Seeds of Yesterday (2015)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Simply Perfect

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Corrine is dead and the Foxworth Manor has been rebuilt. It is expected that religious Bart is inheriting the family fortune on his 25th birthday after years of psychiatric treatment and poisoned by Malcolm's journal. His parents Cathy and Christopher Sheffield have been managing the money for him. He has changed his name from Sheffield to Foxworth. His brother Jory is a star ballet dancer and his wife Melodie announces her pregnancy. Adopted sister Cindy overhears Bart talking about insurance on Jory over the phone. Jory performs for Bart's 25th birthday and is paralyzed by a suspicious accident. Bart and Melodie start having an affair. An extra clause in the will leaves control of the fortune to Christopher for another 10 years.Sorry for the Star Wars reference. I like that Bart is fully Darth Vader. There is no more Anakin. It makes it much more fun. He is deliciously crazy and evil. He makes this better than 'If There Be Thorns'. As Lifetime movies go, this series is better than most. It's an overwrought soap.

And here we have finally arrived. The last installment in the Dollanganger series, which is hopefully never going to continue. We began with Flowers in the Attic, a isolated story that was fairly interesting, and then Petals on the Wind, which was underwhelming at best, and then If There Be Thorns which was a suspenseful thriller that I thought was the best so far. Now, we've come to the finale. The only thing I know for certain is that James Maslow is in this one, and I enjoy him as an actor and he's a sexy beast, I mean, delightful human being. Let us dive right into the deep END... this is......Seeds of Yesterday. Seeds of Yesterday starts off thirteen years after If There Be Thorns, with Bart inviting the family to the newly built reproduction of Foxworth Hall for his twenty-fifth birthday bash, and all of them bringing news and their own problems that start to weigh heavily on Bart's mind.This is a very worthy sequel to If There Be Thorns. Let's talk about the positives, because there is a lot of them. The character of Bart is probably the most interesting character, in not just this film or the previous one, but in the entire series. James Maslow gives an amazing performance in this film. I wouldn't expect it from the guy who began on a show like Big Time Rush, but he honestly brings a sense of darkness to the character that just works so well. Definitely the best actor in the film, just as Mason Cook was last time.The cinematography and music are all wonderful. What's the point of even mentioning it in these films anymore? They all look very atmospheric and make any room seem either warm or cold, depending on what the situation is.All of the other actors do well, even some of the newer ones who have been recast again (I think this is the only time Chris and Cathy haven't been recast in a film!). Some of the highlights, in my eyes, include Sammi Hanratty as a grown-up Cindy Sheffield, Anthony Konechy and Leah Gibson as Jory and Melodie Marquet, and they all do a great job. All of them are forced to do some pretty despicable things in the film, or experience those things, so having actors who can properly convey that, is very important.The plot is pretty good. Towards the end, it does go a bit crazy and Bart seems to be going off the deep end, but what I previously thought might have been possession could have also been delusion. The way this film ends, it's kind of reminiscent of how the first one begins. It begins, and ends, in the attic of a Foxworth Hall. I don't know if that was in the book, but that is a very strange way to end the film.Perhaps my only issue is that I still can't believe that there's another incestuous relationship in this film, and the fact that for how much Bart preaches about sex being a sin, he really has a lot of it in the film. I counted like four or five times he had a sex scene in the film. The incestuous relationship kind of comes out of nowhere. I won't spoil it, in case you have an interest in watching the film, but still.Overall, Seeds of Yesterday is on the same level as If There Be Thorns, better than the first two and a very intriguing story. I personally enjoyed the acting, especially from James Maslow, the cinematography, music, and script. The only things I disliked were some of the plot elements and the ending, but it's still a great conclusion to this roller-coaster ride of a series.8/10. Grade: B+ (Film Grade) 7/10. Grade: B (Series Grade)

