Holes

Plot synopsis:
Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) is a good-hearted teenager born to a luckless family that has been cursed for generations. The luckiest of the Yelnats ancestors, Stanley Yelnats I (Allan Kolman), lost his fortune when outlaw "Kissin' Kate" Barlow stole his treasure chest. The Yelnatses blame their Latvian ancestor Elya Yelnats (Damien Luvara), who was cursed after breaking a promise to carry Madame Zeroni (Eartha Kitt) up a mountain.Stanley is wrongfully arrested and tried for stealing a pair of baseball shoes that Clyde "Sweet feet" Livingston (Rick Fox), a famous baseball player, had donated to charity. Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile work camp, for his alleged crime. He arrives to find that the "camp" is a dried-up lake run by the corrupt Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver), her assistant Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), and camp counselor Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson). Each day, the detainees must dig a hole 5 ft deep and 5 ft in diameter to "build character," despite the danger of the desert sun, rattlesnakes, and yellow-spotted lizards, which can kill with a single bite. The children are told that if they find anything interesting, they may earn a day off. The inmates, known by their nicknames, include Zero (who refuses to speak to anyone, but likes to dig holes), Armpit, Zig-Zag, Squid, X-Ray and Magnet. Stanley is slowly accepted into the group and is given the name "Caveman." He soon creates a friendship with Zero (Khleo Thomas), whose real name is Hector Zeroni, while teaching him to read.A flashback shows how the men of the Yelnats family suffer under a bad luck curse that affects all aspects of their lives. Stanley II tells Stanley IV the story of how it all started with his great-great grandfather Elya Yelnats in Latvia. Elya worked for Morris Menke (Ravil Isyanov), shoveling manure out of his barn. Elya thought Menke's daughter Myra (Sanya Mateyas) was very beautiful. He goes to a fortune teller, Madame Zeroni, for advice about his destiny. Madame Zeroni recommends that he go to America, where her son has gone, and that his future should be there, instead of with Myra, who is empty-headed. Elya asks Menke for permission to marry his daughter, but Menke says that Igor (Ken Davitian), who is eating with him, has offered her his fattest pig (Igor is fat, too). To prove her point about Myra, Madame Zeroni advises Elya to take a young pig and carry it up the mountain every day so that as the pig grows, he will get stronger. Further, he should sing the pig a certain song when it drinks water from the stream. She tells him that after the pig is full grown and he gives it to Menke, Elya must carry her up the mountain and sing while she drinks, so that she will regain her strength. She gives him a warning, though, that if he forgets to perform that last task, she will curse him and his generations to eternity. Elya gives the pig to Menke, and Menke allows his daughter to choose who she wants to marry. She is indecisive. In anger, Elya tells her to go ahead and marry Igor. He takes Madame Zeroni's advice and heads to America, but forgets to carry her up the mountain as she ordered him to do, if he wants to be spared the curse. He realizes that he has just made the biggest mistake of his life.Another flashback, which reveals how the modern story comes together, relates the history of Camp Green Lake. The town was once a thriving lake town with plenty of water and life. Miss Katherine (Patricia Arquette), the schoolteacher, is accosted by a rich landowner, Warden Walker's ancestor Trout Walker (Scott Plank). He proposes to her, but she rejects him. Miss Katherine is in love with the onion seller Sam (Dulé Hill), an African American who helps repair her schoolhouse in exchange for her renowned spiced peaches. Among other things, Sam claims that regularly consuming onions and 'onion juice' will keep the local yellow-spotted lizards away. When Sam kisses Miss Katherine, the townspeople burn the school. Sam attempts to escape in his boat, the Mary Lou, but Trout kills Sam. In retaliation, Kate kills the sheriff (Eric Pierpoint), who refused to help Sam. She leaves a lipstick kiss on his forehead, beginning her life as the outlaw "Kissin' Kate," who kisses the men she kills.Back in the present, Stanley finds a tube of lipstick that belonged to Kissin' Kate Barlow (Miss Katherine), but he gives it to X-ray because X-ray hasn't had a day off in six months. X-ray gets an entire day off for the tube. Then Armpit tries to pass off a stove knob as something he dug up, but the Warden knows better, and Armpit's joke costs him a week of no shower privileges.After Dr. Pendanski insults Hector, he retaliates by hitting him with his shovel and runs away. After some deliberation, Stanley sets out to help Hector and finds him taking shelter under the remains of Sam's boat, the Mary