source: Life

The glimpse into old Hollywood was the only redeeming feature of this film. Dane DeHaan appears to be doing an imitation of Edward Furlong if he were doing an imitation of James Dean. Pretending you are a rebel by not having the energy to open you mouth when you speak is not acting, Dean was withdrawn but could enunciate. Dean had a look and a vibe, that DeHaan is far too dumpy looking to pull off. They say Dean was "bi", but, DeHaan had "gaydars" on blast from his seen. As always, Robert Pattinson is one dimensional, a card board cutout may have had more depth. This could have been a much better film with better casting of the two main rolls. I be surprised if Ben Kingsley isn't embarrassed by the this stinker. I want my 111 minutes back!

This was a stunningly boring movie. Pattinson turned in his usual sleeper performance - what's the old saying - "he could have mailed it in". DeHaan's James Dean character seemed obtuse and forced. Maybe Dean was this self-absorbed; I'd like to think otherwise. A real stinker of a flick. Definitely one not to waste your time on. The only scenes that offered any refreshing warmth and (perhaps)an authentic glimpse of Dean, were those shot on the farm back in Indiana. The Dean character seemed to become child-like and at ease with life; whereas back in L.A., Jack Warner was a constant thorn in Dean's non-conformist side. The rural settings of Indiana were a respite from the tedium of Pattinson's stare and DeHaan's seemingly unsure interpretation of the Dean character made this a very long movie.

Life Magazine photographer Dennis Stock forms an attachment and gets to spend time and photograph a young James Dean in the early stages of his tragically short career. Set around the time of the announcement of the engagement of Pier Angeli to Vic Damone, the news sent Dean spiralling into depression, Dean having dated Angeli previously. Dennis recognises that 'Jimmy' is part of a change in society, and aims to be there throughout. James Dean is a truly iconic figure, to this day his tragic loss is felt, who knows how good an actor he would have become. It's a very sensitive film, everything is subtle and softly done somehow, I include the two leading performances in that summary also, I thought Dane DeHaan was an excellent piece of casting as James Dean, I bought into him. As for R Patz I quite like him as an actor, I question some of the roles he takes, I thought he was very good in this. The gravitas came from Ben Kingsley, who unfortunately didn't get a great amount of screen time. I find the start a little slow, but after the first thirty or forty minutes it really opens up. Rather good, underrated movie, 7/10

This film tells the story of a freelance photographer who spots something special in James Dean, who has yet to make it super famous. He tries to do a photoshoot with James Dean, only to be pushed around and played with for weeks. They form an almost coercive yet deep relationship with each other. I haven't watched a James Dean film, so I can't tell whether the demeanour portrayed is accurate or not. If it is accurate, I am rather unclear why a person who is mellow and yet manipulative can fascinate the world. I mean, his voice is monotonous as sleep inducing! The film is very slow, not much happens and things just drag on for way longer than it should. The characters are not interesting or sympathetic. There is nothing captivating about the story. The only thing I like about "Life" is the fact that Robert Pattison is finally looking healthy like a human, shedding his image of a vampire.

The fact that my name is actually James Dean may come of as a cliché but it really isn't. Dane Dehaan captures Deans essence of carelessness at the beginning and his evolvement of becoming the actor he is now known for. Pattison plays a struggling father and stressful photographer who assigns himself the project of making James Dean a star by shooting a series of photos of Dean showing the world what he was like behind the camera. From Deans Hollywood stardom at the beginning to him and Dennis going back to where it all began for Dean in Indiana, Life is a subtle and beautiful look at the young stars game before he met his sad death so young. Life is a 2015 must see. If Dehaan doesn't even get an Oscar nomination for best actor I will be fuming. Everyone go see Life. It's brilliant.

The problem with this movie is that neither DeHaan, nor Pattinson hold the attention of the audience. The script is nondescript, and the directing cannot make up for the lack of a compelling story and characterization. DeHaan looks like a childish version of Dean with his unlined face, rounded cheeks, feathered, rubbable hair and those full, pink lips. Dean was young, but had an old soul reflected in his lined face, sunken eyes, and impossibly attractive visage. Even James Franco -- much as I detest that actor -- was better than DeHaan. The story had no real climax... its twin journeys (of the co-protagonists) made shallow and dull via the absence of any real conflict or urgency of mission. I'm sure Corbijn had good intentions. I gave this one a four.

