The Seagull (2018)

This was certainly an interesting film, adapted from the Anton Chekhov play.
Despite the film occurring in Russia in 1904, they all speak with American accents and seem naive to the world around them, oblivious to the changes around them.
Annette Bening is an aging actress, Irina, visiting the country with her famous author boyfriend Boris (Corey Stoll) who is far younger than her. Irina's son, Konstantin (Billy Howle) is a struggling author and his play is very avant garde and ahead of its time. And his mother has no respect for it. That is a hot summer, and the love triangles are very complicated. Nina (Saiorse Ronan) is Konstantin's girlfriend and aspiring actress but she falls in love with Boris but Irina won't let him go. And Masha (Elisabeth Moss), somehow related to them, is a drunk, depressed woman in love with Konstantin ignoring the love of poor schoolteacher Mikhail (Michael Zegen). She eventually decides to marry him, but isn't happy about it. That couple needs more screen time.
In the end, most of the characters are more depressed than when they started and Konstantin probably finally succeeds in committing suicide. Nina describes herself as the seagull, just like the one Konstantin killed earlier in the film. She's still in love with Boris, even after he tossed her aside. And she's made it an actress despite her rough technique but she's miserable. Most of them are as well.
There are some problems. The performances are great, each character is fully fleshed out but some of them just do not appear enough, besides, when is the last time Mare Winningham appeared in a major film? Still, it was an interesting film and not a wasted evening. But I prefer happy endings. Grade: B

The Family Stone (2005)

This film might be relatively predictable but it contains an epilogue which raises it and ties up some loose ends, something romantic comedies seldom do.
Sarah Jessica Parker stars as the stiff, overly professional Meredith Morton, dating the eldest Stone son, Everett (Dermont Mulroney) and he brings her home to meet his family for Christmas and to ask for his grandmother's engagement ring so he can propose to Meredith.
Now, his family is pretty laid back and carefree, but they have their secrets so it does not go well with Meredith. She commits a faux pas when she mentions that parents don't really wish for a gay child, creating an awkward moment as Everett's brother, Thad (Ty Giordano) is gay, married to an African American, Patrick (Brian White) and is also severely hearing impaired. Naturally, that doesn't well, and Meredith leaves the dinner in a huff.
And then things get interesting. Ben (Luke Wilson), the last Stone brother, rescues her and finally gets Meredith to relax and gets her drunk. In the meantime, Everett and Meredith's younger, more relaxed and accepting sister, Julie (Claire Danes) look for Meredith and can't find her. You know that Everett doesn't love Meredith, he loves Julie instead. So the couples switch. Sybil (Diane Keaton) tries to set up Julie with Ben but that doesn't work. The most awkward and best moment of the film is when Kelly, the patriarch (Craig T. Nelson) barges into Ben's room and finds Meredith there instead.
Rachel McAdams is also great as the youngest Stone child who hates Meredith more than you can imagine. But Meredith does redeem herself with the most touching Christmas present ever made all the poignant as Sybil is dying of breast cancer.
Sure, this film isn't going to win any awards (and didn't) but it was nevertheless a fully enjoyable way to spend the evening. I loved how effortlessly each member would incorporate sign language as they were talking so Thad would understand what was going on. Grade: B+

Adrift (2018)

The film begins in a long shot of Tami (Shailene Woodley) in a drowning boat, dead engine and no fresh water and she doesn't know where her fiance, Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin) is.
The film alternates between flashbacks of how Tami and Richard met, both traveling spirits who have never said no to any adventure. Nothing is too crazy for Tami, I wish I could channel one once of her spirit and fearlessness. Richard loves sailing to many different places even though he gets lonely, sunburned and hungry, but the experience is unlike anything he's ever known before and he loves living his own life.
Richard gets a great opportunity. Some of his friends need to return to England quickly so for a good sum of money, he can sail their boat back to San Diego and he accepts almost immediately. Though Tami isn't thrilled at first, she can't let him. After all, they are in love.
And then, Hurricane Raymond happens and it is devastating. But they survive. Richard's leg is shattered and Tami has plenty of cuts and bruises. Most of the food is gone along with two of three sales. The motor has died. The rubber is bad. But Tami perseveres. She must or else she will die. The food and water is severely rationed as they drift in the ocean but she survives to be rescued.
However, Richard never did. He has all in Tami's mind which feels like such a rip-off. I wanted that couple to make it. Despite Richard being the one to get Tami into this mess in the first place, his spirit and the memory of those two together is what kept Tami alive through those wretched conditions.
While the film is tragically sad, Woodley and Claflin are brilliant and Woodley truly does lose the weight to make Tami look as though she's been lost at sea for over a month. The only nit-picky problem is that Richard's friends who make the offer aren't ever properly introduced. I wish I knew how Richard knew them. Also, this took place in 1983 which makes sense as you never see cell phones or a laptop but you don't miss them.
That being said, the performances are superb and make the film worth watching over and over again. Grade: A-