Tag: Julia Roberts

‘Mother’s Day’ is a wonderful holiday but a lousy movie

Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston in ‘Mother’s Day’

“Let me tell ’em it was growing pains – the wrong execution of the right idea.” Wayne Tippet as “Sergeant Major Kevin Moreland” in the 1981 film Taps.

Sergeant Major Moreland’s comment above might be the best explanation of what happened to Mother’s Day. Director Garry Marshall has had a long, distinguished career in Hollywood. As a writer, TV series creator and as a film director. His filmography includes gems like Beaches, Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries. Then beginning in 2010 he released the first of what is now three ensemble cast films that take place around big holidays. First was Valentine’s Day which wasn’t great but it was watchable. That was followed a year later by New Year’s Eve which was not as good as Valentine’s Day. Six years later we get Mother’s Day which has a great cast whose talents are obscured by a bad movie. The movie begins a few days before the titular holiday and takes place in Atlanta.

Jennifer Aniston is “Sandy” who is a divorcee with two young sons and life is good. Well, up until her ex-husband “Henry” (Timothy Olyphant) surprises her with the fact that he eloped with a much younger woman named “Tina” (Shay Mitchell). That’s just the first of several surprises that Henry has for Sandy.

Sandy is in search of more work as a designer and she has a chance to present a potential stage design to “Miranda” (Julia Roberts) who is a successful author and seller of jewelry on the Home Shopping Network. Miranda is dedicated to her career and seems to have no personal life outside of work. Her manager, “Lance” (Hector Elizondo) seems to be her only connection to the outside world. But there is a link from her to “Kristin” (Britt Robertson).

Britt Robertson and Jack Whitehall in ‘Mother’s Day’

Kristin has a boyfriend “Zack” (Jack Whitehall) and the two of them have a daughter. Zack would give anything to have Kristin agree to marry him but she seems dead set against it. Zack is an aspiring comedian who is hoping to win a big comedy contest as a local club.

Meanwhile “Jesse” (Kate Hudson) and her sister “Gabi” (Sarah Chalke) are living next door to each other and keeping their romantic lives secret from their parents “Flo” (Margo Martindale) and “Earl” (Robert Pine). Jesse has been estranged from her mother for years and Gabi decides just before Mother’s Day is the right moment to try to heal that rift.

There is another story arc involving a father and his two daughters where he is mourning the loss of his wife, a U.S. Marine lost in a combat zone but the above is more detail that necessary to articulate the fact that there is just too much going on here. There are moments of laughter, only a few of which are slapstick. But the intersecting story arcs seem far too contrived. Julia Roberts gives the best performance, showing the emotional range that earned her a Best Actress Oscar years ago. There is no question that this movie is a tribute to mothers everywhere. Other than that, there is little to recommend in a movie that put a gigantic C in the word Cloying.

May 9, 2016
In ‘August: Osage County’ temperatures and tempers rise

The extended Weston family dining together in ‘August: Osage County’

“Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.” – Anonymous

August: Osage County is all about family and the strong-willed women who keep them together, or tear them apart. Adapted by Tracy Letts from his own Pulitzer and Tony award winning play, it is the tale of the Weston family.

“Beverley Weston” (Sam Shepard) is the patriarch. He was once a poet of some renown but now spends his days drinking too much alcohol in an effort to ease the pain of what his life has become. He lives with his wife “Violet Weston” (Meryl Streep) who is addicted to prescription drugs, suffers from cancer of the mouth, won’t give up her cigarettes and has a tongue that’s been sharpened to razor-like perfection.

They have three daughters, two of whom no longer live in the rural area outside Pawhuska, OK. “Ivy” (Julianne Nicholson) still lives in the area and resents her sisters “Barbara” (Julia Roberts) and “Karen” (Juliette Lewis) for leaving her to care for their parents.

Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson and Juliette Lewis are the Weston sisters reunited in ‘August: Osage County’

Soon after Beverley has hired a Native American woman named “Johnna” (Misty Upham) as live-in cook and housekeeper, he disappears. Upon realizing he hasn’t returned, Violet phones her sister “Mattie Fae” (Martindale) and her daughters and they all show up. Mattie Fae brings her husband “Charles” (Chris Cooper) while Barbara brings her husband “Bill” (Ewen McGregor) and daughter “Jean” (Abigail Breslin). Karen has her new boyfriend “Steve” (Dermot Mulrooney) in tow. After a few days have passed, they learn that Beverley had drowned in the nearby lake.

