August: Osage County

A pretty depressing psychological drama. Fortunately, I’m immune to depression, so there wasn’t much to recover from. On the other hand, I can’t say I’m immune to Julia Roberts. Her wounded expression succeeded in annoying me as always. The story is a cliché – a family gathers at a funeral, which hardly leads to anything pleasant. Most of us are used to that thanks to our own family reunions. What I liked were the performances of Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper. Otherwise, I preferred Fireflies in the Garden. (12/30/2016)

Do you know those (theatrical) conversational comedies where a group of people gather in a closed space and argue bitterly? Carnage or the French What's in a Name are two typical examples. So, this is something similar but much more cruel, where your smile will quickly become bitter because when the characters say something nasty, they really mean it. Meryl Streep is fantastic, as usual, and Julia Roberts is in great form. (01/12/2014)

A film that presents excellent acting performances and then... well, that's all there is. The actors are able to express emotions, and they do it absolutely brilliantly, but that's simply it, you won't find anything more. The story is not necessary here, it can be immediately recognized that it was originally a play. However, watching a play on the screen, and that for two hours, may not be such a strong experience, which was also achieved by the film "Carnage", which is slightly shorter. The acting performances are intense, but it's still just theater and the film adaptation doesn't add much to it. Only those truly familiar faces. (02/02/2014)

Sex and the City thirty years later. In a village. Guys don’t get a lot of space in this film; their only role is to occasionally lighten up the oppressive atmosphere of a quarreling female family gathering. Like mother, like daughter. The cast delivers excellent acting performances all around. Especially Meryl Streep is once again incredible. But it would pay off to occasionally slow down the pace and let the viewer absorb the feelings and thoughts of one quarrel before the next one, even faster and more intense, kicks off. Slow down the pace, for example, by focusing on the environment and location where the film takes place, by shaping the atmosphere. It would help the audience make sense of the entangled relationships between the characters and make the film more memorable, not only as a theatre play turned into a TV production, but as a movie worthy of the big screen and its stars. (02/06/2014)

Already when I found out what this movie was about I was thinking that the only thing that could mesmerize me here are the acting performances. In the end, there was one and it was none other than Meryl Streep, who keeps proving every year that she has reached her acting summit. But the thing is she has been on the top of her game for several years, or decades now. I tip my hat off to her. But the movie as such has nothing that would interest me. The premise is good but the execution isn’t too great and if it wasn’t for Meryl, I would consider this movie another family existential drama, which you get dime a dozen. I must admit that I have no idea what the stage play that the movie is based on would have to offer me. But I definitely understand that it can serve as the ground for some good acting performances. However, in my opinion this is pretty selfish and egotistical of the authors. You see two hours are a bit too long for a movie like this. (02/11/2014)