Thursday Movie Picks: Family Get-Togethers/Reunions
1) Rachel Getting Married
Kym has been in and out of rehab for a long time. She comes home for Rachel's wedding, but ends up with most of the attention on her, albeit unwanted. This may have been the most awkward pre-wedding of all time.
2) Shotgun Stories
You know what's super awkward? Being at a funeral of your father, when his three other children from a previous marriage show up and deliver a eulogy over how shitty he is. (And he must have been, he named his older kids "Son," "Boy" and "Kid")
3) Winter Passing
Reese goes home to visit her writer father because she's offered a ton of money to find some love letters he had written her mother. When she gets there, she finds one of his former students and a wannabe musician living with him. Of course she clashes with them.
I've only seen Rachel Getting Married...sadly.
ReplyDeleteI think you would like the other two, especially Shotgun Stories.
DeleteI almost checked your 'Step Away from Netflix' option under your post because I misread it as 'Stepping Away to Netflix'...lol.
DeleteBut I added Shotgun Stories...which was my point.
I should add that button, that's a good idea. lol
DeleteUGH Rachel Getting Married is SO. GOOD. Anne was robbed of the Oscar.
ReplyDeleteThat was such a tough year for Best Actress, they were all so good. I'm fine with Winslet winning it, but Anne would've been my 2nd choice.
DeleteGlad to see Rachel Getting Married pop up a couple times this week. Fantastic film. It also features what I think is Anne Hathaway's best performance.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Les Miserables was a really good one for her too, but she showed more range here, so this is her best.
DeleteI have seen Rachel Getting Married...I was underwhelmed by this movie and was not that impressed by Anne Hathaway...I know i am in the minority. I have not seen the other 2 at all.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone in being underwhelmed, I think some were. I loved it. The other two are great though.
DeleteThere are two of your picks that are totally new to me, love that! Both sound intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen Rachel Getting Married and unlike apparently everyone else I detested it. It took me a couple of tries to get through and it was agony. Still a great fit for this week's theme.
My first is a bit of a stretch because while it is a reunion movie it's not a family one but I love the film and it was the first that occurred to me.
The Last of Sheila (1973)-A year after his wife is, as one character so compassionately puts it, “bumped through the hedges” in a hit and run Hollywood director Clinton Green reunites, on his yacht in the Mediterranean, the group that was at his house party that night. A long time practical joker he insists they play a game where each is assigned a secret that the others must solve. Since the group is for the most part a bunch of opportunists and grabbers pleasantries are interwoven with insults but everything seems fine until a series of accidents start happening and the game turns deadly. Terrific puzzle of a picture with a sensational cast of stars from the seventies, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, Joan Hackett, Raquel Welch and James Mason among them, was written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. Even the title is a clue!
The Lion in Winter (1968)-It Christmas time 1183 and King Henry II has decided to let his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine out of her imprisonment for a family reunion with their three rapacious sons. At stake? The decision of succession and the fate of England. Acting fireworks provided by the whole cast but in particular Oscar winning work from Katharine Hepburn and should have been Oscar winning work by Peter O’Toole. When those two greats go head to head it’s wonderful to behold.
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)-Apple Annie (Bette Davis) a boozy Broadway peddler during Prohibition is the good luck charm of gangster Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford) and his gang, including right hand man Joy Boy (Peter Falk) and moll Queenie (Hope Lange). Annie, who runs her own organization of the denizens of the street, has for years been corresponding with her daughter Louise (Ann-Margret)-growing up in a convent in Spain thinking that her mother is a frail society matron. One day Annie receives a letter from Louise. She’s fallen in love and is engaged to a young Spanish count…also she’s on her way to visit with fiancée and his father in tow. Annie goes on a drunken binge but the Dude and his gang step in to try and turn this rough duckling into a queenly swan and make her reunion with Louise a face saving dream. The Capra corn is pretty high in his last feature but this has a gossamer charm with delightful performances from the entire cast, Falk was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar.
Honorable Mention-Crimes of the Heart (1986)-Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek play a trio of quirky Southern sisters who reunite when the youngest sister Babe shoots her husband. Part joyful reunion part hashing out of old resentments this film, based on Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play which she adapted, is stagy at times but wonderfully acted by the three leads.
I haven't seen any of those. The Lion in the Winter sounds like the most intriguing to me. I'll have to check those out. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteRachel Getting Married is so great! We matched up on that one. I always wanted to see Shotgun Stories. I've yet to see a Jeff Nichols movie. Need to get on that...now! Likewise with Winter Passing. Great Picks!
ReplyDeleteI love Jeff Nichols' movies. Waiting for Midnight Special to come out has been agony.
DeleteI applaud any time "Shotgun Stories" is mentioned. I absolutely love that movie.
ReplyDeleteYes! It's so great.
DeleteRachel Getting Married is a great pick. I haven't seen the others.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You should check out the other two. :)
DeleteOk, I need to see Winter Passing. Nice to see Rachel Getting Married and Shotgun Stories on here.
ReplyDeleteWinter Passing is lovely, and I like seeing Ferrell in dramatic roles.
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