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  In 1990 I was sitting in a movie theatre in Edmonton, Alberta with my best bud Calvin. We were about to see a movie called "Graveyard Shift", and the sole reason we were in the theatre at all, was because the movie was based on a novel of the same name by Stephen King. I was a big fan of many King Movies such as The Shining, Salems Lot, Carrie, Christine, and of course Stand By Me. Don’t even get me started on how incredible The Dead Zone was. Christopher Walken seemed to be born and bred for that movie.  Hell, Calvin and I even loved the campy cheesy movie Creepshow, Keep in mind we were 13 when we saw that one. I remember that in grade 4 when most kids were reading the spoon fed propaganda of “Charlottes Web”, I had snuck my mothers copy of The Shining to school and was reading that in class. Of course I had only taken it because I thought all the swear words were “cool”, but as I read more of the book, I realized “This shit was scary”. I was hooked and I worked my way through most of Kings collection over the years.
But that’s getting away from that fateful night in 1990. So there we were, waiting in the theatre for the previews to start, and we were goofy with anticipation. Calvin and I had been Horror movie fans since we were lads, and there is nothing like going to a scary movie with someone you’ve been best friends with since grade school. We had watched Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers hack their way through sequel after sequel. The 80’s was a great decade to be a teenage horror movie fan. Then it happened. Calvin said something that I will never forget. It wasn’t Shakespeare, it wasn’t worthy of a Nobel prize, but it hit the nail on the head and remains true to this day in regards to all things Stephen King.
Calvin leaned over to me and said 9 words:
“All I can say, is this better not suck”. I had a sinking feeling because I knew he had cursed us, that son of a bitch. Nostradamus had nothing on Calvin Price that night.

  What Calvin did right then and there, was predict the course of every Stephen King movie that was to follow for the next 10 years, with the exception of “Misery” which had a lot more to do with Rob Reiner than it did with Stephen King. From that night on, an to this day, every time I sit down at a Stephen King movie I think to myself “This better not suck”, and this was one instance, where it certainly did NOT suck.

A quick premise on Hearts In Atlantis.

  A young boy, played remarkably well by actor Anton Yelchin, becomes friends with the new upstairs border in his mothers house played by Anthony Hopkins. The movie is set in an innocent 1960 that invites the viewer to yearn to live up the road from where the movie took place. In light of recent events in New York, this movie seems like a perfect place in a perfect time.
   Although the movie is centered around the character of the small boy, it seems to follow many points of view The movie is done in this slow and methodical way that takes a little longer in spots than most movies would. But rather than being boring and slow, it's more like the movie takes the time to slow down and let us savor the scenes that other movies would leave you wanting more. Simply put, you don't mind lingering for moment longer when you get to spent the time with Anthony Hopkins. The friendship between the boy and this new mysterious older man create a sort of magical moment in time, where anything is possible and all sorts of interesting things happen. I don’t want to give a single solitary thing away in this review because this movie is just so worth seeing that if I even talk about the slightest thing, I would be spoiling the movie for someone. This will be just a review of the overall movie, and rather than get too specific, I'll just say, that this is a movie worth seeing. Not that ANYONE reads my movie reviews anyway.

   Having said that, this is NOT an earth shattering movie. It wont change your religion or make you call all your friends that night and beg them to see it. This is just a refreshingly nice movie. It’s directed by Scott Hicks who also directed Snow Falling on Cedars and Shine. Scott just has the ability to make very impressionable movies, and they have a very nice feel to them. Anthony Hopkins does a great job in this movie, but of course that is to be expected. He is mesmerizing to a fault, and when snug in your theatre seat, you find yourself sitting there in awe of his performance. Also, little Anton Yelchin does in incredible job. He’s not unearthly good like Haley Joel Osment where you think your watching some type of perfect Actor/alien/robot who hits every mark with the accuracy of a mobster hitman. Instead, Anton is very charismatic, and real. He has a young Elijah Wood quality to him. When Elijah was in his Radio Flyer or Forever Young acting days, you knew you were looking at someone who hadn't learned how to act from a class, but it was just a genuine gift, he was too young to be taught. You get the same feeling here with Anton. This is great stuff Folks.

 In his older age, Stephen Kings heart might be in the right place. Looking back on his other cinematic efforts it's hard to say. His days of Children of the Corn IV and Thinner may or may not be behind him, but that is really of little concern. Because for every "Made for tv" movie King has his hand in, he more than makes up for it. He makes it up to us with movies like Apt Pupil and the Green Mile, and lucky for all of us, his Hearts in Atlantis.

I give this movie an 8 out of 10.
 

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