NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Dfilson1004 My secret Santa threw in a few movies (she'd picked up at a video store going out of business) to go along with my new HULU whatever they call it. I said c'mon over tomorrow and we'll watch one or two. She brought along her sister and a great pizza. I asked who paid for the pizza and told her she had the honor of choosing the movie. She picked "As I Lay Dying". Well, what can I say? We laughed, we cried, we contemplated the meaning of the universe. We had plenty of time on our hands because we voted to stop the movie at 19 minutes and 33 seconds into it. We decided she had no choice but to put herself out of her misery. Or is that what Faulkner really had in mind???Remember, if you happen to see this movie in the bargain bin at your local 7Eleven, are you willing to pass up a Super Slurpee to prove me wrong?

rioplaydrum I never read Faulkner's classic by the same title, and from what I understand, I probably wouldn't have the patience for it anyway. My personal reading habits have a wide range of interests, from Westerns to Sci-Fi, but if any book is over 350 pages (and I don't care what it is) Oprah can go fawn over it.But I digress.'As I Lay Dying' brings to life many of the same near-primal struggles of day to day life that my grandfather used to occasionally tell stories about. The rough-hewn tone of the movie completely suspended my disbelief as all the cast mastered their roles in physical looks and attitudes.Particularly striking was Tim Nelson's portrayal of "Anse", the aging slack-jawed, bent over and backward minded Patriarch. Nelson, in fact, nails it so precisely he is barely recognizable from his many previous roles.Master make-up artist Kimberly Amacker and her crew very convincingly aged Nelson a good 30 years and 'removed' his teeth. It was an amazing transformation to behold. Ahna O'Reilly's "Dewey Dell" unfolds the age-old tale of probably the worst situation a young country girl of that era can be in: Pregnant and no husband. And no husband on the horizon, either.As the clan struggles through almost every disaster there is while transporting their dead mother's body, Dewey steals herself to the local pharmacies along the way every chance she gets in search of an unidentified drug that will abort her early pregnancy.We absolutely feel for and appreciate the extremely difficult time she has as an uneducated country girl trying to transmit in simple and cryptic language the nature of her problem. Her eyes absolutely plead for some compassion and sympathy, but she receives none. Evidently any kind of medical professional could expect to sentenced to life in prison for performing or assisting in abortions. Not to mention young girls facing banishment from their own families. Instead, poor Dewey is chided and debased further, only to resort to the most humiliating conditions available in order to purchase the drug.Considering the times, such a drug probably would have killed her as well, if not seriously compromised her health.The good old days they were not.So why only a rating of six? As with several other reviewers, the ubiquitous split screen ruined it for me. I found it extremely distracting. It effectively cut-down on the full views of such potentially beautiful panoramas and scenery reducing them to mostly head-shots of character's facial reactions. I cringed every time it appeared.Aside from that, a great story.Perhaps we can look forward to a re-work of a more traditional presentation in the future.

cricket crockett . . . but with twice the suffering, because writer\director\star James Franco uses a split screen for most of AS I LAY DYING's 110-minute running time in order to cram in every dollop of Southern Gothic squalor he can. Dad parades Mom's stinking corpse under the noses of 40 miles worth of Mississippians as a cover story to get dentures and a new bedmate an hour after Mom is planted. So what if his eldest son has a leg sawed off without anesthesia across the town square from the Dentures, Brides & Beyond Shoppe? So what if his only daughter is raped? So what if the toddler son is driven nuts by the vultures constantly pecking at Mom's coffin? So what if the carpenter son's tools are washed away in the river? So what if another son's prized possession--his equine soul mate--is traded to Snopes for a shortened life of hellish mistreatment? So what if all the trauma drives yet another son criminally insane, dooming him to life in the Jackson State pen? So what to all this and more. Mom's five kids need to count their blessings: Dad did not bury them in the same hole with Mom, which would have given him an even mintier fresh start. The American South came up with the "three-fifths rule." Other people cannot even BEGIN to think like us. Bill Faulkner is preaching to the choir here: Yankee, go home!

jmberkland When I saw another James Franco - Danny Mcbride collaboration was in store I almost wet the bet with excitement! The problem is, when I watch a movie I expect to be entertained. This movie didn't get close to entertaining me so that's where the low rating comes from. Sorry, but this movie was slow, boring, and borderline irritating. If you want an exciting movie featuring Franco and Mcbride check out Pineapple Express. S***, if we're lucky we'll get a Pineapple Express 2. Kind of like they teased us with in This Is The End. I will forever low James Franco. And I will forever love Danny Mcbride. But this movie just didn't get it done for me.