GamerTab That was an excellent one.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Claudia Puig "Gimme Shelter" is a clunkily-made, bat -crazy parable that hammers you over the head with its Christian, anti-abortion message. An after-school special blown up on the big screen, it stridently aims to inspire you. More likely, it'll make you cringe. Vanessa Hudgens does deserve credit, though, for further shedding her Disney Channel packaging. Following increasingly daring roles in films including "Sucker Punch" and "Spring Breakers," Hudgens continues to bludgeon her good-girl image. Here, she plays an abused, pregnant teen who runs away from her volatile, drug-addicted mother (a feral Rosario Dawson). Covered in tats, piercings and 15 pounds of extra body weight, with shorn locks and smudges of dark eyeliner, Hudgens is unrecognizable. Just look at the picture up there: If you didn't know that was the adorably perky star of the "High School Musical" movies, who would you think it was? It's hard not to admire the intention, the dedication, the almost animalistic demeanor she's achieved. But then she opens her mouth, and her stiff line readings of awkward dialog make it impossible to become emotionally engaged by her character's journey. Clearly, writer-director Ronald Krauss means well, too. He spent a great deal of time with real-life pregnant teens in hopes of infusing his film with a feeling of authenticity. But the total lack of artistry, nuance and sometimes even basic competence is so distracting as to be destructive. He's also preaching to the choir — sometimes literally, given the crucial role the church has in his film. "Gimme Shelter" finds no room for debate; it reaffirms what like- minded viewers already believe about a divisive and emotional topic. In that regard, it actually does a disservice to young women who might find themselves in the same difficult state. At the film's start, Hudgens' Agnes Bailey — who prefers to be called Apple — dares to flee the clutches of her junkie, welfare-leeching mom to find the biological father she never knew. Turns out that the man who fathered her in a youthful fit of unprotected sex, Tom Fitzpatrick (Brendan Fraser), is now a wealthy Wall Street financier living in a McMansion in leafy New Jersey. His prim, thin wife (Stephanie Szostak) and their two perfect children are appalled at the sight of her gruff and grimy appearance. But soon, it become obvious that Apple is pregnant (although the identity of the father and the circumstances surrounding her conception are strangely irrelevant here). While the uptight stepmom makes the logical suggestion that perhaps Apple is not prepared to become a mother under these circumstances at age 16, Apple has made up her mind — she's keeping her baby — likely out of an innate sense of rebellion rather than any maternal instinct. Tom and his wife are depicted as moneyed, distant and soulless for arranging an appointment for her at a local clinic (no one actually says the word "abortion," by the way) but it doesn't matter. Once again, Apple dashes back out onto the streets, alone. Eventually, she ends up crossing paths with a kindly but firm priest played by James Earl Jones. When James Earl Jones tells you to go to church, you go to church. When James Earl Jones tells you to pray, you pray. And when he arranges a bed for you a nearby shelter for pregnant teens, that's clearly where you must go. While Apple is at the core of "Gimme Shelter," the fundamental story is about Kathy DiFiore, the real-life shelter founder who was once homeless herself. (She's played by Ann Dowd, who gave such a startling performance as a fast-food manager in "Compliance." Now THERE'S a film that sparks debate.) Apple's interactions with the other young mothers at DiFiore's home — which is cluttered with photographs of Ronald Reagan and Mother Teresa and posters of inspirational religious messages — feel uncomfortably forced. Her eventual softening into a proper young lady — complete with flowered sundresses, cardigan sweaters and clean, pretty air — comes out of nowhere. And the stunning 180-degree turn on the part of key characters (that's not really a spoiler now, is it?) is thoroughly unconvincing. The emotional catharsis the film strives for is unearned, rendering its ultimate uplift not just hollow but laughable.

