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TGM
12-25-2015, 10:47 PM
JOY

Director: David O. Russell

imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2446980/?ref_=nv_sr_1)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d3/Joyfilmposter.jpg/220px-Joyfilmposter.jpg

TGM
12-25-2015, 10:50 PM
So I actually liked this. Went to see it with my mom, and I even liked it more than she did, and she's an actual Jennifer Lawrence fan. She thought it was boring, but I guess I just found the subject matter far more interesting, which really pulled me into the story. That, and this was actually another nice standout performance from Jennifer Lawrence, who along with her phenomenal outing in the last Hunger Games movie, has actually been impressing me for once with her performances this year.

transmogrifier
12-25-2015, 11:27 PM
I thought she was terrible in the last Hunger Games. Opinions, eh?

Mal
12-27-2015, 01:51 AM
Very, very mild yay. So often Joy and this films' pacing is bogged down by O'Russell's caricature troop of family members, though Jennifer Lawrence (despite being too young) and Bradley Cooper really stood out for me- the center of this film is strong when Joy finds her way and release from her overbearing life. It's oddly restrained though - I expected some humor, some black comedy- anything besides this mostly by-the-numbers family drama that makes it feel underwhelming and unsatisfying. It too often feels like a movie made about a woman by a man as well. :(

baby doll
01-02-2016, 04:23 AM
I enjoyed it. It's a fairly straightforward rags-to-riches story lacking the zaniness of Russell's best, pre-comeback work (i.e., I ♥ Huckabees), but still rather beguiling. Maybe the oddest thing about it is the different presentations of the black and white soap opera, first in long shot with the characters stretched out across the screen in an unbalanced clothesline formation and then "normally" in alternating close-ups. Also, is Edgar Ramirez singing "Mamma Told Me Not to Come" a knowing allusion to Domino (which Ramirez was also in) or just a weird coincidence?

ledfloyd
01-07-2016, 10:26 PM
Was not expecting to like this, but I really did. Not sure why the critical response has been so measured.

Lazlo
01-15-2016, 02:21 AM
Thought this was pretty bad. Russell's family nonsense always rubs me the wrong way. I'm always sitting there hating every supporting character and this was no exception. Fuck these people.

Lawrence is fine in this but the character is so downtrodden and put upon that her charm never gets a chance to come through. And when she finally asserts herself she has to be so stern to counteract the awfulness of the absolute selfish dicks that make up her family.

Artistically working with Russell is doing her no favors but the fact that she keeps getting Oscar nominations out of working with him means that she and her team will never realize that he's garbage. She'll keep wasting her time with him and he'll keep casting her in roles she's too young for. I'm mad she got nominated for this movie, if only because it's bad career motivation. It's being rewarded for bad choices and wasted opportunities.

Ivan Drago
01-15-2016, 02:37 AM
Out of all the movies with Oscar nominees, this is the one I have the least interest in.

I barely remember American Hustle, and Silver Linings Playbook hasn't held up well for me, either.

transmogrifier
01-15-2016, 07:25 AM
Silver Linings Playbook literally gave me a headache, such was its shrill obnoxiousness. Joy will be avoided.

ledfloyd
01-16-2016, 10:24 PM
FWIW, I didn't like Silver Linings Playbook or American Hustle.

Dukefrukem
03-21-2016, 05:43 PM
This was fucking hilarious. Dialog is superb. De Niro is the glue that holds the near perfect flow between scenes. And yes, hilarious. [reading a book on Cicadas] "This is the book you want me to read to you? How did this book even get in the house?" Jennifer Lawrence delivery is spot on. A much more fun story than American Hustle. Not as good as Silver Lining.

Grouchy
11-20-2016, 07:04 PM
This movie completely confused me. The opening scenes with the soaps the mother watches seems to signify that Russell will present us with his version of a soap, and that he does, but it's never clear how seriously he wants the audience to take his story since he deliberately seems to be making it without any regards for good writing or proper structure. There are plenty of funny moments and just as many embarassingly bad scenes. You have actors (like Isabella Rossellini) giving great performances in roles that are barely written. The only thing Russell seems committed to here is the style. But, being that it's not an action movie but a drama, it doesn't seem like enough.

I'll say this about the man, I never know how much I'll like a Russell movie until I see it. It could be great (Three Kings) or spectacularly bad (Silver Linings Playbok, American Hustle).