Compare DVD : Half Nelson

Buy A Gift Certificate for this Item!

Half Nelson starring: Ryan Gosling, Jeff Lima, Shareeka Epps, Nathan Corbett, Tyra Kwao-Vovo directed by: Ryan Fleck List Price: $19.94 Amazon.com's Price: $14.99 You Save: $4.95 (25%) Prices subject to change. Buy One Now!

Instant Price Compare for: Half Nelson $9.99  Buy Now at   (Lowest New Price) $10.99  Buy Now at   $12.58  Buy Now at   $14.95  Buy Now at   $19.87  Buy Now at   Amazon Store Item Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Brand: Sony EAN: 0043396178595 Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Sony Pictures Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Sony Pictures Region Code: 99 Release Date: February 13, 2007 Running Time: 107 minutes Sales Rank: 3204 Studio: Sony Pictures Theatrical Release Date: August 11, 2006 Related Items: Little Children Sherrybaby Notes on a Scandal Hollywoodland (Widescreen Edition) Running With Scissors see more Browse for similar items by category: Genres - DVD - Video - General Art House & International - Genres - DVD - Video - Drama Art House & International - Genres - DVD - Video - Coming of Age Genres - DVD - Video - General Drama - Genres - DVD - Video - Addiction & Alcoholism Editorial Review: Product Description: Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a young inner-city junior high school teacher whose ideals wither and die in the face of reality. Day after day in his shabby Brooklyn classroom he somehow finds the energy to inspire his 13 and 14-year-olds to examine everything from civil rights to the Civil War with a new enthusiasm. Rejecting the standard curriculum in favor of an edgier approach Dan teaches his students how change works ' on both a historical and personal scale ' and how to think for themselves.Though Dan is brilliant dynamic and in control in the classroom he spends his time outside school on the edge of consciousness. His disappointments and disillusionment have led to a serious drug habit. He juggles his hangovers and his homework keeping his lives separated until one of his troubled students Drey (Shareeka Epps) catches him getting high after school.From this awkward beginning Dan and Drey stumble into an unexpected friendship. Despite the differences in their ages and situations they are both at an important intersection. Depending on which way they turn ' and which choices they make ' their lives will change.System Requirements:Run Time: 107 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396178595 Manufacturer No: 17859 Amazon.com: Sometimes people are attracted to each other because of their differences. When there's a nebulous attraction between a teacher and a young teenage child--as in the superb Half Nelson--the relationship has all the makings of confused disaster. Though there are a few uncomfortable moments when it's not obvious whether Dan (Ryan Gosling) and Drey (Shareeka Epps) might cross the line, the attraction between the pair is culled less from sexual tension than desperation. Dan is an idealistic history teacher in an inner-city school. Drey is one of his brightest students. For both, drugs represent something that may help them escape their worlds. He takes drugs to dull his dissatisfaction with himself. She views drugs as a possible way to better her life, even though she knows her brother's foray into that trade landed him in jail. Bleakly filmed and well told, Half Nelson soars because of the immaculate acting by Gosling and Epps. With his impish smile, Gosling provides a character that is at once disarming, alluring, and pitiful. As the young girl who's already seen too much hardship in her life, Epps plays her part with just the right amount of hardened raw emotion. While the ambiguous ending may not please fans weaned on happy Hollywood finales, it's a fitting and believable close to a thought-provoking film. --Jae-Ha Kim Stills from Half Nelson (click for larger image) Beyond Half Nelson at Amazon.com The Films of Ryan Gosling More Oscar Nominated Roles at the Amazon.com Oscar Store The Soundtrack

Rating: - not exactly goodbye mr chips
A sad story of a man teacher on a spiral down
who finds a very unlikely friend.
We begin to think drugs have this fellow in a full Nelson,
but there is some redemption in the twinkie defense...
The cheater who sits behind also steals Drey bike,
but she finds it and gets it back. We don't know if things will get
better, but we have some hope.

---

Rating: - Turned it off after a half-hour
My husband and I are in our 40s and not hard of hearing, but we couldn't understand a word that Shareeka Epps said. The rest of the movie seemed to be nothing more then Ryan Gosling getting wasted, trying to sleep it off, and dragging through the rest of his workday. Talk about overrated!

---

Rating: - Just so so
This was interesting since I too am a teacher, but I sure don't smoke crack all night long. Ryan Gosling is up for Actor in a Leading role, and I am afraid to say that his nomination may be his reward. This isn't because I don't want him to win, because he was good. The best I've ever seen him, but he's up against DiCaprio and Whitaker (and a few others who won't win.)

Gosling plays David Dunne a crack smoking history teacher/basketball coach who wants to write a children's book on ... Read More

---

Rating: - Painful and beautiful all at the same time
I am sort of a Ryan Gosling fan but I had not gotten around to seeing Half Nelson for some reason. I think that I am often reticent to watch movies that are so dark because they can effect me more than I would like.

I am, however, glad that I was able to get over that and watch this film. It was rough. I have never had the urge to do cocaine or smoke crack but this movie would have killed even the slightest curiosity for me. After watching this, I realized that drugs are glamorized ... Read More

---

Rating: - The convergence of strength and weakness
In an interesting self-penned piece on the making of this film that appeared in IFC (the Independent Film Channel magazine) in 2006, director Ryan Fleck talks about the film's title, mentioning that half-nelson is a wrestling position that gives the grappler upon whom that position is imposed some hope for escape. This is the concept Fleck wanted to convey in this film, and he's done that, for sure.

As schoolteacher Dan Dunne, Ryan Gosling is superb, playing a young man who simultaneously ... Read More