Alexander Payne

Called a 'comedy' by some, I was most struck by the status of elderly in our society, especially those with some form of dementia. Doesn't give enough insight into Dave's actions: if his father was pretty absent throughout his life (due to alcohol, not physical abandonment), why is he treating his father so nice? I also couldn't quite reconcile the apparent age of Dave (30's?) with the decripit physical condition of his parents. I was surprised by the bawdy speech of the mother, & felt it show more partly explained the Dad's escapism. And also surprised that Dave kept being shocked by it; hadn't he heard it all his life? Or has his mother also slipped into her own form of dementia? She was obviously self-focused. At one point we find out that the dad was shot down in Korea, & it was such a non sequitur that it felt it was added to explain his behavior in a way acceptable to all the veteran viewers. show less

A son drives his dad to Nebraska to collect an imaginary million dollars.

Funny, well-crafted, and an all-around pleasant experience to watch.

Concept: C
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: A
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: A
Music: B

Enjoyment: A

GPA: 3.3/4

Other than being far too long (we all agreed the film itself should have been downsized significantly when it was edited) it was well produced. Matt Damon is excellent in his role. Had we known in advance that it was meant to be a futuristic and very sad film, I think I would have appreciated it more. I suppose there were one or two mildly amusing moments; but they mostly involved misunderstandings and poor English from a wonderful but also very distressing Vietnamese refugee with a show more prosthetic leg (brilliantly played by Hong Chau).

I think I’m glad I watched this film, as it certainly gave much to think about. But I doubt if I’ll want to see it again. show less

Eighteen short films about love of various kinds in Paris (and by extension, love for the city itself). Some are much quirkier than others but which you prefer is likely to be a matter of personal taste. Some are quite thort-provoking and none are juist tourist stauff. The shortness of the films (max 10 minutes, some less) keeps the pace up and even if you don't care for some segments, it's never boring.