I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
... View MoreThat was an excellent one.
... View MoreThe performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
... View MoreA terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
... View MoreA realistic movie representing a normal family and its own relationship issues. A wake-up call for many who might take a lesson home and work on their own healing. Humor was carefully and so unexpectedly introduced into the movie, it was funny to see a different perspective than the obvious environment was requesting. Sad but well delivered by all actors, especially the children. My favorite scene was at the airport when the little daughter shouted in public a bad parental lesson that should not have been told, let alone taught the wrong way; however, this is a great reminder of how kids learn absorbing everything we tell them or they hear just like sponges. Well balanced to keep the viewer interested until the end of the movie and the transitions were not abrupt as expected.
... View MoreThis movie was done so well. I have lived it 3 times over now in my own life with family members, it was like watching us. The Director did a great job putting it all together, Sally Fields did a fantastic job, everyone played it well. I would recommend families to watch this movie when they've gone thru what it's about, because then you realize just how Real and natural your situation and how you all acted in real life just like others have. It's hard to prepare for this situation in life, but once you've been thru it, it's a little easier to help others thru it the next time around. I really liked the Special Features that's real important to see. As I said in the beginning, I feel like I have 'lived' this movie. It's hard to write anymore comments about the movie without giving it away, all I want to say is that it's a 'Must See' movie.
... View MoreThe humor is way too forced, superficial and well-trodden to add the well-intentioned black comedy elements this otherwise bittersweet soap opera needs, but this 2007 film offers a vanity-free Sally Field giving a powerhouse performance as Anita Bergman, the dying mother of four grown children. The movie's title refers to the amount of time her character is expected to live before succumbing to ovarian cancer. With the clock ticking, the four children gather at her North Carolina home from different parts of the country and respond differently to the imminent tragedy. Directed and written by Steve Stockman as a series of vignettes, the characterizations represent different archetypes, and the actors are left to flesh them out to some human dimension. The results of their efforts are variable.Affecting an unrecognizable American accent, Ben Chaplin fares the poorest as eldest brother Keith, an LA-based filmmaker whose sarcastic jokes are meant to shield him from feelings of insecurity and guilt. His character has the most screen time, yet his constantly jokey facade gets in the way of any sympathy we have for him. At first, Tom Cavanaugh plays Ben, the son Anita has dubbed the responsible one, as an obnoxious yuppie workaholic who gradually reveals his fears of loss but fades in the background. As only daughter Beth, Julianne Nicholson is terrific in unconditionally embracing her role as chief caretaker given that her mother is really her best friend, for better or worse. Youngest brother Matthew is drawn in the broadest strokes as the picked-upon baby of the family, and his resentment has manifested itself with a shrewish wife whom everybody else hates.On the sidelines is Anita's second husband of 13 years, Jim, played by James Murtagh, who glowers in resentment as her children take over their house with nary a thought in his direction. Anita's first husband and the father of her children exists as a shadowy figure in the story, and Anita - in one of many revealing videotaped excerpts - has obviously not fully come to terms with her divorce. These clips - showing Anita recorded by Keith in an earlier stage of her cancer - are used as a dramatically effective framing device for the story, and Field shows herself to be at the height of her artistry in these scenes even when the material gets mawkish. Stockman based the story on the death of his own mother in 1997, and this experience informs a lot of the moments in the film, especially the brutalizing scenes of Anita's rapid decline under hospice care.The 2007 DVD is two-sided split between full and widescreen versions and with the extras divvied up. Stockman provides an informative commentary track accompanied periodically by Dr. Ira Byock, a physician specializing in treating those knowingly facing death. There's also a solid 23-minute making-of featurette, "Learning to Live Through Dying", and four scenes labeled deleted though truthfully only one is deleted while the other three are extended. There is a group discussion guide included in each version that provides text questions to help the viewer face the death of a loved one.
... View MoreI read some bad reviews, but saw this film at a sneak preview with an audience that laughed out loud, some cried, and many stood in the lobby talking about it afterward. Sally Field puts it all on screen, and I've actually lived and felt many of the awkward experiences the humor is based on. I remember how difficult it was to suddenly be right back with my Brothers and Sisters dealing with the finality of what was about to happen. This movie captures that perfectly. At the same time, once you face it, you have to live, laugh, talk, and take care of details. A lot of the experiences in Two Weeks are so common to everyone, but NEVER really talked about.
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