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One of my all time favorites.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Unsympathetic characters, especially the lead character. Waste of film making resources.

Vanessa Hudgens has certainly come a long way since her days in the family- friendly movies 'High-School Musical'. She is fairly unrecognizable in Ronald Krauss's film 'Gimme Shelter'. It definitely takes some gigantic balls to title your film after one of the best documentaries ever made based on the Rolling Stones, but like that one, this film too is also based on true events. 'Gimme Shelter' is a rough movie to get through, but has a silver lining like a Disney movie. While some of the instances and pieces of dialogue are too "on the nose' for my taste, I expect fans of Hudgens to turn a small profit this January on the indie circuit, if not to just see one of their favorite Disney stars do a role they are not expecting.Hudgens plays 16-year-old Agnes 'Apple' Bailey, who looks like she hasn't showered for fifteen days, and decides at the beginning of the movie to cut her own hair very short. Hey eyes tell a very depressing story as she has spent most of her life moving from foster home to foster home, while constantly being physically and verbally abused by almost every she comes in contact with. But this is not the life she wants, and she makes a conscious decision to move out of that life, but when she tries to move in with her sadistic drug-fueled prostitute mother (Rosario Dawson, best part of the movie), Apple finally realizes she is on her own and sets out to find her father, whom she has never met before.Her father is a very successful Wall-Street executive, played by Brendan Fraser, (who seems to not know why he is in this movie, but) who has a giant house and a new family, as he had Apple when he was in his mid-teens. As you can imagine, things don't mix well when Apple shows up unexpectedly. Apple finds out she is pregnant and her father and step mother immediately take her to an abortion clinic, but after seeing the image of her fetus, she wants to keep it. She gets involved in a car accident and ends up in the hospital, where the hospital chaplain (James Earl Jones) befriends her and sends her to a religious shelter for pregnant teens. Maybe it's here that Apple can find what she has always wanted - a family. At least that is what Krauss wants to tell us.The lady who runs this shelter is named Kathy DiFiore (Ann Dowd), and is in fact a real person, and this film is based on her stories, but she takes the backseat to this movie and it is Hudgens's character Apple who we journey with. The three big flaws with 'Gimme Shelter' is its script, score, and execution. The screenplay just hits you with a hammer too hard in to many places, and never gives you the opportunity to enjoy or figure things out for yourself. And the score is way to dramatic, and comes across way to sappy. This could have been a better film if the director just let these things play out normally, but instead there is way to much emphasis on what we are supposed to feel and when.The acting though is solid throughout. Hudgens gives a brilliant performance of intense anger and rage. But all the while she is just an emotional and scarred child who wants to be loved. Her struggle and performance are great and she has come a long way since 'High School Musical'. I wish James Earl Jones had a meatier role here, but he plays the gentile grandfather just fine. Rosario Dawson is the true star here and plays a horrific mother perfectly. She is truly scary.'Gimme Shelter' is a tough movie to get through, as our main character truly goes through some horrendous moments. This film might be to "on the nose' for me, but it's worth a look. And I can't believe that with its title, the Rolling Stones' song was never heard.

Amazing film...Never seen Vanessa this great before...She is totally amazing actress.I had not convinced she would able to break her "Disney" barriers until this film.Her performance is amazing and emotion are so real...The characters are amazing... Amazing story and so realistic.Could always relate to.It is totally about getting back up when you're at the bottom of your worst.Accepting help and finding who you are...Also about forgiveness and friendship and "HOPE"....

Like most people, when I think of any Disney Princess I think some bubblegum pop image of someone who seems marketable, but certainly isn't a dramatic actress. However, Vanessa Hudgens seemingly is trying to break this trend by taking on more challenging roles. Which, with help from the credible acting talents of James Earl Jones, Rosario Dawson, and Brendan Fraser, the question becomes: Can she be the one to break the mold, or show why hardly anyone takes the women who graduate from Disney seriously?Characters & StoryAgnes (Vanessa Hudgens), also known as Apple, has had a very rough life. Her mother June (Rosario Dawson) is highly abusive, not that truth worthy, and has put her in a mental state where disappointment is expected from everyone. But, even with this mindset of things likely not going to work out, she decides to run away from her mom and seek out her dad Tom (Brandan Fraser). Now, Tom and June seemingly didn't get to know each other well before June got pregnant with Agnes, and you can tell from certain scenes that the two of them were from very different social classes. Tom seems to be from an affluent family, one which he didn't want to disappoint with bringing a kid home, and June, well we can only assume the worse when it comes to her family life.Thus making it understandable why not only did Agnes run to Tom's house, but how Tom reacts when he learns why his daughter ran away: She is pregnant. And with this comes the majority of Agnes' journey as she seeks a way to survive, and keep her baby, all the while dealing with June and learning to trust people enough to allow them to help her.PraiseLet me begin by saying that Vanessa Hudgens certainly does make a case that she is capable of more than most would expect from her. As we have seen over the last few years, she seemingly isn't looking to shatter the image she built, like Miley Cyrus, but more so show she is evolving. For while Spring Breakers certainly could seem like Hudgens trying to destroy that High School Musical image which gave her fame, as I argued in the review, it really made it seem she was capable of more so getting into a character, rather than attempting to rebel against some image. With this movie though, you can continue to see her evolve for it is almost a complete transformation. Not just because she has her hair cut, tattoos, gets cuts, and has the looks of a pregnant woman in the 2nd half of the movie, but because it seems she is really channeling her character and not just playing pretend. What helps her story though is Dawson's character who reminded me of a less developed version of Mo'Nique's character from Precious. She was nasty, a bit broken herself, and helped drive Hudgens performance and perhaps push her toward really getting into character. Then, in the 2nd half of the movie, I must say that seeing Agnes amongst other pregnant teen girls, including the familiar face of Dascha Polanco of Orange is the New Black, really helped push this film through the last hour. For while you don't get to really know any of the girls that well, even to the point of knowing their names, you can see potential stories in each and every one, and you sort of wish the movie began with Agnes there with flashbacks of what lead her to get to the shelter. Overall though, Hudgens is the one who benefits the most, with Dawson being in an excellent supporting role. As for Fraser and Jones, they make good supporting characters who help push the story along, but they didn't do much for me performance wise.CriticismNow, with the aforementioned praise does come the need to admit that the story does feel like it has a checklist in mind. However, being that the film is based off a true story, it is hard to really criticize this. But, as said, the 2nd half in which the girls come in is where the story flourishes, if just because there is consistency. When you first start the film, to about an hour in, I must admit I was bored watching the way the film plays out Agnes' struggle with her father and his new wife. For, frankly, Hudgens seemed to lose her focus and let the character drift until June/ Dawson woke her up from her daze. Which is why I liked the 2nd half so much more and it is because I think with June getting intense, and the rest of the girls competing in a way with Hudgens, she forces herself to step her game up and be consistent in revealing this character and letting you in. While, in the first half, she is given this sympathy story which can feel shallow and forced to the point you really do think the writers had a checklist while doing the script to make sure you felt sorry for Agnes. Overall: TV ViewingIn all honesty, while a likable film, it doesn't hit hard enough to really get you deeply into what goes on. What makes matters a little bit worse is that Hudgens is still growing as an actress, so she is heavily reliant on her supporting actors to keep focused and deliver a quality performance. However, when Dawson or the girls from the shelter are present, you see that Hudgens definitely is getting better, more comfortable, and more confident, as an actress. But, being that she isn't at the point yet where she can stand alone, much less with the first half seeming too formulaic, I decided to rate this as a TV Viewing type film.