Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)

Liam McPoyle

Enjoyed it, didn't want a neat resolution and I liked the ambiguity of it all, you felt it could go either way with their plan.

Rockwell was excellent and McDormand as watchable as always.

Cantona's Collars

Considering the dark theme that the movie is centred around it actually made me laugh out loud so many times.
An extremely enjoyable movie and it passed "the wife test", as in she didn't doze off during it.
Sam Rockwell was very good in his role but one thing that grated about it was that it was a touch Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy) when it came to the scenes involving his mother,the little stammer when he spoke about her in particular.

Rfrip

Really enjoyed this. Loved the dark humour! Great acting, would love to see Frances mcdormand get the Oscar for this over Saoirse Ronan( also watched ladybird and did nothing for me)

yerwanthere123

Just finished this and I loved it. Think it might be my favourite of the Oscar contenders so far. Whilst we might not have got the resolution we wanted I feel like it didn't really matter? Got a lot of laughs out of the film, which is somewhat surprising given the subject matter, particularly during the last scene between Mildred and Dixon. All in all, a fantastic movie.

littlevillage

I almost loved this .... as its a Murder thriller where the view point is from the victims family and not the usual Police investigators side.

I read somewhere that McDonagh actually wrote the "Mother" role with Frances McDormand in mind to play it ... It kind of shows because she's on screen a lot and is the only character thats fully fleshed out.... the plot and the other characters are just kind of incidental. Don't get me wrong, McDormand is a great actress but the film as a whole suffers because of it being a veritable homage to her.

For example what exactly is the message in the movie?? ... we have characters spouting "violence only begets more violence" and that what we really need is love .... in what is a very violent movie where violence and destruction is the only solution to any issue and nobody is called to fully account for any of their actions.

Unlike other reviewers, I thought the ending was very strong, but the middle of the movie is a bit weak and muddled. Overall 7/10

FrancieBrady

littlevillage wrote: »

I almost loved this .... as its a Murder thriller where the view point is from the victims family and not the usual Police investigators side.

I read somewhere that McDonagh actually wrote the "Mother" role with Frances McDormand in mind to play it ... It kind of shows because she's on screen a lot and is the only character thats fully fleshed out.... the plot and the other characters are just kind of incidental. Don't get me wrong, McDormand is a great actress but the film as a whole suffers because of it being a veritable homage to her.

For example what exactly is the message in the movie?? ... we have characters spouting "violence only begets more violence" and that what we really need is love .... in what is a very violent movie where violence and destruction is the only solution to any issue and nobody is called to fully account for any of their actions.

Unlike other reviewers, I thought the ending was very strong, but the middle of the movie is a bit weak and muddled. Overall 7/10

Did you just say 'begets'?

Fysh

I caught the Cineworld Unlimited screening of this last night and thought it was very good. Closer in tone to In Bruges than Seven Psychopaths, but for some reason I keep finding myself thinking of it as being akin to Manchester By The Sea, as much for the focus on an intense central performance as the bit of plot similarity that's there.

There were some great laugh-out-loud moments - the

"she said begets?"

one probably being the best - but also some neat bits of character examination and a general feel for the idea of people as being layered and complex (although

Willoughby's wife was a bit of a waste - the casting seemed off somehow, and her presence in the story was just significant enough that the lack of anything for her to do compared to everyone else was noticeable

).

_Whimsical_

I've seen it described as "harrowing in it's violence".
Is that accurate? I want to watch it but realise the person I am going to see it with isn't really in a place for anything "harrowing".

yabadabado

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I've seen it described as "harrowing in it's violence".
Is that accurate? I want to watch it but realise the person I am going to see it with isn't really in a place for anything "harrowing".

The violence isn't that bad imo but there are 2 or 3 fairly rough scenes.

Cantona's Collars

yabadabado wrote: »

The violence isn't that bad imo but there are 2 or 3 fairly rough scenes.

Even those scenes are similar to what might be seen in any TV drama. Nothing gratuitous or harrowing (one scene might come as a shock but it's no worse than what you might see on CSI etc.)and a couple of situations that I laughed at actually.

LuckyLloyd

When is this released?

yerwanthere123

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

When is this released?

January 12th in Irish cinemas, although already doing the rounds online.

LuckyLloyd

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

January 12th in Irish cinemas, although already doing the rounds online.

Cheers thanks, I'm happy to wait for the cinema.

spurious

I agree Saoirse Ronan's performance in 'Lady Bird' pales against Frances McDormand in this, though as the latter is not one to pander to Hollywood and its games, she may not have a chance in the Oscars. She is brilliant in this, as she is in practically anything she does. The benefits of being fussy I guess.

