As I lay dying

The Descendants

Crit

More than once I've said (approvingly) of Alexander Payne that he doesn't really much like people. I never meant it completely without irony, but it was a plausible shorthand until now. This film comes scarily close to being plausibly described as heartwarming--but wait, I mean that in a good way. Here Payne once and finally makes it clear that, as the nuns exhorted us to do in grade school, he hates the sin but loves the sinners. Almost  every prick or doofus in the film gets a redemptive moment--wins a redemptive moment, earns it. Without, of course, essentially changing. "Yes, people are awful," the film seems to admit, "and yet . . . " A fair cop.

About actors: Is there anyone besides Clooney who could better portray a guy who is still trying to recover from a shot to the solar plexus when he gets kicked in the balls as well? And has anyone since Brando as effectively stolen a scene with a dead (OK, comatose, but you tell me the difference, thespianwise) woman? OK, well, maybe Judy Greer, here (and seriously, isn't it about time for us to see her in something for more than 5 minutes?)? And the kids (Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, and Nick Krause)? Yes, ever so.

Trailers

• We Bought a Zoo--The new one from Cameron Crowe looks potentially very sappy, but he has a knack for making sappy work. And hell, animals! Including Scarlett Johansson!
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close--Just read and didn't quite love this, so I'm definitely review-dependent, but I must say the trailer convinced me that Sandra Bullock is not, as I had feared, miscast as the kid's mother.
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy--Never read this, but the trailer made me want to, and to see the film.
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel--Cute old folks' home in India; good cast, though.