August: Osage County

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hd_uO72h1s

pretty obvious star casting, and Wells is the West Wing exec producer whose first film was a snooze, but I'll wait n' see.

seems to lack the bite of the play, but it might just be sanitized trailer-vision.

The epic length was so much a part of experiencing the play, I wonder if it will feel more conventional family-fighting if they scale it down to 2-2.5 hours.

it is a lot shorter, mixed reception

http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-toronto-2013-john-wellss-august-osage-county

Makes sense, in that the epic length of the play was part of what made it feel more complete than standard 2-2.5-hour family dramas.

Not bad:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog_post_349_width/2013/10/august_osage_county.jpg

I read the play a couple weeks ago and wasn't impressed.

When I saw it, for the first act I wasn't sure whether it was a great play or wearing the costume of a great play, and then the second act really took off.

savvy marketing w/ poster

seeing it tonight, curious to see if clunky all-seeing young Native woman problem is 'fixed'

Yeah, that did feel clunky.

Good Letts interview:

Though Letts had previously adapted his plays Bug and Killer Joe, he struggled with having to cut the three-and-a-half-hour August into a more manageable film length. “That was the toughest part,” he says. “Here is a two-hour and ten-minute movie, and we’re still having conversations about pace. And my response is ‘Gee, we never had conversations about pace when it was three-and-a-half hours long!’ What they frequently want to do with a movie is, they want to cut out the valleys and just show the peaks. And valleys are important; the valleys make the peaks stand out. So trying to preserve that has been a real challenge.

According to Alonso D., the movie actually has the line "Barbara, please!"

Which, if you don't immediately know who said that and in what movie, you're probably not in the target demo that might actually get some enjoyment out of this movie.

I don't.

I see, everything with actressexual lead godesses is just for fegs now?

Has it ever been otherwise?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKQDUtekS3o

Also, you don't get to use that word.

do tell!

u mean "actressexual" i take it

No, I mean the one you misspelled.

I kinda think "adap of Pulitzer Prize-winning play" is sposed to appeal to SOME heteros.

Shit, I was using that one when you were a zygote.

So were a bunch of other people who loathe men who are into camp.

ILXers?

I don't loathe such people, but it's too bad the most extreme cases think that's all, eg, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is.

it's not like i've never had a drag queen

... in a vice grip.

ugh on this one

about all i can say except this Cumberbatch stuff has gotta stop, and if the camp crowd wants to appropriate this botch the psalm will probably start with "Eat the catfish, bitch."

I believe it--ahh well.

Anticipation levels duly adjusted (up, of course).

oh yeah: at 40, all of Juliette Lewis's teenage tics are intact.

Winona must be so mad she didn't land that role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYD8jRmlWE0

LOL, is this real?

in what sense, mister man?

does this scene call for a preemptive intrusion into your 10 Best or Worst?

This doesn't look good bad. This looks dumb bad.

Apparently there's hope...

http://www.timeout.com/us/film/august-osage-county-movie-review

nope

wait for your local theatre company to stage the play, the acting will be better.

local crit said A:OC was the funniest movie of the year

If you laughed heartily at anything in that lunch scene besides Streep's line about "gettin' dressed up because you came over for fish," maybe.

Knowing Letts a bit, I'm sure he's relieved to be able to relax, stay home or onstage in February, and talk more honestly.

Letts met with several potential directors before the studio settled on former ER executive producer Wells. "I don't really know what that was about since they wound up hiring John without me having that meeting," he says. "I don't know what process they were going through to arrive at that decision."

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/16/august-osage-county-always-ended-one-way

he says that, even after years of adapting the film and years before that of writing the play and mounting the production, he wasn't done with the story until he saw the film's final cut, a week before we spoke. "I finally felt like I don't have to fight for anything."

So is he done with it now?

"Oh, I am so done with it."

Other good bits here:

I was mad at that point, saying, 'Well, look, I'm going to cut this because it needs to be cut, because I recognize that it's too long, but if you're looking for an hour-and-40-minute movie that's going to play on an airplane, I don't know why the fuck you got into the 'August: Osage County' business.

intrigued that he's doing the new Grapes of Wrath movie adap; hoo boy, could be askin' for it there....

(Steppewolf did it onstage in the late '80s; I saw it on B'way, w/ Gary Sinise and Lois Smith)

a.o. scott looks like he had tremendous fun with his review: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/movies/august-osage-county-with-meryl-streep-and-julia-roberts.html

Not very good, but Chris Cooper and Julianne Nicholson really stand out. Also, as a 2013 movie, interesting to pair with Nebraska (Plains) and Wolf of Wall Street (drugs).

I don't remember Violet taking pills onstage. This felt more like watching drugs and booze at work than the characters underneath.

lol this movie. he's not your cousin.... he's your BROTHER!

In her two recent film roles, Misty Upham made more of an impact than was likely on the page.

http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2014-10-18-kent-jones-remembers-misty-upham-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze

I did rewatch parts of this to see her scenes ... It still falls far short as both drama and as camp. But I still got some pleasure out of Streep and Martindale, so I guess yeah I am an actressexual.

try seeing Jimmy P, it's a better role (how could it not be)

i watched this earlier today, gotta say i thought it reasonably worked, the length felt just right and they nailed the pacing imo…& im saying that w/o reading or seeing the play fyi; its not great or anything but meryl is incred to watch in p much every scene; the opening and closing title credits were so garbage tho wtf

High schoolers doing the play - I'd love to see this:

http://norwell.wickedlocal.com/article/20151203/NEWS/151208567