peter-eldon Ronald Krauss, wrote, directed and produced this heartbreaking true story about Agnes "Apple" Bailey. Vanessa Hudgens plays Apple, a 16 year old pregnant girl, who is looking for shelter and a better future after being abused and left for herself all her life. Gimme Shelter is a well told and produced film about hope, family, society, and reality. This inspiring story makes you open your eyes, it makes you feel, think and understand all parts and sides of life. It will most certain leave you with a tear in your eye. Hudgens performance is so authentic you can feel all the emotions and tension the film portrays of her character. Hudgens has really taken her acting seriously and is growing as a respected actress. Since leaving Disney and performing in Harmony Korine's Spring Breaker 2012 together with another "Hollywood Made Innocent Sweetheart" – Selena Gomez. Hudgens has really been showing more of her personality and impressing with her skills and choices of films. I think she should of been awarded for this amazing and real acting. The casting in this movie picture is spot on and when looking at the path Hudgens seems to be taking, it doesn't look far off from the road cult hero Rosario Dawson, who plays her mother June in the film, took with her acting career. A couple of fun surprises with Brendan Fraser and James Earl Jones that I've not seen around for a while, also spoil us with some good and true performances.The last few years more independent films like this are breaking through on to the bigger stage and giving us the public quality films with a meaning that are raising big issues, and questions about the society we live in.

TxMike The star of the movie is Vanessa Hudgens who is hardly recognizable as teen Agnes 'Apple' Bailey, living in New York with an often drugged up, abusive mother. Apple suspects she is pregnant, is fed up with her situation, and heads out for New Jersey to find the dad she never met.But she plays a fictional character, perhaps a composite of sorts from the many pregnant teens that have been sheltered over the years by Kathy Difiore. Part of the reason for making this movie is to raise the awareness, and perhaps some additional funding, for her shelters. Kathy is very well portrayed by Ann Dowd.The abusive mother is played very authentically by Rosario Dawson as June Bailey, seemingly wanting her daughter to stay with her mainly for the additional government support she gets. Brendan Fraser is Tom Fitzpatrick, Apple's father who had been rejected by June, but who had gone on to get an education and now was a wealthy Wall Street professional, married with two smaller children. Fraser is good as the father who eventually does what he can to help Apple towards a better life. James Earl Jones is good as the priest Frank McCarthy who helps Apple gain some understanding of her situation and perhaps a path towards a better life.Much of the story is very emotional and hard to watch, because these things do happen. But overall it is a very worthwhile movie. Hudgens is superb.

Roland E. Zwick Written and directed by Ronald Krausse, "Gimme Shelter" proves that good intentions and earnestness alone can't guarantee the quality of a film.The screenplay is based on the true story of a 16-year-old girl who goes by the name Apple (the talented Vanessa Hudgens) whose life could easily have served as the basis for a Dickens novel had it been set a century- and-a-half in the past. Born to an abusive, drug-addicted single mother (an uglied-up Rosario Dawson) who wants her daughter around only for the welfare checks she brings in, Apple has been kicked around from one foster home to the next, when she isn't trying to re-connect with her uber-rich biological father (Brendan Fraser) or living on the streets, that is.Krausse sure pours on the pathos and the suffering, but the movie as a whole isn't as compelling as it should be, partly because, while there is a certain grittiness in the look and feel of the picture, the episodic nature of the tale doesn't allow for any real development of the secondary characters, leaving them stereotypical and flat. They simply remain off-screen for too long a time to register much of an impact on the audience. Apple's absurdly callous "step-mother" (Stephanie Szostak) and a kindly priest (James Earl Jones), who offers the hand of friendship to Apple in her time of greatest need, feel particularly two-dimensional and under-developed. Moreover, the dialogue frequently undercuts the naturalism of the piece by having the characters spell out in words rather than through indirection and action what it is we're supposed to be taking away with us from the movie. All those who made "Gimme Shelter" definitely had their hearts in the right place, but I think this is one of those instances where a little less fidelity to the actual story and a little more focus might have resulted in a more effective drama.