Lou. Zero, now stranded in the desert, offers Stanley the last jar of "sploosh" (an old jar of Miss Katherine's spiced peaches which had been left on the boat). Stanley, knowing they can't survive in the desert for much longer, heads over to a mountain called God's Thumb.Meanwhile, Walker decides to presume Hector is dead and deletes his files. Stanley carries Hector up the mountain where they find a field of onions and a source of water, helping them regain strength for several days. Unknowingly, Stanley breaks the family curse because Hector Zeroni happens to be a descendant of Madame Zeroni. When he carries Hector to the top of the mountain, sings to him, and lets him drink from the stream that runs uphill, he fulfills the promise made by Elya centuries earlier. After Hector wakes up, he reveals he is the reason Stanley was sent to Camp Green Lake. Hector tells Stanley he had been homeless and had been at the shelter where many things (including Sweetfeet's shoes) had been donated. Because he did not know the shoes were famous, he took the shoes and walked off with them. He then heard sirens coming; thinking they were after him, Hector took off the shoes and tossed them over the bridge, where they fell on Stanley's head. This is how Stanley was caught with the shoes and sent to Camp Green Lake. Stanley thinks it is destiny that they met.In a flashback Kate Barlow, now older, is found in the middle of the now dried-up lake by a pair of husband-and-wife bounty hunters: one of her former students along with Trout Walker (whom the student has married). They mention that the lake dried up because it hasn't rained since Sam died. They order Kate to hand over the Yelnats treasure, but she tells them that they "can dig for a hundred years, and will never find it." Kate allows herself to be bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard on the arm; she suffers for a while and soon dies.As Stanley breaks his family curse, his father finally finds the solution to an odor-eliminating mixture that he has been trying all his life to create -- the addition of peaches and onions. Stanley and Zero decide to go back to Camp Green Lake to investigate the hole in which Stanley found the tube of lipstick, feeling lucky all of a sudden. They dig deeper into the hole and uncover a chest. Warden Walker and Mr. Sir discover them and attempt to take the chest away from Stanley and Zero until they notice that yellow-spotted lizards have climbed onto the boys.When the group is discovered the next morning by the assistant attorney general (Ray Baker) and Stanley's lawyer Carla Morengo (Roma Maffia), Walker attempts to explain that the chest is hers, at which point Stanley jumps out of the hole to confront her with Hector behind him. They are still alive due to the fact that yellow-spotted lizards are averse to the onions they had been eating. Hector reveals that "Stanley Yelnats" is written on the front of the chest.Back at camp, the lawyer finds out that there are no files on Hector. One of the cops notices that Mr. Sir (who was revealed to be Marion Sevillo) has a gun, which is a violation of his parole. When Warden Walker states that she had no knowledge of this, Mr. Sir blurts that Dr. Pedanski isn't a real therapist. The assistant attorney general then declares Camp Greenlake under his jurisdiction as Marion, Warden Walker, and Dr. Pendanski are arrested. As Stanley is beginning to leave, rain falls on Camp Green Lake. Walker, Marion, and Dr. Pendanski are shocked -- it hasn't rained at Green Lake in years. Walker asks Stanley to show her inside the chest, but Stanley refuses. Stanley then drives home with Hector.The Yelnats family claims ownership of the chest and its contents. Stanley decides that half the money should go to Hector and Hector uses some of his share to hire private detectives to find his mother (Shirley Butler).Camp Green Lake is closed and all its juvenile inmates are sent home. Later, it reopens as a girl scout camp. At the end, an advertisement appears on TV for the odor-eliminating mixture Sploosh; the celebrity endorser is Clyde "Sweet feet" Livingston. Stanley, Clyde, and others watch.

Tags: revenge, comedy, murder, storytelling, flashback

Review:
With that the Judge enthusiastically sends him off to Camp Green Lake.Camp Green Lake is an odd place, with an odd philosophy, `If you take a bad boy, make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy.'  We learn this little pearl of wisdom from Mr. Sir (John Voight) one of the camp's `counselors.'  We get the impression right away that he is a dangerous man.
The action begins when Stanley Yelnats is sent to a boys' prison camp, where all the inmates are forced to dig holes under the desert sun as a form of rehibilitation.
But as the story progresses, Stanley's tale becomes interwoven with that of a legendary treasure, and this adventure becomes ten times more fun than any Disney movie about an all-boy prison camp has any right to be.
