Spin (2003)

Awesome Movie

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I bought the DVD many years ago, but I just watched it today, and this is my thought about this movie.This movie is a good quality beautiful drama that will gives you a good and nostalgic feeling. The shots are so cinematic, this movie makes you like you're reading a novel (as the matter of fact this movie is based on novel). And the background music is so beautiful, really fits with the story. And the other plus point is the actors are so good looking on those 50s style that make the scene more enjoyable to watch.The acting quality of the actors are so amazing, no need to ask about the main actor Ryan Merriman because his acting performances are always amazing (but I don't know how his performance in his newer movies since the last time I saw him when he's in Final Destinantion 3 (2006)).Actually I wanted to give this movie 10 stars, but I decided to give it 8 stars because it has a lack for the story. The direction of the story (the theme, the genre) is inconsistent.At the first half, the premise of the story is like about an orphan boy named Eddie (Ryan Merriman) who try to follow his father step to become a pilot. It will makes you think Eddie will train so hard to fly the plane while he also has to face the problem with his uncle (Stanley Tucci), his care taker family Margaret (Dana Delany) and her husband Ernesto (Ruben Blades), and the support from her pretty friend Francesca (Paula Garces), but no, it turned out it's not about that.The last half the story change direction to about Eddie love story with Francesca, how they care each other, and then Francesca is raped by her father, the depression of Francesca, then her father committed suicide. Eddie seems forgetting his plane training and his head is full of Francesca. The story change direction from what they gave at the beginning. I mean yeah, love life of the main character will give a good flavor for the story, but not by changing the story line and the theme from family drama genre to romance genre. This made me disappointed. Just stick to one story premise.But other than that, like I said at the beginning, this movie is a good quality beautiful drama that really really worth to watch, I really suggest you to watch this movie.

It really IS too bad that this film didn't get more publicity. I was an extra for this film (the funeral scene) and I must say how very professional and delightful the entire cast and crew were. I've been on many sets, and this one by far was the best! The days were LONG and COLD (filmed in Winter) but we got through it.I enjoyed watching the finished product and I'm sad that more people don't know about this film. Working with James "Jamie" Redford was awesome, and the day I was on set was Dana Delaney's birthday. We sang "Happy Birthday" and got cake...WOO HOO! Yeah, it's been a few years, but it's it never too late to see a touching coming-of-age movie. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! :-)

"Spin" came as a total surprise. We had not heard about the movie before, so when it was shown on cable recently, we decided to watch it, something that paid off because it is basically an unpretentious look at a not too distant past. James Redford, is making his debut as a director showing he has an eye for detail.The story centers around Eddie. When we meet him, he is a young boy who has to deal with the premature death of his parents in a small plane crash. As a result, his only living relative is a distant uncle, a major in the Air Force, who practically abandons him to the caretaker couple that works for him in the Arizona ranch. Eddie's uncle, as well as his father, have a passion for flying that is transferred to the young man. A few years go by and next we see a teen aged Eddie who is not doing well in school. His friendship with the lovely Francesca develops into love, but fate intervenes in their lives.The film has a lovely finished look thanks to the cinematography of Paul Ryan who captured the rugged Arizona landscape in all its glory. The musical score is by Todd Boekelheide, which serves the film well. The performances are credible as Ryan Merriman makes us care for his Eddie. Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, Ruben Blades and Paula Garces are the other performers.James Redford does a good job with his first directorial assignment.

SPIN takes a road much traveled - the coming of age tale of a child whose parents are suddenly absent - but the result is much stronger a story than most in this genre. Based on the novel by Donald Everett Axinn and adapted for the screen by writer/director James Redford (yes, son of Robert Redford, but strong enough a talent not to need to depend on shadows!), SPIN is an evocative moment in history (the 1950s) when the world was more quiet and young people would work their ways through the maze of adolescence without clouds of outside threats. This, then, becomes more poignant and sensitive a study of one lad's growing up to become an adult facing mirrors of those faces from the past and the present.Eddie Haley (Max Madore) is very young when his parents die in a plane crash and is placed in the care of his parent's workers Margaret and Ernesto Bejarano (Dana Delaney and Rubén Blades) at the decision of his pilot uncle Major Haley (Stanley Tucci) - a man whose own demons have left him seemingly invulnerable to intimacy and family, electing to move away from the Haley ranch and its responsibilities rather than raising Eddie. Eddie's companion as a child is Francesca (Marissa Baca) who, while not an orphan, is motherless and living with a cruel father. They bond and in addition to the very supportive Bejaranos provide Eddie with as much footing as he is able to manage.Move forward to Eddie as a teenager (Ryan Merriman) and he has become a mild punk, floundering around seeking meaning to life and afraid of relationships - fearing he will be ultimately deserted. Francesca (Paula Garcés) moves back into town from Mexico and gradually the two become close and involved: Eddie's demons and issues riddle him while Francesca's equally brittle demons seem to make her stronger. Major Haley returns, is at first greatly resented by Eddie until the Major teaches Eddie to fly a plane left to him by his departed father. The relationship that develops between the two is as strong as it is difficult. A tragedy involving Francesca and her father occurs resulting finally in Eddie's ability to feel mature emotions and follows his courage and his heart to change his and Francesca's lives.Redford keeps this potentially saccharine story in tight reins, never allowing bathos but always sharing a view that each of us is human and capable of errors, but equally capable of recovering and resolving consequences. The cast is uniformly strong with Tucci giving one of his finest and most subtle performances to date. Merriman is young and shows great promise: Blades and Delany are seasoned veterans and bring a realistic rapport that adds to the credibility of a story also dealing with ethnic prejudice. The cinematography by Paul Ryan is excellent - some of the best aerial photography outside of the usual war scenes on film. Recommended, not because it is a great movie, but because it is an honest one and the first example of James Redford's seemingly generous talent. Grady Harp