Wonderful Movie

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It's hard to understand why some movies ever got made. Who ever green-lighted this unconvincing and formulaic story to be filmed? And even bigger question, why did all of these great and established names committed themselves to this project? Thing with this movie its story is that it never reaches a level above average. No shocking surprises or twists, no real convincing emotions, no tension. It feels just like a very empty and distant movie. The story unfolds itself as a very unconvincing one, since some very unlikely things start to happen in the movie. I just never understood the fact why the parents weren't desperate to get the truth from their son. They just eat together as an happy family, when the son is being nothing but death silent about the whole situation. This would had ticked me off as a parent and would had driven me insane. Just imaging your son being the main suspect in a murder case but he doesn't say anything to you about what happened. I would feel so mad at him and terribly unsure but not Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep. Also the way how the entire suddenly seemed to be against the family seemed so incredibly forced and silly that it all became incredibly unconvincing. The movie doesn't make you sympathize enough for any of its characters or with its drama. It would had perhaps also helped if the boy was really innocent and had nothing to do with the death of the young girl at all.Yes, there definitely are far worse movies out there but that doesn't make this movie a good one. Even though the movie never gets above the level of average it also never goes below the level of horrible. It's just a very average movie, by the numbers.Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Alfred Molina, Edward Furlong and John Heard are all actors that appear in this movie and it really makes you wonder why. I just can't imaging after reading the script that they seriously thought this would make a great, powerful and effective movie, that would leave a lasting impression on people and could even sweep some awards. All actors make some mistake in their careers and this movie seems to be one for all of them. Also some actors just get terrible underused in this movie. What was the point of the John Heard character? And why is Alfred Molina role so small in this. His role seemed like it could had played a far more important one for the movie. It could at least had given the story some more depth with its entire court proceedings.Not an horrible movie but I just can't think of any reasons why you should ever watch it.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

"Before and After" isn't any kind of great movie, but an interesting look at situations going out of control. Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson turn in their usual good performances, as does Edward Furlong. It's just that this story of parents having to deal with their son getting accused of murder is sort of routine (although some scenes are pretty intense). It seems like Streep and Neeson deserve something a little more than this. The people behind the movie probably could have developed things a little further.All in all, this movie's worth seeing, if only once. Also starring Alfred Molina, Daniel Von Bargen (Commandant Spengler on "Malcolm in the Middle") and John Heard.

While not a terrible movie it has a few serious problems. The problems start with the casting. Edward Furlong is cast to play the 16 year old son of parents played by Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson, but at age 16 he appears to be roughly five inches shorter than Streep and is utterly dwarfed by Neeson. Furlong looks more like he was their 12 year old son than their 16 year old son.Next problem is that certain points you need to catch at the beginning of the film simply slip by far to fast to catch. In a murder mystery or something with major plot twists that might be tolerable, but not in your ordinary family drama.But to me the most troubling problem (and if you are determined to see the movie regardless you might not want to read on, because this will give away most of the movie) is that it simply does not make sense.The story is Furlong has pulled off the road with his girlfriend and parked in the snow, gets stuck, they argue and tussle with each other, with him pushing her and accidentally causing her to fall face-first on the car jack. He then flees. She's found, rushed to the hospital and dies. The movie then deals with the family struggle of how to deal with this in court. Getting the kids' story out takes at least half the movie and by the time it gets out things are moving fast and little things, like making sense, get lost in the wake. If Furlong and the girlfriend TOGETHER had been absolutely unable to get the car out of the snow, and the deep rut he had made in it, it makes no sense that after she is spread out on the ground and unable to help he then gets the the car out by himself -- that is the kind of inconsistency any prosecuting attorney would have latched onto, and which any defense attorney would have seen as a major problem in court (I make these comments as a criminal defense attorney).But that's not the only problem with the kid's story. It was supposedly an accident. He cared about her. He never wanted to hurt her. And yet after she is hurt he cleans up the scene, gets that stuck car out of there, leaves, she is found and is STILL ALIVE long enough for an ambulance to reach her, get her to an emergency room and have a serious effort to save her life before she dies on the table in the ER. The entire issue of her having BEEN ALIVE and left to die is ignored. Not mentioned once by him, his family, the girl's grieving mother, his defense attorney, the prosecution or the judge who heard the case. It is as if the director forgot that in the second scene in the movie we see Meryly Streep, a doctor in the film, called to the ER to help with efforts to save the girl, long before we know her son was involved in the girl's death. The scene leaves no doubt (I went back and watched it a second time to be sure because the inconsistency seemed so glaring) that the girl was still alive when she reached the ER.But she was left to die by the kid for whom we are supposed to feel sympathy.Not only are there problems with the issue not having been properly addressed by any of the characters who would have addressed it, the fact that we need to feel sympathy for the kid is a problem. Easy to feel sympathy for him in having his life thrown into chaos as a result of an accident.... hard to feel sympathy when he would have had to have left his girlfriend there to die, and when in cleaning up the scene he would have had to have had enough contact with her (she fell on the car jack, and he removed the jack and put it back in the trunk of the car) that he certainly should have noticed she was still alive.Despite strong performances from the actors and good cinematography, the movie was a bit disappointing because of direction, casting and the script.

'Before and After' is the kind of movie that you expect to be really fantastic. Great actors, good plot. It has huge potential. Unfortunately, the actual script seriously flaws this movie. There stand brilliant actors such as Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep, and Edward Furlong. But the actual words coming out of their mouths were often so silly, it makes you wonder how the same person who wrote 'The Silence of the Lambs' also wrote this screenplay. Overall, despite the script flaws, it has quite a good mystery, and besides the young daughter, a brilliant cast. It is worth a watch, if just for the main casts' beautiful performances.