Alexander Payne + Clooney + Hawaii = The Descendants

it was kind of lol imagining his character as bizzaro-world jeffry lebowski

more like real world lebowski, now that I think abt it maybe that was the intention

the dude would jive well in Hawaii.

Beau Bridges is now in a Broadway musical opp a Jonas Brother

livin the life

atop a Jonas Brother

Q.
Were there any scenes that you thought were really funny that you had to cut because they were too funny?

A.
Mr. Faxon: There’s a scene at the end of the movie where they’re spreading the mother’s ashes in the ocean, and it gets broken up by a cruise and a bunch of drunk guys. That was shot, it was funny. But they didn’t want to cut away from that very poignant emotional closure.

― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Sunday, January 29, 2012 12:09 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i might've loved the movie if they had left this in

thanks for the perspective gr80. i still think i wouldve preferred to see a movie about nonwhite hawaiians, i dunno

yeah me too, but they decided to make a movie based on a book that was about rich haoles, and they did a p good job of it. the mom & daughter who's house they go over to and apologize for the pubes texts rang especially true to me-- feel like there really could have been more characters like that.

despite the scene where matt and him finally talk in the hotel suite, i feel like Sid was pretty useless overall, and suspect he had a more fleshed character in the book. same for the alzheimer's grandmother-- like there was no reason at all for her to have alzheimer's aside from setting up something for Sid to get punched in the face over.

i really loved how many lingering establishing shots there were of the mountains and the ocean and diff parts of urban honolulu.

i will see this again, may not have given it a fair shake

I was totally all who is this comic relief kid re sid but then he started to make sense to me, def still feel like he couldve been 75% less ott

never needs to be seen a second time by anyone

ok, i've cancelled my netflix order, thx.

phew that was close

Dr Morbius 1D0% OTM

think i'm going to see it again.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h62fEE11dvs/TuZRhD3h7NI/AAAAAAAAIhM/yRpztwRSqk8/s1600/George-Clooney-Running-in-Hawaii-520x736.jpg

RUNNING

How could y'all not love the costumes in this?

terrible form clooney!

its hard to go balls out in those puppies

were he mid striking thered be NO PROBLEM

jeez clooney

http://www.fresnobeehive.com/archives/george_clooney300-thumb-300x400.jpg

can we get Robert Forster to punch Aaron Sorkin in the face if he wins best adapted screenplay again?

sure np dr

Finally saw this. Um...it was very pretty to look at, and the music was lovely. Otherwise, it was about on par with, like, Kramer Vs. Kramer (i.e. fair-to-middlin' Oscar fodder). In a way, I was the prime audience to get my heart strings tugged hard after having several family members recently fade away in hospital, but it really didn't get to me on that level at all. I'm happy for Jim Rash that he won an Oscar. I just wish it had been for something better.

yeah i agree. i wanted this to be some kind of emotional blockbuster but i never got really involved with it. it was perfectly respectable and well-made but not super engaging.

this movie was bogus

feel like he kind of bit the Michael Clayton ending

how so? i don't actually remember the last shot.

i think "bogus" is actually a kind of brutal but fair term to apply to this film.

ok wait now i remember. do you just mean it ends w/ a silent long take meant to make us wonder what the character(s) are thining? that's kind of tradition that goes back far beyond michael clayton though.

a.o. scott's incredibly enthusiastic review was really weird btw, and reads even weirder today.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/movies/descendants-with-george-clooney-review.html?pagewanted=all

To call “The Descendants” perfect would be a kind of insult, a betrayal of its commitment to, and celebration of, human imperfection. Its flaws are impossible to distinguish from its pleasures. For example: after what feels as if it should be the final scene, a poignant, quiet tableau of emotional resolution and apt visual beauty, Mr. Payne adds another, a prosaic coda to a flight of poetry. Without saying too much or spoiling the mood, I will say that I was grateful for this extra minute, a small gift at the end of a film that understands, in every way, how hard it can be to say goodbye.

i mean it's a kind of 400 blows gesture in a way.

I wish more movies simply ran out of film and were forced to freeze.

...on George Clooney in sockless boat shoes

"bogus" is a good word. A dubious honor for Clooney to star in two of the most meretricious Oscar films of the last twenty years.

There’s a scene at the end of the movie where they’re spreading the mother’s ashes in the ocean, and it gets broken up by a cruise and a bunch of drunk guys. That was shot, it was funny. But they didn’t want to cut away from that very poignant emotional closure.

You can't have humor interrupting very poignant emotional closure!

Still prefer both to Syriana.

DWH needs to reappreciate Kramer vs Kramer

someone get Sotosyn some friggin' boat shoes already

I'm wearing a pair with argyles.

I'm not saying Kramer Vs. Kramer is bad, Morbs. It's just nothing terribly special, and surely not the best film of 1979 any more than The Descendants has one of the very best screenplays of 2011 (hopefully you'll forgive my dubiousness towards the decisions of the esteemed Academy).

Morbs agrees, I think.

he liked Boat Shoes Vs. Boat Shoes more than a lot of us

Both end with the credits rolling over George Clooney as he stares thoughtfully into the middle distance

It's not the fact that they end with that kind of shot, but holding it for so long with the credits over it is something I can't remember seeing before MC

i considered barking a little in defense of kramer vs. kramer, yesterday. i remember it fondly, though i was only 12 at the time, but i decided that it's been too long for me to say with any certainty that i'd still like it. also, i thought there was a slight misogynist streak to the descendants, similar to what jonathan rosenbaum objected to in KvK.

I kinda think all the characters in The Descendants are equally miserable.

It's not the fact that they end with that kind of shot, but holding it for so long with the credits over it is something I can't remember seeing before MC

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 9:02 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'll agree that it works better in michael clayton.

I found this kind of a snore, tbh. However I really loved seeing Hawaii shown in a 'hey people live here' way. Honestly I enjoyed it more once I ignored the story and just watched it as a travel documentary, lol

Not bad--except for a couple of scenes near the end (Judy Greer's bedside scene), not as mawkish as I expected/feared.

However I really loved seeing Hawaii shown in a 'hey people live here' way.

I liked that too. Shailene Woodley and Robert Forster were good. And not to get sidetracked, but another demurral on Kramer vs. Kramer, which is really good, and might indeed be the best American film of 1979--I'd take it over Apocalypse Now and (easily) Being There, and maybe over Breaking Away too.