If you're going to buy the film, I recommend you buy the soundtrack too, especially for "If Only", which centres around the story and contains the chorus from the book.I do not work for the people who made Holes, by the way, I'm just a fan, plugging my favourite film and giving it the review it deserves.
seriously i loved this film..i had started to read the book and i loved it...the way everything was set up and everything had a purpose...i think this film did so well was because Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay..and of course Andrew Davis directed it...Shia Lebouf gives a great performance for his first film...the storyline is very cool and interesting...there's humor, heart and intensity...it is very similar to the book..i find this film to be not the least bit boring...i absolutely loved it...and i encourage anyone to read the book..all in all this film is very well put together and carefully crafted...two thumbs up for me in every single way.
Despite that, it is refreshingly original and offers some satisfying performances from both younger and older members of the cast.Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) is wrongly convicted of stealing a pair of trainers and sentenced to eighteen months at Camp Green Lake, a boy's detention centre deep in the desert where he and the other inmates spend each day digging 5ft deep by 5ft wide holes beneath the scorching sun.
The camp's warden (Sigourney Weaver) aided by her henchmen Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) and Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) claim such treatment is character building but, of course, have an ulterior motive.Saddled with a sometimes intrusive and usually inappropriate soundtrack, Holes looks like a music video at times and, because of the wealth of information it has to fit into its running time, contains a convoluted structure featuring repeated flashbacks and, sometimes, even flashbacks within flashbacks.
The film's story can be followed by anyone who hasn't read the book, but there's a depth of characterisation that is sorely missing from the film that anyone who knows the novel would presumably be able to draw on to fill in the gaps.Most of the real personalities belong to the adult characters.
Our young heroes, Stanley and Zero (Khleo Thomas), work well together and writer Sachar builds a largely adversarial relationship between the inmates that would be as recognisable on the school playground as it is in a detention camp.Perhaps the story's main failing is the impression it gives of just being too clever.
It may start off slow but in the end you can't help but feel like you have spent your time very nicely.This is the first movie i saw with Shia Labeouf in it and i must say that he is turning into a excellent actor.
Also, at the end, Sachar tries to wrap everything up in a nice little package and express ship it to our hearts, while in the book `you have to fill in the holes yourself.' It wasn't that hard to do in the book, so why would movie audiences have a tough time?The acting was good from the adult players, who include Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Henry Winkler, Siobhan Fallon, Patricia Arquette, and Eartha Kitt, who plays wacky fortuneteller Madame Zeroni.
Overall, I would say Holes is a good movie, but you will like it more if you haven't read the book.My rating: 6/10Rated PG for violence, mild language and some thematic elements..
Holes (2003, Dir Andrew Davis) When Stanley Yelnats IV is wrongfully convicted of stealing, he is sent to 'Camp Green Lake'.
I love Holes it's like the best movie I have ever seen and there are some hot guys on there ;) (go KHLEO!).
Jon Voight was to me the best actor in this movie playing Mr.Sir. Sigourney Weaver at 54 still looks amazing and even though she has not the biggest role she was still pleasant to watch.
The cast is talented - young Shia LeBeouf continues to show talent - but it is lacking humor, a vital ingrediant in a movie like this.The film chronicles the story of Stanley Yelnats IV, who is wrongly convicted of stealing a superstar's running shoes and sent away to grizzly Camp Green Lake, a camp devoid of any bodies of water, or even rain for that matter.
It supplies corny flashbacks about a schoolteacher (Patricia Arquette) who fell in love with a black man, and we expect the story to pay more relevancy to the plot than it does.Stanley digs each day in the grueling heat, along with a clan of other rough kids (who all have catchy nicknames, such as "Armpit").
Stanley says he doesn't believe in the curse, but it always helps to be able to blame his misfortune on something.The movie is based on the young adults' tale by Louis Sachar, who adapted his 1998 award-winning novel for the screen.
Davis is talented but this film is sorely lacking something that may or may not be his fault.Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and Patricia Arquette get top billing, but this should really go to Shia LeBeouf, who I spotted on the Disney Channel's television show "Even Stevens" some three years ago and instantly noticed comedic talent.
I came close to recommending it, but reflecting on the film just now, I have realized I really don't remember any significant scenes, and if a movie can't last in your memory more than an hour, that's not a good thing.Many people will like "Holes," I think, especially those who like wacky fantasies.
That's Disney.The realistic pain of the victims isn't even funny in ways that at least the ultra violent prison films 'S.S. Hell Camp' and 'Rikki Oh' were funny.The film's run time is dragged out to 2.5 hours via flashbacks to Shia LaBeouf's "pig thieving" great grandfather whom cursed the family, and scenes of Patricia Arquette catching jungle fever in the wild west.
AT Camp Green Lake, all the boys need to dig holes for build character, when Stanley do that, he met his best friend, Zero.
