Mud (2012)

Written & Directed By: Jeff Nichols

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

The Hubby and I saw this in the theater in downtown Charlottesville, a rare splurge in honor of our 23rd anniversary. Even rarer was the fact that we were both equally excited about seeing a newly released film.

Fourteen-year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan) lives on the Mississippi River, in rural Arkansas, with his parents. He helps his father (Ray McKinnon) earn a living off the river, catching and selling fish. In his down time, he and his buddy Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) explore on the river, a bit like a modern-day Tom and Huck.

Film Review: Killer Joe

I am married to a man who has learned more than he ever wanted to know about people who some folks uncharitably call "white trash." He's been a police officer for 18 years, and we have our share of bat-crap crazy here in Augusta County, Virginia.

I've heard a few stories about local families, stemming from domestic disturbance calls and people flipping out over being served warrants, that might rival Jerry Springer. Not to mention the poor guy who was being revived by rescue workers, after a heart attack, as his wife made her son go through his pockets for spare change.

So I guess it isn't surprising that John didn't see the penultimate rednecks in Killer Joe as excessively stereotypical. He reckoned he'd met a few of them.

A Rambly Film Review: Bernie (Contains Mild Spoilers)

Year Released: 2011

Director: Richard Linklater

Screenplay by: Richard Linklater & Skip Hollandsworth
Rating: (4/5 Stars) 


In my first job after undergrad school, I was a newspaper reporter in a small Southern town.  My supervisor, the city editor, once shared his life dream with me. It didn't involve winning a Pulitzer -- he wanted to be a funeral director. This struck me as an odd choice, until he described how he envisioned his role: preparing the details, greeting and comforting mourners, shepherding families through what is inevitably a tremendous life crisis.

That's when I understood that in a small town -- particularly in my native South -- a funeral director is, in some ways, the heart of a community. With the perfect balance of gravitas and reassuring calm, he must guide each family through one of the most painful life transitions they will ever make. Twenty-five years later, with much more experience of death and grief, I understand that more than ever.

This defines the role Bernie (Jack Black) holds in his community. He is an assistant funeral director in Carthage, Texas, seemingly open-hearted and generous, skilled at comforting the bereaved, and beloved by his neighbors, especially the elderly widows whom he often finds in his care. His is also a pillar of his church. One of those gentle, unassuming people around whom a community revolves in time of need.