Nebraska (dir. Alexander Payne, stars Bruce Dern, Will Forte)

[cinemaphile]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT5tqPojMtg

[Scottie]

I'm surprised this hasn't had a thread yet.

This is one of my most anticipated this year after reading some things about it post-Cannes. Can't wait.

[Visco.]

I don't want to watch the trailer so I can see this with a clear head but I ADORE The Descendants. One of the only George Clooney films I gave a 4/4.

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I'm surprised this hasn't had a thread yet.

This is one of my most anticipated this year after reading some things about it post-Cannes. Can't wait.

so was I. Did a search twice just to be sure.

[Snicket]

Yes please.

[Pounder]

[LloydChristmas]

I hope Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" appears in the film.

[spanky87]

The black and white photography looks like ass in this. Should have used film instead of digital.

[cbtaber]

Originally Posted by spanky87

The black and white photography looks like ass in this. Should have used film instead of digital.

I had the privilege of catching Nebraska last week and it immediately shot to the top of my list for the year. The B&W photography is gorgeous. Payne's longtime D.P. Phedon Papamichael shot this.

On the surface, the movie may seem like a small scale family dramedy, but upon further examination, it is a sprawling masterpiece with such careful attention payed to the minute details of small town life and the ravages of time.

The friend I saw it with says it usually takes him several viewings of a Payne film for him to fully appreciate it, but this one he loved immediately. My fingers are crossed that this one doesn't get lost in the holiday shuffle despite the shoe-in nominations for Bruce Dern (Best Actor) and June Squibb (Best Supporting Actress).

[Snicket]

A local art house is doing an early screening of this tonight, I'm debating going but its kinda expensive.

[jamesdevil]

Originally Posted by cbtaber

I had the privilege of catching Nebraska last week and it immediately shot to the top of my list for the year. The B&W photography is gorgeous. Payne's longtime D.P. Phedon Papamichael shot this.

On the surface, the movie may seem like a small scale family dramedy, but upon further examination, it is a sprawling masterpiece with such careful attention payed to the minute details of small town life and the ravages of time.

The friend I saw it with says it usually takes him several viewings of a Payne film for him to fully appreciate it, but this one he loved immediately. My fingers are crossed that this one doesn't get lost in the holiday shuffle despite the shoe-in nominations for Bruce Dern (Best Actor) and June Squibb (Best Supporting Actress).

Hype.

[jamesdevil]

Originally Posted by Snicket

A local art house is doing an early screening of this tonight, I'm debating going but its kinda expensive.

Go!

[LegacyCosts]

Bob odenkirk? I'm in. Looks so good.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by LloydChristmas

I hope Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" appears in the film.

Heck yes! I wanna see Bruce Dern go to Atlantic City.

[Scottie]

I can't wait to see this when an art house up in the city gets it!

[MEB]

We saw 'Nebraska' at the local art house cinema. Very fine film with superlative performances by the entire cast. It's somewhat slow in pace, but big in heart and has many laugh-out-loud moments.

The Booth Bijou gives 'Nebraska' 4.5 out of 5 stars! I sure hope it goes into wider release so more people can enjoy this gem!!

Mark

[Mandalorian]

I keep forgetting to see where and when this is playing. I'll try to catch it next week. I have to see this. Love the director and cast.

[baheidstu]

Good to see Bruce Dern back, appearing in great films and winning awards. Apart from a couple of bit parts here and there (Django Unchained, the Haunting), I hadn't seen him in anything for years. He's a fantastic actor, somewhat underrated, and deserving of all the accolades he gets for this (albeit, I haven't seen Nebraska yet).

[Holmes]

Another often hilarious and also moving and profound film by Alexander Payne, further securing his position at the forefront of modern American cinema. The grim opening shot, a B&W image of an elderly man slowly ambling down the side of an anonymous Midwestern highway, painful step by painful step, may inspire audiences to clench their jaws and prepare for a devastating examination of the cruelty of aging in the heartland. While sad, the film, however, soon reveals a lighter touch, blending soulful melancholy and biting humor with a deft hand.

The man on the road is Woodrow T. Grant, a long-term alcoholic with one hesitant foot in the present and the other in the fog of old age, and he is played by Bruce Dern, the veteran character actor whose numerous credits include Coming Home, Family Plot, and Silent Running. This is an example of an actor receiving a defining role late in life, given a chance to put his weathered visage to poignant use and explore frailty and regret in depth, guided by the confident hand of a top director. The character is on his way from Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect a million-dollar prize after receiving a notice from a Publishers Clearing House type company. He is unaware it is a scam or at least refuses to let on otherwise. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Will Forte displays a more sensitive side as David, one of Woodrow's two sons, a man with a dead-end job at an electronics store and a desire to allow his unstable father to see his quixotic dream through to its conclusion, if only to spend time with him. Stealing scenes with ease which would arouse jealousy in Cary Grant's character in To Catch a Thief is June Squibb as the Grant family matriarch, a stout woman dealing in blunt-force honesty capable of slicing through any amount of buttoned-up small-town B.S.

The family's journey, which includes an extended stay in the father's hometown, is composed in its entirety of small moments (conflicts, reunions, and discoveries in miniature), but its cumulative impact is large, and the heartfelt core of the story compensates for scenes and peripheral characters the director's critics will identify, fairly or not, as evidence of an amused disdain for the square population of the fly-over states.

**** and 1/2 out of ***** or A-

[HanaBi]

Was lucky enough to see this tonight followed by a Q&A with Dern. Excellent film; Dern, Forte and the supporting cast were excellent.

Dern was funny and garrulous, with nothing but praise for Payne. He told some great stories about working with Hitchcock, John Wayne, and making Coming Home.