This movie moved too slowly for its content, and the casting of James Dean ruined it for me. The actor had NONE of the qualities I remember about Dean (we had similar Porsches, and I lived near where he crashed), looks, personality, voice, etc., and they could have done so much better finding someone who at least conveyed the spirit of him. That face is critical. I don't care how good that actor is in general, it was lousy casting. The poetry quotes, etc., seemed out of context and beyond the mental capabilities of the real actor, who was really not that complicated. I would have liked to see more snippets of his actual movies/acting and a fuller display of the final Life photos rather than those few at the end. The interesting part of the movie was not Dean, but the photographer's life.

Greetings again from the darkness. The film's title has multiple meanings: "Life" Magazine as the source for the famous photographs we have seen so many times; the crossroads in "Life" of both rising star James Dean and photographer Dennis Stock; and a philosophical look at "Life" - how quickly things can change, and how we should appreciate the moments. Director Anton Corbijn (A Most Wanted Man, The American) and screenwriter Luke Davies offer up a snapshot of 1955 as the not-quite-yet-famous James Dean (Dane DeHaan) traveled cross-country with photographer Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson) from Los Angeles to New York to Indiana. Each man was searching for their true self as Stock's professional ambition and personal stress are palpable, while 24 year old Dean's ambivalence about his pending superstardom borders on self-destructive. DeHaan and Pattinson both underplay their roles, and it's certainly more than a little confusing to see Pattinson in a movie about James Dean where he is not the actor playing the icon. DeHaan captures the low key, soft-spoken side of Dean but only teases at the "rebel" studio head Jack Warner (Sir Ben Kingsley) wanted so badly to control. We get a feel for Dean's vision of challenging roles in quality productions … a commitment to the art of acting he no doubt sharpened in his time with acting guru Lee Strasberg. The story leans more heavily to the tale of photographer Stock, which is unfortunate, because he is significantly more awkward than interesting. Pattinson plays him as a social misfit who broods nearly as much as the "moody" young actor he is stalking through the streets. The period look is well appointed, and we are privy to some of the moments of Dean's life just prior to the release of East of Eden and his being cast in Rebel Without a Cause. His relationship with Pier Angelli (Alessandra Mastronardi), friendship with Eartha Kitt (Kelly McCreary), and his bond to the family and farm of his childhood in Indiana are all captured. In fact, it's the clumsy relationship with Stock that comes across as the least realistic portion … though it may very well have happened this way. Even the manner in which the famous photographs were taken is underplayed … although it makes for a terrific tie-in with the closing credits where the real Stock/Life Magazine photographs are displayed. It's now been 60 years that James Dean has exemplified Hollywood "cool", a label that can never be removed due to his tragic death in 1955 after making only three films. Capturing the essence of what made Dean cool is unnecessary because it's present in every scene of those three films, as well as the photographs taken by Dennis Stock. That's all the legacy either man needs.

OK, I will try to be fast: everything is wrong in this film. I was really wanting to see like, had hoped it was good, but not Life is basically proof that it is not any director or screenwriter who can make a good biography, or in this case at least a cohesive biography! The nearly two hours of history are basically "cut-outs", with almost no connection to events in the life of both James Dean (Dane DeHaan) as Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson) - the latter being the central fact of history - and actually are cutouts same, the film does not seem to care in making connections between scenes, many of them come to not make sense, "friendship" Dean and Stock is crafted from a terrible way, in fact everything in history is working in a way bad, it just says "you who are watching have to accept it, we will not explain why or give any logical development," scenes "drama" very forced and "played" senseless none in the middle plot, Pattinson does not convince ( not that it is to blame for the bad movie), and finally, Dane DeHaan can take some good acting of a character written in such a shallow way (what are you doing there ?! DeHaan). The film is bad, no coherent script, bad direction, bad production, bad editing, in short, Life is a biography without cohesion, portraying James Dean like an asshole, Dennis Stock as a "silly" and moreover has a scene vomiting in a child! In short: If you want to waste your time, this film is really what you need.