Now there’s a funeral and the last player in this drama, “Little Charles” (Benedict Cumberbatch), son of Charles and Mattie Fae somehow manages to be late to his uncle’s funeral. After the funeral they sit down at the Weston home for a family dinner and things get out of hand. Violet has decided this is the right moment for her to do some “truth-telling”, managing to enrage just about everyone. She may be addled by her addiction, but she is quite perceptive. Each of the people sitting around the table with her has a secret and she has somehow divined most of them. It is the revelation of these secrets and how they impact relationships that provides the most interesting and compelling portion of the movie

Julia Roberts trying to cool down in a hot ‘August: Osage County’

It should come as no surprise that author Tracy Letts is a brilliant writer and actor. His mother, Billie Letts is a professor of writing at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and author of the award-winning novel “Where The Heart Is.” His father, Dennis Letts was a Fulbright Scholar who was also a professor of writing and English for most of his adult life, before becoming an actor. This is the third time that Tracy Letts has adapted one of his plays for the big screen and it’s wonderful.

Director John Wells does not have a lot of experience as a director, but more than a decade as showrunner and head writer for the television series ER probably helped. He certainly provided his cast with a landscape that allowed them to put every iota of talent they possess on the screen.

Like the other works from Tracy Letts, the film is more than a bit dark and yet evokes laughter. Don’t miss it.

January 28, 2014
‘Mirror, Mirror’ is a fun ride

Julia Roberts and Lily Collins co-star in ‘Mirror, Mirror’

The Brothers Grimm collected fairy tales and one of those they collected was the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, not to be confused with Snow White and Rose Red, a different tale entirely. It’s been made into a film before, most famously in the 1937 Disney animated version.

Director Tarsem Singh, working from an adaptation by Melissa Wallack and Jason Keller brings us Mirror, Mirror. It is a complete reimagination of the film, although many of the plot elements of the original version of the tale are present. Just not quite in the way you have grown to expect them, having seen the classic animated film and heard other tellings of the tale.

Lily Collins (The Blind Side) is Snow White, daughter of the King (Sean Bean, who is perfectly cast in this role) and his chosen successor. He adores his daughter and his kingdom is a happy one, where the villagers sing and dance to celebrate their wonderful lives. But as she grows, the King worries that he is not capable of teaching Snow White all she needs to know, and so he searches for a Queen to help him raise his precious child. His choice, Julia Roberts, seems inspired at first. Then tragedy takes place and the king disappears in the Dark Woods, never to be seen again.

Lily Collins stars in ‘Mirror, Mirror’

For the next ten years, the evil Queen rules what is now her kingdom with an iron fist in a silk glove, keeping Snow White a virtual prisoner in her room. Then when Snow White turns 18, she strives to find out what is going on in the kingdom that she is supposed to one day rule, and runs afoul of the Evil Queen yet again.

She sneaks out of her room and out of the castle and finds that things are not what they once were. The village is in darkness, the people are hungry and taxed too heavily. No one knows what happened to her father and her own existence is mostly hidden from the people, with rumors about her too ugly to mention here. She returns to the castle, where the Queen is holding a ball and she decides to sneak into the ball.

There Snow White meets the Prince (Armie Hammer) for the second time (you’ll enjoy seeing their initial meeting more, without knowing what is to take place) and there are sparks of attraction flying. This isn’t good for Snow, as the Queen is in financial ruin and wants to court and marry the Prince herself, using his wealth to put her own financial affairs back into good order. It’s helpful that unlike another wealthy man who wants her hand in marriage, the Queen is strongly attracted to the very handsome prince. There is a confrontation between Snow and the Queen and the Queen instructs her right hand man, Brighton (Nathan Lane) to take her out into the dark woods and slay her. He does take her out there, but cannot bring himself to kill her, so he cuts the ropes that bind her and tells her to run.

She does and eventually comes to rest just outside the home of seven dwarves. They don’t have the same names as those in the traditional fairy tale. Instead they are Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, Grimm, Wolf, Butcher and Chuckles, and rather than working in the mines, they are highwaymen and thieves. They are also highly skilled in the arts of combat and strategy and after they decide to take in the damsel in distress, they choose to instruct her in those skills.

A confrontation between Snow White and the Queen is inevitable, but what happens from here on in is best left to be viewed rather than be described. It will be much more fun that way. It also enables me to avoid telling you just how the plot devices from the original story like the poisoned apple, the kiss that breaks the magic spell and other such things are done differently here than in prior versions of the tale.

Singh, who I remembered from The Cell, does a good job helming this magical creation that blends its life-action special effects seamlessly with its clearly voiced storytelling. Roberts is very effective in portraying the Queen, who never feels remorse, no matter what transgressions she has engaged in to get what she wants. Collins gives a strong performance as the young woman whose coming of age occurs amidst more personal crises than most 18 year olds will ever face.

It’s a fun, entertaining ride.

March 31, 2012