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The Glass Castle
Movie:![3 Stars :3stars: :3stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3_stars.png)
Video:![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Audio:![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Extras:![2 Stars :2stars: :2stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/2_stars.png)
Final Score:
Movie:
![3 Stars :3stars: :3stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3_stars.png)
Video:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Audio:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Extras:
![2 Stars :2stars: :2stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/2_stars.png)
Final Score:
![3.5 Stars :3.5stars: :3.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3.5_stars.png)
The Glass Castle initially reminded me of last year’s Captain Fantastic starring Viggo Mortensen, in regards to a father raising his family in a “non traditional” sort of way. The initial opening of the film with the young daughter Jeannette being smuggled out of the hospital to skip out on expensive medical bills immediately brought me back to the scene in Captain Fantastic where Viggo and his children scammed the store out of supplies while diving back into the car for a fast getaway. However, the story differs quite drastically after that, taking a much darker and more melancholy tone as you realize dear old dad isn’t as benevolent as we thought he was. Taken from the memoir of the same name by journalist Jeannette Walls, the story is a back and forth approach telling of the family’s upbringing as told through the eyes of a younger, and older Jeannette. The story is fascinating to watch, but one that is ultimately a tough sell as it can’t seem to capture the emotion and “heart” that is very obviously trying to be stitched into the tale.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton made his breakout film Short Term 12 back in 2013, which also starred Brie Larson and several other indie stars, but it seems he has tried to make a more mainstream film with The Glass Castle, taking on the best selling memoir of Jeannette Walls and making it into a strange mixture of mainstream and indie film making. While Brie is credited as playing Jeannette Walls, the first 1/3rd of the film she is nothing more than a whisper, as we go back in time to the strange upbringing of the Walls family (where she is played by Chandler Head and Ella Anderson depending on age). The Walls family is NOT your average happy American family. Rex Walls (Woody Harrelson) is a strange bird, and he and his wife Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) live off the grid while the big dreaming ex Air Force pilot teaches the 4 children about how to live, and I mean LIVE, life outside the lines.
Flash forward to adult Jeannette, we see that she has gone on to make something of herself, and writes a gossip column in New York City. Not only that, but she is getting ready to marry a rich New York financial guru named David (Max Greenfield) and start a family, but she is still plagued by the fact that her parents are living homeless in New York, living their bizarre lifestyle. As the film progresses we see just WHY Jeannette is so “distant” and emotionless when it comes to her parents. It seems that the happy veneer of the first 1/3rd of the film is shaken off when its revealed that Rex is not just a dreamer. He’s a bit of a failed man at everything he does and it’s all self inflected. 2 quarts of booze a day along with a double pack of cigarettes and there festers a dark man who lives for the bottle, and can barely take care of his own family. Each turn he takes brings them deeper and deeper into squalor, and what was once a happy childhood of ignorant kids, becomes a prison as the 4 children slowly begin to make their escape.
The Glass Castle tends to be more successful with the smaller, more intimate, portions of the movie than as a whole, which means the film is rather fractured and hard to connect with on an emotional level. Little vignettes, and little sections of the film are truly fascinating, especially the ones that show Rex as the big hearted dreamer rather than the old drunk that he becomes part way through the film. His interactions with a young Jeannette are both touching and heartbreaking, giving Ella Anderson some of the most poignant portions of the movie to play. The ending also is a bit abrupt and a sometimes too saccharine sweet. Especially after you know what type of person that Rex has been. The strange feeling that they were going for an emotional and fond remembrance of Rex’s impact on them is in direct contrast with how the last half of the film portrayed him, so fond memories and heartfelt tears just seem out of place. It’s a good try by Destin Daniel Cretton, and the acting is superb all the way around, but The Glass Castle can’t seem to grab the viewer by the emotional core and create something great out of the interesting (and many times fascinating) true life story.
Rating:
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content involving family dysfunction, and for some language and smoking
Video:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
Audio:
![4 Stars :4stars: :4stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/4_stars.png)
.
Extras:
![2 Stars :2stars: :2stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/2_stars.png)
• The Glass Castle: Memoir to Movie
• A Conversation with Jeannette Walls
• Making of "Summer Storm" by Joel P West
• Scoring The Glass Castle
Final Score:
![3.5 Stars :3.5stars: :3.5stars:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/3.5_stars.png)
The Glass Castle is reminiscent of several other films about being raised in non traditional methods, but has a much darker twist to it. It’s an often fascinating take on the source material from the real life Jeannette Walls, although the darkness sometimes over shadows the happier portions of the film, and the ending desperately tries to tied the story into a happy ending reminiscing about Rex’s impact on their life (despite the heavy overshadowing of his drinking and abusive behavior). The films biggest flaw seems to be that it is emotionally distant and can’t seem to grab at the heart strings like it really seems to be trying to do. So much so that I had a difficult time feeling much of anything besides casual interest at watching the performances unfold. Audio and video are on par with most modern dramas, and the minimal extras follow suit. While I wouldn’t say it is the best movie of the year, The Glass Castle is interesting enough to warrant a solid watch for those interested by premise, and the technical specs are general quite good for those looking to buy.
Technical Specifications:
Starring: Naomi Watts, Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
Written by: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 127 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 7th, 2017
Recommendation: Decent Watch