Pill Pop Hooray - Blue Jasmine/Cate Blanchett - August: Osage County/Meryl Streep - Reviews

I know pills.

Have you seen my pills?

I don't take pills, no, no, no. But I do know people that ingest them. Like candy. Like Mike & Ike's. I suspect that they are not for legitimate reasons. Perhaps they were, at one point in time, but I can't help but think they might be taking them recreationally. Who am I to judge? Let he without sin cast the first stone, or something like that.

Speaking of pills, my Mother is in town. She is visiting Southern California for a couple of weeks. So I took Valerie, (that's my mom's name, Valerie) to the picture show to see August: Osage County. I have been anxiously waiting to see this film, mainly because I am reminded of my family every time I see the preview. And who better to take to see this film then my very sensitive mother. What a treat!

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY - 2013 - ***½
dir. John Wells.
Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Abigal Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Misty Upham.

August: Osage County is the big screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play (of the same name) written by Tracy Letts. The film is about the women of the Weston family and the tragedy (Dad's suicide) that brings the clan back together. Every member seems to have their own specific problem. Violet (Meryl Streep) is the matriarch of the family who not only has mouth cancer (ironic) but is heavily reliant upon pills and booze. Her daughter Barbara (Julia Roberts) is separating from her husband (Ewan MacGregor) and her daughter (Abigail Breslin) hates her. Karen is the sister no one ever sees (Juliette Lewis) and she brings along her pot smoking, sports car driving fiance (Dermot Mulroney). There is also poor Ivy (Julian Nicholson) who thinks she's in love with her cousin (Benedict Cumberbatch). Dysfunction is busting at the seams.

August has assembled one of the best casts of the year. There are 5 Oscar nominees (and 3 winners) chewing up the scenery in this masterfully acted story. The film is directed by John Wells who is best known for writing and producing shows such as ER and The West Wing, and he knows how to utilize this strong ensemble. And that is recommendation enough for this film.

Streep. Roberts. Nicholson. Martindale.

Once the family is together in their Oklahoma Farm House after Dad's (Sam Shepard) funeral, pills start being popped, bottles of wine are
downed like water and the family skeletons have a seat at the dinner table. Unable to shake off it's stage roots the film feels a little claustrophobic. Meryl Streep is outstanding in everything she does, we know this and we love her. If any criticism is to be made it is that her performance flirts with being over the top. But, oh how delicious it is.

The women rule this film. Everyone knows that I'm not the biggest Julia Roberts fan but this is the best she's has been since Erin Brokovich and it's always nice to see Emmy Winner Margo Martindale, as Violet's sister Mattie Fae, put to good use. Juliette Lewis' kooky and optimistic Karen is right in her wheelhouse and I wish we had a little more of her. Unfortunately, the men seem somewhat an afterthought compared to the flair an pizazz the girls get to play with - but they are solid nonetheless.

There is no happy ending for this family. (Wait until you see what happens with the incest subplot) With pain too deep and scars that never seem to heal, the best this family can hope for is time apart. August: Osage County is one of the best films of the year.

BLUE JASMINE - 2013 - ***½
dir. Woody Allen.
Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Andrew Dice Clay, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Stuhlbarg, Louis C.K., Alden Ehrenreich, Peter Sarsgaard.

On the way home from the movie theatre, Valerie and I stopped by the video store and rented Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. Another film about a pill popping boozer whose husband killed himself. (I wonder if my mom caught on to the themes of the films.) But, that's about where the similarities end.

Jasmine (Blanchett), or Janette, or whatever she is going by this year, is in a crisis. Her sleezy husband (a slick Alec Baldwin) has just been arrested for embezzlement, ala Bernie Madoff. The Park Avenue shops, South of France ports, Chanel dresses, diamond bracelets, and having six houses way-of-life has come to a tragic and very abrupt end. Left with nowhere to turn, Jasmine must move in with her adoted sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), in San Francisco. Actually both sisters are adopted which, Jasmine explains, is why they look nothing alike.

Jasmine is seen talking to herself at parties and on the street rehashing to strangers the best moments of her past because "there is only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming." As she tries to adjust to the change of lifestyle, her back story unfolds in a series of flashbacks. It reveals her pampered past and explains why here future forward will be difficult. Having been a housewife, she really has no marketable skills to speak of. She gets a job at a dentist office only to be sexually harassed by her boss (Michael Stuhlbarg). She also takes on a computer course because she thinks interior design may be her calling but she even has trouble turning on a computer. All of this stresses her out. She washes down Xanex with vodka at every available opportunity. She's a broken woman.

Hawkins. Clay.

To make things even more complicated, she has a cold and distant relationship with Ginger. When Jasmine was living it up in the Hamptons she never gave a shit about Ginger, whom she was embarrassed by. But now here is Ginger, welcoming her sister with open arms into her cramped, working-women lifestyle. Complete with the typical blue collar boyfriend, Chili (Bobby Carnivale) whom Jasmine hates.

Allen is obviously channeling Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. And it's a wonderful homage that sits well with this group of actors.

You really are rooting for Jasmine but she just can't get out of her fantasy world and sabotages every chance she has at a new beginning. And with the final revelation about how her husband got captured by the FBI, you see so clearly why she has gone off the deep end.

Blue Jasmine is Woody Allen's best film in years. Cate Blanchett gives the performance of 2013 (sorry Sandra Bullock) and will no doubt win her second Oscar, this time in the leading actress category. Sally Hawkins (who I found so annoying in her break out role in Happy-Go-Lucky) is fantastic here. I hope she gets some Supporting Actress recognition at tomorrow's Oscar nominations announcement. Blue Jasmine is also one of the best films of the year.