August: Osage County (2013)

Can’t go home again? In “August: Osage County,” you won’t want to go home. Taking his play to the screen, Tracy Letts’ family funeral corker blows fire with deep resentments, booze, pills, physical and emotional attack, drugs, incest, child rape attempts, and a suicide. Do not come for the entertainment. Come for drama largesse. We open on an Oklahoma couple well entrenched in the war that is marriage. Sam Sheppard is boozer poet Beverly, who sees caring for his cruel, dying wife (Meryl Streep) as a chore that infringes his boozing. Streep’s Viv has mouth cancer, much ironic as her mouth spews non-stop hate. So ironic. Bev hires an “Injun” –- their usage -– caregiver and then vanishes, forcing Viv to call in her grown daughters (including Julia Roberts as the oldest), and each arrives swinging in a one-upper game of FUBAR. Before car engines cool, tempers flare and brimstone flies. Look, the acting is amazing. Streep wows. Roberts fumes. Many scenes hit home, but it’s two hours of constant yelling as that Native American nurse (Misty Upham) silently looks on with flat eyes that say, “We lost our homes for these fools?,” and serves pie. Quite the stereotype throwback. B

Silkwood (1983)

True story “Silkwood,” directed by Mike Nichols and co-written by Nora Ephron, effortlessly plays like a captured documentary of Karen Silkwood, a lowly 28-year-old worker at a plutonium plant who died in an unexplained car crash after she started investigating safety violations at her thankless job. During her ordeal, Silkwood (Meryl Streep) found herself on the end of repeated, unlikely exposures that even reached her own home, shared with a boyfriend (Kurt Russell) and best friend (Cher), the latter a lonely gay woman. Nichols makes no saints, our three protagonists are all coworkers and flawed people. Karen strays. Russell’s boozer alpha male is loyal to the company, and so on. Money and family struggles, and the damning judgment of the unrealized American Dream are harsh. I first saw “Silkwood” at age 12 and was blown away by Nichols’ unforgiving realism of humiliating decom showers, and Streep’s stunning near naked performance. Political punches? Big money corporate corruption is bare knuckle, but so is the depiction of a union that seems far too hungry for media attention. Streep’s singing of “Amazing Grace” is the most pained and therefore perfect version I have ever heard. A

The Iron Lady (2011)

In “The Iron Lady,” a biopic about Britain’s MP Margaret Thatcher, Meryl Streep embodies the loved/hated prime minister with a voice and movements that are amazing to witness. The actress is more than a worthy Oscar winner here, for she is Atlas, hoisting a terrible film upon her shoulders. Director Phyllida Lloyd and writer Abi Morgan dedicate heaps of time to an Alzheimer’s-stricken Thatcher as she talks to her dead husband (Jim Broadbent), who mucks about as if Peter Pan. The undeniably fascinating life of Thatcher, from World War II-era teenager to leader of a superpower, is all rushed flashbacks, snippets with bold-font headlines, half-explanations, and historical characters that run by. The dementia scenes turn into a bad “Ghost” rehash as onscreen Thatcher literally packs a suitcase for dead hubby so he can go off into the light. What utter nonsense. Streep, thankfully, makes every scene she is in shine, from Parliament debates to her vicious and regretted attack of a second-in-command, to the sad elderly years. Nostalgic conservatives will cheer the speeches, cruel liberals will mock the woman chasing her ghost husband because he’s shoeless. B-

Death Becomes Her (1992)

Before he got lost in stop-motion animated films, Robert Zemeckis made live-action movies that used jaw-dropper special effects to tell wildly fun stories. On the darker side was “Death Becomes Her,” a “Twilight Zone”-like satire about a beauty-obsessed actress (Meryl Streep), her former high-school rival (Goldie Hawn) and the sad-sack plastic surgeon (Bruce Willis) who comes between them. A creepily beautiful Isabella Rossellini plays a sorceress who gets between everyone, with a potion that promises eternal youth, with all its hiccups (take care of your body, she warns). I will say no more for those who have not seen this wicked tale, except to say Zemeckis has a ball showing how many times a person who cannot die can die. The script is barely skin deep, but the three leads are in top comedic form. Willis lampoons his “Die Hard” persona, sporting ugly sweaters and nerd glasses, and Hawn is gloriously Hawn, with a streak of evil. Steep opens the film with a hilariously bad musical number. B+

