Pictureland

From it's earliest sights and sounds - a vintage Paramount logo, black and white photography and a score rich with fiddle, dobro and other implements of Americana - Alexander Payne's Nebraska would seem to announce itself as something aiming for timelessness.  Something big and American and perhaps even profound. Hence, the broad, emblem of a title, placing us in the proverbial heartland of the country.  Bruce Springsteen did much the same in 1982 with an album bearing the state's name as its title, whose fairly bleak cycle of songs also tried to get at the simple heart of the country by way of some it less fortunate constituents.  Of course, Payne has a bit more claim to the title and state as a Nebraska native. To his credit, Payne goes after his big theme -whatever that might be -  in a small way.  As usual, he grounds his work in very credible detail.  Payne has taken us on the road before, in About Schmidt and Sideways .  The directo...

It should spoil no one's surprise to learn that Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), the wife and mother in The Descendants , is destined to die at some point in the film.  Her family is one of the groups of descendants to which the title of Alexander Payne's latest feature refers.  Elizabeth is seen conscious only briefly before the opening credits, happily buffeted by sea spray and wind as a passenger in a power boat.  Even if you haven't seen the trailer for The Descendants , there's something slightly haunting about the close-up of the contented woman as she's carried across the water. Sure enough, as the voice-over of her husband Matt King (George Clooney) tells us as the film commences, Elizabeth was ejected from the boat, struck in the head and rendered comatose.  He's informed early on that there's no hope of recovery and must break the news to his daughters Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller) as well as family and friends.  This is ...