Billy86

She's already won one for Fargo, and everyone knows it's against the laws of nature to not love Margie Gunderson.

1world1people

spurious wrote: »

I agree Saoirse Ronan's performance in 'Lady Bird' pales against Frances McDormand in this, though as the latter is not one to pander to Hollywood and its games, she may not have a chance in the Oscars. She is brilliant in this, as she is in practically anything she does. The benefits of being fussy I guess.

Dont think it matters who's performance is better between Ronan and McDormand, the academy (and maybe the Globes considering the foriegn press and the subject of the Film) will look to Meryl Streep for The Post, giving her a platform to make a speech against Trump and gender Inequality. I think Saoisre Ronan will win the Spirit award maybe. Francis Mc dormand in this was very good, powerful even, but the bitterness and anger was near overwhelming, but the reality is that's what Mildrid is and she nailed it, but is it Award friendly?

1world1people

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I've seen it described as "harrowing in it's violence".
Is that accurate? I want to watch it but realise the person I am going to see it with isn't really in a place for anything "harrowing".

Not really, the impact of the violence that takes place is harrowing to the characters, but the depiction or what is shown on screen is not harrowing or gratuitous, its the unexpected nature of what happens that makes it shocking. violence in this film is a dominant theme rather than a dominant tool.

Arcade_Tryer

Find the humour in the trailer closer to slapstick than clever or creative.

99 Bortles of Beer

I really enjoyed it. Thought Rockwell was fantastic in it.

One thing I didn't get though.

The guy who Rockwell thinks murdered the daughter but didn't - why did come to Mildred's store and intimidate her by smashing the porcelain bunny?

Rfrip

Oh good point.... hadn’t thought of that

FrancieBrady

99 Bortles of Beer wrote: »

I really enjoyed it. Thought Rockwell was fantastic in it.

One thing I didn't get though.

The guy who Rockwell thinks murdered the daughter but didn't - why did come to Mildred's store and intimidate her by smashing the porcelain bunny?

Wondered about that myself and the only thing I could think off was that the publicity attracted him.

LionelNashe

99 Bortles of Beer wrote: »

I really enjoyed it. Thought Rockwell was fantastic in it.

One thing I didn't get though.

The guy who Rockwell thinks murdered the daughter but didn't - why did come to Mildred's store and intimidate her by smashing the porcelain bunny?

I took it as a comment on the kind of thing that happens on the internet all the time, the only difference here being that he was doing it to her face. Now that I think about it, you could say the same about the billboards. In real life, the events would have happened through the medium of facebook posts or tweets.

Didn't think it was as clever as In Bruges or Seven Psychopaths, but I think the performances were better.

The Princess Bride

Rockwell just won a Golden Globe for his supporting role in this.

JP Liz V1

The Princess Bride wrote: »

Rockwell just won a Golden Globe for his supporting role in this.

Frances won too, plus it took best film drama and best screenplay

FrancieBrady

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Frances won too, plus it took best film drama and best screenplay

What did Frances win if Saoirse got Best Actress? Hardly best supporting actress as she was the lead.

JP Liz V1

FrancieBrady wrote: »

What did Frances win if Saoirse got Best Actress? Hardly best supporting actress as she was the lead.

Lead Actress Drama, Ronan took Lead Actress Comedy Musical

theoneeyedman

Watched this over the Xmas. Not a huge film buff, and while it was enjoyable in parts, I really don't think it was all that TBH. The premises is interesting, some of the acting was brilliant (McDormand chewed it up, even Woody was OK, not blown away by rock well but that could be me ), but I thought it petered out in the last quarter. Seemed like the writer kinda ran out of ideas on how to finish the story, no real climax to the story. Maybe there was some insightfull social commentary there that went over my head, I dunno.
Enjoyable enough as I say, maybe a 6.5/7 out of 10.

RocketRaccoon

I watched this last week and it was.....fine. It wasn't anything special or awful, it was just very middle of the road.

The Princess Bride

I think you either get Mc Donagh or you don't.
I saw The Pillowman in Cork theatre a few years ago.
Was absolutely blown away by both his writing and the performances.
However, my daughter turned to me and begged me never to bring her to anything so awful again.

Different strokes etc...

Gwynplaine

Saw it a few nights ago. It's good, nothing memorable really.
Is Woody Harrelson developing a lisp as he gets older? Like Danny Glover.