August: Osage County (2013)

Best movie of this year hands down!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

I've seen this movie about a dozen times, and I've tried for a long time to articulate just what bothers me about it. What I LIKE about it is easy: awkward family scenes are enjoyable to me for some reason. The acting was incredible, as you'd expect from anything Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. I even like that it examines situational ethics, such as:Would it be excusable to cheat if your wife is a cold, raging b*tch? What about committing suicide to get away from the obligation of taking care of your cantankerous, drug addicted wife? Should first cousins be acceptable as a couple if one or both are sterile?How young is "too young" for a man to begin a sexual relationship with a young woman?However, I feel the writers took it too far at times, almost excusing away the character's behavior through dialogue. For example, there's a reason that the dope-smoking daughter is 14- going-on-30; her age is supposed to conflict with her looks and maturity, making us second guess whether we think it was really WRONG of Karen's fiancée to hit on her, especially if she was willing. Karen went into a pathetic rant right before she left with Steve about Jean (the 14 year old) being partially responsible, and how it's a grey area. It's not.Violet belligerently attacked almost everyone at the funeral dinner and when Barb protested, she told her she knew nothing about REAL attacks, citing her terrible childhood. No one really shut her down here and she went on quite a long tirade which always feels to me like the writer was expressing their OWN views here, and I'm sorry, but no matter how rotten your childhood was, it doesn't give you an excuse to treat others like crap. Yet another moment where it felt like they tried to ask the audience, "Is it okay to behave badly IF...?" Later, it's revealed that Aunt Mattie Fey had an affair with Beverly, resulting in a Little Charles. She goes into this self- righteous dialogue about how she's "more than just your fat Aunt Mattie Fae...there's more to me than that." That, I assume, was supposed to imply that because the situation is more complicated than it may appear, that makes it somehow excusable. Finally, if you weren't uncomfortable enough by the romantic relationship between first cousins, the writer pushes it a step further to test your tolerance: the first cousins are actually half- siblings.The whole movie felt like one ethics test after another, which is fine, except that the writer also inserted their own answers to the tests through their characters, and I completely disagree with ALL of their conclusions.

August Osage County is a terrific film with a very well developed plot and a spectacular cast. It is a rare movie that is not afraid to tell it like it is, showing the complications of family and how tough it can be to keep it together. There really is no feel good factor to it, there are serious themes involved, from the likes of dementia, suicide, divorce, adultery and incest. It manages to tackle them all effectively, showcasing the seriousness of them. I did feel like the film was lacking optimism, there is no light at the end of the tunnel, a few light hearted moments would have been refreshing, showing the closely knitted family without any negativity surrounding them. It also would have given us a more personal insight on their relationship outside of the drama they are facing. The cast is really what brings it all together, there is not a poor performance in the bunch, the likes of Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor and Margo Martindale are all very believable as a close, dysfunctional family. The dinner scene is groundbreaking film work, an entire sequence, roughly twenty five minutes long, of the family having food together, in which they let out a lot of their inner emotions, it was a risky move by the director but it succeeded. Albeit bleak, August Osage County is an extremely compelling film with spellbinding performances, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good drama. The sudden suicide of a family member prompts an ill tempered family gathering. Best Performance: Julia Roberts

With such a stellar cast, I wasn't expecting to hate this as much as I did.The cast is absolutely brilliant. Meryl Streep and Margo Martindale should just be in everything!The thing I disliked the most about this movie was the amount of swearing. Don't get me wrong; I swear A LOT! But it just seemed to me that Julia Roberts character couldn't go two words with saying 'F**k". I'm all for swearing but there is a limit before it gets too much and this crossed it. It just felt like they were stuck in the moment of having 'America's Sweetheart' swearing her head off.If this were the last movie left on Earth, I still wouldn't watch this again.

August-Osage County is about a large family from Oklahoma who, following a family crisis, return to the house where they were raised and to the dysfunctional matriarch who raised them.It was adapted from a stage play, (and it shows) and is an acting 'tour de force' from what undoubtedly is an 'A' list ensemble.I have never been a particular fan of Meryl Streep, as in my opinion, just about everything she has starred in since the fabulous Deer Hunter back in 1978 has been played 'over the top'.I can never divorce myself from the idea that here is a very talented actress, cleverly acting her heart out, with spot-on accents and all the mannerisms and histrionics that may be required, but in doing so, she somehow fails to get into the skin of the character she is supposed to be portraying and to make her a 'real' person.But I really did like her in August-Osage county – in my view one of her best ever performances and utterly believable. I also very much liked Julia Roberts in this movie who was nominated for best supporting actress Oscar. Roberts' role in August-Osage County has far more depth and range to it and is far more deserving of an Oscar than her role in Erin Brockovich. (For which she won best actress Oscar).I actually quite enjoyed August-Osage – it is full of drama, black humour and some fascinating twists and turns; but if you are looking for murder, mayhem and fast-flowing action then this definitely is not the movie for you.