Alcoholism in the movies have been played for both dramatic and comical effect. In fact some of the binge drinking done on the big screen have garnered considerable praise and pathos resulting in many performers winning Oscars and Oscar nominations based on this very serious addiction. The alcoholic in cinema is larger in life because …
As with any year, some people have begun arguing that 2013 was a bad year for film, because of the expected glut of effects-heavy blockbusters that litter the multiplexes each summer, or because there was a lack of auteur-driven storytelling for the majority of the year. Though it is indeed frustrating that studios hold their …
Alexander Payne directed and co-wrote only six films, including Election, About Schmidt, Sideways and The Descendants, but he’s regarded as one of the best American filmmakers working today. He’s directed some of the best performances from Hollywood’s top actors, including Paul Giamatti, Jack Nicholson, and George Clooney in starring roles, and he and his writing partner …
Nebraska Written by Bob Nelson Directed by Alexander Payne USA, 2013 It’s become passé in popular culture to mock the elderly, to tweak and jeer at them just enough without being excessively cruel. We can laugh at old people for swearing at each other, or for having regressed physically to the point where they seem …
Venerable Woody Grant (a grizzled Bruce Dern) has a singular purpose in mind, to get from his adopted Montana home to neighbouring Nebraska to collect a million-dollar cheque that a suspiciously speculative postal disclaimer has promised to honour. Elderly and suffering with decaying mental functions, Woody clearly can’t see through the marketing scam, and his wife Kate (June Squibb) and son David (Will Forte) grow increasingly exasperated at his dangerous footbound expeditions before arriving at a mutual solution:
Woody (Bruce Dern, winner of Cannes best actor prize for a nearly wordless performance) is a broke, bitter,recovering alcoholic who barely speaks to his shrewish wife (scene-stealer June Squibb) or grown sons. After falling under the delusion that he’s won a mail-order sweepstakes, he embarks on a cross-country journey, his youngest son David (Will Forte) playing Sancho to his Don Quixote, and making discoveries about his father he never could expect. Telluride favorite Alexander Payne (The Descendants, TFF 2001) explores cruelty, frustration and greed in this Middle American landscape, tempering it with thorough and obvious love. Phedon Papamichael’s bleakly beautiful black-and-white vistas and a superb cast of supporting performers (Stacy Keach, Bob Odenkirk and beautifully picked-and-managed nonprofessionals) make Nebraska Payne’s toughest,most tender and complex work yet.Think Ozu on the modern American prairie.
The Walking Dead, Season 2, Episode 8: “Nebraska” Written by Evan T. Reilly Directed by Clark Johnson Airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC “Nebraska” opens, as it should and as one might reasonably expect, immediately following the zombie massacre that satisfyingly capped off the first half of The Walking Dead‘s second season. Given the …