three billboards outside ebbing missouri budget

Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne star as three long-estranged Vietnam buddies reunited in the winter of 2003 after Carell’s son is killed in the early days of the Iraq War. “Last Flag Flying” is a very good movie, but “The Last Detail” is one of the greatest ever made, so the more the new film does to differentiate itself the less it suffers from inevitable comparisons. Linklater has wisely tried to write his way out of the previous picture’s shadow, changing the names of the characters and switching up their backstories to a degree that is initially confusing, but eventually comes as a relief. “Last Flag Flying” is based on co-screenwriter Darryl Ponicsan’s 2004 novel, a sequel to his 1970 book “The Last Detail,” which was itself the basis for a spectacularly profane 1973 film directed by Hal Ashby that features my all-time favorite Jack Nicholson performance.

From left to right, Bryan Cranston as Sal, Steve Carell as Doc and Laurence Fishburne as Mueller in 'Last Flag Flying.' (Courtesy Wilson Webb) These are two troubling, ultimately optimistic movies about how all we really have left right now is each other. Though quite different in temperament and tone, when taken in tandem they present a bruised and battered state of the union - where rugged individuals who have been failed by our country’s crumbling institutions come together for fleeting moments of grace. I saw Richard Linklater’s “Last Flag Flying” and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” within a couple days of each other at last month’s IFFBoston Fall Focus, and it’s funny how seemingly unrelated films can sometimes speak to one another. In short, the kind of movies that people who don’t go to the movies like to say that they don’t make anymore.

With another mega-budget superhero spectacle crashing into theaters this weekend, get ready for a reprise of the familiar refrain that 'nobody makes movies for grown-ups anymore' and 'sophisticated drama is now the sole province of cable television.'Īs it happens, if you can direct your attention away from Bat-fleck and his Superfriends’ billion-dollar marketing campaign and look up from the TV, this weekend brings to the Boston area two thoughtful, intelligent pictures from major filmmakers featuring big-name stars and stories directly engaged with the personal and political realities of our present moment. Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson in 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.' (Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures) This article is more than 4 years old.

Three billboards outside ebbing missouri budget