The book are more details but I prefer the movie because the film has more action.In general, all the actors were nice.
The movie is very good because of the movie star: Shia Labeuf, (Stanley), Sigourney Wenver (The warden), Jonh Voigt (Mr.sir), Tim Blake Nelson (Mr.Pendanski)and Khleo Thomas (Zero).
At camp green lake you are here to build character but Stanley think that there are looking for something...The movie is like the book but we can find some element that they don't out like: like the body of Stanley.
If you want to find the song you can go to Holes soundtrack on google.At the end I really like the movie whit is the movie whit is plot, his a good story that have suspense, fun moment and serious moment.
The film was made in Texas and the genre is Adventure Comedy Drama.Stanley Yelnats is a good kid but there was a curse on he's family because he's great-great-grand-father(Elya yelnats)forgotto honor a promise.
Stanley's real name is Shia Laboeuf, the warden is Sigourney Weaver, Mr.sir is Jon Voigt, Mr.pendanski is Tim Blake Nelson and finally Zero was Klheo Thomas.Finally, I really liked the book but I prefer the movie because I can see what the character look like.
The length of the movie is 117 minutes.So, basically it's the story in the 90's of a boy named Stanley Yelnats who was wrongly accused and had to choose either to go to jail or either to go to a detention centre for boys to purge his sentence (Camp Green Lake is the name of the centre).He chooses the camp, but it wasn't like he thought it was going to be; it was a camp in the middle of a desert where other misfits and him had to dig a hole every day.
Will Stanley and Zero survive alone in the desert; and if they both do, will they find that lost treasure of the mystery lake;Here are the questions that will be answered by watching this film.The cast has a lot of great and popular actors.
For example: Shia Laboeuf (Stanley), Sigourner Weaver (The Warden), Jon Voigt (Mr. Sir), Tim Blake Nelson (Mr. Pendanski) or Khleo Thomas (Zero).I really liked all of those actors and they were really good in this movie.
This good movie is a dramatic comedy.This film is about a 14 years old guys, Stanley Yelnats ( Shia LaBoeuf): all his family is curse and this will make a lots of bad thing.
Finally he decide to go to Camp Green Lake and there, he will dig holes to build character...In the book, Stanley was fat and he doesn't like himself but in the movie, he was skinny and this was a problem for the end of the story where he finally like himself because he became skinny and he has friend.
Holes is a very good film for the story of it but the cast and the special effects were a bit bad and the special effects were fake.
Holes is a comedy adventure drama movie directed by Andrew Davis.Holes is a story about the main character (Stanley) who had been send to the Camp Green Lake to build character' in digging holes.
Stanley will be support by Zero the support character.On thing that I liked in the movie is the landscape.
The prominent stars of the movie are Shia LaBoeuf (Stanley), Sigourney Weaver (Warden), Jon Voigt (Mr.Sir), Tim Blake Nelson (Mr. Pendanski) and Khleo Thomas (Zero).
Together, the make it to God's thumb (a mountain), Zero confessed something to Stanley that might change everything between them and they find out the whole truth about that place and themselves.The movie scenes are a lot similar to the book's script.
New inmate Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LeBeouf) is about to set the wheels in motion that will unearth the secret of the digs.It's a blender is Holes, part drama (there's plenty of edginess here), part coming of age tale, part action adventure – cum – detective mystery – cum - Western and part comedy, in short it's a bona fide piece for all the family.
The child actors, led by LeBeouf, are excellent, really bringing life to the various characterisations, while Sigourney Weaver, John Voight and Tim Blake Nelson have a great time of things as the camp enforcers, and Patricia Arquette in a two-fold characterisation, scores very favourably with charm, grace and menace in equal measurements.Mature and intelligent kids films are a rarity, Holes is like a little gem dug up in the desert.
There is a fantastic backstory that is carried throughout the film and provides great depth.All of the kids do a really good job at portraying their characters and it's also nice to see some extremely talented adult actors in this movie.
at first I didn't know what I was gonna be in for with this movie,, at first I thought that it was gonna be the usual kiddie stuff,, wow was I wrong,,,Sigourney Weaver plays the warden,, and she gives a wonderful performance,, Jon Voight is simply titled "Sir"..
don't ask why,, but that is his job,, you will have to watch the movie for an explanation , cause I don't want to give away an ending that is really not to miss,, I think the producers and directors hit it out of the park with this,, great acting,, shooting location,, and the kids did a wonderful job acting in this ,, probably even better than the adults..
