August: Osage County

First Hit:  Overly dramatic with dysfunctional characters and for a story that started as a black comedy it just stays black.

I’m not sure what it was I was supposed to see; a black comedy or drama. What I saw was a drama that was overly dramatic.

That the story, as presented, was not believable from the father dying (Why did he commit suicide?) to the newly discovered brother, it just seemed like a string of strong dramatic scenes. Violet, the mother, (Meryl Streep), and her three daughters Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) are all together to honor Violet’s husband Beverly (Sam Shepard) who committed suicide.

The dinner with other relatives meeting at the house after the funeral is the time that is suppose to set up everything else in the film, but the way Violet and Barbara dominate the scenes it loses momentum. One character that seemed to find the right tone was Lewis as Karen the youngest daughter. Her looseness, attitude, and philosophy seemed to “get” the black comedy part of the script. Did I feel sad for Ivy? Yes, I thought her predicament of being the “one” who lived closest to her mom and having to be the go-to sister was difficult enough but then the information that her love was misplaced added to this tragic character. From the character standpoint I like her the best.

Streep, seemed to want to play this character as dark as possible with little thought towards seeing anyone else but herself. Just a glimpse of seeing would have helped the film. Her role seemed overly self-indulgent both character wise and story wise. Roberts was good and I enjoyed watching her, but it seemed she was taking Streep’s lead and over darkening her character. Nicholson, was someone the audience could actually care about and I liked her involvement. Lewis was both dark and funny. She was one of the best parts of this film. Margo Martindale playing Mattie Fae Aiken (Sister-in-law to Violet) was another role that seemed to overstep the bounds of the character. I could see her delivering what the director wanted and enjoying it, but…. Shepard was good in his very limited role but there wasn’t a reason for his actions. Tracy Letts wrote both the screenplay and play so there wasn’t a reason why it work from a scripting point of view. Therefore, it was the direction by John Wells that moved this film this way – poorly.

Overall:  Not a film I could recommend – it was forgotten the very next day.

Out of the Furnace

First Hit:  Although there is some very good acting, this film floundered and was unorganized.

Unorganized for me means that there seemed to be two different films or storylines, mashed together by the supposed storyline written by Brad Ingelsby and Director Scott Cooper.

This story line is revenge. However, some of the shots by Cooper were fantastic. For instance, the opening shot, where the camera starts from high and moves into the back of a car sitting in a drive in movie theater is really good. The shot shows the types of cars/trucks while the sense of segregated community (separated by their older cars) but all watching the same film.

The second scene is inside the car where the next bit of dialogue and action sets up the angry uncaring life of Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson). He comes from the hills in New Jersey where law and order is defined by who is toughest and meanest, not the police. This view of Harlan and his cohorts is one film. 

The other film is about Russell Baze (Christian Bale), his brother Rodney (Casey Affleck), and Russell’s love Lena Taylor (Zoe Saldana). The mashup is Rodney’s struggle to find a life after a number of tours of Iraq. Being angry and lost he gambles, gets into debt to John Petty (Willem Dafoe) who is indebted to Harlan. This is where the stretch doesn't work.

I won’t move the storyline any more here, but despite the wonderful individual performances the story felt disjointed and forced.

Harrelson was in the vein of his roles in “Natural Born Killers” and “Zombieland”; dark, caring only about himself, and mean. He does this well and I like it. Bale is fantastic as a guy trying to do right by his family and girl while be caught by his wish to take care of his brother. Affleck is strong as a smart good looking guy carrying the struggles and demons he builds through war and family life. Saldana is wonderful as a woman who wants stability and family in her life. Dafoe is very good as the guy who owns a bar but makes book on the side. Forest Whitaker is intense and wonderful as a friend of Baze and as Police Chief Wesley Barnes in a small steel town in Pennsylvania where the Baze’s live. Sam Shepard is strong in a minor role as a Baze relative.  Ingelsby wrote an interesting script but it was either this script or the direction of Cooper that had it go off track.

Overall:  In parts, great. As a whole the film was mostly incongruent.

Mud

First Hit:  A well-crafted film with excellent performances.

Where “To the Wonder” tried to show love and didn’t speak about love, “Mud” evoked a story around what love can drive people to do or not do.

