August: Osage County (2013)'s comments

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celis17

"Eat the fish, bitch"

10 years 3 months ago

Caustic and overblown. Thanks to some top grade acting talent blowing their skills all over the place (admittedly in the service of Oscar bait), you can expect some great moments, but not a lot of narrative or even originality, feeling like a collage. Things are often placed at fever pitch and the intensity becomes rather galling for such a leisurely film: there isn't much dynamic variety beyond the bloody scenery chewing and deep wallowing. See it if you want a serious character drama and acting showcase which plays one or two notes very well, it certaintly honours its roots in theater, even if cinema's format doesn't quite welcome it.

10 years 3 months ago

newvague

It might not have the most original concept for a film (another dysfunctional family drama), but I thought it was brilliant and compelling, and certainly better than most within its genre at conveying an authentic family dynamic. Strong performances from an inimitable cast, accompanied by picturesque country-life cinematography.

10 years 3 months ago

mandapuspi

I don't know. Maybe the dysfunctional family kinda theme wrapped up in a stagelike acting showcase is my cup of tea. Osage, Carnage, you name it, it's my thing.

10 years 3 months ago

Emiam

8/10
Almost in the same class as Tenessee Williams!

3 months ago

The_Comatorium

I remember seeing the trailer for this, the one above, in theaters during the fall and thinking that it was going to be a drama fest filled with amazing actors doing fine work. Well, that’s exactly what I got. However, I ended up liking the film, mostly due to the fact that the “fine” work by the actors actually turned out to be outstanding work done by the actors.

Adapted from the successful Broadway play of the same name, the film takes place at the home of the Westons, a husband and wife with three middle aged daughters, played by Roberts, Nicholson, and Lewis. Each of them have their own unique qualities but what I find in common with all three is that they have had to put up with the same mother, played wonderfully (duh) by Meryl Streep. You know, when I saw that Streep was nominated again this year I kind of sighed and said to myself…again? Really? It’s not because I think she doesn’t deserve it. She does. Every time. She’s the greatest living actress and is definitely in the top five of all time. She’s incredible at what she does and carries this burden by being one of the most modest and caring people in the business. It’s just getting boring seeing her name on the ballots every year. By the time she hangs up her career she’ll probably have two or three more awards to her name. I’m actually starting to feel okay with that. She was pretty awesome in this but I think the Academy got it wrong when they gave her a nomination in the leading role. This isn’t really her film. This is Julia Roberts film, who gave the performance of her career. The fire coming off both of these two for the entire duration of the film was really fun to watch. It was like actual daggers were being hurled through the air with every sentence spoken. They were the highlight of the film that was chock full of acting highlights. It was like a musical for acting. There were these little five to ten minute intervals in between these songs of incredible acting from every single member of the cast besides Breslin and Mulroney, who just didn’t have big enough roles. It’s a film reminiscent of something like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” except we have more people involved. It just may be the best acting as a whole I’ve seen all year.

The film itself was okay. There was so much drama that it became overwhelming at some times. There must have been at least seven or eight SERIOUS events that would normally cripple a family for a while all occurring within the course of a few days. It was a rapid fire machine gun of melodrama that frankly came off a bit overachieving but it certainly didn’t detract from the film. It wasn’t a distraction, more of an annoyance. There were some messages embedded inside that were nice touches but most of it are things we see, albeit carried out a bit worse, in every single episode of Law and Order or TV family drama. Had the film been four hours long I could have had more time to process the events and seen where they led but things happened and then disappeared when the next disaster or fight took place. It left me feeling a bit empty towards the end.

The direction was nice though. Wells had some beautiful shots in the soaked sunlight of the midwest while also using the darkness of the house to his advantage. Any scene involving Streep with her wig off were gorgeous and powerful. There were also clever shots using reflections to show the eventual progression of a character into somebody else. I’d like to see what he does next.

Overall I enjoyed the film. The acting in it is just A+. There really isn’t any way around it. The awards and nominations were deserved even though I feel Roberts should have been given more recognition as a leading role. It’s exhausting and funny, but a film worth watching if you’re into that kind of thing.

3.5/5

www.thoughtsfromthebooth.com

9 years 11 months ago

Camille Deadpan

This movie sort of reminds me of Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and some movies from John Cassavetes.
But really, I find this to be a very fine women's movie. Women's characters shine so much!

10 years 2 months ago

dippygirl78

Some amazing acting from the best of the best but the story drags a little for me and doesn't seem to go anywhere

6 years 8 months ago

IreneAdler

Definitely a good movie... I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea but I think it's very compelling.

Sure there are lots of movies on dysfunctional families out there but it's always interesting to see another approach to the topic. E.g. I also loved "Home For The Holidays" and I believe "August: Osage County" feels very different from that.

I loved all the different characters and their clashing world views and attitudes and how lots of them are not completely open or honest about who they are and about their lives.

I can't even begin to describe the wonderful cast but there was a whole lot of talent in this movie. Loved Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, as always... they played two strong characters bound to clash... Chris Cooper and Benedict Cumerbatch did a beautiful job and portrayed very likeable characters who had their great moments... Ewan McGregor was just wonderful... but everyone filled their roles with life and truth and it was a joy to watch such a great ensemble.

The ending may also not be to everyone's taste but I think it fit the movie and again sets it apart from others of the same genre.

8 years 10 months ago

toopsy

amazingly well done atmosphere. some words to go with it: desolate, desiorus, distressing, doleful, dusty, dusky, dour and dingy.

dere you go.

9 years 9 months ago

nadasj

outstanding , capturing it is what it is without silver-lining ... Meryl and Julia were marvelous .. ! .

10 years 1 month ago

Joker of Gotham

I don't like Meryl Streep, but I have to admit that she was good in this movie.
The movie is hilarious, awesome comedy, great characters, great dialogue that made laugh.
Some swearing I think was unecessary, there is lot of drama but some seems like forced.
Is a good movie but not an Oscar movie.
4/5

10 years 2 months ago