{"id":18867,"date":"2014-02-05T21:47:29","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T02:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=18867"},"modified":"2016-01-24T21:53:58","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T02:53:58","slug":"nebraska-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/05\/nebraska-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In “Nebraska,” Woody Grant is convinced that he’s won a million dollars. So convinced is he that he’s won, that soon everyone begins to believe it. What were once old friends, are now people intent on collecting a debt from him, while old relatives come knocking at his door asking for a hand out. Woody Grant is known as the town degenerate, a man who lived life as a loser and will die a loser, only when he perceives himself as a winner, do people begin to believe he is, and try to exploit that.<\/p>\n

Director Alexander Payne has a knack for painting portraits of people whose life has zipped right by them. His pictures of the end of life, and how much the characters have missed out on have been brilliant, and “Nebraska” is no exception. Bruce Dern gives a truly excellent performance as Woody Grant, a man whose entire existence is based on routine and living life as the town’s loser. He is talked down to, mocked, and often derided by pretty much everyone. Including his sons. The only person that truly looks out for him is his wife (the wonderful June Squibb), and his son David. Despite common sense, and the insistence by everyone in his life, Woody persists in traveling across the country to claim his millions.<\/p>\n

Woody doesn’t just want to believe he’s won the million, but he has to. It’s the only way he can really escape his life, and it’s likely the only time in his existence he’s gone out and reached for an opportunity. Will Forte plays wonderfully off of Dern, as the put upon and logical son who is tasked with caring for his dad, when he refuses to give up on claiming his money. As is typical with Payne’s films, “Nebraska” is funny but in the most subtle way possible. The comedy is played for laughs, but there’s till that undercurrent of sadness and heartache ever present. Forte manages to handle this comedic flair perfectly, following Woody across country while simultaneously trying to convince him the money is a fool’s errand.<\/p>\n

Through this Payne also unfolds a classic road trip movie, where David is able to gain insight in to his dad’s life, while Woody pursues his dream. The exchanges between Forte and Dern are funny, but also injected with hints of sadness as Dern’s character is never shy about his intentions toward his family, and his marriage. This comes as a disturbing note to David, but it’s also a wake up call to the horrors of an unwanted life bereft of missed opportunities, especially after his older brother Ross begins rising among the ranks as a news reporter. Bob Odenkirk is another fine actor who plays well off of Forte and Dern, and though the film shifts gears mid-way, it remains a very entertaining and beautiful tale about life’s fleeting opportunities, and the burden that can be the people we love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In “Nebraska,” Woody Grant is convinced that he’s won a million dollars. So convinced is he that he’s won, that soon everyone begins to believe it. What were once old friends, are now people intent on collecting a debt from him, while old relatives come knocking at his door asking for a hand out. Woody […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[111,219,302,706,851],"class_list":["post-18867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-arthouse","tag-comedy","tag-drama","tag-n","tag-road-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18869,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18867\/revisions\/18869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}