Margot at the Wedding stars one of the greatest living actresses, Nicole Kidman in a stellar turn in this nice, small film.
The story is simple. Easy to follow. The mix of comedy and drama is well executed here. The laughs are fast, but effective. There's also a great deal of family drama here. The direction is a hit or miss kind of deal. The director's style is light. It never is obnoxious in your face, it's very subtle. This may bore many fans of Kidman or Jack Black compared to some of their other films. It worked on me, and I thought it worked for most of the time. But, there are some moments where you're sitting there, wondering how can character's be so cruel. Almost as if they are overwritten at times. It's very dark material, but works nine out of ten times.
Kidman drives the film in a very restrained, sarcastic performance. It's great. She's wonderful. One of her best post-Oscar performances for sure. Margot on the page was probably a very unlikeable character, but Kidman's touch on things almost makes you have sympathy for her. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays her sister, in a very fine, rich, layered performance. Jack Black tones down the obnoxious comedy here for the most part and works well with the other actors. The child actors are very good here as well, especially the actor who plays Margot's son, Zane Pais. He goes head to head with Kidman a few times and comes out on the other end smiling.
Margot at the Wedding is a dark tale of a somewhat-broken family. It's not very long, which is good for me. I dislike films that must go on and on. The story and characters feel authentic, it's written with razor-sharp comedy and contains a excellent performance from Nicole Kidman; 8.
About Me
Name: Ryan
IMDb Aliases: RCSPs3, Scream_Saga101; SidneyPrescott2000; smg101, ScreamGellarCruzNine
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RCScream1234
Courteney Cox and Sarah Michelle Gellar
Favorite TV Shows
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ringer, Angel, Friends, Cougar Town, The Good Wife, The Young and the Restless, Veronica Mars, Sex and the City, Dirt, Guiding Light , Bones, Charmed, Gilmore Girls, and 30 Rock
Favorite Movies
Scream 3, Scream Scream 4, Scream 2, Veronika Decides to Die, The Hours, Aliens, Psycho, The Return, The Air I Breathe, Cruel Intentions, Suburban Girl, Black Swan, Sex and the City , Sex and the City 2, Nine, Moulin Rouge!, Halloween, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Breaking Dawn Part 1, The Silence of the Lambs, NightScream, Alien: Resurrection, Halloween H20, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Derailed, The Interpreter, Erin Brockovich, Nothing but the Truth, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Inception, Chicago, American Beauty, Titanic, The Dark Knight, Fargo, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, A Fish Called Wanda, Pretty Woman, Who's Afraid of Virigina Woolf?, Rebecca, The Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Volver, The Upside of Anger, Pleasantville, Mean Girls, Changeling, Closer, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Kill Bill Vol. 1 + 2, November, Halloween II, A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors , Carrie, Duplicity, Final Destination, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Twilight, Eclipse, New Moon, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Dreamgirls, The Family Stone, Red Eye, Flightplan, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Departed, Doubt, The Family Stone, Inglourious Basterds, Adaptation, Juno, The Kids Are All Right, Little Children, Michael Clayton, Grease, Se7en, Precious, Rabbit Hole, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Crash, and Up in the Air
***Indicates the loves of my entertainment life
My Ranking of the Scream Saga
Scream 3***
Scream***
Scream 4***
Scream 2***
My Ranking of the Buffy Seasons
Season 6***
Season 2***
Season 3
Season 5
Season 4
Season 1
Season 7
My Ranking of the Angel Seasons
Season 3
Season 4
Season 2
Season 1
Season 5
My Big Four Film Performances
Neve Campbell, Scream 3
Nicole Kidman, The Hours
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Veronika Decides to Die
Natalie Portman
Why Scream 3 Is The Best Of The Scream Saga:
. The complete second half of the film is literally flawless (post-Sidney comes out of hiding). The first 25 minutes are also pretty flawless, too, but not in the same park as the second half's brilliance. The only time it makes any mistakes is the 20 minute gap between Sarah Darling and Jennifer's house explosion <- it's not bad ...it's like 65% great, 35% flawed.
. The three intertwined storylines (Sidney's metal heath, Maureen Prescott's past, and Stab 3) makes for a very strong driven narrative.
. Has the strongest message of all four films (even though Scream 4's is very strong.) The message of the movie -> the first two asked the question are movies responsible for people killing? Most blame Hollywood for influencing the youth of America to be violent murders. The movies themselves don't, but the drama behind the scenes is enough to start a murdering bloodbath. Scream 3 shows us Sidney Prescott, a woman has lived through two killing sprees and has her life intertwined in this Hollywood drama. She, also, is in a bad mental state as a result. Yet, she is able to put the darkness aside from her past and move on with her life. You kill because you chose to...the movies, the people behind the movies, don't matter...it's your journey....you're decision.
. The role of Sidney was handled the best. Her scenes were crucial to her character development; there was no scene that felt like they edited in as a "filler" to get to the finale like the previous films.
. Scream 3 was the most emotional of the four.
. It was more brave than the first two and the fourth by having a male opening victim, let alone a recurring character who was the hero of the previous film.
. Neve Campbell's performance was flawless. The best acting I've ever seen.
. It was the funniest of the four without using the "spoof" to be funny.
. I think it’s the scariest of the four. Very thrilling, as much as terror (Blood doesn't matter...this is Scream not Saw).
. It was without a doubt the most surprising.
. I like the "adult society" plot it has compared to the first two and fourth who were about high school world and college life.
. It was the most plot heavy of the four, and I like plot; twists.
. The best climax/finale of the series. Brutal.
. Best production values: film editing, art direction, sound mixing, sound editing, visual effects, and the score! Scream 2 had slightly better cinematography and costume design.
. Contains the best supporting character in the entire series (excluding the trio in the earlier films), yes I'm talking to you Jennifer.
. The whole deja vu to Woodsboro and Sidney on the Stab 3 set was creepy and very effective. It goes back to the original and pulls out the unseen.
. Finds the equilibrium that 1, 2, and 4 couldn't find. It was terrifying, but you thoroughly enjoyed it.
.The killer had the best and most motivation to want Sidney dead out of the seven killers.
. The character development with the main three was a perfect epilogue. Wrapped up the story with loose ends being cut off while incorporating a little bit of "let the viewer decide." The new cast was different from the first sequel and the third sequel; in Scream 2 and Scream 4 the characters were so sketched out to be likeable with quirky personalities, it made them unlikeable. In Scream 3 they weren’t designed to be likeable; the audience was allowed to like new characters in Scream 3 on their own.
. The fact that it was original. This is more-so pointing to Scream 2, than the original even though in some ways the original was vastly similar to Halloween. Scream 4 was making fun of remakes so, I'm not sure if I can fault it for homaging the first three in every scene. The clever plot with the Stab 3 cast being offed as they are in the script; life imitating art.
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