Robert Chianese

A ridiculous contrivance of a movie whose ultimate function is to display Scorsese’ s fascination with guns and blood. He just loves to demean Italian Americans as vicious killers . This time everybody joins in the carnage, father, mother, daughter and son. The family that kills together, stays together.

Unique atmosphere and slow plot build make this an extraordinary film. I was surprised by the plot shifts, never quite sure about the father’s awareness of his wife’s affection until she spells it out for Sam. The low key early scenes give way to ones of high tension. We’re rooting for the family despite its obtuseness.

Over the top skewering of pc bs with raunchy comic bits. Well plotted and a true comedy in classic sense. You have to go to depths in order to merit love marriage and new life.

No one seems to know themselves so real love escapes them. A powerful drama about modern love with out self knowledge but characters are obsessed about the self. The eye and the image are what they have to rely on with no trusting hearts.

The snarky dialogue and put downs of love and marriage are what people damaged by love and relationship think and here they say it to each other out loud. And it turns them on—no surprises there but Ryder and reeves pull it off. It goes by fast so you hang on each exchange and want to see it twice so you get each nuance of their anguish and adolescent anger. This is a Shakespearian comedy of repartee and farcical situations. It’s also a put down of weddings but not of love. Maybe a bit too cynical for romcom audiences but it’s nonstop fun if you like witty satire.

If our hero can escape whatever is thrown at him, why worry if he will escape? He always does with no scale to the powers he must overcome. We never sense how he has to struggle. He gets attacked nearly fatally and comes back stronger with no effects except a cut on his nose.

Always looking for some one is a manic preoccupation. Stay single or marry anyone willing to take a chance on you. This wisdom never reaches the characters afflicted with romance in a world gone violent and destructive. They have the leisure and money to enjoy the fun of dating and the heroine does find solace alone with nature but she never gives a thought about protecting it.

All the plot lines come together in a bit too formulaic way but it holds interest through great acting , local color and landscape charms. Sutton hoo is the catalyst for life decisions about whom to love and whom to honor.

The blend of anger, pathos, and humor is hard to get in a film and this one has it. A work of art with great acting, film editing, and recreation of the gorgeous blighted south in the 1960's. It's a woman's story from so many angles. Jessica Chastain's character is always on the edge of crazy and wounded--great portrayal. Emma Stone keeps her character on the edge too. But the two black leads in Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are full of complexity and restraint until they both have to explode as they discover the way to expose to the world how they are treated.

The ensemble playing is remarkable, especially the actions and talk of the kids; they bring the background alive until the plot reaches them. We have to stare at the settings, the window frames, the dogs everywhere, the realism is so intense. Cleo always looks other, out of it, but is the adhesive for the family. The pace of the film keeps one looking for trouble, metaphysical, mysterious, until we learn the conflict centers around very ordinary irresponsible males. All the mothers in each generation are bent on taking care of children.The student protest scene is surreal since we don't know what the issues are and who is fighting whom--that's the point I suppose. The hospital scene pulls us right down into the human condition, no flinching with us so vulnerable. The long beginning takes too long to get to plot issues, as if reflecting on portentous scenery is enough. Cinema verite shouldn't drag so, but once it gets going, it brings your attention and emotion with it. A unique blend of melodrama and social realism. See it.