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?
Showing posts with label Ewan McGregor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ewan McGregor. Show all posts
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Friday, February 1, 2013
2013: The Impossible
The Impossible
Genre: Drama
Main Players: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland
General Gist: One family's story about being caught in the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand.
Tiff's Take:
A personal tidbit of information about me...Since high school I've had dreams/nightmares about natural disasters on a consistent basis. It started out with tornadoes. I'm guessing because I was getting ready to go to college in the Midwest. Tornadoes were foreign to this Montana girl. Once I got used to being in the Midwest, tornado nightmares became fewer (and less nightmarish) and I started to have tsunami-ish type nightmares. Why? I have no clue. I've never lived by the ocean (at least not close enough where it would affect me in any way) and most likely never will so maybe it's just the unknown factor. Who knows. I'm weird.
So we decide to go to this movie. Smart move? Maybe not. Sometimes I'm not sure why I do the things I do. Nevertheless we went and boy was it a doosie. It was so intense that I hardly had a chance to eat my popcorn! The underwater scenes made me feel super claustrophobic. But luckily there were a lot of after the fact scenes that didn't include water. Lucky being a relative term.
This movie showed you what it might be like to live out your worst nightmare. Especially as a parent. It really gave you a take on this kind of tragedy that I don't think we often see when we're just watching the news. It was so fascinating in a train wreck kind of way. You didn't want to watch but you couldn't help yourself. All the actors did a really great job especially Tom Holland who played the oldest son. I won't tell you if it ended bad or good or who lived or died but I really think it's worth seeing. Just keep in mind that it's fairly graphic and not for the light of heart.
Tiff's Rate: Friday Night
Deb's Take: So maybe it runs in the family. I have dreams about natural disasters as well. Mine started as fires, next tornadoes, and I won't lie, when I was in Hawaii I looked at the ocean with a sense of fear most of the time...waiting for the Tsunami to hit unexpectedly. Geesh....So, again why did we pick this movie? Maybe because it was a true story...Oh great! Not only a "nightmare" but also factual, making it more scary.
Man, all I can say is, the news doesn't do disaster justice. What a mess. I sat in complete and utter shock. Love your family everyday my friends....every single day!
The movie was very well acted. I agree with Tiff that Tom Holland was outstanding, as well as Naomi Watts. The story was pretty suspenseful and kept you on the edge of your seat. I really did feel like I was watching some one's personal video at times. An extraordinarily done movie, but be prepared for intense.
Deb's Rate: Friday Night
Genre: Drama
Main Players: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland
General Gist: One family's story about being caught in the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand.
Tiff's Take:
A personal tidbit of information about me...Since high school I've had dreams/nightmares about natural disasters on a consistent basis. It started out with tornadoes. I'm guessing because I was getting ready to go to college in the Midwest. Tornadoes were foreign to this Montana girl. Once I got used to being in the Midwest, tornado nightmares became fewer (and less nightmarish) and I started to have tsunami-ish type nightmares. Why? I have no clue. I've never lived by the ocean (at least not close enough where it would affect me in any way) and most likely never will so maybe it's just the unknown factor. Who knows. I'm weird.
So we decide to go to this movie. Smart move? Maybe not. Sometimes I'm not sure why I do the things I do. Nevertheless we went and boy was it a doosie. It was so intense that I hardly had a chance to eat my popcorn! The underwater scenes made me feel super claustrophobic. But luckily there were a lot of after the fact scenes that didn't include water. Lucky being a relative term.
This movie showed you what it might be like to live out your worst nightmare. Especially as a parent. It really gave you a take on this kind of tragedy that I don't think we often see when we're just watching the news. It was so fascinating in a train wreck kind of way. You didn't want to watch but you couldn't help yourself. All the actors did a really great job especially Tom Holland who played the oldest son. I won't tell you if it ended bad or good or who lived or died but I really think it's worth seeing. Just keep in mind that it's fairly graphic and not for the light of heart.
Tiff's Rate: Friday Night
Deb's Take: So maybe it runs in the family. I have dreams about natural disasters as well. Mine started as fires, next tornadoes, and I won't lie, when I was in Hawaii I looked at the ocean with a sense of fear most of the time...waiting for the Tsunami to hit unexpectedly. Geesh....So, again why did we pick this movie? Maybe because it was a true story...Oh great! Not only a "nightmare" but also factual, making it more scary.
Man, all I can say is, the news doesn't do disaster justice. What a mess. I sat in complete and utter shock. Love your family everyday my friends....every single day!
The movie was very well acted. I agree with Tiff that Tom Holland was outstanding, as well as Naomi Watts. The story was pretty suspenseful and kept you on the edge of your seat. I really did feel like I was watching some one's personal video at times. An extraordinarily done movie, but be prepared for intense.
Deb's Rate: Friday Night
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