The Descendants (2011)
Directed by Alexander Payne
With his wife Elizabeth on life support after a boating accident, Hawaiian land baron Matt King takes his daughters on a trip from Oahu to Kauai to confront a young real estate broker, who was having an affair with Elizabeth before her misfortune.
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What critics compared The Descendants to
Clooney’s old-school Hollywood handsomeness, paired with the vulnerability he brought to dramas like The Descendants, allows Jay to be a fascinatingly complex shallow person.
…a vibe he cultivated persuasively in movies like Michael Clayton, Up in the Air, and The Descendants…
Ironically and pointedly, the film clips at the Italian homage come from Clooney’s own films.
…indeed, it’s probably the best fit since “The Descendants.”
In The Descendants, it’s when he’s told his late wife was unfaithful to him.
…although he is capable of truly inspired work, as in The Descendants…
As much as it recalls the family road-trip shenanigans of “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Captain Fantastic” may also remind you of “The Descendants,” Alexander Payne ’s drama about a man trying to make peace with his wife as she lies dying.
In the hands of other screenwriters the familiar plot – 14 year-old boy forced to holiday with mum and her new boyfriend in an unfamiliar seaside location – would give us just another teen angst movie, but Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who picked up Oscars for their writing on The Descendants and who co-direct this film) create a palette of quirky characters and load the dialogue with gems of sharp banter – especially for Rockwell & Janney.
Wait. "The Way, Way Back" has been written by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (who won a screenplay Academy Award with Alexander Payne for 2011's "The Descendants"), making their auspicious co-directorial debut.
This bittersweet bonbon was co-written and co-directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who won Oscars for the screenplay of “The Descendants” and have cameo roles as employees of the water park.
The deep bench of funny supporting players includes Faxon and Rash, who won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for "The Descendants."
The infusers-in-chief are co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (“The Descendants”), who also team together as first-time directors and pace this thing perfectly.
Unlike the pair’s Oscar-winning script with Alexander Payne for “The Descendants,” “Back” effortlessly blends the good with the bad of family and friends without using laughs to shy away from the hard stuff.
That’s true in the 1956 novel, the 1961 animated movie, two Disney live-action movies, the Disney Channel Original franchise The Descendants , and her appearance in ABC’s Once Upon a Time .
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In winning an Oscar for their adapted screenplay of " The Descendants ," ex-Groundlings comics Faxon and Rash proved they can turn a poignant phrase and still produce enough humor to save the day.
Woodley, a supporting Oscar nominee in her first film role playing George Clooney's eldest daughter in "The Descendants," is absolutely dazzling as the plain Jane whose infinite kindness disarms even a jerk like Sutter.
Payne’s films have always had a certain amount of heart to them, whether through the naivety of characters in Election or the stifled love in The Descendants, but The Holdovers manages to be Payne’s warmest film.
Whether it be the father-son relationship in Nebraska, or the father-daughter relationship in The Descendants, Payne’s filmography often has a paternal aspect to it and The Holdovers is no different.
It's the kind of rich storytelling that critics and the Academy relish. And bolstered by a cast delivering popping performances, Payne could be poised to finally take home Best Picture, after a trio of nominations (The Descendants, Nebraska, and Sideways).
It’s another of Alexander Payne’s movies (Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska) about ageing white men in a muddle.
Payne, the director of movies like “Sideways,” “Nebraska” and “The Descendants,” achieves it, and then some.
There is a wonderful scene of one of those teachers who make a difference when Mr. Turlington (Tom McTigue, "The Descendants") advises Mason that his love of the darkroom must be balanced with an adherence to assignments if he ever hopes to make a living with photography.
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There’s also career parallels between Woodley and “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence, both of whom recently leapt from second-rate television to award nominations (Woodley for 2011’s excellent “The Descendants”).
Nothing about Woodley, who played George Clooney’s elder daughter in The Descendants, reminds you of Jennifer Lawrence.
A film adaptation of the first of a trio of young adult novels by newcomer Veronica Roth, “Divergent” features talented Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”) as its Katniss Everdeen-like heroine Beatrice Prior.
Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley in her most major role since starring at George Clooney's troubled teen daughter in "The Descendants") is one such person who must keep that secret from all lest she be persecuted for not fitting in.
A forceful emoter, but too wimpy with weaponry to take seriously as an action figure, Shailene Woodley (The Spectacular Now, The Descendants) plays an average-seeming girl, Beatrice Prior, living in a post-war, futuristic version of Chicago.
Shailene Woodley, one of her generation’s most promising actresses (“The Descendants,” “The Spectacular Now”), was an early choice to play protagonist Tris.
It’s been six years since music video directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris burst into movies with the Oscar-winning “Little Miss Sunshine” and their absence since then has been as noticeable as that of Alexander Payne before last year’s “The Descendants.”