I haven't reviewed the other three movies and almost didn't review this one, simply because there is no way to correctly deduce the expected outcome of a V.C. Andrews adaption. This is for two reasons: one being that the books are practically a genre unto themselves; and two because there have been no serious efforts made to properly adapt them into visual media that can fully encompass the batcrap crazy rabbit hole that is the writing of V.C. Andrews.I say this with full respect to V.C. Andrews - she is by far, the most unlikely but gifted writer of her generation. Her books were meant to be notional, dramatic, and horrifying. V.C. Andrews books were marketed as horror books before they became franchised as family dramas. People say V.C. Andrews books are trash - I say they've sold millions copies so judge away, as Flowers in the Attic still enthralls every generation after it's initial publication.Back to the review. Being that the Dollanganger Saga are all produced by Lifetime, it was a safe guess that they would get the evening news treatment. There is simply no way to accurately adapt one of V.C. Andrews' books without making it into a week-long miniseries. V.C. was a writer extremely and emotionally invested in her books to the point of self-imposed isolation and grieving after one of the characters died. For that, it's almost an insult that Lifetime would slap together a script so they could take advantage a series of books so notorious that Hollywood should have theoretically bought the filming rights decades ago.But because they didn't, fans of the books will have to take what they can get. In this case, a separate movie for each book; the plot condensed and organized so that the viewer can follow along without having to think too much; with some titillating scenes sprinkled with 50 Shades of Grey mimicry.That about sums up Seeds of Yesterday, as well as all the other movies. Yeah, I know, no book adaption will ever be the same as the book itself, but Seeds of Yesterday really deviated from the book (as if deviance even exists in the world of V.C. Andrews). The movie is well made, and the acting is competent for the most part. It's no secret that Jason Maslow stole the show, and has great chemistry with Sammi Hanratty. However, in the book Cindy and Bart hate each other, and Cindy only provoked Bart because she hated him. Well, he did try to kill her as a child so is it really logical that Cindy would grow up and want to have sex with Bart? Not really. Not unless you fetishize dangerous and self-destructive behavior. In the book, I was never given a reason to believe that there was sexual tension between Cindy and Bart. Bart was too obsessed with getting the upper hand on Jory and Cindy displayed behavior that I can only describe as Borderline Personality Disorder. I also say that with respect, as your mother dying at an extremely young age and having a psychotic older brother that rejects you your whole life and even tries to kill you WILL, without a doubt, give you issues. For those who have never read the books, you are probably wondering why incest didn't occur between Bart and Cindy in the books as the movie makes it look like a great idea considering Bart is both insane and his mother is married to her brother. I suspect that at the point of Seeds of Yesterday, V.C. Andrews got tired of writing about forbidden love vis-a-vis brother and sister; decided it played out enough with Cathy and Chris and so threw in the towel and called it a day. And that's okay! There's two entire books devoted to forbidden incest, did we really need another installment? Personally, I don't think so.Then there's the absence of Joel Foxworth, who was supposed come back from the grave after being found and nursed back to health by monks in the Italian Alps where he would then live for the next fifty or so years (give or take a decade). Seeds of Yesterday, movie version, is bereft of the batty old man shuffling about Foxworth Hall making snide, undercutting remarks and sabotaging Bart's happiness which almost makes one want to feel sorry for him. Joel Foxworth humanizes Bart in such a way that the movie lacks, and so it's a loss to the movie series.In conclusion, I am giving this movie a 7 out of 10; mostly because of the shameless butchering of the plot and what feels like a thinly transparent attempt to appeal to 50 Shades of Grey fans.

The fourth (and, presumably, final) "Lifetime" TV-movie in the "Flowers in the Attic" (2014) series continues to focus on the children who took the spotlight in "If There Be Thorns" (2015). Blonde mom Rachael Carpani and doctor dad Jason Lewis and (as Cathy and Christopher "Chris" Dollanganger) return as the incestuous parents; they provide good-looking continuity and have more involvement in the storyline. However, they take a back seat to the story's newest entry in the crowded "shirtless hunk" character sweepstakes, handsome James Maslow (as Bartholomew "Bart" Foxworth). Here, he has restored the original Foxworth mansion, which burned to the ground in "Petals on the Wind" (2014). No slouch in the shirtless department, Anthony Konechny (as Jory Marquet) assumes the role as Mr. Maslow's brother...The family gathers at the mansion to sort out inheritances and have uncontrolled sex with each other..."Seeds of Yesterday" ups the arousing female quotient, which had dipped in the previous movie; however, there are no nipples. The new nymphomaniac in the mansion is sexually-charged Sammi Hanratty (as Cynthia "Cindy" Sheffield). The little blonde girl adopted in the previous story reveals her real worth, herein. Of course, she was meant to grow up and have sex with anyone willing, which she states is her insatiable "appetite." Also needing, as she says, "a man inside me," is ballet dancer Leah Gibson (as Melodie). Lead actor Maslow attracts every woman in the cast, even getting his mom on her knees for a suggestive scene. In between the sex, the story is lost and confused. Original author Virginia C. Andrews' characters seem only used to show various family members live simply to copulate with each other.**** Seeds of Yesterday (4/12/15) Shawn Ku ~ James Maslow, Anthony Konechny, Sammi Hanratty, Rachael Carpani