Through the cooperation of the director(Andrew Davis)and the stars,(Shia LeBouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and Khleo Thomas)they have accomplished something that will stay in your mind long after you have watched it.The story revolves around the main character, Stanley, who is sent to juvenile camp for a crime he did not commit.
But presumably because Louis Sachar also wrote the screenplay, the movie is very faithful to the book but uses flashbacks and good story-telling to bring it alive on screen.Stanley Yelnats gets convicted of a crime he didn't commit (really!) and sent to Camp Greenlake which is run by the crooked warden and her cronies, all well-played (especially Sigourney Weaver as the warden).
Holes is one example and although you still should not expect much, it's a feel good movie about ancient family curses and children in an unsympathetic system.The plot is that a boy is wrongfully sent to a work camp.
Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Khleo Thomas, Patricia Arquette, and Dule Hill star in "Holes," a 2003 film directed by Andrew Davis.
Louis Sachar adapted his novel into the screenplay.Stanley Yelnats IV is arrested for stealing shoes and sent to a "camp" in the desert where the inmates, all teenage boys, dig holes all day.
Camp Green Lake's philosophy is "You take a bad boy, make him dig holes all day long in the hot sun, it makes him a good boy." Interesting line, but what does it all mean?
There is a time and place for those type of jokes, like the 1995 comedy Tommy Boy. Not a supposedly heartfelt film like Holes.Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Khleo Thomas, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, and Tim Blake Nelson.
This great novelization of one of my favorite books is a film for both children and adults."Holes" tells the story of a boy named Stanley Yelnats who goes to a camp for bad boys called Camp Green Lake.When he gets there, Stanley learns that every boy must dig a hole that is 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide every day.At the camp Stanley meets an arrangement of other bad youths (X-Ray, Armpit, and Zero) and counselors as well (Mr. Sir, Mr. Pendanski, and the Warden).While at the camp, however, Stanley starts to discover a terrible secret about the holes they are digging everyday.The plot is very good with many twists and turns and has a magnificent ending.8/10Rated PG for language and some violence..
I thought this was going to be total crap, but to my surprise, `Holes' is a pretty good film with a lot of interesting and funny characters and a plot that deserves its name.
The men of Stanley Yelnats IV's family have been placed under a 150-year-old curse, and while he is accused of stealing a pair of shoes from a famous baseball star, he has the choice of going either to jail or a camp.
He encounters many kinds of dangerous wildlife during his stay, and, after a dispute with the warden on teaching Zero how to read, escapes with his smaller sidekick to God's Thumb, where Stanley Yelnats I survived on onions after having had no food or water for 15 days!A really remarkable Disney film, this adventure epic also stars Henry Winkler, Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight in strong supporting roles.
The story of "Holes" is very well done and is a movie that the entire family will enjoy..
Holes is a great family film about a boy named Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) who is wrongly convicted for stealing a pair of famous sneakers.
One of the best Disney movies since "Remember the Titans", this film provides not just a great plot, but also great performances can be expected from the actors as well.
Beautifully crafted storytelling makes this mystery captivating from start to finish, giving hints and clues along the way, but only revealing the entire story at the end.Weaver, Voight and Nelson were cast perfectly as The Warden, Mr. Sir and Dr. Pendanski, and while Shia LeBeouf didn't seem the obvious choice for Stanley Yelnats IV, he managed to make him someone appealing and interesting, someone we could really relate to, with only a TOUCH of distracting Louis Stevens to him.
Nothing serious, just a thought I had as I was comparing the book to the film when I first saw it.In the end, I found this movie to be an uplifting story with undeniable implications about destiny and fate.
Starring Sigourney Weaver as the warden, Shia Labeouf as Stanley, and Khleo Thomas as Zero, the roles were very well casted, and the actors portrayed their roles well.The film had inter-weaving storylines that all led up to the end.
The acting in the film was well done, especially Shia Labeouf (Stanley), Khleo Thomas (Zero), Sigourney Weaver (the warden), and Jon Voight (Mr. Sir).
However, the best parts were with Zero and Stanley, who made a great team together.Although Holes is a Disney movie, it deals with some serious issues such as racism, shootings, and violence.
The film's dramatization at some points is very well done.I would suggest this movie to people of all ages, whether they have read the book or not.
The characters like shia labeauf and all of the other people in this movie were great.
Let me just say,this was one of the best book to film movies I have ever seen.
that was annoying but otherwise the actors werevery good but Stanley should've been fat, it makes it alot more like the book in so many ways.I liked the flashbacks and how it was "weaved" into the movie.