It’s Complicated (2009)

Meryl Streep is lovely in “It’s Complicated,” a comedy about a divorced businesswoman/mother who has an inexplicable affair with her re-married ex-husband, all while being wooed by a newly single architect (Steve Martin). Alec Baldwin plays his unbeatable comedy talents and that odd sleaze streak he has as the ex-hubby, turning the role of a heel into divine inspiration. The art direction is pure “Better Homes & Garden” come to life and nearly outshines the A-list cast, and Martin’s charmer only remains a one-dimensional “nice guy” who doesn’t get nearly enough screen time. But with Streep at the center, why gripe? The hilarity of this love triangle recalls “Broadcast News” with its romantic-minded mantra that life rarely offers answers, only more questions. B+

Julie and Julia (2009)

Two films in one. Wee! “Julie and Julia” follows modern day New Yorker Julie Powell (Amy Adams) who blogs about wading her way through Julia Child’s famously thick French cooking book, and the story behind how post-World War II-era Child (Meryl Streep) authored the famous kitchen must-have. The Child sections are best and most on target, with Streep playing the tall chef married to a diplomat (Stanley Tucci, winning as ever). Streep has the voice down cold, and the mannerism, too, but never sinks to mimicry. She’s a hoot. The politics of an American woman grabbing her own destiny in Europe crackle, as do the scenes where the poison of McCarthyism seeps into this happy couple’s life. The Powell sections are good, carried more by Adams’ great performance and ever-growing charisma than the writing. The woes of a directionless 30-year-old just don’t resonate as much. Nora Ephron directs and writes. And the food … yum! B+

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

With “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes Anderson has made not only a jewel that pays homage to 1960s stop-motion classics such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” it looks as if it were made 40 years ago and stored in a wine cellar until now. As the characters move and speak, you can see odd ticks that seem old-fashioned but flourish with personality. Anderson, director of the infinitely smart and cool “Rushmore,” has turned Roald Dahl’s classic story into a clever heist comedy, a coming of age tail (bad pun intended), and a satire on – get this – real estate markets and capitalism run amok. Anderson’s “Fox” is played as a live-action film, envisioned by the smartest, coolest kids in art class. How many other animated films’ have scenes involving lawyer consultations and the woes of new home repair? The voice cast -- George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman – are a delight. Another high mark in a year of stellar animated films (“Up,” “Coraline” and “Ponyo”). A

Mamma Mia! (2008)

The comedy-musical "Mamma Mia!" is flat-out torture-porn. The vision of Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard singing in glittery, open-chest disco jumpsuits is the most terrifying movie scene I've ever witnessed. Godless. Now I can dig a musical, but this ABBA-fused sing-a-long of a young bride (Amanda Seyfried) longing to know the identity of her father (the three luckless are contenders) has all the charm of an all-singing, audience-participation version of "Hostel" as presented by Tennessee's worst dinner theater. At one point, I thought a group of seagulls was drowning on the beach. Turns out it was the groom's wedding party dancing. Brosnan's singing could spread atheism. You know the quote, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings"? Every time Brosnan sings, an angel is beaten to death with a crowbar then nailed to a cross and set on fire. Meryl Streep, still a stunner at 60, survives the ordeal with her dignity intact. I can't say the same for me, having watched this film. D+

Heartburn (1986)

Directed by the great Mike Nichols and written (based on her novel) by Nora Ephron, "Heartburn" is a biting comedy on love and marriage. It is the "anti" to Ephron's later oh-so-cute "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail" -- in other words, it's for grown ups. Real grown ups. This is a romantic comedy without the happy ending.

Meryl Streep is Rachel, a food magazine writer who meets cute with journalist Mark (Jack Nicholson) at a wedding. Instant sparks fly and a one night stand becomes a relationship which becomes marriage. Then it all falls apart as Mark strays, and Rachel suffers. This is a damn good comedy with top notch performances by Streep and Nicholson, who love, bicker, sing silly songs and fight like any married couple.

Made in 1986, the film hasn't aged much -- Carly Simon's score and famous song 'Coming Around Again" are perfect for the film, and check out a way-young Kevin Spacey as a criminal.

If there's a complaint, it's the scenes in which Rachel imagines "Masterpiece Theatre" as commentary on her own life; the scenes play way too cute with much of the film. B+