2014: Week 5: August: Osage County

August: Osage County

Genre: Drama

Main Players: Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson, Benedict Cumberbatch (Basically a lot of well known actors and a few others thrown in.)

General Gist: A slightly estranged and dysfunctional family comes together after a crisis.   

Deb's Take:  
I am a relationship junkie.  I people watch, get encapsulated by interactions and connections and get sucked into movies that dive into relationships.  This movie was that kind of movie.  To say this family was dysfunctional is an understatement.  With an alcoholic father, a drug addicted mother and a past of craziness how could they not be?  I will say though,this movie will not be a movie for everyone.  When I really think about, this movie didn't really have a point.  The message I got from it was, you live life, you fall into your place in life,you try to change it, and eventually you come home and see nothing has changed at all.  Sort of depressing.  Here was the kicker for me though...I love watching good actors put on good performances and become real people.  So, I got sucked in big time.  I felt like I was a fly on the wall in a home of discourse and disarray. I was able to just sit back and analyze and ponder and watch.  Therefore, I loved it!

Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts outdid themselves in this over the top melodramatic movie.  Really, there wasn't one actor that didn't impress me.  The characters had to work to match each other in this one, and they all did quite well. I love when laughing can happen in the mist of chaos.  Pretty much every soap opera moment you can think of death, divorce, stealing, incest, mystery...everything in one 2 hour package.  Again, that doesn't mean there really was a point to the movie.  Sure, I found some good life lessons thrown in, but really I felt like the movie was just a snapshot of a family and their coping, or lack of, mechanisms.  I am sure the original screen play was written with deeper meanings and intents, there were plenty, but all in all the movie was just one big mash up of dysfunctional relationships.  I really did enjoy it...I have a feeling that I may be one of the few...

Deb's Rate: Friday Night

Tiff's Take:
Ugh.  I had practically my whole review typed out earlier today.  I came back tonight to finish it up and there was only one sentence down.  "This movie was intense."  Apparently two people can't update a post at the same time.  One person will end up with nothing.  That person was me.  I'm not sure I have it in me to do it all again.  However, my "This movie was intense" does wrap it up nicely.

To save myself the pain of rehashing what I already wrote, I'm going to defer to Deb's review for the details.  There was a lot of crazy, dysfunction going on in this movie.  With Deb loving the relationship aspect, it was just too much for me.  Everyone was mean (mostly) and hopeless.  There was nothing happy about this movie.  And forget about closure in any way.  This movie did not leave you feeling good about any part of any character.

However, it wasn't a complete loss.  The acting was superb which was to be expected and the movie itself was really well done.  So, I can see why there are Oscar nominations for this one.  But, even though I usually like movies that are a little off the beaten path, this one was just more than I could handle.  

Tiff's Rate: Friday Night for the acting, Rent It for entertainment purposes so I go with Matinee overall.

Preview: Not sure what we'll see next week.  Any ideas?

2012: Week 5: The Grey

The Grey

Genre: Action, Drama

Main Players: Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson

General Gist: A plane crashes in the Alaskan wild leaving only a handful of survivors. They try to make their way to safety at the same time being a target to a pack of wolves.

Tiff's Take:
I want to start out by saying this movie was very intense. I mean, a plane crash and attacking wolves all in the same movie? Totally leaves you on the edge of your seat through the whole entire thing. Aside from being intense it was really just plain scary. It reminded me of a horror film where you're always expecting someone to jump out at you. Except instead of a creepy bad guy it's a ferocious wolf.

Liam Neeson plays the main character who is struggling with his inner demons then finds himself fighting for his life as the "leader" of this group of plane crash survivors. I think he does an okay job. Nothing spectacular. In fact I might say he was a little boring. And to be honest with you, if you take out the intensity, the movie itself was a little boring. I'm not sure if it's possible to be intense and boring at the same time but that's what I'm sticking with. And the bond between the men was just okay. I didn't feel a big connection.

It was interesting how there was the comparisons between a pack of wolves and a group of men. They almost became two equals fighting against each other. But I won't tell you who wins. Apart from that, nothing else really drew me in. I wouldn't say that this is one I would pick if I had a choice nor would I recommend it. It just wasn't my thing.

Deb's Take:
I picked the movie this week. I don't know why I just thought this one would be a good one. I am becoming more and more of a Liam Neeson fan (which I am actually amazed how many movies of his are coming out soon) so thought...hey, why not? Well, I really liked it! I haven't read Tiff's take yet, but do see her last line and am guessing we don't agree.

I do hate plane crash movies..they freak me out, so that scene was very unenjoyable for me. However, after getting over the initial shock of that, I was able to sit back and sort of relax, or so I thought. I don't do scary-suspense movies well. I tend to watch them with one eye open and one eye squinted to the point of barely being able to see. Why? I don't know, it just makes me feel better. This movie was a one-eye-squinter for me. Usually in movies the music will give it away for me, or more often the lack of music (extreme silence) will give it away. This movie got me a couple times, I think I jumped twice where I had to laugh at myself for losing my cool. It wasn't horror scary, just jumpy, and gorey.

I think what I really liked most was that the movie was a journey. Granted a tough and either you live or die traumatically and horribly, kind of journey, but a journey none the less, and I like journey movies. I liked the emotional side (shocker..right?). Usually gorey movies kind of creep me out, but for what ever reason this one didn't. I think the wolves were a little "fake" for me, so I was able to separate myself from fact and fiction..sort of made up my mind it was SCI-FI instead of real life.

I was surprised that two kids about 9 or 10 were sitting behind me with their parents. Let me tell you, my kids wouldn't consider walking in any sort of forest, mountain or nature type of activity ever again if they saw this movie. Rated R for a reason folks.

What I am saying, I enjoyed the acting, I liked the suspense for a change, was a little grossed out at times, but was glad I picked this movie.

Preview:
"This means War"-Free screening tonight (Wednesday) YEAH, gotta love free