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christine-dreyer89
Reviews
The Descendants (2011)
Surprisingly heartfelt.
The Descendants cast a spell over me.
I got a thorough inappropriate kick out of it. Inappropriate. Yes, inappropriate. This film was unlike any other film I've ever seen. Alexander Payne (Director and Screenplay writer) presented us with a series of nerve racking anecdotes which left me snickering on the outside, while basically convulsing on the inside! I found this film to be terribly funny. Funny in a way, that I felt kind of guilty for even thinking it was funny. After some reflection (deep), I realized, I laughed because all the characters in The Descendants had to act inappropriately - and they did it so f'n well. This film won the 'Best Writing for an Adapted Screenplay' Oscar and furthermore, was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, which included 'Actor In a Leading Role' for the oh-so-statuesque, GOD - Mr. Clooney.
The story revolves around Matthew King (Clooney) and his family. After his wife, Elizabeth (Hastie), ends up in hospital, he is left looking after his two daughters. Scottie (Miller) the youngest, cracked me up. She seemed to express genuine curiosity and ignorance. Honesty. And I just kept on thinking about that one person, we all know one, who asks all the wrong questions, all. the. time. She is relatively new to the acting scene, but I think she did really okay. And then there is other daughter, Alexandra (Woodley). Such a beautiful woman. And in The Descendants, the ultimate dark horse. She seemed to be into all sorts of bad things, she seemed like the ultimate super brat, but I ended up loving her character.
Even though King is left with the daunting task of looking after his daughters, he has to run his law practice and oversee plans for the selling of a piece of land which belongs to his extended family and himself. All this while waging war with his own conscience.
Adding to the inappropriate feel of this film, comes along, Nick Krause as Sid. He depicts the dude-character, speaking in bumpersticker and generally just being the boy any father would hit over the head with a surfboard. It's like his character was basically just created to annoy Clooney's character, but in the end, I felt he snuggled his way right into King's heart.
And finally, the man, George Clooney. The first time one hears him in this film, he introduces us to his 'paradise' and drops the F-bomb. Ha. (And yes, I felt the swearing was appropriate.) He played the 'dad' and 'husband' brilliantly. His franticness, his impulsiveness and his raw emotion streamed from the screen and washed over me. Oh, and might I add, Scooby-Doo's Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) makes an appearance too, which seems weirdly too appropriate seeing as he is so, like, the dude and The Descendants was shot in Hawaii.
Well, I must say The Descendants was a pretty funny movie. I loved it. I've seen it twice now and I definitely loved it even more the second time, who knows how the third time will pan out.
If you are looking for a surprisingly heartfelt, inappropriate movie, do yourself a favor and get this one.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
A healthy slice of brown bread from the film industry.
Where does one start...? Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was a tough one I tell you. The film follows the adventures and grieving of a young boy who has to deal with his father's unexpected death during the 9/11- attacks.
I believe the WORST thing that ever could have happened to this film was the nomination for the Best Picture Oscar. My apologies to Mr. Daldry (Director). Yes. Once a film is nominated for this award, everyone expects it to be the Mona Lisa of movies, and THAT is exactly why I think Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close shouldn't have been nominated. This is a perspective-film, and I think a lot of the people who watched it were duped into thinking that it HAD to be THE GREATEST thing since sliced bread. Sadly, when it turned out to be brown bread instead of white it felt a bit, too, regular.
The main character Oskar Schell (Horn) confused me for a long time – Oskar seems like a super weird nine-year old. He seemed to have annoyed a lot of people, which is a shame, seeing as they missed the point of the film because they were fixated on only one part of it. Regardless, I'm sure even seasoned actors would agree that his character was not an easy one to play! I would even go as far as saying that he should have been nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award. Young Haley Joel Osmont was nominated for his role as Cole Sear, the I-see-dead-people-kid from The Sixth Sense. I mean, really. Horn would probably not have won, but he seemed as if he had been acting much longer than what Max Von Sydow has. As the mime-like 'Renter', I believe Von Sydow's extraordinary talents were kept mostly covered-up. On the other hand, Horn screamed out his talent at the top of his lungs.
Note that this film has a fictional storyline, but the ideas were developed within events which have really happened. The 9th of September 2001 was a day that meant different things to different people – some were involved physically, emotionally, mentally. Some were not involved at all. The negative reviewers on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close were starving, and quick to tear into the flesh of the film for it's shallow portrayal of the 9/11 attacks and Horn's (apparent) poor acting. A tragedy like 9/11 can NEVER fully be reinvented for entertainment purposes. One could NEVER really see what happened, if you weren't part of the havoc which took place in New York, that day. I would think that making a film, which tries to depict EXACTLY what happened, would be much more devastating to mourning families, than this version of a young boy grieving over his father, Thomas (Hanks) and his mother Linda (Bullock) dealing with both the loss of her husband and her son's outbursts.
