Tag: collateral beauty

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: COLLATERAL BEAUTY

by KristinLeave a Comment on Movie Review: COLLATERAL BEAUTY

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Hey, movie lovers!

I know I’m late to the game on this one, but I watched it last night with my niece and just had to post about it. To be quite honest, I’m surprised it has a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes! I can see how some people might not enjoy it as much as I did, but I wonder if the people who didn’t like it have experienced loss in their lives. From personal experience, I know how death can create these questions in your mind about love, time and death so the meaning behind the movie really hit me in the heart. My niece just loves any movie that can make her cry for some reason (teenagers!), but she loves this one!

SYNOPSIS: Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty. 

Let me start by saying that Will Smith kills it in this movie. We all know he’s a great actor, but he hasn’t always chosen the best roles in his career. In this one though, he plays the role of a grieving father so perfectly that you can actually feel his pain. The entire cast does a great job, in my opinion. I found myself getting angry at his friends for scheming behind his back, then I felt sympathy for them because Howard’s grief has affected their lives as well. I think I felt every emotion imaginable while watching this movie and, for me, that’s a sign of a good one.

Every twist and turn in this movie was great and it’s not until the credits roll that everything sort of hits you all at once.

Usually when I see a new movie in the theater, or rent one on On Demand, I try to judge it based on whether or not I would actually buy it or possibly catch it again down the road when it’s streaming online. I rented this one last night and I would definitely buy it. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s one to at least check out. So grab a box of tissues and try to put yourself in this man’s shoes for about 2 hours.

If you forgot what this movie was about, check out the trailer below and if you decide to watch it, let me know what you thought!

 

Movie Reviews

@Thisfunktional Movie Review: COLLATERAL BEAUTY

by thisfunktionalartfreakLeave a Comment on @Thisfunktional Movie Review: COLLATERAL BEAUTY
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Written by Jesus Figueroa (@Thisfunktional)

Despite being a story around Will Smith’s character, Edward Norton steals “Collateral Beauty” with a charismatic and honest performance.

Howard, played by Smith, is mourning the loss of his daughter by writing letters to three abstractions, time, love and death.

Smith is a fantastic actor who portrays an emotional character with so much grief. He is dramatic and can pull the emotions out of anyone who has dealt with loss.

When his three business associates – Whit, played by Norton, Claire, played by Kate Winslet, and Simon, played by Michael Peña – decide to hire to actors – Brigitte, played by Helen Mirren, Amy, Played by Keira Knightley, and Raffi, played by Jacob Latimore – to play Death, Love and Time and to go to Howard and answer his letters.

Norton is just fantastic playing a humorous, yet emotional business man dealing with life after divorce and having a daughter that dislikes him because of it. He grabs hold of the audience’s attention and steals the spotlight from Smith.

Knightley is brilliant in her role and matches with Norton having several scenes throughout the movie which stand out. Her emotion feels true and can lead the audience to sympathize with her.

Winslet is great, for what is seen of her story. There’s not much the audience can grab on to about her character and leaves the story of her character lacking.

Peña is convincing as his character, but much like Winslet is not really seen as much and does not give enough of his back story to let audiences connect with his character.

Mirren is fantastic as an actress and as Death. She is one of the positive parts of the movie which audiences will enjoy.

Latimore embodies the youthfulness of his character well and gives some aggressiveness to his portrayal of time. He delivers his lines with such ease that audiences can lose themselves into his story and have it flow out like natural speech.

The entire story is difficult to sum up, but its a great story for the holiday season.

I give this drama a 3 out of 5 Popcorns. Although it has great parts to the story and the complexity is refreshing, it targets an audience which has dealt with major loss. The movie fells much like a stage production and yet much of the actual story feels left out. The overall story of Howard can get drowned out by the amazing acting from the supporting cast. The resolution seems to come out so quickly and runs long to where more is explained than what feels needed.

“Collateral Beauty” is now in theaters.