Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
N/A
Midwesten
cinegeek.de - wrote on 03/30/2016
Verhöhnt Alexander Payne seine Figuren? Ich habe mir die Frage bereits nach seinen früheren Filmen gestellt, ganz besonders aber bei Nebraska. Im Mittelpunkt steht der senile Korea Veteran und Alkoholiker Woody Grant (Bruce Dern). Woody ist jedenfalls dumm genug zu glauben, er hätte in der Lotterie gewonnen nachdem er einen dieser Werbebriefe erhielt (die der Rest der Bevölkerung in den Müll wirft). Nun will er zu Fuss nach Licoln/Nebraska wandern, um sein Geld abzuholen. Das sind 900 Meilen! Bereits als wir Woody zum ersten Mal auf der Strasse sehen, erliegen wir seinem Charme: Bruce Dern spielt ihn genauso ahnungslos wie unverdorben. Woody ist tatsächlich ein so reiner Mensch, dass einem das Herz brechen will! Wir erinnern uns, dass Dern während seiner langen Karriere meist für …
Rating of
2.5/4
"Nebraska" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/17/2016
An elderly man from Montana receives a marketing mail shot that announces that he's "won" a million dollars, so his long-suffering son agrees to take him to Nebraska to claim his prize. Another comic character study from the writer-director of Sideways, Nebraska is a portrait of working class, small town America in which the family cope with the idiosyncrasies of a typically stoic, hard drinking working man. It takes a similar concept to The Straight Story and makes a buddy road movie during which a son comes to terms with the father he has never really known in a lightly comic way. I'm sure there are many who will recognise the character of Woody and Bruce Dern plays him to perfection, supported by a fine cast of quirky characters, including Will Forte as the son trying to bond with a …
Rating of
3/4
A Different Kind of Road Trip
Chris Kavan - wrote on 03/23/2014
Although I think the depiction of small-town Nebrasaka life is taken a tad bit too far (the black and white makes it seem all that more bleak) - it's not that far off the mark (and I should know, I'm pretty much a life-long Nebraskan here). What Alexander Payne always gets right is his characters - and he hits another home run here. Bruce Dern is simply perfect as the elderly, somewhat confused and alcoholic Woody Grant. He has received and (obviously scam) notice in the mail that he has won $1 million - and he only has to get to Lincoln, NE to claim his prize. His wife, Kate (an equally impressive June Squibb) is fed up - as he has been leaving the house and trying to walk his way from his home in Billings, Montana to the Cornhusker state.
His quiet son David (Will Forte - proving he …
Rating of
2/4
Senile third world problems.
memento_mori - wrote on 02/12/2014
There are always a couple of films that come out every year that everyone enjoys except for me. Nebraska is definitely one of those.
I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed any of Alexander Payne's self-important dialogue-filled, underachieving, landscape-contemplating bore-fests. Nor do I enjoy road movies… Nor do I enjoy black and white in a modern film for no particular reason. So, these reasons alone pretty much evoke a recipe for disliking in me.
This pretentious 'let's go on a road-trip out of the blue on a quest to find something of value while at the same time getting to know our inner selves' bulls*it in movies nowadays is getting on my nerves. I can just picture Payne in the director's chair going, 'Oh yeah, the critics are gonna love that'.
Every single isolated and yet …
Rating of
3.5/4
Soft-Spoken, Deeply Resonant
Unknown - wrote on 12/24/2013
'Nebraska' is a pleasant surprise of a small movie. I really enjoyed the supreme authenticity and relatable, sharp humor within this refreshingly simple tale. The writing and acting present so many real-to-life moments, some of which I've seen play out similarly between my own elders. It just gets everything right about those of older age, as well as the atmosphere of small-town living. I know more than one person that could be represented by each character in this movie. I love that fact. The story itself shows the underlying feelings for one's life miss-steps and those left behind. We see this from every character, but it is best represented in Bruce Dern's tremendous performance as the soft-spoken husband and father with deeper secrets. The film's message resonates within the …