This is a fresh outlook on the attacks which took place almost eleven years ago. I'm sure no disrespect was meant, and I urge people to watch the film as an ADVENTURE through death, grief and illness. When I put it like that, the brown bread doesn't seem that appetizing, it doesn't sound great. I'm not saying it is. But, I'm also not saying it's not.
Above all, this film is just a story, about a boy, whose father helps him overcome life's trials and tribulations, even after his death.
The Help (2011)
A rainy day film, a sunny day one and a just overcast one too.
The Help, directed and screenplay written by Tate Taylor, is one of my new-all-time-favorites. It was nominated for the most prestigious Academy Award earlier this year and overall, was nominated for another three, two of which were for an 'Actress in a Supporting Role'.
The Help resonated with me and will with most women, because one could identify oneself with either group of society.
One sees little truths popping-up everywhere (and without sounding unpatriotic, this film portrays parts of my country so well, it's scary). The Help does not disappoint, humorously or dramatically.
Skeeter Phelan (Stone) a newly graduated journalism student returns home to Jackson, Mississippi, during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (a movement aimed at gaining racial equality). Skeeter, having been brought up by her family's maid, Constantine (Tyson) and having had great admiration for her, is determined to reveal how the maids, working in white households, experience their jobs and daily lives. With the help of Aibileen Clark (Davis) working for Elizabeth Leefolt (O'Reilly) and Minny Jackson (Spencer) working for Hilly Holbrook (Howard) and then for Celia Foote (Chastain), the three start writing their book, friendship and new lives, together.
This is a tail of how well people from different races can work together to create promising futures, and I believe, while The Help only lightly touched on how exactly it was back then, we can all learn something from this film.
Personally, Viola Davis's portrayal of what it was like to be a black woman and maid in the 1960's, overpowered all the others' acting in the film. Emma Stone had the quirky, smart girl persona once again. When she cried during this piece though, it was more heartfelt, unlike when she cried in Easy A, when she sounded kind of, well, um, weird. Even though one becomes aware of Minny's (Spencer) hardships, the attention is drawn to her way of just turning anything into something so unbelievably gut- busting without even breaking a sweat. To my delight, Spencer walked away with the Oscar for the Actress in a Supporting Role. As mentioned before, she plays Celia Foote's (Chastain) maid – helping Foote accept her reality as a housewife and societal outcast. Chastain being the other actress in this film who was nominated for the above-mentioned award caught me WAY off guard – sure her character's reality made my heart ache now and then, but other than that I just don't get it (maybe the panel of judges were all fans of Marilyn Monroe and hourglass figures? – the second reason being seemingly padded, to resemble the figure of the former reason.)
I realize that I might just like this film because I'm one of those justice-types, but The Help surely is a rainy day film, a sunny day one and a just overcast day one too.
Beginners (2010)
A happy-heartbreaking story. Truly Precious.
'Love' is such a played-out theme in the movie industry, everyone trying to reinvent it in some way, but in the end, sadly, it ends up being either a heartbreaking story or a happy-hearted one.
'Beginners' being a story of acceptance, friendship and love, left me feeling weirdly indifferent, which I must admit is a new experience for me.
This is a story about a 30-something man, Oliver Fields (Ewan McGregor) who learns, soon after his Mother's (Mary Page Keller) death, that his Father (Christopher Plummer) is gay and has terminal cancer. Don't let the trailer fool you, it's witty, but has some extraordinary-indie-movie depth. The 'cancer' theme (as seen in 50/50 and The Bucket List) hits home for many. Sad as it is, Arthur (Cosmo), Hal's (Christopher Plummer) Jack Russell terrier left me in stitches a few times, and who couldn't love that face?
I absolutely fell in love with the way the movie was put together, (big up to Mike Mills - Director and Writer) delving into Oliver's graphic designer mind, showing us how he saw and experienced everything – purple sweater and all.
Winning the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role as Hal, I kept on hoping the movie would have more of Christopher Plummer in it, even though I realize that would defeat the purpose of him having won the supporting award. He does play a superb gay old man! Seeing him in love and giggly (with Goran Visjnic, 'Andy') just made this film even more of a gem than I'd be able to make it out to be. And Christopher Plummer dancing – PRICELESS!
Don't get me wrong, Ewan McGregor didn't do a bad job at acting out the main character. I do believe he had a similar demeanor to his character in 'Star Wars' though. Laugh it off, but he was the same type of man, kind of cold, but oh-so-amusing. Obi-Wan Kenobi, being a Jedi, generally doesn't show his emotions, but Oliver didn't because he grew up in a family which rarely showed him the warmth which every child should be brought up to know. This emotional detachment being a reason for his romantic relationships (before Anna) not working out - lucky for us, seeing as one falls in love with Anna (Mélanie Laurent) just as fast as he did.
In the end this is a happy-heartbreaking story. Truly precious.
"I don't want to be gay in theory; I want to do something about it." - Christopher Plummer as 'Hal'.