mhg83

I just saw this and really liked it. The craziest thing was i saw this at an early afternoon screening and was packed! Had to sit in the front row and the show ended up selling out.

Mr. Cinema

Saw this today with a packed audience of 50+ folk. Excellent drama with really strong peformances from Clooney and Woodley. It's a very consistent, steady film. Hard to believe this is Payne's first film in 7 years. This will rack up on nominations and is probably The Artist's main competition.

RichC2

This movie has quietly racked up $47m domestic -- seems to be a trend with adult-oriented pics lately - similar to how Midnight in Paris hit $56m.

Solid Snake

$145 million w/ change as it's worldwide too. MiP has done very well.

The Bus

Glad this won. The Artist is good, but it doesn't have the heart of this film.

Mr. Cinema

I think this year is a 2-film race. I don't think there's anything else strong enough to get past The Artist or The Descendants, except maybe Hugo. The Artist losing Director last night will hurt some, and Clooney is probably a lock for Actor, which gives The Descendants a boost.

But this also looks like last year where nothing runs away with everything. Could be another instance where the BP winner takes home 4-5 Oscars at most.

For The Descendants to win, it needs Picture, Director, Actor and one other win. Unfortunately, it is in a tough Screenplay category with Midnight in Paris and Moneyball. Both of those are probably favored to win over The Descendants. Dragon Tattoo could be the winner in Editing. Nothing else really it could win.

The Artist's possible wins are also limited.

Mr. Cinema

Pretty impressive considering it never topped 1,000 theater locations. I can't find the budget, but I'm sure it wasn't that large.

RichC2

I would laugh if Dragon Tattoo won best Soundtrack, Reznor going 2 for 2 in a row would be epic. Seems likely Artist will win that one though.

bluetoast

The best part is that the dean from Community co-wrote the screenplay.

RichC2

Didn't know that, that's awesome.

Jack Straw

My wife and I saw this last night and both really enjoyed it. Hope it does well at the Oscars. Clooney delivered a solid performance, but I didn't feel like he had to stretch himself that much farther than previous (good) acting roles. The one thing I thought detracted from the story was the older daughter's space-cadet boyfriend "Sid". But I guess that was the comic relief that the storytellers wanted to infuse into a fairly serious story.

davidh777

Saw it last week and loved it. I've been to Hawaii many times but went to Kauai for the first time last summer. It really hit home for me, and I would have liked to see Woodley get a nom (haven't seen enough of the others to say whether she was robbed).

Laird Hamilton

The Sid character bothered me at first, but oddly in the later stages I felt comforted to have him around. In some ways he felt like the eyes of the audience, coming into an unfamiliar situation and learning what's going on, and saying some things that we'd want to say ("That guy's a prick").

Loved Julie Greer, the "hottie in the hat."

Dr Mabuse

Saw this last week. Terrific film, a pleasure to watch.

sharkstank

I am a big Payne fan, but it took me forever to get out and watch this, glad I did though. Thought it was a great movie (still a bit behind Sideways and About Schmidt to me) and each character was well written and multi dimensional. Seemed even better after watching Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, since this movie didn't beat you over the head with what it was going for or with the melodrama.

Clooney keeps picking great movies to do, and while I thought Woodley did a really good job (not to mention being super attractive) the younger daughter was just as good as she was in my mind. Loved the way they made the Sid character likable in a very smooth, believable way. I was pretty shocked to see Matthew Lillard in this too, I feel like I haven't seen him in anything in ages.

***1/2 out of ****

Mike86

Finally was able to see this on Thursday. Really great movie and I hope it picks up some wins tomorrow. George Clooney has to be one of my favorite actors around and rarely seems to pick bad roles.

lamphorn

Well, it made me cry so I guess it worked, but I can't say I'm a big fan of this film. It just seems to pile on woe after woe so heavy-handedly that when the alzheimer's-stricken grandmother makes her entrance I started rolling my eyes. I usually like Payne's gift for depicting suburban normalcy with such a perfect nuance but here it just felt totally depressing and mundane.

I'm not saying it's a bad movie, just underwhelming and long and the narration was so obvious that it was laughably unnecessary. And then there's the music. I've always found Payne's soundtracks to be awwwwful. As much as I loved Sideways, I always groan when the guys get in the car and that bizarre peppy elevator driving music starts up. Same thing here, only with a Hawaiian lilt.

Ok, it sounds like I'm saying it's a bad movie. I hesitate to go that far because there were some good scenes and some good writing and good acting. Oh yeah, and it made me cry. It just seemed like Payne said, "I'm going to make a movie that makes people cry and cry and cry so I can win an Oscar." I started watching my clock and realized that approximately every 10 to 12 minutes was another moment designed to be a tearjerker. So I guess I'm just saying that I found it rather maudlin and wildly overrated. The whole thing just felt like a "very special episode".

mdc3000

^I thought it was the exact opposite of that kind of flick and really earned those moments that do make you cry - of which I felt there was only one - and I never thought the movie was demanding us to be emotional. It never felt manipulative or heavy-handed to me, which is why it works so wonderfully. To each their own.

Jack Straw

I watched this again, and I each time get more annoyed at the inclusion of the Sid character in this movie. This character not only serves no purpose, he is just downright retarded, annoying and unnecessary, particularly when he mocks the FIL's wife for her dementia and "psychs" Clooney about having a "retarded" brother.

devilshalo

I think the point of Sid was to show his way of dealing with death. Clooney is thinking the same way about him until the talk they have about Sid losing his father. And he's a calming effect for the older daughter.

Mabuse

Saw this last Friday on Blu. Great film.

Payne is a genious and I've loved his stuff since seeing Election. While I love that film I never thought he would have stuff like this and About Schmitt in him.

The only way I can describe Payne is to say that his films are like Douglas Sirk made a comedy. His films are filled with pathos, sentimentality, and melodrama, but every time they come close to going over the edge into the realm of being maudlin or overly dramatic he puts in something extremely funny, not juvinile funny, but brillaintly observed funny. I find myself laughing with tears in my eyes because his most emotional scenes are also somehow filled with the most humor.

I've visited Kauai many times in the 80's and 90's and this film confirmed that nothing has changed. Makes me want to go back again.