Ordinary People

Pros: great acting, great writing
Cons: not many

A good actor does not appear to be acting. This is a paraphrase of a statement Timothy Hutton made early in the 1980's. And it's also a good way to describe the performances in Ordiniary People. First there was not a miscasts part in this movie. I read...

Pros: Acting, direction, story, score
Cons: Some may find it too depressing

1980 was the year the film, Ordinary People won the Best Picture Oscar for Best Picture (along with Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay). It beat out the critically-acclaimed Raging Bull and The Elephant...

Pros: Excellent acting by all, especially Timothy Hutton.
Cons: Some of my friends found it depressing.

When I had first heard about Ordinary People, it was from my teacher who had suggested it to our high school class as a bit of light reading. When I went the library to pick up a copy, I accidentally picked up the movie version instead of the original...

Pros: Actors, direction, music
Cons: None

A number of years ago, I saw Francois Truffault's film, Day For Night, and in it is a sequence where the character Truffault plays recalls how he caught the film bug. The film flashes back to his boyhood, back to the cinema where Citizen...

Pros: Riveting drama and heartbreakingly authentic portrayal of living vicariously through a child who has died
Cons: Can be depressing but try to tolerate the dark moments to understand the bigger picture

Robert Redford's outstanding directorial debut, Ordinary People, is now twenty years old and yet it still plays as fresh and raw as when I first saw it in the movie theater.

Twenty years ago, Mary Tyler Moore was recuperating from the end of...

Pros: A realistic, original look into a broken family - a timeless classic
Cons: Slow-moving and melancholy - but well worth it

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, and Judd Hirsh

The subtle, poignant masterpiece and Academy Award winner for best picture of 1980, “Ordinary People”, is a heartbreaking, character driven tale that evolves around...

Pros: Wonderful story, great cast, great characters.
Cons: None.

When I first read Judith Guest’s bestselling novel an year ago, I was disappointed. It felt that Guest was trying to tell a story that was hard to really achieve. The characters seemed to develop halfway and their emotions die off. The relationships ...

Pros: A sensational, moving film...
Cons: With dated caveats.

It's not a fashionable thing to say, but here goes: I don't mind that Robert Redford's Ordinary People beat out Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull for Best Picture at the 1981 Academy Awards. I was irate when Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves trumped...

Pros: Complex, multi-layered drama, fascinating family dynamics, wonderful performances from an all star cast.
Cons: The ending was slightly anti-climactic, but this is a minor flaw

It is no wonder that this film practically swept the Academy Awards in the year that it was nominated. Rarely has a film captured the intricacies of family life during a crisis as masterfully as this gem. Most of the credit should go to Robert Redford, ...

Pros: Excellent film, superb performances
Cons: Profanity, disturbing flashback scenes

"Ordinary People" is an extraordinary story about a family dealing with grief and loss. Timothy Hutton, as the tormented Conrad Jarrett, turned his film debut into one of the most brilliant and powerful pieces of work ever done by an actor in...

Pros: real...strong acting and clear story line
Cons: none

I was only a teen when I first saw this film....and I wept torrents of tears. All the actors involved were (are) incredible at walking you through the journey of tragedy.
Moore and Sutherland portray an upper class family who lost a son to an...

Pros: Well deserving of all Oscars won
Cons: none

The only unfortunate thing about this film is that Mary Tyler Moore had the bad luck to make her film debut in the same year that Sissy Spacek gave a magnificent performance as Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter". Ms Moore's performance...

Pros: Emotionally grabbing acting and writing make this one of the best movies ever.
Cons: Absolutely nothing is wrong with it.

Never before had I cried to a movie before I saw this movie. My eyes have watered, but never before had I cried. I cried for a couple minutes and when I got home from the theater, I cried again. The real big deal about this story is that it is so...

Pros: In depth study of people's loss and their emotional journey through this loss.
Cons: Sorry, none that I could see. Loved it!

I have never seen a movie that deals with the death of a family member in such a personal way. The movies deals directly with how each family member deals with a death of one of their own. The casting of this movie was absolutely perfect. Timothy Hutton...

Pros: Exceptional acting, Interesting story, Great characters, Good direction, Everything!
Cons: Light on DVD bonus features.

It has been a long time since I have seen a preview for a film and it has actually made me more excited about seeing the movie. Far too often, previews give away way too much of the film, especially contemporary previews. Half the time when I see a ...