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All Good Things
- Review Date: November 30, 2010
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2010
Common Sense Media says
Depressing "true" story of violence and destroyed lives.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this downbeat drama -- which is based on the true story of a man involved in a disappearance and two deaths over the course of 30 years -- tells the tale of a destroyed marriage and two miserable lives. There's some violence and blood related to the murders, as well as ugly fights between the married couple. They kiss and seduce each other and have sex (though there's little nudity). Language is limited to a few uses of "f--k," but there's lots of drinking and drug use, including cigarettes, cocaine, and pot. Teens may be interested to see what stars Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst are up to, but this depressing, flat movie won't cause much of a stir.
What's the story?
David Marks (Ryan Gosling) is the son of a wealthy property owner (Frank Langella). He marries Katie (Kirsten Dunst), who is outside the family's social circle, and dreams of running a health food store. But eventually he succumbs to his father and goes to work for the family business, which begins a harrowing decline into anxiety and violence. Katie gets pregnant, but David refuses to become a father. They begin fighting and, eventually, living separate lives. Before long, David becomes involved in a disappearance and two mysterious deaths. Will he be made to face the consequences of his life, or will he simply disappear?
Is it any good?
Director Andrew Jarecki, who gave audiences the brutally powerful dysfunctional family documentary Capturing the Friedmans, now turns his skills to his "based on a true story" feature film, his fictional debut. Interestingly, he takes a documentary-like approach to the material, narrating the tale with Marks' court transcript and filling in the blanks with deduction and imagination.
Unfortunately, the result isn't particularly engaging. The material is relentlessly harrowing, and it's difficult to know just where the characters stand: David is shown to be slightly unhinged, and there's no one to root for. Additionally, Jarecki employs some fairly standard-issue thriller elements, such as jump-shocks and things hiding in the shadows, which seem unworthy of this story. It's difficult, ultimately, to discern the point of the movie, other than to comment on how depressing and futile it all is.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
Families can talk about the violence in the film. What has more impact: the things that are shown, or the ones that aren't? Which is more disturbing, the murders or the violence toward Katie?
The main characters tend to drown their troubles in drinking, smoking, and drugs. These activities never seem to get out of control, but does that make it all right? What would the consequences of this kind of behavior be in real life?
Could David have avoided all of his trouble if he had ignored his father and kept on living the life he dreamed of living?
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Adult
December 6, 2010
AGE
extremely cliche, poor direction and screenplay, good performances
Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, ALL GOOD THINGS is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s.
well i saw this movie which is based on a true story of unsolved murder case. its a drama thriller with romance of course. i was not expecting much from this movie when i saw it receiving not so good reviews. the only reason of watching this movie was seeing these two actors, the hot and handsome Ryan Gosling and the beautiful and gorgeous Kristen Dunst after a long time. well this movie turns out to be extremely CLICHE.
Its so Cliche, i mean i felt i have seen movies like it before, story was very Cliche. that thing does not effects me much for a movie because that is not the problem with me, i don't think that on certain plot if a movie is being made then there shouldn't be another one like it. i always find some difference and some new things in it and even if i mention it being Cliche, it doesn't effects the rating. but this movie was pretty average.
its all that a girl (poor one) meets a very attractive handsome rich man, falls in love then marry either way. things start to get little weird and strange day bu day, girl star finding secrets about the family, that handsome looking guy actually turns out to be a psycho man and he always loose control and beat and torture his wife, she separates, then he kills her. it was pretty much like it. but the few things that makes it somewhat different is that its based on a true story, the girl is actually missing not considered dead, which means the end. end of the movie is what makes it pretty different from other movies like it.
movies starts somewhat slow, takes sometime to develop and then everything just come rushing, everything start happening so fast which is a negative point and it seriously annoys me. towards the end it has some pretty shocking, mysterious and thrilling moments that are pretty good to watch. its actually a narrative movie, Ryan at his present old age is shown saying the story to the Court.
acting wise pretty good i will say, its the only positive point, Ryan Gosling did a fantastic job again, he is very good in his character. towards the end his strange Woman get up and that psycho killer thing was done very well by him. on the other hand Kristen Dust was awsome too. she played her character pretty good.
screenplay of this movie is very dull and much in places pretty hollow, story is not narrated in a right way. movie is very empty and lost in places. i even didn't felt much connected to the characters as well. direction is pretty weak as well. so i will say to AVOID IT.
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| Studio: | Magnolia Pictures |
| Director: | Andrew Jarecki |
| Cast: | Frank Langella, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Gosling |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 101 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | December 3, 2010 |
| DVD release date: | March 29, 2011 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | drug use, violence, language and some sexuality |
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