her age. And Ryan Gosling was excellent--loathsome yet relatable, a prosaic anti-hero. I remember being impressed that the film ended on such a decidedly creepy note. It defied every stereotype of the "inspirational teacher in urban school" film genre, and I loved it for that.

I've thoroughly enjoyed Ryan in everything I've seen him in to date... Half Nelson, The Notebook, The United States of Leland, The Believer...

~fff - np: bill maher - real time: episode 104