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?

Week 6: The Company Men

This week's movie was pretty thought provoking. The movie followed the life of 3 men in Boston who lose their jobs during the start of the recession in 2008. Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper play the 3 main men. All very fitting to their roles. I am a true lover of Ben Affleck and he did a really good job in this movie. In fact, all three men did great in bringing me to the point where I felt I could really "feel" what they were going through. I like that kind of a movie! (as you all know by now). Craig T Nelson, although in the villian role, did a good job...I like him! and Kevin Costner, although only a small role, added to a very strong and powerful cast.

I think what I liked the most about this movie was that it got me really thinking about the recession and all the people who were really hit hard. I have been fortunate enough to be in the health care field, and haven't really felt the hardship so many in the higher level business world have felt. I also felt I got a good sense of what a man who must provide for his family must feel like, especially at an older age, when the thing he has worked for his whole life is pulled out from under his feet. I found that I was pretty disgusted with the whole high exect, CEO big billion dollar company leaders. I agreed with the lesson...yes we like to live that lifestyle, but can we do with less to protect some of those below us...my lesson from the movie.

Although the movie was kind of slow moving, I did find I was captured by the characters and storylines. It was depressing. Sad to think some benefit from others misfortunes, even when they worked just as hard to get where they are.

I was pleased with the ending, put a positive flair on it all! Made me feel hopeful that people are generally good, and that what really matters is family, and friends.

All in all, well written and played. I liked the cast, it was kind of slow, but I enjoyed it none the less.

Have a good week! Let us know what movies you are seeing so we can give them a try as well!!