This film evoked the feeling of Arkansas, the difference between town people and river folk, and how love can confuse young and old alike. We’ve got two young boys Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and his close friend Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) finding a boat in a tree. It got there through one of the horrific storms that come through the south.

While exploring their new found treasure, they run into Mud (Matthew McConaughey) who has commandeered the boat for his own purposes. Listening to him talk you get a sense that he skirts the truth while embracing wives tales and superstitions when they serve his purpose. He convinces the boys he’s there to meet his love Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) whom he’s loved his whole life.

He’s also hiding out because he killed one of Juniper’s boyfriends for hitting her. Now the boyfriend’s family and police are after him for revenge. Ellis has an idealistic view of love and it is congruent with the devotion Mud has for Juniper. However his mom Mary Lee (Sarah Paulson) and dad, Senior (Ray McKinnon), are talking divorce and Ellis sees his life falling apart. He’s a strong willed kid and when he stops a guy from pushing a girl he likes by hitting him, he becomes enamored and hopes she like him. He and Mud connect in this way.

This film is not fast paced and, at times, I wanted it to make it go faster, but then I exhaled and let the film continue its elegant unfolding.

Sheridan was sublime by evoking strength, compassion and mindfulness. He was extraordinary. Lofland was equally superb and as a friend to Sheridan he was perfect. I would be surprised if I learned they are not real life friends as well. McConaughey was amazing. As his recent films have shown, he’s really choosing parts that work for him and that he can bring good things to the director of the film. Witherspoon is great in this role because it reminded me of the intensity and power of her early “Freeway” role. I loved her in that film and can still feel the intense scenes with Kiefer Sutherland. Paulson is really good and I loved her presence in the film as the woman struggling and needing to change her life. McKinnon is good, especially as the film moved on. Sam Shepard (as Tom Blankenship) is strong as Mud’s closest friend and surrogate dad. Michael Shannon (as Galen), Neckbone's uncle and caretaker was really good and it was good to see him in this role. Joe Don Baker has a minor and pivotal role as the father of the man Mud killed. Jeff Nichols wrote and directed this film with patience and a great eye for bringing out the south.

Overall:  Although slow at times – it was well worth it.

Brothers

First Hit: A strong film about family and the effects war can have on our subsequent actions.

Tobey MaGuire plays Sam, a career soldier and captain, married to Grace (played by Natalie Portman). They have two darling daughters Maggie and Isabelle (played by Taylor Geare and Bailee Madison respectively).

The film begins by showing a happy family but with the impending sadness that Sam will soon be heading back to Afghanistan. Prior to Sam leaving, he goes to a prison to pick up his brother Tommy (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) who is being let out for some unknown crime.

Tommy is the bad boy of the family and their dad Hank (played by Sam Shepard) makes it known that Sam is the preferred son while Tommy is the weak black sheep. There is a dinner scene with all of them around the table which sets the tone of the family angst with the step mom Elise (played by Mare Winningham) attempting to keep the peace.

Sam goes to Afghanistan, gets shot down and is believed to be dead. Tommy, finds it in his heart to start taking care of Grace, Maggie and Isabelle. Tommy finds new joy in his life playing with Maggie and Isabelle.

It is clearly Gyllenhaal and Portman’s film at this point as you see the interplay of how Tommy starts to believe he has some value to his brother’s family while Grace begins to see the good side of Tommy. There is a moment when Grace and Tommy kiss but both of them realize immediately that nothing else can happen.

Meanwhile Sam was captured by the enemy, not killed but is tortured by his captors. In hopes of seeing his family again he ends up doing an unforgivable deed. When he is rescued, we clearly see that he has become a different man with his soul in a battle between his actions and his beliefs. In the end this film is about family and love.

The acting was generally superb all around the horn. However standouts include Madison as the older daughter when she shares her fear of her father, Portman for being able hide her absolute beauty and to have us see the character, and McGuire for showing me he is something other than Spiderman. I think the film could have had more in-depth probing of how the brothers became so different and how their dad hurt them while growing up. We are given a quick glimpse when Shepard tells McGuire about his turn in Vietnam and how it changed him, but that’s all.

Overall: This is a good film which could have been stronger because all the elements were available and the actors' first rate.