Posts tagged John Wells
August: Osage County – Movie Trailer
Jan 26th
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY tells the dark, hilarious and deeply touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Letts’ play made its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre earlier that year. It continued with a successful international run.
“August: Osage County” Worst Family Ever!
Jan 15th
“Worst Family Ever!”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is the film version of the award-winning play of the same awkward title, and it stars an impressive cast in a story about a family that is the very definition of “dysfunctional.”
The story supposedly takes place during the hot month of August on the desolate, dusty plains of Osage County, Oklahoma, and it stars Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
The story is triggered by a crisis in the family, which causes the members of the family to gather around the home of the matriarch to offer their support.
The matriarch is Violet, who is addicted to pills, possibly brought on by the chemotherapy she underwent because of cancer.
Violet’s oldest daughter is Barbara, and she, her husband, and teenage daughter drive down from Denver, and Barbara tells Violet, “Maybe he needed some time away from you.”
A second daughter, Ivy, lives in the area, and a third daughter, Karen, shows up from Florida with her fiance in his flashy Ferrari sports car.
Then there is Violet’s sister, Mattie Fae, who lives nearby with her husband, Charles, as well as their adult son, Little Charles, who is insecure, awkward, and seems to be picked on all the time for no apparent reason.
Well, the family dinner is painful for the participants, but funny to the audience, and Violet wants to talk about subjects that no one else wants to talk about.
A doctor says that Violet suffers from mild cognitive impairment, and Barbara takes over and says she is running things now, dumping all of Violet’s pills down the toilet.
Needless to say, the family has many secrets that come out over the course of the events, some painful and some that weren’t secrets at all to a few members of the family.
Spoiler Alert!
If you have seen the play, you will recognize the original ending, but the movie keeps going on from there with an additional scene. Test audiences believed the original ending was too bleak, and so the producers ordered a new scene be tacked on to the end, but any intelligent viewer can see that the new ending contains some important logical problems.
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is a depressing story about the worst family ever!
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Tries Everything to See What Sticks
Jan 13th
“See What Sticks”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Inside Llewyn Davis is the latest film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and the story follows a weekend in the life of the title character as he tries to become a success as a folksinger in New York City.
As with most Coen Brothers movies, this one has already won some awards, been nominated for more, and will probably win a few more during this awards season.
Also as with most Coen Brothers movies, audiences love them, hate them, or can take them or leave them. This one, I can leave.
The time is February 1961, and we see Llewyn performing at a cafe in Greenwich Village for bucket money. While he is singing, a bucket is passed around the audience, and he gets to keep whatever money is left in the bucket after the house takes its cut.
Llewyn doesn’t have a regular place to stay, and he depends on the kindness of friends to be allowed to sleep on their couches. So, he wakes up one morning after being awakened by the owners’ cat, and when he leaves the apartment, the cat follows him outside.
Unfortunately, the door locks behind him, and a running motif in the story has Llewyn carrying a cat around with him until he can return it to the owners.
Other friends of Llewyn’s are a folksinging team of Jim and Jean, played by Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan, and when Llewyn goes to see Jean at their little apartment, Jean shows him a note that says, “I’m pregnant.”
Jean doesn’t know who the father is, it could be Llewyn, it could be Jim, or it could even be someone else.
Then Llewyn goes on a road trip to Chicago, where he hopes to advance his struggling career, and he meets Roland Turner, played by John Goodman in yet another of his many roles that steal scenes and even movies.
Well, Chicago doesn’t work out for Llewyn, either, and he goes back to New York City, only now he is so despondent that he tries to become a sailor in the merchant marine again.
The Coen Brothers seem to throw everything at the wall just to see what sticks, which includes bookends to the movie that don’t make much sense.
Inside Llewyn Davis is too “inside” for my taste.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
