'Twelve and Holding' was an amazingly refreshing, surprise and gem of an independent film. I had very little to go on prior to viewing, only knowing that one of my favorite up-coming actors, Renner, starred in it. And being ignorant prior completely paid in dividends with the delight on how well made this adolescent coming-of-dark-ages movie was made. Though not a horror movie (despite one character donning a "Jason Voorhees"-like hockey mask,) I could certainly see Stephen King's vision of best buddies growing up too fast with adult tragedies, such as in his novels 'IT' and 'The Body' (or the movie 'Stand By Me.') How well they captured King's take on young kids dealing with very bad things was like watching a brand new King novel on screen. In this small town, each of three kids has their own demons thrust upon them. One's heavy and criticized to the point he embarks on bettering his and his mother's life. One's in love with someone 2 (or 3) times older. And the final has probably the most to worry about: dealing with large birthmark on his face, a brother who died "by accident" as well as a replacement brother. I really don't want to give away too much – believe me when I tell you, I barely scratched the surface. Sufficient to say, you need to see this movie. Excellent performances all around – I can't believe no one was nominated for Oscars, let alone the screenplay, director, etc. I haven't seen such a movie since the string of adolescent-drama films produced in the 70s/80s, such as, again, 'Stand By Me.' 'Holding' is completely original, had great music, appropriately comedic moments, excellently cast, suspenseful, emotional, and extremely thought provoking. Best recommendation is to recommend this gem to everyone after watching it.

The look of this film was horrible. It felt like a bad Disney Channel movie or a sitcom. Everything was way too illuminated, there was absolutely no depth. The inconsistent angles were incredibly distracting. I don't understand how these people get work.Also, the stereotypical nature of every character was a bit much. The obese father eating french fries while talking to the doctor, their plates of donuts, the child insisting on wearing a sweat suit and sweatbands. It was all so cliché.I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. That is, of course, unless you're looking for tips on how not to make a good movie.

This is one excellent movie, a kind of coming of age story, but then again, the stars of the movie are only 12 years old. A group of young friends have a tree house, and some older kids want them out of it, but when they try, the 12 years old dump a bucket of urine on them. That makes them very mad, and they come back much later setting the tree house on fire, not knowing two of the kids are inside. One of the twin brothers is burned to death, setting off a series of events that are very involving to say the least. This is one of the best acted movies of younger kids I have seen, depicting the torment they share with the loss of their dead friend, and how the twin's brother plans on killing one of the older boys that set the fire. The way they deal with tragedy and their kooky parents is absolutely sensational. Pick this one up, it's definitely a winner.

Because of these two stupid mistakes, a movie with some interesting qualities was ruined. Due to the oversight of the production team this is a really stupid movie.An overweight woman with a broken hip would not be able to move. Any person with a broken hip is completely immobilized 90% of the time. The only way the character's ability to move might be explained by adrenaline and extreme motivation.Natural gas isn't toxic. A gas leak in itself cannot harm the health of a person in any way. What can be toxic is carbon monoxide from improper burning of natural gas, but the burner in the movie was not ignited. The only other health hazard from a gas leak is the risk of explosion, but in the movie there was no explosion. This is a very ignorant oversight, also was used in 'Panic Room' with propane gas which is also non-toxic.A corpse buried in less than a foot of dirt would be extremely obvious to any construction crew. When the boy buried his victim the grave was too shallow to prevent the oder of a rotting corpse to come up from the dirt, and animals would have been attracted to the site by the smell and easily would have dug into the grave exposing the corpse. The oder alone would have been obvious and permeated the area for many yards.I also found it hard to swallow when the psychiatrist mom didn't drop her patient after learning that her twelve year old daughter was found standing naked in the patient's kitchen.Because of these stupid errors this movie is a dog, which is a shame since it's due to production errors alone.